Virginia Supreme Court Building

THE VIRGINIA SUPREME COURT BUILDING AT THE STATE CAPITOL COMPLEX

The Virginia Supreme Court Building became a home away from home, Paul Hope recounts in his book Policing the Paranormal: The Haunting of Virginia’s State Capitol Complex. During a regular work week he was assigned to the Supreme Court Building three out of the five nights.

He became familiar with the location’s interior, including its sub-basement levels that still house the money vaults, safes, and bullet-proof guard-turrets that were installed during the building’s previous tenure as Richmond’s U.S. Federal Reserve Bank.

When it comes to creepy destinations, the Virginia Supreme Court Building is amongst the creepiest. During Hope’s time with the Virginia Capitol Police, hardly a week would go by without someone experiencing unexplained phenomena within the building.

Most of the activity was reported either in the sub-basement levels, or on the sixth floor. It was so commonplace that some officers would deliberately avoid these levels during their nightly patrols of the building.

Before we dive into the frightening follies of the historically haunted Virginia Supreme Court Building, book a tour with Colonial Ghosts!

Why Is The Supreme Court Building In Virginia haunted?

Being built in the late 1700’s, the Richmond Virginia Supreme Court building has centuries worth of history.

Laying credibility to the claims of ghostly goings-on in the sub-basement level of the building is the story of a killing that occurred in February 1972, while the building served as the Federal Reserve Bank. The tragic killing of a bank security officer resulted from a disgruntled member of the bank’s security force going berserk. The ensuing gunfight ended with several security officers being shot, with one reportedly dying at the scene.

It is not clear from old newspaper reports if the guard who initiated the violent confrontation is the person who was killed, but whoever did die from the gunshots experienced a sudden and untimely death; a factor considered by many paranormal experts to be a major precursor to classic haunting cases.

To this day, the evidence of the gun battle still remains in the sub-basement of the building. Several of the reinforced guard-turrets display bullet holes in their thick glass and steel, and a couple of other holes can be found in the surrounding concrete walls; providing a chilling reminder of the events that occurred during that fateful day in 1972.

The History of the Virginia Capitol Building

The Supreme Court of Virginia was created by acts of assembly passed in 1778 and 1779, being given the name Court of Appeals. It met for the first time in Williamsburg in August of 1779. In 1784, Thomas Jefferson began work on designing the first Virginia Capitol Building with the help of French architect Charles Louis Clerisseau.

Construction of the Roman Temple-esque structure began in 1785 and was completed 3 years later with the general assembly operating inside its freshly built walls. Multiple branches of the government and government officials of Virginia were housed in this building. This included the House of Delegates, the Virginia Senate, the Court of Appeals, and the General Assembly. Two new constitutions for Virginia were created by conventions meeting at the Capitol before the Civil War.

Confederate Occupation during the Civil War

On June 28 the Virginia Convention offered the House chamber for the upcoming meeting of the Confederate Congress at the Richmond Capitol Building. On September 3rd, 1861, the Provisional Congress (a unicameral body with 116 members) met in the House chamber.

The vacant state Senate chamber was converted into four congressional committee rooms using temporary screen partitions. In October the Virginia Senate chamber was modified and enlarged to become the “Hall of Congress” for Confederate legislators.

By November, Confederate legislators reassembled in the new Hall of Congress and the Virginia Convention of 1861 reassembled for a final session in the Virginia House chamber on opposite ends of the same floor. In the first week of December, the Virginia House and Senate reconvened at the Capitol, which was already crowded due to the Virginia Convention of 1861.

The Virginia State Capitol was used by the Confederate Congress from 1862 to 1865. The Virginia General Assembly authorized the governor to provide suitable accommodations for both houses of Congress, and the Confederate Senate began meeting in a renovated chamber on the third floor, while the Confederate House met in the Hall of Congress.

The Capitol became a symbol of the Confederacy, hosting events like the inauguration of President Jefferson Davis and Vice President Alexander Stephens, and featuring on Confederate currency. It witnessed events like the Richmond Bread Riot and the drilling of African American recruits for the Confederate Army.

The last session of the Confederate Congress adjourned on March 18, 1865, and the Confederates not long after. Union troops occupied the Capitol on April 3, and President Abraham Lincoln toured Capitol Square on April 4. The Union military used various rooms in the Capitol for their operations, and the Virginia General Assembly reconvened in its prewar chambers on December 4, 1865.

The Collapse of the Virginia Supreme Court Building

Richmond Capitol Building Collapse — Sketch by W. L. Sheppard, Harper’s Weekly, May 14, 1870.

On the morning of April 27th, 1870, a massive crowd of people gathered at the Virginia Capitol Building to hear the Supreme Court of Appeals ruling on the Enabling Act. This act gave the governor of Virginia the power to appoint government officials.

Before this hearing, George Chahoon, longtime Virginia native, was installed as the mayor of Richmond shortly after the Civil War. His tenure did not last long as he was excised from the government due to the Enabling Act. The Governor enacted Henry K. Ellyson as mayor – Chahoon would not go quietly.

Chaos ensued, as a municipal war broke out between Chahoon and his republican constituents and followers, and the conservative mayor. This caused major bloodshed until Chahoon was surrounded, but he still refused to surrender, taking this case to the Court of Appeals.

Members of the General Assembly, the press, police force, and even civilians flocked together to hear the results of the case. They gathered on the second floor of the Richmond Capitol Building, and unfortunately, the floor was not stable enough to hold the crowd.

The gallery’s structure collapsed under the feet of the spectators, sending them tumbling to the floor. Within the rubble lay 62 dead or severely wounded that would succumb to their injuries. 250 others suffered minor injuries.

This tragedy was due to a poorly designed floor implemented a few years prior. This disaster nearly got the Capitol demolished. However, there were calls to refurbish it from people like Thomas Jefferson.

This tragic incident undoubtedly sparked murmurs of paranormal activity.

The Spirits of the Virginia Supreme Court Building

In Hope’s book, a chilling experience during a graveyard shift in 2003 occurred inside the Supreme Court Building where a young lady, Emma, worked as a security officer for the Virginia Capitol Police.

Emma was on duty patrolling the lonely hallways of the sixth floor, unfazed by the ghostly reputation of the building. She stopped by the sixth floor kitchen to grab a snack from one of the vending machines.

Retrieving the change from her pocket, she noticed the reflection of someone in the glass approaching her from behind. Looking up at the unexpected company, Emma was struck with an immobilizing fear.

Her senses told her that this was not a real person standing behind her, with his head tilted forward, facing the floor, but with his eyes looking up and directly at hers in the reflection in the glass. Terrified, she dropped the change from her hands, but unable to move, she was forced to observe the ghostly apparition for several long seconds before she was able to flee from the kitchen.

Escaping the kitchen, she frantically called on her radio for assistance. Recounting the events to the responding officers, she recalled observing the apparition in the glass but no one standing behind her when she turned around.

She described the spirit to be an older, tall gentleman with thick, scruffy, curly brown hair, a short thick beard, and wearing a brown suit.

She recalled an intense icy-cold sensation on the side of her neck a second before she fled. Emma was so terrified by her ordeal that she refused to re-enter the building. The two Capitol Police Officers that had responded searched everywhere, no one with that description could be found.

Paul Hope’s Paranormal Experience

Paul himself had his own slew of paranormal experiences on the sixth floor as well. After making a fresh cup of coffee in the sixth floor kitchen, he continues his patrol of the winding hallways. Proceeding past the freight elevator, flashlight in hand, he spots a shadow moving in front of him.

Feeling startled, he stops moving and listens for any noise to indicate if something was there, or if he was just seeing things. His senses telling him something wasn’t right, he suddenly catches the whiff of a cigar. This was peculiar as he was the only one in the building during his shift.

A chill strikes Hope as he continues wandering down the hallway, the cigar smell growing ever-present as he draws near the source. He calls out to the shadow, but there is no response. He is instead greeted by what he describes as a chillingly cold static electricity charge that surged through his entire body, causing every hair to stand on end.

Hope was overcome with fear. The chill and the cigar scent became so intense that he had to flee back to the kitchen.

Once he caught his breath, he stumbled back into the hallway. This time, there was no chill, nor smell of a cigar. It was as if the entire experience he just lived through was only in his head. But he knew it was real.

Haunted Williamsburg

Fascinated by the haunted Virginia Capitol Building? There are plenty more spooky stories waiting for you! These historical spots are rich in eerie legends, ghost sightings, mysterious occurrences, and restless spirits.

Want to dive deeper? Check out our blog for more ghostly tales and book your next Colonial ghost tour today! Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for more spine-chilling content!

Sources:

https://www.southernspiritguide.org/launched-into-eternity-richmond-virginia/
https://www.nytimes.com/1972/03/01/archives/bank-guard-killed-2d-held-in-richmond.html
https://scvahistory.org/scv/supreme-court-of-virginia/
https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/virginia-state-capitol-during-the-civil-war-the/
http://www.vacapitol.org/disaster.htm
https://nerdymindsmagazine.com/2013/10/08/paulhopepolicingtheparanormal/
https://www.officer.com/on-the-street/article/21028753/halloween2018-part-3-paranormal-stories-from-law-enforcement-and-public-safety