Dark Corners of the Old Dominion: What are the Scariest Places in Virginia?
You may be asking, “What’s so scary about Virginia?”
Well, from Edgar Allan Poe’s Ragged Mountains to the shores of Tidewater’s Seven Cities… From the blood-soaked battlegrounds of the Civil War to the shadowy political arena of the D.C. Beltway… We have four hundred years’ worth of ghost stories, folk horrors, small-town terrors, urban legends, backwoods beasts, otherworldly secrets, and down-home Southern Gothic.
“Dark Corners of the Old Dominion: A Virginia Horrors Anthology” explores those dangerous destinations, myths, and monsters from the Commonwealth’s past, present, and future.
Twenty-three authors with close ties to Virginia volunteered their time and talent to be part of this charity anthology, for which all of the publisher and author proceeds will be donated to Scares That Care, a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to helping those with childhood illness, breast cancer fighters, and burn survivors.
A very special thanks to all the authors who contributed work for a wonderful cause. Some of the authors had time to sit down and answer a couple of questions about scary places in Virginia. We asked them to tell us about their stories, as well as where in the state they’d send a paranormal investigation team. They’ve dug up some dirt on the darkest places and here’s what they had to say:
Clay McLeod Chapman:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
I’d send them to the collapsed train tunnel in Church Hill. As a Richmonder ex-pat, I’ve always been partial to the Richmond Vampire and his tentative connections to the tunnel… but I think Church Hill at large is such a supernaturally steeped scene, it reminds me of those times I leave my tea bag in the mug for far too long…
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners story take place and what inspired the idea?
I’ve got some fam in Mathews County, which means I pay a visit now and then… and sometimes when we’re in town, we’ll pass a particular statue that has been hotly contested as of late. Seemed like a solid spot to set a story. A ghost story.
Where can people find you online?
You can find me at www.claymcleodchapman.com
Catherine Kuo:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
Old Town Alexandria’s bound to have some interesting ghosts! Lots of history there, and I think they already have ghost tours.
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners story take place and what inspired the idea?
My story takes place in the Luray Caverns. I’ve only lived in Virginia for about three years now, so I didn’t know of any scary spots or urban legends. I asked my friend and sister what was scary about Virginia and one of them said, “The Luray Caverns could be scary if you wanted them to be,” and the other said “abortion laws,” in response to the Roe v. Wade decision at the time. I decided to combine the two.
Where can people find you online?
Twitter @catherinekuo531
Nicole Willson:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
I live near Cub Run Stream Valley Park, which has a lovely walking trail through places that played supporting roles in the Civil War. There is a very specific spot on this trail where people have told me they become disoriented—even if they’ve walked this trail hundreds of times. All of a sudden nothing in the area looks familiar, they can’t remember which direction they came from, and they can’t figure out where they need to go next. The effect doesn’t last long, but it’s deeply unsettling while it’s happening. I’d love to see a paranormal team investigate that spot and figure out what’s going on.
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners story take place and what inspired the idea?
Several years ago, the company I worked for moved from a vibrant Washington, DC location to Crystal City, a neighborhood in Arlington, VA. Despite the sparkling name, Crystal City is a dreary, soulless blot on the Virginia landscape. And the network of underground corridors connecting parts of Crystal City always creeped me out whenever I wandered around down there. When I was trying to think of an out-of-the-box location for a Virginia-based horror story, Crystal City and its underground came to mind pretty quickly.
Where can people find you online?
I can always be found at http://www.nicolewillson.com – with social media in quite a state of fluX at the moment, that’s my most consistent online location.
Brýn Grover:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
The Exchange Hotel in Gordonsville. During the Civil War it became a receiving hospital for wounded and dying due to its convenient location in Virginia and on a railroad. It changed hands between the north and south more than once and reportedly had more than 70,000 wounded go through there. There are at least 700 people buried on the grounds (no exact number exists) and ghosts of some of those who never left are said to remain and cry out and moan in pain.
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners story take place and what inspired the idea?
It takes place in Clifton, VA. The inspiration is an urban legend that was verbally passed around a lot in my youth and has managed to stay in circulation for a little more than 50 years since it started.
Where can people find you online?
Website: https://quillgroupllc.com/
Stephen Mark Rainey:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
St. Albans Sanitorium in Radford, I expect. It’s reputedly the most haunted site in Virginia, and though I’ve not yet visited the Sanitorium itself, I know the area well from many sojourns in Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and the surrounding vicinity. The haunted vibe in this part of the state is near and dear to me, as the southwestern Virginia mountains serve as the backdrop for a significant amount of my fiction. The Sanitorium is on my bucket list of sites to visit, and I reckon I’d be obliged if investigators were to check it out in advance.
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners story take place and what inspired the idea?
“Doom at Dragon’s Roost” is set in the mountains of southwest Virginia, very near the real-life location known as Dragon’s Tooth in the Catawba Valley, northwest of Salem. Over the years, I’ve created a fictional corner of the state — sort of “tucked into” the mountain region between Martinsville and Blacksburg. Many of these stories involve several families over a long period of years. Although it is a standalone story, “Doom at Dragon’s Roost” could be considered a chapter in the ongoing saga of the fictional Sylvan County. Many of my stories — including this one — involve music as a means of bridging the gaps between natural and supernatural realms.
Where can people find you online?
Website: https://www.stephenmarkrainey.com
X (Twitter): @markrainey59
Facebook
Blog: https://stephenmarkrainey.blogspot.com
James L. Hill:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) in Portsmouth. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility in the U.S. Navy. It was built in 1767 as Gosport Shipyard (British Royal Navy) and renamed in 1862 to its current name. The shipyard has been in continuous operation since its inception. Just imagine the wars fought and the people who passed through the yard onboard the ships and the stories they can tell.
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners story take place and what inspired the idea?
My story takes place in the Great Dismal Swamp. The name inspires a sense of foreboding, a place one would go only if running away from a greater evil. And who knows what horrors awaits in the swamp.
Where can people find you online?
First you can find me hard at work at my publishing house, RockHill Publishing LLC https://rockhillpublishing.com/index.html.Then on social media sites:
and my author site https://jlhill-books.com/index.html
Sonora Taylor:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
I would send them to the Trader Joe’s parking lot in Bailey’s Crossroads (Falls Church). Hear me out: while Trader Joe’s is known for picking the worst parking lots to set up shop, this one is a cut above the rest. My husband and I no longer shop there because both times we went, we got into a huge fight while parking the car. It’s actually the parking lot where I set the beginning of my story “Stick Figure Family.” There’s something off in that lot and I want to find out what.
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners story take place and what inspired the idea?
My poem, “The Woods Behind My House,” takes place in the Balls Bluff Woods, a national park and historic battlefield that rests beside a Leesburg neighborhood called Potomac Crossing. It’s where I grew up, and there are a couple ghost stories and legends surrounding it, including one I explored in a previous story called “Laughter in the Night.” My family and I spent lots of time in those woods picking berries, fishing, hiking, and walking our dog. I found it interesting that this site of daily recreation, one visited by lots of people every day, is essentially a recreational cemetery, with a graveyard close to the Potomac River and bullets still waiting to be found. What ghosts lie there? My poem wonders.
Where can people find you online?
Website: https://sonorawrites.com/
Twitter/X (ugh, I can’t believe I typed that)
Michael Rook:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
Old Town Alexandria, without question. Take one of the ghost tours that leave from King St. (The north route is classic, all Female Stranger spirits and angry dead from when George Washington was hitting the nightspots, but the south trip is where the real nightmares went down.) When the guide isn’t paying attention, slip out and explore that one hole in that one basement…
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners story take place and what inspired the idea?
“The Flooded Man” starts with one of those historic Alexandria ghost tours, but quickly peels off along the riverfront to a terror the guides won’t talk about. That includes an abandoned coal plant on the waterfront. It’s squeezed between family-friendly green spaces and million-dollar condos like a bite that won’t heal. When I saw it, after another rainy Alexandria day—and more flooding—the story started telling itself.
Where can people find you online?
Find my other stories in Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine, Teach.Write., and After Dinner Conversation. Or check out my Instagram @michaelrook10 and website, www.michaelrookwrites.com, home to my occasionally interesting blog.
Bryan Nowak:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
I would send them to Fort Monroe, VA. Fort Monroe was an early defensive work in the Virginia colonies, it has seen tens of thousands of families call it home. It has hosted military personnel through every major war in US history and has played host to not only this author while in uniform, but also Edgar Allen Poe as a soldier. It even served for two years as the prison of Jefferson Davis after the end of the Civil War. The storied history of the fort coupled with the overall emotional tussle and turmoil of the events surrounding the birth of a nation through our more recent wars seems like it would be a perfect place to search for those who have passed on but still have something to tell us.
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners story take place and what inspired the idea?
Beach House takes place along the Virginia Coastline in Virginia Beach. As a young man, I first came to the area when I was serving in the army. The majestic splendor of the eastern seaboard and the raw power of hurricanes captured my imagination in the way little else ever could. I remember being through my first real hurricane (Bertha, 1996) and being in awe of how deep the storm was. While it was not a particularly strong storm, it still did a good amount of damage to the Hampton roads area and it stoked my imagination in these awesome forces of nature.
Where can people find you online?
Valerie B. Williams:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
The Exchange Hotel and Civil War Medical Museum in Gordonsville. The building has a storied history as a railroad hotel, Civil War hospital, and Freedmen’s Bureau before being acquired by Historic Gordonsville, Inc. Many EVPs, cold spots, and sightings have been recorded by a number of paranormal investigative teams. Well-known ghosts include Anna the cook, nurses dressed in black, Major Quartermaster Richards, and a young girl named Emma. In 1997, A&E and The History Channel listed The Exchange Hotel as 15th in the top 100 most haunted places in America. The Museum is open for private paranormal investigations on Saturdays from 7:00 – midnight.
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners story take place and what inspired the idea?
Not coincidentally, my story takes place at the Gordonsville Receiving Hospital, the name of the Museum during the Civil War. I live about 12 miles from the Museum, had visited, and was fascinated by the building and its history. Into this setting, I placed an injured and traumatized Confederate soldier with a guilty conscience.
Where can people find you online?
Website: Valerie B. Williams (valeriebwilliams.com)
Brad Center:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
St. Albans Sanatorium: In the early 20th century this sanatorium used cruel methods on their patients to include electroshock therapy, lobotomies, and other archaic/evil practices on the patients. A paranormal team might find more here than history.
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners story take place and what inspired the idea?
The inspiration for my little tale of horror was Bacon Castle. The house has a long history and is the oldest brick documented brick dwelling in the US. The house has a long history of being haunted, but that is just the beginning. A terrible battle was fought nearby between Native Americans and English settlers. The carnage of the battle was horrific. I could not think of a better place to set a story.
Where can people find you online?
Website: http://bradcenterstories.com/
Sidney Williams:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
With only one night, I’d have to say the area where I live, Williamsburg. By some accounts, it’s the most haunted city in Virginia. Colonial Williamsburg offers ghost tours with accounts of several ghosts from the 1700s plus even a few more recent specters reported. Right next door, the William & Mary campus has buildings that have been around for hundreds of years as well, and they include the ghosts that go with historic places, place-memory, stone tape theory, call it what you will. I’m a skeptic, but people see things! If nothing else, walk around the campus and you’ll come upon a magic bridge and eventually a statue called “Spring.” It features students relaxing with a cassette tape deck for their entertainment. That’s truly a view from another era.
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners story take place and what inspired the idea?
My story is called “Odditorium.” The protagonists enter by van almost exactly at the southern center point of Virginia. Picking up on urban legends about chimpanzees left by a wrecked circus train, they head northerly, eventually taking back roads and winding into wilderness territory where they uncover some old, old secrets. My wife and I are relative newcomers to Virginia after living years in Orlando. I riffed off a trip we took on backroads ourselves a couple of summers ago, and research built on those travels. I’m fascinated by tales of lost towns and slightly more modern ruins and that factored into the mix as well.
Where can people find you online?
My home base is my website: https://sidisalive.com/
Look for me on most socials but especially Facebook, and I offer microfiction on TikTok.
William R.D. Wood:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
There are so many good ones. Luray Caverns, USS Wisconsin, and the Blue Ridge Tunnel (the setting for my story) are all good ones but the best one I can think of is just a few miles down the road from my house. It sounds like the setup for a Poltergeist sequel, but imagine in 1828 a huge Greek Revival style building is built and christened the Western State Lunatic Asylum. For 140 years it was home to all sorts of horrible acts before becoming a medium security prison in the 1970s. For the last twenty years though, you guessed it, luxury condominiums for older folks. That place positively reeks of paranormal activity.
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners story take place and what inspired the idea?
“Cave Kisses” takes place in the Blue Ridge Tunnel long before it was made accessible to the public. Last winter my wife and I were walking the tunnel late one evening. We’d forgotten flashlights, but if you keep your eye on the mouth at either side, and walk straight for it, you’re mostly okay. About midway through, I stopped so I could enjoy the creepiness. It’s a straight shot through the tunnel, and almost three-quarters of a mile from one entrance to the other. That tiny fading entrance in one direction and the slightly darker one in the other, well, it was enough to give anyone chills. Then a drop of icy water struck the back of my neck and went straight down my spine. Despite what my wife might tell you, I did not squeal, squeak or scream. Not even a little.
Where can people find you online?
Email [email protected]
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Amazon
Margaret L. Carter:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
Williamsburg. Founded in the early seventeenth century and containing the second-oldest college in the country, the College of William and Mary, Virginia’s colonial capital hosts numerous ghostly legends.
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners poem take place and what inspired the idea?
My story, “In Mountain Mist,” takes place in the Shenandoah National Park, which my husband and I visit every summer. The idea came to me soon after I’d read a book on myths of shapeshifters in North America. It occurred to me that a deserted mountain road at night would make an ideal location to encounter a frightening cryptid.
Where can people find you online?
My website, Carter’s Crypt: http://www.margaretlcarter.com
Sirrah Medeiros:
A paranormal investigation team has only one night to spend in a Virginia location. Where would you send them and why?
Local legend of Aquia Church in Stafford, Virginia.
Aquia Church is one of the oldest active congregations in the United States, dating back to 1667. Although the original church burned down, a new one was constructed inside the shell of the original building in 1757. Construction halted during the Revolutionary War, but opened again in 1775, when to the dismay of church members, they found the body of a young woman hidden in the vestry, with obvious signs of her brutal murder staining the room. Skeleton only, but with a full head of long blond hair. Bloodstains could never be removed and were later covered over with concrete. Since the young woman’s body was found, mind you, that was 1775, strange sounds and ghostly visions of a woman have been reported for almost 250 years. Be wary of visiting at night, the dead do not like to be disturbed. It would be interesting to see what investigators could prove or disprove about the hauntings over so many years.
Without giving away any spoilers, where does your Dark Corners poem take place and what inspired the idea?
My poem takes place along Virginia’s coastline, in the Chesapeake Bay. The poem was inspired by an environmental article I’d read related to overfishing, waste, and the state of our food supply.
Where can people find you online?
Website: https://sirrahmedeiros.com
Dark Corners of the Old Dominion releases on September 8, 2023 and is available for preorder through several online book retailers now. All publisher and author proceeds go to SCARES THAT CARE.
Dark Corners of the Old Dominion – Death Knell Press
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Red Lagoe grew up on 80s horror and carried her paranoia of slashers and sewer creatures into adulthood. Red is the author of horror collections Lucid Screams and Dismal Dreams. She worked as a staff writer for Crystal Lake Publishing’s Still Water Bay series, and her stories have appeared in several anthologies.
Amateur astronomy is her first love, so Red can be found in the evenings volunteering with her local non-profit astronomy organization, or lingering alone in the inky shadows for a better view of the stars.
