A HAUNTING EVENING

Over the last several years a bunch of haunted houses have popped up in the area around Halloween. Each year there seems to be more and more. Each claiming to be bigger and better than their competition. 

One of the first in the area was the Major Graham Haunted Mansion near Fort Chiswell in Wythe County. The mansion was the home of Major David Graham who fought for the 51st Virginia Infantry during the Civil War.  The mansion was the center piece of the 6000 acres plantation owned by the Graham Family. 

Legend has it that Confederate officers held secret meetings in one of the rooms in the attic, which is known as "The Confederate Room."  The mansion has a dark history that that includes murdered slaves, imprisoned servants and ghost stories. 

One of the ghost stories centers around a man who were murdered by slaves on the Graham property. Before the the Graham Mansion stood on this site, a cabin belonging to Joseph Baker stood here. In 1786 Baker was murdered by two of his slaves. A few days later the slaves known as Bob and Sam were hung from a hickory tree that still over looks the mansion property. Legend has it that Bob and Sam still roam the property today and may have been seen inside the mansion. The completer story of  The Murder of Joseph Baker can be found here.

The haunted legend of the Graham Mansion is known far and wide and in 2012 "Ghost Hunters"

visited the site and officially declared the Mansion and surrounding area as "Haunted."

For the past several years the Haunted Graham Mansion has been one of the areas most popular Halloween attractions.  The 45-minute tour features props and live actors who set about to scare visitors as they make their way through the mansion and adjacent buildings.

Every Friday and Saturday Night in October more than 2,000 people a night pay $20 a person to take the scary tour through the Major David Graham Mansion. This year a couple of friends an myself were among the visitors.