Can’t get enough of the History Channel but never miss an episode of The Atlantic Paranormal Society or Ghost Whisperer? Well here’s your chance to experience both! You can be up close and personal with the spirit world and the history of a Civil War mansion. According to the a local paranormal society, “this 11,000 square foot, antebellum mansion is officially haunted and we’ve got the EVPs to prove it”. The following is an excerpt from 2009 article written for “The Big Blue magazine”:

…….I drove onto the Major Graham property was just before dark on a Saturday night. I was meeting members of the Virginia Paranormal Society at the mansion to spend the night and hunt ghosts. These real life ghost hunters spend almost every weekend in dark, scary places. Once the team arrived they immediately began unloading equipment. Our base station was in a downstairs dining room. Night vision cameras were immediately set up in four areas of the house where the most paranormal activity had been reported. This was not the paranormal society’s first trip to the mansion. On previous visits they recorded a child’s voice saying “What’s your name?” near the Confederate room and a man’s voice saying “I don’t play that tune” in the parlor. Other equipment included digital recorders, flashlights (very important to me!), digital cameras, and an electromagnetic field detector. Yes, it was just like on TV! After the video monitor was set up in the dining room to capture all movement in front of the night vision cameras we only had one thing left to do……….wait until it got dark…….. really dark.

Major Grahams Haunted Mansion Tours: The History, The Paranormal Research, and The Ghost Stories

SpookyWorld at the haunted Major Graham Mansion is a “one of a kind” attraction.  It is the ONLY haunted mansion that really is haunted!   According to one member of the small Grahams Forge community, “that old place has been haunted ever since I can remember. We been-a seein’ lights, faces in the winders, hearin’ strange noises, and I even hear tell-a folks finding see through circles on theys pictures. My granddaddy showed me that ole hickory tree up on that hill yonder where them slaves were hanged for killin’ theys master long time ago.” In the Fall of 2007  local paranormal teams began investigating the mansion and since then have recorded hundreds of EVPs or Electronic Voice Phenomena as well as noted hundreds of other paranormal encounters at the Graham mansion.

The most active spirit is “Clara”. During the first GrahamFest festival, Clara “introduced” herself to “Lynn”, a self-proclaimed clairvoyant, who prefers to be known only by her first name. Based on three years of paranormal data and Lynn’s communications, we know that Clara was an orphan during the Civil War. Emily and Bettie Graham, secretly kept Clara in their bedroom for several years and tutored her along with other children during the war. Squire David, the Graham patriarch, discovered Clara and sternly disapproved of her presence. Clara died of  influenza in the girls’ bedroom during the winter. The girls wrapped her body in sheets and hid her in their closet until they could bury her in a shallow grave just beyond the barn on a hill. There are no known records of Clara’s presence although Bettie kept a diary during the Civil War and it is published at the University of Virginia’s library. Clara is our #1 ghost.

The # 2 ghost spot must go to Martha Bell Peirce who married Squire David Graham in 1835.  Her father was part owner of the nearby Lead Mines. With this strategic marriage, Squire David, a rapidly aspiring and successful iron forge master, gained a key source of ore, which ultimately served his 12 forges and furnaces. According to Bettie’s diary, her mother Martha suffered from bouts of melancholy and her father excessive drinking and outbursts of anger. Clairvoyant reports from “Lynn” and a recent discovery of Martha’s numerous dated signatures on the mansion walls, doors, and also a window etching confirm what was long suspected….Squire David locked Martha away from her family, friends, and others as her “spells” increased.  (Squire David is a close 3rd on the dominant Graham Ghosts.) The window etching in Martha’s room dated February 24, 1864 was not from a happy bride’s diamond ring as previously reported…. but was instead from a half crazed “M. Bell Peirce”, just one year prior to her death. According to VPS investigators, “Martha’s restless spirit remains with us to this day.  Martha is our prankster….she enjoys making us squirm!” Ghost #4 is our “lady in the veil” or “weeping bride”. Back in the 1990s a caretaker “Joe” and his girlfriend “Darlene” lived in the white house on the hill beside the mansion. Joe reports that “a lady in a veil” would appear to him at the bottom of his staircase almost every morning. Although she never saw the lady in the veil at their staircase, Darlene did see her in an upstairs bedroom window and snapped a picture of her. In 2007 “Lynn” reported “seeing” a bride in the same room, crying on her bed….saddened over the loss of her betrothed. This story has appeared in one of L.B. Taylor’s ghost story collections.  It is called, “The Haunted Mansion That Really Looks Haunted”.

The downstairs parlor welcomes ghosts and  guests alike.  It is where we talk about  a surreal scene of an actual murder….from over 200 years ago!  You see before Squire David owned this property at Cedar Run Creek, Joseph Baker and his wife owned it and built a log cabin precisely where the mansion sits today. According to the death records of 1786 at the Montgomery County Courthouse and from interviews with Baker descendants, Joseph Baker was murdered by his slaves, Bob and Sam reportedly while they were making moonshine. Bob and Sam were caught by the sheriff who was paid with 200 lbs. of tobacco. Bob and Sam were tried at the Ft. Chiswell Courthouse and found guilty.  The judge ordered Baker’s body be dug up and examined by the jury.  Baker indeed died as a result from a powerful blow to his head by a sharp axe, which “split open his skull”. Bob and Sam were hung and buried along the hill overlooking the mansion and it is said that they “roam Cedar Run to this day”.  Sam and Bob are ghosts # 5 and #6 on our list!

 The mansion is deceiving as it was built in three sections and three time-periods. The brick section is actually an addition to the rear frame home, which was built in the mid-1830s by Squire David. The massive brick edifice was built in the 1850s and the Victorian porches and hip-on-hip roof built in the late 1890s. The haunted tour guests will exit through the brick basement with the metal window bars, view the “slave shackle room” where it has long been said slaves were tortured and Martha was locked up. According to “Lynn”, …. “there are a sea of black eyes screaming down there….beware of the basement.” Ghost #7 represents the spirits of the Graham slaves who haunt the grounds to this day.  You may say “is the mansion that really is haunted?”  Come and see for yourself. We have hundreds of guests who have had experiences with the spirits….whether it be “someone” tugging your pants, stroking your face, sweetly humming a song, tickling your hair, or perhaps feelings of suffocation. It is a one-of-a-kind experience………… come and see for yourself……………if you dare!

Graham Ghosts Walk Tours: October 2nd, 16th, and 23rd, November 6th and 13th.  $12 per person; reservations strongly suggested.

Don’t miss the last, self-guided historical tour and Civil War encampment at the Major Graham Mansion of 2011:  November 13th, 1-4 p.m. $10 pp

November 2011 Public Paranormal Investigations at the HAUNTED Major Graham Mansion $100 per person. See www.MajorGrahamMansion.com for more information.