Located on Jamestown Island sits the ruins of a Colonial Georgian estate. Ambler Mansion was one of the finest homes on the island but was abandoned by its owners after it burned down three times. The site of immense tragedy and suffering, the Ambler Mansion ruins are believed to be one of the most haunted spots in Jamestown.
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Is The Ambler Mansion Haunted?
The ruins of Ambler Mansion are widely known to be haunted by the ghost of Lady Lydia Ambler. Lydia was one of the original members of the Ambler family to live in the home until her life took a tragic turn.
Believing she had been abandoned by her husband, Lydia took her own life, and her spirit has been seen wandering the ruins of the home ever since. Not knowing peace in death, her spirit is said to be incredibly angry and can have a negative emotional effect on visitors.
History of the Ambler Mansion
The story of how the Ambler Mansion came to be starts in 1716 when Richard Ambler arrives from England. Richard was well off, but he wasn’t rich. His social status drastically improved in 1724 when he married Elizabeth Jaquelin.
The Jaquelins were among the wealthiest families in Jamestown and owned vast tracts of land. Richard used his newfound fortune to buy up much of the island’s western end, which also improved the economics of Jamestown, which had declined after Virginia’s capital was moved from Jamestown to Williamsburg in 1699.
Around 1750, Richard Ambler had a two-story Georgian-style home built on his land. Made of brick and consisting of a central hall with rooms on either side, the house became known as Ambler Mansion.
Richard and Elizabeth would raise nine children there, although only three of their sons (John, Edward, and Jaquelin) would live to adulthood. John inherited the home when Richard died in 1766 and was a prominent colonel in the Revolutionary War.
Ambler Mansion was set ablaze for the first time during the Revolutionary War. The damages were small enough that Colonel Ambler was able to save the home.
Nearly a century later, the house was set on fire yet again during the Civil War. The owner at that time, David Bullock, also salvaged the home. However, when the house burned down for a third time in 1895, there was no saving it.
Today, all that’s left of Ambler Mansion are its ruins, which consist of the foundational walls that held the building up. The ruins are open to the public and maintained by the National Parks Service.
Hauntings at the Ambler Mansion
The ruins of the Ambler Mansion are creepy in their own right, given the abandoned and derelict nature of the property. Beyond the overall spooky vibe, archeologists have also discovered that Ambler Mansion was built on top of a mass grave.
This grave dates back to the Colonial era when multiple members of the Jamestown colony starved to death. Although no hauntings are specifically related to the mass burials, it could help account for why the mansion was destroyed three times before being left behind to decay like the bodies beneath the estate.
In terms of ghostly phenomena, visitors to the Ambler Mansion ruins have reported unexplainable swirls of mist and flickering lights that appear and disappear out of nowhere.
Lady Lydia
Lady Lydia Ambler holds the distinction of being the only known ghost to haunt Ambler Mansion. She lived in the home in the 1700s and married her husband, Alexander, in August 1776.
No sooner had they married than Alexander was called to fight in the Revolutionary War. A heartbroken Lydia would walk the shoreline of the James River and keep watch out of a second-floor window, anxiously awaiting Alexander’s return.
During the war, the traitorous Benedict Arnold set fire to Ambler House. Arnold had initially fought on the side of the revolution before becoming a secret agent for the British. Despite Arnold’s effort to destroy the home, Ambler Mansion was quickly restored, and Lydia continued to wait for Alexander.
As time went on and Lydia received no letters from Alexander, she feared he had died in the war. However, that fear faded into an anger that grew over time.
Lydia became paranoid that Alexander had merely married her for her family’s wealth and had taken off with her money rather than going to fight in the war. The grief-stricken Lady Lydia took one last walk to the James River where she drowned herself.
Lady Lydia’s ghost has been reported in the years following the destruction of Ambler Mansion. Her spirit is typically seen walking from the rear of the house towards the front and making her way to the James River.
A Malevolent Entity
Perhaps this is a residual haunting of her final trip there. On the other hand, those who encounter Lydia’s ghost or simply visit the ruins report a feeling of extreme anger and sadness wash over them.
One visitor reported seeing someone (or something) rush past them out of the corner of their eye. At that moment, they felt a malevolent force coming from the ruins and got the distinct impression that they should leave as soon as possible. As they departed, the visitor’s companion noticed a swirling mist near one of the remaining walls of the mansion.
Virginia’s Haunted Historic Triangle
It’s also worth mentioning that Ambler Mansion is part of Virginia’s infamous Haunted Historic Triangle. This area consists of Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg.
The area got its name due to the high number of hauntings and levels of paranormal phenomena concentrated in these three historic cities. Considering the wars, death, and passage of time the triangle has seen, it’s not surprising that there would be a denser level of hauntings.
Haunted Williamsburg
The ruins of Ambler Mansion stand as a reminder of how a love story went wrong, and how traumatic events prevent the dead from moving on. Lady Lydia’s sad story and that of the starved colonists are among the many disastrous events that make up the history of Virginia’s Haunted Historic Triangle.
Planning your next trip to Colonial Williamsburg? You can combine history and the hauntings by going on a ghost tour with Colonial Ghosts, where you’ll learn the most famous and infamous ghost stories from the area. Be sure to book your tour today! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and keep reading our blog for more real Virginia hauntings.
Sources:
- https://www.virginiahauntedhouses.com/real-haunt/ambler-mansion-ruins.html
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AkPMdm7hc8
- https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/the-ambler-family-in-virginia.htm
- https://colonialghosts.com/haunted-williamsburg/