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USA South
BRENTSVILLE, VIRGINIA, USA – Halloween eve, 2009. I sit in pitch darkness in the center of a decrepit building. Back in 1822 this structure served as the Brentsville, Virginia jail. TI'mwaiting in darkness in a creepy building that somehow hadn’t seemed quite as creepy in the daylight. Waiting. Waiting for a knock, a cold breeze, an inexplicable aroma wafting through the still night air, or any other possible sign that spirits from the other side are with us.
Other members of our ghost hunting expedition are simultaneously checking out the Brentsville Courthouse next door, the restored 1850 Haislip-Hall farmhouse a short ways out back, and the area in between the two where the Brentsville gallows once stood.
The gallows, long since gone, served as the execution locale for at least 13 unlucky folks. Will any of them come to communicate with us tonight?
The investigators use high tech equipment like EMF (electro-magnetic filed) detectors, infrared cameras and lights, and video and audio recorders. Not ones to eschew low tech efforts if effective, we also place a child’s ball in certain known “hot spots” as an invitation to any unseen hands who might want to come out and give it a little nudge along the jailhouse or courtroom floors.
A Hair Raising Fundraiser
According to Spencer Chamberlain, director of East Coast Research and Investigation of the Paranormal (ECRIP), “Ghosts are energy and our tools measure energy.”
Chamberlain’s group, who have investigated the Brenstville Historic Complex on many occasions in the past, organized a creative way to raise funds to restore the historic but crumbling jailhouse structure. ECRIP offered a limited number of tickets to the public to join their team on an actual paranormal investigation. Wildly successful, ECRIP raised $9000.00 in just four nights, all of it completely donated to the restoration cause.
Not only have ECRIP been drawn to investigated here, the SyFy television channel’s popular Ghost Hunters show did an episode from Brentsville as well. ECRIP utilizes a similar philosophy to Ghost Hunter’s Jason and Grant – first try to debunk or come up with logical explanations of the phenomena, and always keep the investigation as unbiased and scientific as possible.
Unfortunately the ghosts were shy on the night I visited and we weren’t able to have any definitive paranormal experiences -- at least that I know of (ECRIP has yet to post any findings to their website that may have surfaced via audio or video recordings).
The team has gotten compelling evidence on past investigations of Brentsville, the most impressive being a clear-as-day voice that, while nobody heard it in real time, showed up on one of ECRIP’s audio recorders. The incident occurred when an attractive young female investigator, wearing a tank top in the summer heat, was sitting on the jailhouse’s interior staircase. The voice is believed to be the somewhat misogynistic ghost of a man shot while incarcerated in the jail in the early 1800’s. The voice said one word “Whore.” And in the period in which this spirit lived – when women wore endless petticoats, corsets and hoopskirts beneath their long sleeved gowns – the young investigator’s attire would have indeed been seen as scandalous and lewd.
Brentsville Anytime
You need not be part of a ghost hunting expedition to experience the paranormal at the Brentsville Historic Complex. The staff is used to having visitors ask about various phenomena they've experienced including hearing disembodied voices, feeling cold spots, and even seeing full apparitions.
In the 1950’s and 60’s, historic complex docent Morgan Breedan and his family actually lived in the building that once served as the Brentsville jail (it also went through a stint as a girl’s dormitory). Morgan says he never heard or saw anything strange the entire time he and his family called the building home. But he has since. One day standing in front of the courthouse and looking towards the jail, Morgan clearly saw the face of a black woman looking out at him from the window of the jail's downstairs side door. When he went to check, the building was locked and empty, nobody was there.
Others have reported seeing the apparition of the black woman as well. She is a believed to be the ghost of a slave named Agnes, sentenced to hang for allegedly killing her master. Agnes got a brief reprieve when she revealed that she was pregnant – Virginia law did not allow the execution of pregnant women. After several months went by and no signs of the pregnancy manifested, Agnes met her end at the end of a noose, and she’s said to haunt the property ever since.
Even if you have no interest in Brentsville’s ghosts, you’ll still enjoy a visit to the scenic historic complex that includes 30 acres of rolling hills and forests and five historic buildings including the original courthouse, jail, one-room schoolhouse and church. The 1822 farmhouse, while typical of the average working family’s domiciles of the era, was moved to the property.
Guided tours of the complex are offered on weekends from May through October. Otherwise you can pick up a self guided tour brochure and explore on your own. At this point, no further ghost hunting expeditions are scheduled, but the first one was so successful the Brenstville staff and ECRIP have not ruled out the possibility of doing it again, so check their websites often.
The Brentsville Courthouse Historic Center is located at 12229 Bristow Rd. in Brenstville, Virginia 20136. Phone 703-365-7895 or click to www.brentsville.org.
You can visit the East Coast Research and Investigation of the Paranormal’s website at www.eastcoastrip.org for more information about their paranormal investigations.
For more information about visiting this area in general, contact the Prince William County/Manassas Convention and Visitors Bureau at www.VisitPWC.com or call toll free 800-432-1792.
USA South
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Other members of our ghost hunting expedition are simultaneously checking out the Brentsville Courthouse next door, the restored 1850 Haislip-Hall farmhouse a short ways out back, and the area in between the two where the Brentsville gallows once stood.
The gallows, long since gone, served as the execution locale for at least 13 unlucky folks. Will any of them come to communicate with us tonight?
The investigators use high tech equipment like EMF (electro-magnetic filed) detectors, infrared cameras and lights, and video and audio recorders. Not ones to eschew low tech efforts if effective, we also place a child’s ball in certain known “hot spots” as an invitation to any unseen hands who might want to come out and give it a little nudge along the jailhouse or courtroom floors.
A Hair Raising Fundraiser
According to Spencer Chamberlain, director of East Coast Research and Investigation of the Paranormal (ECRIP), “Ghosts are energy and our tools measure energy.”
Chamberlain’s group, who have investigated the Brenstville Historic Complex on many occasions in the past, organized a creative way to raise funds to restore the historic but crumbling jailhouse structure. ECRIP offered a limited number of tickets to the public to join their team on an actual paranormal investigation. Wildly successful, ECRIP raised $9000.00 in just four nights, all of it completely donated to the restoration cause.
Not only have ECRIP been drawn to investigated here, the SyFy television channel’s popular Ghost Hunters show did an episode from Brentsville as well. ECRIP utilizes a similar philosophy to Ghost Hunter’s Jason and Grant – first try to debunk or come up with logical explanations of the phenomena, and always keep the investigation as unbiased and scientific as possible.
Unfortunately the ghosts were shy on the night I visited and we weren’t able to have any definitive paranormal experiences -- at least that I know of (ECRIP has yet to post any findings to their website that may have surfaced via audio or video recordings).
The team has gotten compelling evidence on past investigations of Brentsville, the most impressive being a clear-as-day voice that, while nobody heard it in real time, showed up on one of ECRIP’s audio recorders. The incident occurred when an attractive young female investigator, wearing a tank top in the summer heat, was sitting on the jailhouse’s interior staircase. The voice is believed to be the somewhat misogynistic ghost of a man shot while incarcerated in the jail in the early 1800’s. The voice said one word “Whore.” And in the period in which this spirit lived – when women wore endless petticoats, corsets and hoopskirts beneath their long sleeved gowns – the young investigator’s attire would have indeed been seen as scandalous and lewd.
Brentsville Anytime
You need not be part of a ghost hunting expedition to experience the paranormal at the Brentsville Historic Complex. The staff is used to having visitors ask about various phenomena they've experienced including hearing disembodied voices, feeling cold spots, and even seeing full apparitions.
In the 1950’s and 60’s, historic complex docent Morgan Breedan and his family actually lived in the building that once served as the Brentsville jail (it also went through a stint as a girl’s dormitory). Morgan says he never heard or saw anything strange the entire time he and his family called the building home. But he has since. One day standing in front of the courthouse and looking towards the jail, Morgan clearly saw the face of a black woman looking out at him from the window of the jail's downstairs side door. When he went to check, the building was locked and empty, nobody was there.
Others have reported seeing the apparition of the black woman as well. She is a believed to be the ghost of a slave named Agnes, sentenced to hang for allegedly killing her master. Agnes got a brief reprieve when she revealed that she was pregnant – Virginia law did not allow the execution of pregnant women. After several months went by and no signs of the pregnancy manifested, Agnes met her end at the end of a noose, and she’s said to haunt the property ever since.
Even if you have no interest in Brentsville’s ghosts, you’ll still enjoy a visit to the scenic historic complex that includes 30 acres of rolling hills and forests and five historic buildings including the original courthouse, jail, one-room schoolhouse and church. The 1822 farmhouse, while typical of the average working family’s domiciles of the era, was moved to the property.
Guided tours of the complex are offered on weekends from May through October. Otherwise you can pick up a self guided tour brochure and explore on your own. At this point, no further ghost hunting expeditions are scheduled, but the first one was so successful the Brenstville staff and ECRIP have not ruled out the possibility of doing it again, so check their websites often.
Practicalities
The Brentsville Courthouse Historic Center is located at 12229 Bristow Rd. in Brenstville, Virginia 20136. Phone 703-365-7895 or click to www.brentsville.org.
You can visit the East Coast Research and Investigation of the Paranormal’s website at www.eastcoastrip.org for more information about their paranormal investigations.
For more information about visiting this area in general, contact the Prince William County/Manassas Convention and Visitors Bureau at www.VisitPWC.com or call toll free 800-432-1792.
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