the midnight society

vinegar valentines

2012-02-14T09:38:00.002-05:00

I had never heard of the 19th century practice of "vinegar valentines" until this week when I saw this article from Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery. Vinegar valentines are "insulting cards mocking the recipient's appearance, profession or behaviour and predicting a loveless future." Wow. I thought our generation was nasty.

Presidents Passport

2012-02-13T10:00:00.000-05:00

Monticello, Montpelier, and Charlottesville are offering some savings on your next historical day trip to C-ville if you sign up for their Presidents Passport. This is right up our day-tripping alley.

StoryCorps coming to Richmond in March

2012-02-11T16:22:00.005-05:00

StoryCorps will be rolling through Lewis Ginter in March, so if you have a story to tell, sign up! StoryCorps is a great project and one that's absolutely necessary to follow if you're passionate about the art of storytelling.

colonial fredericksburg.

2012-01-23T09:00:00.002-05:00

Fredericksburg is one of those towns that's been lucky enough to preserve plenty of colonial buildings all these years. Some blocks probably look similar to how they looked in the 1700s, minus the power lines and parked cars. I think most Virginians visit Fredericksburg on elementary school field trips, as I did, but I was well overdue for another visit.

So on the day after Christmas, Dan and I made the 45-minute drive and went to some historical sites, thanks to the free tickets kindly bestowed on me by Preservation Virginia.

The Mary Washington House is a lovely but very modest cottage that GW built for his mother in her older years. The tour guide and I geeked out about the warm, muted shade of green used on the parlor walls and how it contrasts with the bright, rather garish green used at Mount Vernon. My favorite part of this property is the garden, though. Plenty of gnarled old boxwoods and a lush lawn would have made this the perfect little escape for Mary in the middle of the city. I need to go back sometime when it's warmer though, and see the garden in its full glory.

The Rising Sun Tavern is the site I remember most vividly from childhood, and indeed I think it's still the most kid-friendly attraction of the three we visited. Though the building was like 20 different things over the years, they've got it set up as it would have been when it was a tavern in the 1790s. The "tavern wenches" that guide your tour focus on the chronology of a typical tavern stay during that time period, highlighting lots of familiar turns-of-phrase which have their origins in revolutionary-era customs (like "mind your Ps and Qs"). It's interesting to see the difference between how a layman's stay at the tavern would have gone, as opposed to a gentleman's stay (like the Marquis de Lafayette on his big tour of the US).

Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop is the place to hear about all the weird / gross 18th-century methods of doctoring that you would expect. A sign on the door proclaims that they've recently gotten a new shipment of the "finest Swedish leeches." The elderly guides love to get a reaction out of people when they talk about amputations and bloodletting, but we've been to so many Civil War museums with related content that we remain nonplussed. The thing that got me was seeing the instrument used for pulling teeth. YIKES. My favorite part of this tour is standing at the big pharmacy counter and smelling all the vials and jars of different 18th century medicines, and hearing about what each one was used to cure. It's fun to notice how many of those ingredients are still used somehow or other in our modern treatments today.

After the museums we headed down to Caroline Street for plenty of antiquing and food.

Anyway, we had a lovely time and as Fredericksburg is just a short jaunt from Richmond and these museums are incredibly cheap, I highly recommend making a day of it.

More pictures are here.

walk in their footsteps.

2011-12-20T08:46:00.003-05:00

Have you guys seen this Walk in their Footsteps site? It highlights some of the "regular people" from Virginia's Civil War era and provides a well-rounded picture of the hardships faced by all. It's also just beautifully designed.

I particularly like the piece about inventor James Hanger. Though he doesn't usually get much attention, many of you will probably remember the Hanger Prosthetics shop that used to be right next to Domino's on Belvidere. Yep, that's the guy.

The sidebar also includes some cool resources, like a list of Civil War-related events. If only there were 8 of me so I could attend all of these things!

December at the Poe Museum

2011-11-30T08:30:00.001-05:00

Lots of cool things going on at the Poe Museum this month, so check out their calendar for details. They've also got all your kitschy Poe-related gift-giving needs taken care of!

as american as pumpkin pie.

2011-11-21T16:52:00.001-05:00

Got an email from the Historical Society with the following info. Oh man, I wish I could go! Three different guys specializing in the history of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries respectively? Be still my heart.

Join the American History Guys as we share a heaping helping of conversation on one of the Virginia Historical Society's favorite holidays: Thanksgiving.
On Monday, November 21, at 7:00 p.m. in the Robins Family Forum, we will host a live staging of BackStory with the American History Guys.
If you do not know who the American History Guys are, let me introduce you to renowned U.S. historians Peter Onuf, Ed Ayers, and Brian Balogh, or as they like to call themselves: 18th century guy, 19th century guy, and 20th century guy.
The American History Guys will peel back layers of tradition and competing myths that have created the celebration that we know today. From Pilgrims, to turkey, to football games, to parade floats, the Guys will offer surprising perspectives on the shaping of one of our nation's most beloved holidays.
A special guest -- who will make a case for Virginia's claim on Thanksgiving's roots -- will also join the Guys.
BackStory is a program of Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.
Please join us at 7:00 p.m., Monday, November 21, in the Robins Family Forum. This event is open to the public and admission is free.
I look forward to seeing you.
Sincerely,

Paul A. Levengood
President and CEO
Virginia Historical Society

happy halloween 2011!

2011-10-31T08:15:00.003-04:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year. :)

From How to Be a Retronaut.

historically spooky

2011-10-28T10:33:00.001-04:00

I love the Virginia Travel Blog. I particularly love it when they do a piece on fun, spooky, historical places in Virginia. See if you can scratch all of these sites off your list:

Ghostly Haunts: Touring Virginia's History

kidney trafficking: not so much an urban legend.

2011-10-27T20:25:00.000-04:00

It appears that the FBI has finally done something pretty X-Files-worthy:

Man Pleads Guilty to Trafficking Black Market Kidneys in New Jersey

Just read it.

Now, I acknowledge that this story of a tightly-orchestrated, consensual kidney deal doesn't match up to the usual one you hear. The boilerplate urban legend is that people wake up in bathtubs full of ice, the area around their kidneys all sore and sewn up, and the assumption is that somebody drugged them and stole their kidneys for profit. Though any folklorist worth her salt would wave that old story away and say "Yeah, but that's just an urban legend. EVERYBODY knows that. It doesn't really happen," I must say that this news story has made me think twice about certain things I take to be "classic folklore."

urbex bonanza.

2011-10-25T14:34:00.000-04:00

Anybody who's remotely interested in urban exploration should check out this Wired.com feature: Haunting Videos Take You Inside Abandoned Buildings. Beautiful videos of forgotten structures, set to beautiful music. I especially recommend the 4th video (Undercity) and the last video (Divine Lorraine). Truly incredible.

Beth Brown on RVAudio

2011-10-22T13:47:00.001-04:00

Richmond paranormal author and friend of the Midnight Society Beth Brown was interviewed by RVAudio recently. Click here to listen to her interview. Bonus: she shares her favorite local ghost story!

All Hallow’s Eve: Living History Tour at Agecroft Hall

2011-10-20T21:40:00.002-04:00

Oh, how I love Halloween in Richmond. This year is kind of sad for me, as we're still in the throes of construction on our house and all my costume-related gear is packed away in one of the million boxes here. But if, unlike me, you are free to roam about as you please and are looking for fun things to do, this might be right down your alley.

Katie from Agecroft Hall writes,

Tess:

Here is an upcoming event that may be of interest to The Midnight Society.

All Hallow’s Eve: Living History Tour at Agecroft Hall
Thursday, Oct. 27 6:00-7:00 pm
Thursday, Oct. 27 8:00-9:00 pm(almost sold out; please call 353-4241)
Friday, Oct. 28 6:00-7:00 pm
Friday, Oct. 28 8:00-9:00 pm

For additional information, and a new article titled, “All Hallow’s Eve: Watch Your Step” please go to our e-newsletter and calendar atwww.agecrofthall.org/newsletter.

Special thanks to Katie for thinking of us, and I hope everyone is enjoying this Halloween season.

the ghost society.

2011-09-30T07:27:00.003-04:00

Here's a neat piece of ghostly history:

Pop culture is full of characters who approach ghosts with scientific detachment instead of terror. Where did this Fox Mulderism start? With the Cambridge Association for Spiritual Enquiry, widely known as the Ghost Society. Formed in 1851 at the prestigious university, its founders included future prime minister Arthur Balfour and future archbishop of Canterbury Edward White Benson. Little is known about the group’s day-to-day activities—it was as enamored with mystery and secret societies as it was with the paranormal. But the organization did declare that it was dedicated to “a serious inquiry into the nature of the phenomena which are vaguely called ’supernatural.’” One society member boasted of studying 2,000 apparitional anomalies. The group’s key spookologists moved to London in 1862 and continued their pursuits as the Ghost Club.

-- From Wired.com.

mourning miniature.

2011-09-04T08:57:00.003-04:00

In our modern age of photo PowerPoints and online eulogizing, we forget how previous generations mourned the loss of loved ones. There's an article at Art of Mourning about this striking Victorian mourning miniature, analyzing its meaning and contrasting it to others of its time. It really is a gorgeous piece.

From the article:

Now, obviously miniature portraits captured the depiction of the subject and there are jewels which show the individual painted into the scene, but we’re dealing with a quite standard mourning depiction where the woman was considered the essence and centre of grieving. Yet, this piece shows the young lady with her eyes gently upturned and her chin resting upon her right arm, without the outpouring of sadness, but with a look of reassurance in the afterlife.

Via Two Nerdy History Girls.

Edison gets all spiritualist on us.

2011-09-01T17:08:00.002-04:00

Edison! I had no idea. More at the wonderful How to Be a Retronaut.

civil war 150 legacy project.

2011-08-10T22:32:00.000-04:00

Documenting history is one of the noblest causes I can think of. It allows memories and knowledge to last for another generation. That's why I was excited to hear about the Civil War 150 Legacy Project. Guys, this is exactly what the Midnight Society is all about. This is our bread and butter.

The Legacy Project is a team of archivists from the Library of Virginia who scan your documents in a community near you. What is of interest to them? Civil War-era letters, memoirs, pension materials, military passes, discharge papers, diaries, hand-drawn maps, photographs, and other manuscripts. In doubt about what you have and if it’s of interest? Bring it to an event near you and let the experts decide.

So if you or your relatives have any historical goodies packed away, now's the time to dig them out and pony up. For the good of the historical record, y'all.

decayed richmond on RVANews

2011-07-26T10:12:00.000-04:00

There's a great piece about Decayed Richmond on RVANews today.

It’s somewhat eerie and depressing seeing remnants from better times and fingerprints on windows caked with dust for years. The metaphor, of feeling neglected and abandoned, resonates in many of our photographs. Many of the kids interested in urban exploration are filled with angst, and look at these spots as an escape.

I've been doing this sort of thing since 2003, though I suspect I'm way less of a risk-taker than these folks. As I've been able to find plenty of interesting locations with minimal risk involved, I've always stayed away from anything that seemed really dangerous, whether it be from squatters or unstable floors or what-have-you. And the Midnight Society has also always gone by the rule "leave everything as you found it," which I suspect isn't something we have in common with the modern graffiti-slinging masses.

Despite any differences in philosophy and practice, I love seeing anybody discovering the joy of urban exploration and sharing it with others. There really is nothing like it.

I appreciate what they say in the article about feeling abandoned and angsty, and having urban exploration as an outlet for that. Doing research, learning about history, making beautiful photos, and being active and enjoying the outdoors are all part of urban exploration, and I think it's a much better hobby for young outcasts than many of the other, more self-destructive activities available.

For me, though, exploring was always more about gathering with friends and being a part of something. During college, what was there really to do besides going out, going to bars, going to shows? This was something to do with other adventurous folks, and it cost very little.

And truly, the biggest attraction for me is that I never feel quite comfortable in the sterile, modern buildings all around us. I always feel more natural and content in surroundings that are lived in -- and that are alive with history, even as they crumble and pass away.

witch bottles in hopewell?

2011-07-23T19:45:00.000-04:00

Check out this article about possible witch bottles found in Hopewell at City Point.

Wait, WHAT? Witch bottles?......uh, yeah, I had no idea what a witch bottle was either. So:

Witch bottles were created out of glass bottles or, commonly, bellarmines, as a means of reversing a witch’s evil spell. Literature from the 1600s provided advice as to the creation and use of witch bottles. The “recipe” involved adding human hair, nail parings, and urine to the bottle, as well as bent pins or nails and heart-shaped pieces of felt. The bottle was then stopped and buried, often inverted, near a threshold or hearth. People believed that this act would throw the spell back onto the witch who had cast it, by making her unable to urinate, and subsequently causing her demise. Another option was heating and exploding the bottle, which would also destroy the witch. Central to the ideology of the witch bottle was the belief that by casting a spell, a witch linked herself to her victim, so that she could be killed by an injury to her victim’s body (represented by the materials in the witch bottle).

Duly noted.

Some English witch bottles are pictured above.

[Article found via Two Nerdy History Girls and their always-fascinating Breakfast Links.]

Evergreen photos by Mel Kobran.

2011-06-17T09:47:00.000-04:00

Y'all know we love some Evergreen Cemetery here at The Midnight Society, and we've visited / posted about it several times. But RVANews just published a story with some fantastic photos by Mel Kobran, so get on over there and take a look.

sol's cafeteria.

2011-06-16T21:51:00.000-04:00

We're in the middle of a major home renovation, so blogging has slowed down for me on all fronts. I had to stop and grab this picture the other day on the way to work, though. Every time I've driven by this building in Manchester (which is almost every day since the middle of February) there have been a bunch of vehicles in front of it, but I finally got it alone. :) See it larger here.

a much, much weirder society.

2011-05-22T21:26:00.000-04:00

Since we here at the Midnight Society love secret societies, I couldn't resist posting about the "Order of the Pug." Seriously, this existed.

Around 1740, a series of pug related items were designed as secret emblems for a German underground Masonic-styled lodge known as the "Order of the Pug." .... Members were required to wear dog collars and had to scratch the door of the lodge to gain entrance. Initiates were said to have been blindfolded and led around a symbol-filled carpet nine times while the assembled "Pugs" of the Order barked loudly and yelled “Memento mori” ('Remember you shall die').

From Art Daily, via Two Nerdy History Girls.

eerie nights coupon

2011-05-11T05:40:00.000-04:00

FYI -- The Living Social deal for today is $13 for a ghost tour for two with Eerie Nights!

Pratt's Castle.

2011-05-09T09:46:00.000-04:00

You guys read Vintage Richmond, right? Just checking. Today's post about Pratt's Castle is neat. Don't forget to revisit our previous mentions of it as well.

more on "the lost city"

2011-05-06T10:33:00.001-04:00

We've mentioned this before, but there's kind of a ghost town on the outskirts of Richmond. Known as the Elko Tract or The Lost City, CBS just did a segment on it. Check it out here, via Neighborhoodr (an awesome way to stay current on neat things in Richmond, by the way!).

the beacon.

2011-05-01T15:23:00.000-04:00

The amazing Among the Ruin has been killing it lately with tons of photos of abandoned locales in the area. He's just posted a set of photos from Hopewell's old Beacon Theater. I grew up not far from there and had always wondered what it looked like inside. Thanks to Among the Ruin for posting these!

walpurgis weekend

2011-04-28T22:05:00.000-04:00

In what became a "how did I not know about this?" moment today, I stumbled across a post on Church Hill People's News about a cool event this weekend.

Walpurgis Night, April 30th, has long been believed to be as haunted as Halloween. Join me for ghost stories and tarot readings in Bryant Park at twilight, (the time of day when ghosts are said to be most active), followed by a trip to Church Hill Tunnel.

We’ll be repeating the event Sunday. Same time, same places. Cost is $10, $15 for couples. Tarot readings are $15, $25 for couples.

Please RSVP by e-mail if you can and let me know which night you plan on attending and if you’d like a tarot reading – it’s easier to schedule them.

favorite ghost stories:

2011-04-15T08:30:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite podcasts is Anything Ghost. This guy Lex just retells peoples' ghost stories in his fantastic, monotone-ish style, and I eat it up. Certainly there are the people who write in who are like "OMG I totally felt my dead dog's tail brush past my leg while I was doing my homework!" but a lot of the stories are either very entertaining or terrifying. Or just plain weird. Anyway, I highly recommend giving Anything Ghost a listen if you haven't yet. I've been listening since 2007, I believe. Maybe earlier.

Anyway, here's one of my all-time favorite stories.

From Anything Ghost show #74:

This takes place in 1972. I was 18 at the time. I grew up in a town called Chino, California. It is now a paved land of strip malls and fast food joints, but when I lived there it was mostly dairy farms. My family actually lived in Carbon Canyon, which is a few miles from Chino proper. The main route to get of there was a little country road called Pipeline Avenue. An empty place. Old farms and ranches lay speckled throughout both sides. It was late one night, and I was driving home from a friend's house. There was an old "beater" car in front of me -- it was going something like 25 miles an hour. There was no oncoming traffic, so I went to pass it. Suddenly, the vehicle sped up. And as I pulled back behind it, the vehicle slowed down again. My immediate thought was he was some drunk country boy who would just as soon prefer to beat me up as to let me pass. So, I slowed my vehicle down even more, to put a distance between us. He slowed down. Pretty soon, we were crawling along at maybe five miles an hour. I began to panic. He pulled to the side of the road and waved me around…but there was something odd about his arm -- like he was wearing an old nightgown. Very cautiously, I pulled to the left and began to drive by. I didn't want to be in front of him, so I was going to drive kind of slow in case he darted forward. I decided I was going to wave as I passed, hopefully diffusing any anger, and avoiding any trouble. So I'm alongside him, and just as I'm even with his window, he turned on some kind of interior light. It wasn't stock because it was too bright. At this point, I got a really good look at him. IT WAS A CLOWN. No fangs, no spookiness, just a clown. Big, bushy hair. Blue clown suit. White gloves. Big, red nose. He's pointing at me and screaming. No words, just -- like a scream, like he's being killed right in front of me. In my memory, his mouth seemed too big for his face. Like it was way wider than it should be…but I think that was just me, because I was scared stiff.

I jumped on it and got the hell out of there. I was looking in my rearview mirror scared to death that he was going to pull out after me, but he just turned off that interior light and sat there.

-- Jason in London, England

ceiling trim and safe deposits.

2011-04-14T16:03:00.000-04:00

A couple of friends and I did make it out to see the Vacancy Project last weekend, as was referenced earlier. It was breathtaking, folks. The place was dimly lit by strategically-placed, colored lights, and walking through the ornate place in the dark was like being in Alice's Wonderland. I loved the decayed, industrial feel of the safe deposit room, as well as the random rooms and corridors and corners lit up inexplicably -- emphasizing perhaps that the space itself is the art.

I'll let my photos (more here) do the rest of the talking.

the vacancy project.

2011-04-07T08:30:00.001-04:00

Dear Midnight Society Screamsters and anybody who even casually reads this site: if this event isn't right up our alley, I don't know what is:

The Vacancy Project:

"The VACANCY Project invites the public (and local government officials) into Richmond's vacant Central National Bank on April 8th 2011 to experience a series of light and sound installations through the building's interior. The project hopes to creatively address and affect issues of building vacancy in Richmond by observing the history of the Central National Bank and its current state of decay and disuse. Lighting design in the space is compo...sed with respect to the building's architectural features, history, and deterioration. The project's sound design is composed of natural audio recorded at the Bank in 2011, and of local popular music recorded in Richmond in 1929.

Once Richmond's tallest building, the twenty three story Central National Bank stood as a testament to Richmond's economic strength during America's Depression. Built in 1929 to provide needed office space and draw new businesses to the heart of the city, it became the pulse of a bustling Virginia economy.
Times changed and the city shifted. The skyscraper now stands vacant (along with 2,400 other structures), with rich history and potential, visible to nearly all of Richmond.

The VACANCY Project is a collaboration between sculptor Joshua Bennett and sound artist John Dombroski, undergraduate students who received a research grant from the VCU School of the Arts supporting the project."

The event is this Friday night, and I shall be there with my camera in hand.

(Thanks for the link, Neighborhoodr -- you're fast becoming the standard for finding cool events in Richmond!)

Upcoming Stories Comics Séance

2011-04-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

Guest post by IanRVA:

Yes, you read that right. Stories Comics, as in, a comic book shop. Séance, as in, method of communicating with spirits. This coming Tuesday, April 12, known Occultist and Tarot Card reader Elizabeth Bissette will be performing a séance at Richmond's only haunted comic shop between 9 and 11pm. The shop is located at 5067 Forest Hill Ave just across the Nickel Bridge in Southside.

There will be a nominal entry fee of $7.95 per person which is a reduced rate for Facebook friends and the shop has opted not to profit in order to keep the event affordable. Credit cards will be accepted. Please RSVP for the event at Stories Comics Facebook page or check out their newest fan page Stories Comics Paranormal.

Please bring your own folding chair. There will also be a pendulum tour (BYOP) and Q&A period. Shop employees will be filming the event for paranormal documentation and promotional purposes. This event promises to be entertaining.

secretly y'all coming up in may.

2011-04-03T17:36:00.002-04:00

Another Secretly Y'all storytelling event is coming up in May!

fulton gas works.

2011-04-03T13:10:00.000-04:00

Via WOTBN: Fulton Gas Works: An Industrial Relic, photos by Adrianna Gallo, opens this Friday, April 8 at 6PM at Chop Suey Books.

These photos are amazing, and they make me wonder why I've never bothered to explore the place before. It's always so lovely and forlorn as I pass by.

dreaming of another world.

2011-03-28T09:00:00.000-04:00

A ghostly, gorgeous spead for Vogue Italia by (who else?) the incredible Tim Walker. Via Haute Macabre. Inspired by turn-of-the-century spirit photography, no doubt.

monumental church crypt pics!

2011-03-15T16:19:00.000-04:00

According to the Historic Richmond Foundation's Facebook page, lots of progress is being made in the effort to restore Monumental Church. This is one of my favorite buildings in town, and I'm looking forward to possibly attending events there in the future! Such a lovely place.

I'm particularly excited to seeing photos of the basement, where as everybody knows, the crypt is located. The crypt is the brick structure in the background in the photo below:

The remains of those who died in the infamous Richmond Theatre Fire in 1811 are in that crypt. All 72 of them.

walk like a Catholic schoolgirl?

2011-03-14T18:24:00.000-04:00

And also speaking of St. Francis de Sales and our visit there, here's the highly anticipated gif of us walking like egyptians on the front steps. Clowns. But clowns having a great Sunday afternoon.

stories from St. Francis

2011-03-14T17:38:00.001-04:00

Following up on my post about St. Francis de Sales from a few weeks ago, below is an account of attending the school from Doris Walker Woodson, who attended in the 40s. It's particularly interesting to hear her candid account of her fears of going there, and the story of how she softened and ended up loving it. Thanks so much to my friend Jess for copying these for me from the archives of the Library of Virginia.

civil war scrapbook time.

2011-03-07T17:42:00.000-05:00

The Virginia Historical Society has finished digitizing the first part of a Robert Knox Sneden diary that begins in 1861, and the images are amazing. Check it out here, and find your favorite image. My favorite so far is this one:

I love his note: "The tree in the foreground was shot thin by bullets." Indeed!

st. francis de sales.

2011-03-01T20:48:00.000-05:00

On Sunday I had the opportunity to explore the old St. Francis de Sales school in Powhatan, a Catholic school for African American girls that closed in the 1970s. The school has a really interesting history, and as a bit of a local history fanatic, I'm embarrassed that I'd never heard of it before.

I don't think I can accurately put into words how it felt to wander this building. We laughed, danced, opened doors, and yelled to each other to "come and check this out!" Sometimes we'd get absorbed in following one hallway and realize that we were alone, the sounds of our friends having long since faded. Being (mostly) alone in a building this size is just a completely different concept from the usual small rooms we have to ourselves. Yes, it was old and some parts of it are certainly decaying, but those appearances don't reflect the real feel of the place. It's a building of high ceilings, warm light, and solitude.

Photo by Karen Seifert

This is one of the most beautiful campuses I've ever seen in my life, and I'm so glad Karen organized us and got us down there. It will really be a shame if nothing can be done to save the building. I know that fixing up a place of this size will be expensive, but I can't help but imagine how wonderful it would be if kept up properly. Still, it's beautiful as it is.

I was going to go over all the details about the trip, but I think Karen says it best on her blog. We all snapped photos like crazy people while we were there, so I'll just keep this list updated with our documentation as it comes in:

hiram haines' literary restorative coffee house.

2011-02-26T16:20:00.000-05:00

Today while antiquing in Petersburg with my family, I had a chance to hang out at Hiram Haines' Literary Restorative Coffee House. The coffee house has a particular claim on Poe history, as he and his wife spent their honeymoon there in 1836. The sign that hangs above the door depicts the couple along with the line "all that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream," and it was the sight of this sign that drew me down the street to investigate. We were served delicious coffee in a french press by owner Jeff Abugel, who said the coffee would be free if we could name all the authors whose portraits hung on the wall. Predictably I couldn't identify any, save for Twain, Wilde, and Poe.

For more about the coffee house, read Abugel's own account of it here. I really think he's on to something about Petersburg: "To a newcomer, many aspects of Petersburg seem illogical, if not downright surreal. Not the least of these is the fact that the town possesses more fascinating history per square foot than virtually any other place on the planet. History that is largely unsung and unknown to those looking for the closest McDonald’s off I-85."

I love skipping down to Petersburg for a day full of combing through musty antique shops and picking my way through loose cobblestones, and I love that it feels like a place frozen in time. It's like it's kept there, wrapped up neatly in a bow just for me. But part of me wants the secret to get out, too. If you're down that way, definitely check out Haines' as well as the dozen other restaurants and shops near the corner of Sycamore and Bank. You won't be disappointed.

when this you see...

2011-02-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

More old Virginia valentines here, courtesy of the Virginia Historical Society.

a distinugished address.

2011-02-11T20:51:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos of the old Colony Inn, courtesy of Jeff Rayner. He's got more lovely shots over at his Flickr. Thanks again, Jeff!

I love being contacted via email or Flickr by fantastic local photographers / urban explorers. Keep it coming, y'all.

Evergreen Cemetery's records fully digitized

2011-02-09T09:34:00.000-05:00

The Evergreen Cemetery blog reports:

John Shuck, Volunteer Coordinator for the Evergreen Cemetery restoration effort, finished digitizing the 2800 burial records from 1929-1979. These records are estimated to be only a fraction of the actual burials at Evergreen. This summer we will start GPS-locating graves that are not in the records to recreate the database and better allow families to find their ancestors and restore/maintain family plots.

If you're not already following their progress at the cemetery, I recommend it. Full disclosure: I volunteered there one Saturday, got a wicked case of poison ivy, and didn't return. But I think what they're doing is fantastic work and really just a labor of love. The only payment for clearing the twisted vines from a graveyard is to see the beautiful headstones staring back at you afterward. Congratulations on this milestone, Evergreen! And good luck with your continuing cleanup work.

historical society awesomeness for 2011

2011-01-20T17:38:00.000-05:00

The Virginia Historical Society has some neat stuff coming up in 2011, including the following:

Bizarre Bits: Oddities from the Collection

Extended through March 27

Bizarre things have crept into the Virginia Historical Society’s collections since its founding in 1831. These peculiar, perplexing, or even grotesque objects provide insight into the hopes, fears, assumptions, and practices of the past that are foreign to us today. Historical items range from the bullet that killed the first Confederate officer, nails from the part of the Capitol that collapsed in 1870, a list of knights at an 1865 Virginia joust, fungus carved with the likeness of R. E. Lee on Traveller, “Junior Partner” cigarettes in their original pack featuring an image of a child, a 6,000 year old piece of wood from the Canary Islands, and a silhouette cut by an armless Virginia woman with her mouth. Personal items include pieces of James Madison’s hair, letters telling of fingernail clippings sent by a 19th century naval officer to his wife as tokens of endearment, and a smallpox scab taken from an infant in 1876.

Heads and Tales

Through December 30

This exhibition features material from the vast Virginia Historical Society portrait collection. The paintings presented tell poignant stories about five people—a woman who inspired the English poet Alexander Pope; a royal governor who was murdered by a mob; a Federalist politician struggling against the tide in Jeffersonian Virginia; a patron of the arts who made his fortune as a robber baron in the Gilded Age; and a Virginia suffragette, freethinker, and political radical. Their tales are told by analysis of components of their pictorially complex portraits.

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS:

An American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia

February 4–December 30, 2011

From 1861–1865 Virginia stood at the center of a military and social revolution. How we define freedom, liberty, patriotism, and nation today is directly related to the diverse experiences of the individuals who participated in the war. Using original objects, interactive technology, and state-of-the-art audiovisual programs, this 3,000 square-foot exhibition encourages visitors to consider how a single event, separated by 150 years can influence and address the questions of today—what was gained, what was lost, what was undecided, and what was left for us to resolve? An American Turning Point is a signature program of the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission and is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

happy birthday, mr. poe!

2011-01-19T09:00:00.037-05:00

Edgar Allan Poe was born on this day in 1809, and though he died in 1849, the Poe Museum still likes to throw him a birthday party. This year's party featured some new exhibits as well as scholarly talks and Poe reenactments. There's a fantastic exhibit up right now called Poe Revealed, which includes some never-before-shown photos and paintings of Poe and the people close to him. I particularly enjoyed the attention paid to Virginia Poe, with beautiful paintings of her posed as classic characters like Cinderella. If you haven't been to the museum in a while, it's worth another visit.

Another birthday treat was the actor Scott Craig Jones doing some performances of Poe's poems and short stories. This guy was hilarious, and with his wisecracking between recitations, an interesting change of pace from the usual doom-and-gloom Poe variety. Also, the man clearly loves wearing a cape, which I always respect.

Check him out here rapping about El Dorado, making me cringe and also making me happy that Poe still inspires all manner of, uh...art. "Worrrrrrd."

win a haunted house?!

2011-01-18T14:44:00.000-05:00

So there's this guy holding a ghost story contest, and the prize is ownership of a haunted house. Now, I will not pretend to know why a ghost inhabiting that house might be angry (cough, look at the décor, cough), but I will caution people against entering the contest, because it costs $50. As most people who have been using the internet these past 15 years know, you never pay to enter a contest / apply for a job / etc. Anyway, the site is still quite entertaining, and for those of you who have just always! wanted! your very own rancher in the suburbs, you'd better get on it! Because $50 would be a bargain even for this place.

storytelling smörgåsbord.

2011-01-13T22:43:00.000-05:00

On Monday night I finally got a chance to go to Secretly Y'all, Richmond's new storytelling event. Originally based out of Charlottesville, it now happens every other month at Balliceaux. After loving storytelling productions of all sorts my whole life, from Are You Afraid of the Dark? to The Moth to Fredericksburg's Tell, I got really excited when I found out there was something like this going on in Richmond. And it did not disappoint. Storytellers of all ages and inclinations came out to share, and just like any time somebody tells me a story at bedtime, I was in heaven. The topic was the Civil War / the South, and I kind of wish it had been something less -- how can I put this? -- polarizing. But as one of the storytellers said -- "The Civil War DOES NOT define Richmond."

That storyteller was none other than Brooks Smith of WCVE's Rediscovering Richmond, which might be one of the only things I've been missing out on by never listening to the radio. Podcast = duly subscribed to.

As if that wasn't enough to make me feel totally out of the loop in what's supposed to be my particular arena, I was also exposed to the group known as the Tell Tale Hearts. These folks deserve our respect not only because they're our elders, but because their storytelling prowess is polished, poised, and puts the others to shame. They really brought it at Secretly Y'all, and I've added them to my list of things to watch as well.

From their web site I glimpsed links to the National Storytelling Network and the Virginia Storytelling Alliance, but I'm a little too overwhelmed to process those at the moment. To be continued...

when can we move in?

2010-12-21T12:23:00.000-05:00

Beautiful photo from the always-amazing Opacity.us.

Poe the physicist.

2010-12-20T11:05:00.000-05:00

So you've read all of Poe's dead-lady-who's-not-quite-dead stories. And maybe you even know that he invented the "murder mystery" genre. But did you know that he dabbled in physics as well? The following quote from Edgar Andrews' Who Made God? was submitted to me this weekend and references our dear Poe as a forerunner of Einstein:

"In Newtonian physics, everything happened in time and space but nothing ever happened to time and space. With Einstein all that changed. ... But even before that, in an 1848 essay on cosmology (appropriately titled Eureka), the American poet and writer Edgar Allan Poe had concluded, after ninety pages of philosophical reasoning, that 'space and duration are one'. This was apparently the first time anyone had suggested in print that space and time were linked."

Even I haven't tackled Eureka yet, but I certainly plan to ASAP. Thanks go out to my neighbor, Allen, for pointing this out!

losing ground indeed.

2010-11-30T11:55:00.000-05:00

Style Weekly addresses the fact that Civil War battlegrounds are disappearing quicker than preservationists can buy them up. Thought we do have an abundance of trenches around here, I think we're regret it later if we pave them all over:

Losing Ground

church foundation unearthed at Jamestown

2010-11-18T11:44:00.000-05:00

The "first major English church building in North America" has been discovered at Jamestown. This is the church where Pocahontas was married to John Rolfe. So now the question is, can you get married at Jamestown? That would be amazing.

Photo via National Geographic.

John Cusack as Poe!

2010-11-15T15:02:00.000-05:00

I can hardly contain my excitement over this -- our first look at John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe in the upcoming film The Raven. He looks perfect! Except for the tennis shoes.

Thanks to my friend Erica for the tip!

Poe Museum Membership for $12

2010-11-10T09:41:00.000-05:00

Today's LivingSocial deal is a particularly good one for Midnight Society readers -- you can get an individual membership for 1 year to the Poe Museum for $12, or a family membership for $25. The memberships come with a t-shirt or book.

remember, remember the fifth of november.

2010-11-05T10:39:00.000-04:00

Happy Guy Fawkes Day, screamsters! Get your history on.

the nursery at the National.

2010-11-02T15:52:00.001-04:00

Some photos my friend Kristin took of the walls in the National Theater's old nursery. Spooky, old, neat.

face in the branches.

2010-09-27T13:54:00.000-04:00

Reader Jass sent in the following pictures of a possible face he saw in the bushes at Cold Harbor. Thanks, Jass! We love this stuff.

return to agecroft

2010-09-23T13:53:00.000-04:00

Still fresh off of our amazing Agecroft visit this winter, we've been tipped off to some spooky events happening there this fall. Seriously, this stuff is right down our alley, screamsters:

Hallow's Eve at the Manor House: Living History House Tour

Friday, October 29 at 6:00-7:00pm and again at 8:00-9:00pm

Come and spend a creepy evening with the inhabitants of Agecroft Hall. All Hallow’s Eve was a night of mischief and was especially popular in Lancashire, where Agecroft Hall originally stood. Listen as the Daunteseys and their servants tell you the stories, songs and superstitions of this spooky time of year. The event is guided by one of the Agecroft servants, and will last approximately 50 minutes. This tour will contain mature subject matter. Parents please be cautioned. Fee: $5 per person

Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages: Movie Showing at Agecroft Hall

Wednesday, November 3, 7:00-10:00pm

Friday, November 5, 7:00-10:00pm

Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages. Benjamin Christensens' 1922 horror masterpiece shocked audiences in Europe and was banned in the United States. Part documentary, it's imaginative depictions of demonic possession and witch persecution create some truly haunting scenes. Join us for an extremely rare opportunity to see Haxan in Agecroft's unforgettably eerie, candlelit Great Hall. This film will contain mature subject matter. Parents please be cautioned.

Fee: $10 per person, $7 per student. Reservations are recommended.

Also, check out the Curator's Closet, an awesome blog run by the folks at Agecroft. Seeing the inner-workings of a historical house? Right down our alley as well.

volunteer at the pump house!

2010-09-14T09:13:00.000-04:00

Via All Things Richmond:

Help HandsOn Greater Richmond and The Friends of James River Park are sponsoring a volunteer day to help restore a section of the James River Canal and return the ballroom in the old Pump House to its glory days as a venue for social events.

This is definitely a good sign. I would LOVE to attend a dance at the Pump House. The volunteer event is October 16th from 9am-2:30pm, and you can sign up here.

the best ghost photos ever.

2010-08-23T08:00:00.000-04:00

About.com has gathered what they think are the best ghostly pictures ever taken. There are definitely some classics in there! I have to say though that I enjoy the super fake-y spirit photography of the Victorian era just as much as the "real" thing.

Here's my favorite from the bunch:

virginia rocks indeed.

2010-08-19T10:41:00.000-04:00

A new exhibit on Virginia rockabilly culture goes up at the Virginia Historical Society on August 28th! From their press release:

The exhibit explores the rise of rockabilly as a then-radical departure from established popular music and an early chapter in the phenomenon of youth rebellion, the place of rockabilly in the larger youth culture of the pre-Beatles era, and the demise of the genre in the early 1960s as the music and movie industries invested in the softer sound of "teen idols." It includes photographs, rare recordings, stage costumes, a jukebox, and musical instruments.

avoid long lines! visit abadoned amusement parks.

2010-08-16T08:00:00.003-04:00

I've always wanted to explore an abandoned amusement park. I've hit up an abandoned Renaissance Faire before, and I can imagine that something on a way larger scale, like oh, say, Six Flags, would take that awesome experience and multiply it tenfold. What a fantastic summer road trip the park featured in this WebUrbanist article would make.

and the Virginia abandoned places photography award goes to...

2010-08-12T15:01:00.001-04:00

Flickr user "I threw a guitar at him!" Thanks so much for letting us feature your work, and for having the courage and motivation to explore these amazing buildings. STUNNING.

At Western State Hospital in Staunton.

At the old Brandermill Inn.

At Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg.

At Central State Hospital in Petersburg.

At Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg.

At Central State Hospital in Petersburg.

orbs schmorbs.

2010-08-12T12:41:00.000-04:00

According to this article from National Geographic, scientists have attributed the appearance of "ball lightning" (what those of us in the paranormal field usually call "orbs") to hallucinations caused by magnetic stimulation. Of course this doesn't mean that people don't really see the orbs. It pretty much confirms that they ARE seeing the orbs, but that the orbs have more to do with magnetic charges than with ghostly activity. This still doesn't explain why they always show up in pictures, though I've heard it's just dust particles. Don't worry though, you know the purpose of the Midnight Society is never to spread unbelief. None of these revelations change how entertaining the stories I've heard about being chased by orbs are.

In previous experiments, other scientists had exposed humans to strong, rapidly changing magnetic fields using a medical machine called a transcranial magnetic stimulator, or TMS. The machine's magnetic fields are powerful enough to induce electric currents in human brain cells without being harmful.

Focusing magnetic fields on the visual cortex of the brain caused the subjects to see luminous discs and lines. When the focus was moved around within the visual cortex, the subjects reported seeing the lights move.

In their paper, ... Peer and Kendl argue that magnetic fields made by lightning could have the same effect as TMS machines on nearby humans.

feeling blue.

2010-07-14T17:40:00.000-04:00

Blue-skinned, that is. Seriously. I love it when folklore comes alive.

shockoe hill cemetery featured on richmondmagazine.com

2010-07-13T14:02:00.000-04:00

Check out this great article by Harry Kollatz about Doug Welsh and the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery. I've been to an event out there and I think they're doing great work! Can't wait to see what else is in store there. This quote from Mr. Welsh really hits the nail on the head as far as enjoying Richmond goes:

“As we know, ‘fear is often the catalyst of suggestion,’” he says. “There is truly a sense of peace and well being within the walls of the cemetery. I think it is important to note that often our perceptions of an area lead to its definition — both bad and good. In this case we are ‘willing’ goodness and serenity at Shockoe, and it seems to be working.”

WWII-era exhibit at the VHS

2010-07-09T12:57:00.000-04:00

From the Virginia Historical Society:

Victory Gardens, Swing Dancing, Military Vehicles, and Black & White Photos

World War II Era is Focus of Free Virginia Historical Society Open House on July 17

Event: Virginia Historical Society Free Family Day Open House

Date: Saturday, July 17, 2010

Time: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Location: Virginia Historical Society, 428 North Boulevard, Richmond 23220

The corner of Kensington Avenue and North Boulevard

Event Details:

The Virginia Historical Society invites the community to attend an event filled with music, games, crafts, historical demonstrations, and much more. The theme is the World War II era to correspond with the current exhibition Memories of World War II: Photographs from the Archives of The Associated Press. Admission and all activities are free.

• Special appearance by Nutzy, the Flying Squirrels baseball team mascot

• World War II military vehicle displays by Air Ground Operations Group

• Dance demonstrations by Rigby’s Jig Dance Studio

• Music by the Swizzle Stix

• Behind-the-scenes tours of the VHS

• Children’s crafts and activities

• Interactive Virginia history trivia contests

• Food tastings of Virginia-made products

• Register-to-win prizes

• Boka Truck will be selling food and drink mid-day and ice cream will be available for purchase in the afternoon

Exhibit Details:

Memories of World War II: Photographs from the Archives of The Associated Press features 126 black-and-white photographs from the archives of the Associated Press. The images displayed represent all theaters of World War II and the home front and highlight scores of dramatic pictures not seen in decades.

The Boulevard and How It Grew: From Soldiers’ Home to the Home of World Class Museums gives visitors a brief look at the 115-year-history of the Museum Block, telling how the thirty-four acres of farmland that was purchased in 1884 developed into buildings that house extensive collections and impressive exhibitions related to world art and Virginia history.

Bizarre Bits: Oddities from the Collection features the peculiar, perplexing, and grotesque objects that have crept into the Virginia Historical Society’s collections since its founding in 1831. Items range from the bullet that killed the first Confederate officer, fungus carved with the likeness of R. E. Lee on Traveller, silhouettes cut by an armless woman with her mouth, pieces of James Madison’s hair, and a smallpox scab taken from an infant in 1876.

depressing folk tales vol. 1: babes in the wood.

2010-06-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

Introducing what I hope will be a recurring feature here at the Midnight Society blog: Depressing Folk Tales!

I'm one of the many modern humans who, upon researching the origins of popular folk tales, have been horrified at their original grotesqueness. But the fact that most of these tales were meant as obvious cautions against the dangers of the world fascinates me to no end.

So for Volume 1 of our new series, I give you: Babes in the Wood. The gist is that two little kids who did nothing wrong get carried into the woods by an inheritance-usurping uncle and are left to die (which they do). A particularly morose point of the story is that since nobody else respects the poor babes, birds come and cover them up dutifully with leaves.

This particular tale was first published as a ballad in 1595, presumably terrorizing children into being wary of fortune-hunting relatives. Good job, post-medieval England!

gardening and graveyards.

2010-06-14T09:00:00.001-04:00

Now all of us screamsters know that graveyards are anything but boring. They can be beautiful when manicured perfectly, or when overgrown. They can have lovely views or gorgeous old brick walls. But here, they are just downright creative:

As pointed out in The Local, German company BdF is getting into new ways to honor the dead, including customized cemetery gardening jobs. A mohawk-themed landscaping job to match your mohawk during life? I'm impressed! "Es lebe der friedhof!" (long live the graveyard!) indeed.

Haunted Homecoming Tour

2010-06-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

From the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery:

Edgar Allan Poe Haunted Homecoming Tour at Shockoe Hill Cemetery

What:             A dramatic nighttime tour of Shockoe Hill Cemetery ,
                        based on the many loved ones of Edgar Allan Poe who
                        are buried there. The tour is led by Poe himself,
                        as he guides visitors through his old haunting grounds
                        and interacts with the "spirits" of those he knew while
                        living in Richmond.

                        Each tour is limited to 25 people, so register early.

When:          Thursday, July 15th 8:00 PM
                        Friday, July 16th, 8:00 PM
                        Saturday, July 17th, 8:00 PM

Where:           Shockoe Hill Cemetery
                        4th & Hospital Streets
                        Richmond , VA 23219

Price:             $18 for adults, $15 for children under 14
                        Proceeds benefit the Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery.

Tickets          Online or call 804-648-5523

countdown to Halloween.

2010-06-07T09:00:00.002-04:00

We are getting close to Halloween, y'all. We can make it!

And in that spirit, here are some goodies from the Virginia Historical Society for you:

Virginia Creepers: Thrills and chills from the collections of the Virginia Historical Society

bizarre bits.

2010-06-04T13:54:00.000-04:00

OMG! Struwwelpeter! J.Mad's hair! Right down our alley! I love it when museums seem to put together exhibits with the Midnight Society in mind.

From the Virginia Historical Society:

Beginning Saturday, June 12, 2010, the VHS offers a new exhibition, Bizarre Bits: Oddities from the Collection, that showcases more than forty of the most unusual objects and materials in the vast VHS holdings.

Historical items range from the bullet that killed the first Confederate officer in the American Civil War, nails from the part of the Virginia State Capitol that collapsed in 1870, a 1,000-year-old piece of wood from the Canary Islands, a 1908 trepan that was used for perforating the skull to treat health problems related to intracranial diseases, records from Princess Anne County about the witchcraft trial of Grace Sherwood, and silhouettes cut by an armless woman using her mouth.

Personal items include pieces of President James Madison’s hair, Jefferson Davis’s cigar, the secret diary of William Byrd II, letters telling of fingernail clippings sent by a naval officer to his wife as tokens of endearment, John Randolph of Roanoke’s dressing gown that he wore in his duel with Henry Clay in 1826, and a late 19th century “Tramp Art” bureau last owned by George Lander, an African American physician in Lynchburg.

Admission to the VHS to see Bizarre Bits: Oddities from the Collection is free. Curator William Rasmussen will give a gallery walk on Wednesday, July 14, 2010, at noon. The exhibition closes on February 13, 2011.

facebook.

2010-06-03T09:00:00.001-04:00

So, we're on Facebook. Please feel free to "like" the Midnight Society and connect with us there.

new map!

2010-06-01T09:00:00.001-04:00

While editing some new content yesterday, I realized that our old map at Platial.com was no longer working. I think the folks over at Platial threw in the towel. Back when I started our map, Google wasn't in the custom mapping game yet, and Platial looked like my best bet. I guess I should have converted over to Google sooner. Anyway, here's our new map, which includes all of the old points you know and love, for your road-tripping pleasure.

View virginia lore in a larger map

The Church Hill Train Tunnel

2010-05-31T16:08:00.001-04:00

Richmond, Virginia.

Transcript from an interview with a person who was living in Church Hill during the collapse, from VCU Library's Special Collections and Archives department
A fellow explorer's account, along with some great pictures, from VT Underground
Crawling Into the Belly of a Richmond Legend, a newspaper article detailing reporter Mark Holmberg's journey into an opening in the tunnel, from the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Full text of the article described above, posted in the Infiltration forum
The only reports of the tunnel being haunted that we've been able to find, from the Shadowlands (search for the phrase "church hill" in this page and you'll find it).
"Fear of Slide Stops Work of Steam Shovel," another newspaper article, also from the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1925.
Informational site on the tunnel, including very useful information like timelines and old photos. From Frederic Delaitre's Railway Pages.
Map showing the entire length of the tunnel, from the Chesapeake & Ohio Piedmont Subdivision page.
Photo and a little blurb about the building that's right near the eastern entrance of the tunnel, from 100 Word Minimum.
Text from a handout given out at the Valentine Museum, by Lisa K.

Know something we don't about this topic? Please tell us about it, and help us make this site a one-stop source for Virginia ghost stories, hauntings, folklore, and urban exploration. We are happy to give credit where credit is due, or to protect your anonymity as you see fit.

Daughtery House Poltergeist

2010-05-31T16:06:00.000-04:00

Portsmouth, Virginia.

Old Central State Mental Hospital

2010-05-31T15:24:00.001-04:00

Petersburg, Virginia.
Previously known as Central Lunatic Asylum

Photo by Eddie Weingart via Flickr.

Pictures of the hospital by Eddie Weingart on Flickr.
Pictures of the hospital on RootsWeb.
History of the organization, especially its Church Hill roots.
Background on the hospital.
More history.
The hospital's current incarnation.

Compiled by Jill Revell

Know something we don't about this topic? Please tell us about it, and help us make this site a one-stop source for Virginia ghost stories, hauntings, folklore, and urban exploration. We are happy to give credit where credit is due, or to protect your anonymity as you see fit.

civil war & emancipation day

2010-04-16T09:42:00.000-04:00

This Saturday, more than 15 museums and historical sites in partnership with The Future of Richmond’s Past will offer a full day of free activities for the public at Civil War & Emancipation Day: the 150th Anniversaries.

Pictured here: General Hood.

Time to get your beard on, guys.

Go here for details.

Ash Lawn-Highland

2010-03-10T14:36:00.000-05:00

Our visit to Ash Lawn-Highland, home of President James Monroe, was one of our finest day trips yet.

Of the eight U.S. Presidents born in the state of Virginia, you can visit five of their homes and a couple of their birthplaces. Ash Lawn-Highland was last on our list of presidential homes to visit in Virginia. We may hit up some of those birthplaces as well, but for now I'm happy with the fact that we've tackled all of the homes -- the places where these folks actually spent a large amount of time.

Random trivia: James Monroe was the last President to wear breeches during his full term of office, as John Quincy Adams brought trouser-wearing to the White House. James Monroe knew what dudes today have forgotten: that ladies enjoy a well-turned calf. Come on, guys. Get on it. Oh and also, James Monroe was described by all who knew him as an extremely determined, hard worker and man of integrity. I like that about him. Just look at him. He looks like a good guy. And he has a portrait of TJ hanging in his study.

As our tour guide said, Ash Lawn is no Monticello. This is true, but Ash Lawn is no ordinary turn-of-the-nineteenth-century home, either. During Monroe's tenure as its owner, it grew to a rather large size befitting the 3,500 acres he owned. The house contains a lot of finery brought back from Europe: furniture, silver, clocks, rugs, etc. One of my favorite artifacts was a crushed velvet dress which had belonged to Elizabeth Monroe. It's so tiny it looks like a child's dress, and yet Elizabeth wore it to the coronation of Napoleon, not too long after having a baby. Other cool things in the house: a bust of Napoleon given to Monroe by the dictator himself (aw, you shouldn't have) which resembles Julius Caesar more than Napoleon, a period baby bottle which is a bizarre-looking contraption, and some of Elizabeth Monroe's jewelry which is surprisingly blingin.' The Monroes were the first family to have presidential china commissioned for the white house, and this china is now on display in Ash Lawn's front hall. While in France they also got some of the royal china, which is on display in the same cabinet and has Marie Antoinette's monogram on it: an "M" in flowers and an "A" in gold.

In the kitchen we saw a tea brick, which was apparently just compressed tea. You know, so that you don't have to carry around all those pesky little leaves. You simply break off a piece of the brick and pop it into your boiling water. The kitchen area also included a distilling room where Mrs. Monroe made cordials, several spinning wheels and looms, a laundry area, and a candle-making station.

The view from the backyard includes the overseer's office and slave / guest quarters, as well as untold miles of gorgeous mountain skyline. Other outbuildings such as a corn crib, a smokehouse, an ice house, and a well dot the landscape, and they're currently working on raising a replica of the Monroe's barn.

Also, the Monroe's lovely youngest daughter, Maria Hester Monroe, was married in the first wedding ceremony to take place in the White House.

Her room at Ash Lawn featured a beautiful bed that was probably my favorite piece of furniture in the house:

As far as ghostly happenings go, our tour guide said he himself hasn't experienced anything, but several people have seen a rocking chair in the office rock on its own. As a side note, this room was originally a bedroom, but converted into an office in modern times to showcase some of Monroe's office furnishings that the museum has acquired.

The boxwood gardens in front of the house, though rather unkempt, conceal a huge statue of Monroe and an arbor seat. And you know I love a good garden maze.

We both agreed that this was one of the best house tours we've ever been on...partly because of phenomenal weather and the relaxed atmosphere at the house (not being rushed and steamrolled through everything like at certain other Presidents' homes), but mostly because of our very knowledgeable and entertaining (this guy was killing it with the presidential puns!) tour guide. So extra special thanks go out to Mr. David LeJeune for all the helpful information he gave us.

Ash Lawn has a lot of cool events going on year-round, so I encourage folks to make the short trip there. It's well worth it.

pump house re-cap

2010-03-08T15:28:00.000-05:00

So...we had a blast at the Pump House on Saturday. For my account of the goings-on, check out RVANews.com. I also posted photos here.

At long last: INSIDE the Pump House!

2010-03-02T23:48:00.000-05:00

From richmondvirginiaparks.blogspot.com:

If you are interested in the paranormal, you may want to be at the Pump House on Saturday, March 6, between 10:30 a.m. and noon. That's when Robert Bess and his team from the Foundation for Paranormal Research will attempt to capture and contain ghosts and other "foreign entities" at the Pump House. Bess will discuss his theories and explain his equipment.

He has advised the department that this event is not appropriate for children or the faint of heart. It is free and open to the public, and cameras are allowed.

The Pump House is located just north of the Boulevard Bridge.

And from the Foundation for Paranormal Research’s founder, Robert Bess:

PRESS RELEASE

On March 6th 2010 the Foundation for Paranormal Research will be demonstrating cutting edge technology involving paranormalcapture and containment of "ghosts" or foreign entity's within ourpersonal world. This event is called The 3 Mile Lock Experiment -Conquest. The foundation’s founder Robert Bess, along with his technical containment team, will demonstrate the real existence of ghosts and other worldly entities by actual capture and containment of real ghosts using the foundation’s inventions and techniques. An explanation of the equipment, the theories, and practical applications etc will be given before the event. The environment will be fully lit and fully visible. This is a rare opportunity for skeptics and
non-committed believers, etc.

An added attraction will be the "Parabot," as seen on Ghost Adventures Live, the 7 hour lockdown at Trans Alleghany Lunatic Asylum in Weston, West Virginia shown on The Travel Channel. Parabot will be capturing and containing ghosts and showing off its abilities. The foundation will also be demonstrating how its latest invention, "The Tesla Tower," works. There will be two fully active Tesla coils firing during the demonstration. The coils will be producing over .2.6 million volts of raw uncontrolled energy - wild and attractive arcsfrom the coils.

The public is most welcome to attend and bring cameras and video recorders. The foundation rarely puts on demonstrations of this nature exposing some of its inventions. The purpose of the event is to truly open the public’s eyes to the real world that we share with the dead and the effects on our daily lives.

A notice of WARNING: this isn't something young children should attend due to the nature of what is going to be demonstrated - apparitions of the dead, some harmless, some hostile and not very pleasant to view. Anyone with a heart condition or who is easily distressed also should not attend.

Last but not least, there will be an announcement by the founder referencing to his personal involvement with the paranormal - a kept secret that NO ONE has known about him - a sworn secret that he now has been given permission to be announced to the world.

Of course we Midnight Society screamsters have been chomping at the bit to get inside the Pump House for years. And although the idea of containment has been brought up before (ahem, "Light is green, trap is clean."), I can't say it sounds feasible in the least...but it sure sounds like a fun Saturday morning. I'm covering this event for RVANews, and I can't WAIT. I'm sure I'll find much to blog about here as well.

romances beyond the grave.

2010-02-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

If you're heading west into the city from 64 and you look to your right, you can catch a glimpse of two incredibly beautiful cemeteries beckoning to you from the hillside. Years ago my curiosity got the better of me and I googled until I figured out which cemeteries they were: Shockoe Hill and Hebrew. We paid an evening visit to the neighborhood, which was terrifying, but not for any ghostly reason. I remember thinking that Shockoe was in a state of disrepair that placed it somewhere between Hollywood and Evergreen on the upkeep spectrum: not mowed and manicured neatly like Hollywood, and not so choked in vines you couldn't see the tombstones like Evergreen. How fortunate we are to live in a city that has such varied graveyards, so gorgeous in their own ways. I've driven around Shockoe a few times since, but never gotten to spend as much time there as I've wanted to.

On Valentine's Day we attended an event at Shockoe Hill Cemetery called "Romances Beyond the Grave." We weren't able to stay for the whole time, but we enjoyed what we saw so much that I can't wait to go back. We made our way through the snow-covered cemetery to the Keeper's House, a small brick structure where coffee and rainbow cookies awaited us.

The Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery put on the event, and I must say that I love their enthusiasm and am looking forward to more events they might hold there. Although I adore an overgrown, forgotten cemetery just as much as a kept-up one, this group has been obliged to devote themselves to taking care of the place since the city does such a rotten job of it. And, by George, we do have an historically important grave or two there -- so it seems like we might want to foster pride and tourism by keeping the hedges clipped. Here are some things the Friends mentioned as being in the works for the future:

A searchable database of all the folks buried there
Theater nights in conjunction with the Poe Museum
Rotating exhibits in the Keeper's House

Sounds fantastic. I can't wait!

Our friend Chris Semtner, curator at the Poe Museum, showed a slideshow and gave a talk about Edgar Allan Poe's relationship with Elmira Royster Shelton.

Often when I hear Chris speak I learn things that an amateur Poe geek such as myself wouldn't already know, and likewise, there were several tidbits I didn't know about the Edgar-Elmira story. We all know that Edgar was engaged to her as a teenager, but that when he went to school at UVA, her father hid Poe's letters to her. Thinking he wasn't writing to her at all (tantamount to being dumped in those days), she went ahead and got engaged to someone else. Many years later when both of their spouses had long been dead, Poe courted her again and they got re-engaged. Here are some of the new things I learned:

After not receiving any letters from her at college, Poe stopped by her house upon his return to Richmond and totally crashed her engagement party. POE FAIL. The poem published in Tamerlane and Other Poems entitled "To -- --" probably refers to this unfortunate event.
Poe's brother Henry wrote a short story entitled The Pirate, which was based on Edgar and Elmira's tragic romance. I cannot find an online source for this story, so if anybody knows where to find it, please let me know!
"Tamerlane," Poe's epic poem, seems to be another tribute to the heartbreak. Here's a synopsis of the plot a la Wikipedia: "Tamerlane ignores the young love he has for a peasant in order to achieve power. On his deathbed, he regrets this decision to create 'a kingdom [in exchange] for a broken-heart.'" This makes sense, since the poem was published in Poe's first book shortly after moving to Boston after the Elmira issue.
After Poe moved back to Richmond and was married to his wife, Virginia, they ran into Elmira and her husband at a party. Elmira later said that it was "agony" to see him with his new wife, and that she had to be taken home early she was so upset. Sounds like a typical night running into exes at Richmond bars!
Years later when both Poe and Elmira were single again, he went to her house but the maid wouldn't let him see her. He argued with the maid, and Elmira came downstairs to see what all the fuss was about. She told him to go away too, but eventually (after more visits) he won her over and she let herself fall for him again. It was about this time that he wrote "Ulalume." ::sigh::
Poe gave Elmira several lovely little trinkets during their second courtship, including a locket emblazoned with both of their initials and housing a bit of his hair.
Elmira's husband's will had stated that if she should remarry, she would lose 2/3 of her inheritance from him. It says a lot that in those infinitely practical times she was willing to get engaged to Poe -- a guy who was never financially secure.
As Poe died a bizarre death in Baltimore, he babbled about getting back to his Elmira.
Poe had wanted "Annabel Lee" published with his wedding announcement, but instead it was published with his obituary. Classic Poe -- so much gother than you, because he posthumously published a romantic yet fatalistic poem.

What can I say? I love this guy in all his imperfect, chaotic glory. Romances beyond the grave, indeed.

Agecroft Hall

2010-02-10T15:46:00.003-05:00

The Richmond-area winter history blitzkrieg continues!

Last week we went to Agecroft Hall, a huge, beautiful Tudor mansion just west of Carytown in Windsor Farms. I had been there once before, in 12th grade with my Shakespeare class. But over the years my interest in English history, house tours, and over-the-top Elizabethan oil paintings has grown, so I figured it was worth a revisit to ol' Agecroft.

For even the most seasoned house tour connoisseur, this place does not disappoint. Imposing doesn't even begin to describe the massive scale of Agecroft, but compared to its original 60,000 square feet, its current incarnation of 20,000 square feet seems tiny. In the 1920s, a wealthy Richmonder had the house disassembled from its neglected site in England and reassembled here, and we can now enjoy the afternoon sun trickling through the original panes of glass. Though not all of the house's features and furnishings are period, many of them are either spot-on or very close, and you can tell that the work that has gone into transforming the house into an authentic museum has been painstaking. Even though this really isn't my favorite period in English architecture, I was so enamored with Agecroft that it was all I could do to keep from drawing one of the heavy wooden chairs up the fireplace and digging in for the winter.

If you've been on a lot of tours, you know that tour guides are a mixed bag. You can get ones so great that they color the whole experience beautifully, and others so dismal that they forever taint your idea of the place itself. Our tour guide was a bit of a beginner, but you could tell she still had the passion for Agecroft that had drawn her there. Things weren't busy -- snow days are GREAT for having historical sites all to yourselves, folks -- so we meandered through the rooms and leisurely discussed the garb of the people in the paintings, the subject matter of the tapestries, and the possible reasons for a 16th century Englishman having a huge bed carved and painted with images of dragons. The photo below does show the Knot Garden in the spring, but I can't think of a better way to spend a winter day than a visit to Agecroft followed up by lunch at the Lamplighter. It was delightful.

of umbrellas and falling sky.

2010-01-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

Images of the dark and beautiful, still as active as ever and collecting in my mind...

Taunton State Hospital, from opacity.us.

Bat umbrella via Haute Macabre.

A dream dress via Haute Macabre.

richmond-area history blitzkrieg

2010-01-20T12:15:00.003-05:00

Lately we've had more free daylight hours, and have employed ourselves in checking some more local sites off of our list of places to ~~conquer~~ go. We've been thoroughly impressed by all three of our recent adventures, and as always, we highly recommend taking advantage of the places of historical interest you're lucky enough to have within a few minutes of your door.

The Virginia Historical Society

The Virginia Historical Society is really, truly a must-see for Richmond residents. I think I visited the museum in high school, and had very little memory of what I had seen when I went back earlier this month. Of course it contains a very comprehensive summary of Virginia's history dating all the way back to its humble beginnings as the (for-profit!) Virginia Company, but there's a lot more to see. They have scores of vintage Virginia-produced items, from Miller & Rhoads hats to jars of our favorite Meat Juice to an actual Richmond trolley car.

I also just realized that the Historical Society puts its lectures up for download. Get on it!

Wilton

I came across Wilton's web site several years ago and couldn't believe I hadn't been there. I felt a little ashamed, even, having been as far away as Savannah, GA and Salem, MA to drown myself in history, and not having first visited all the house museums in Richmond first. That feeling of shame continued until this month, when we finally got a chance to pay Wilton a visit.

First of all, the place is just gorgeous. Impressive staircase, check. Impressive oil paintings of previous residents, check. Impressive dining room paneled in an icy gray, check. I love it and can't wait to move in. Ha, I wish.

A highlight for me was seeing a beautiful map that William Randolph (the house's original owner) worked on with Peter Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson's dad. Mr. Randolph's study was also decked out as it would have been if he were entertaining, and the accoutrements included some raw oysters that were as lovely as they were fake.

Shirley Plantation

Shirley Plantation is another one that falls into the "can't believe I missed this one" category, because I've been trolling the rt. 5 plantations for years and I've visited way lesser ones and never made it to the MAIN EVENT. I love this place. It's opulent in a very comfortable way, without seeming excessive. The James rages (or at least right now it does, because the river's quite high) just outside the back door, and I can only imagine the incredible sunsets you could witness from the balcony with a whiskey in hand.

I love that the Hill/Carter family were the original residents and still own the place today. The current heir lives upstairs in the house, which is why you can only tour the downstairs. It's very unusual for a house to pass straight down the family line for so long, pretty much all the historical houses you visit are in their 3rd or 4th dynasties at the very least. The family's tenacity for holding on to what is theirs is astounding. When the owner during the Civil War found out that the yankees were on their way, he buried the family's beautiful silver all around the yard. They never found it, and after they left he dug it back up. It's in their dining room right now, with the family crests still etched into the silver perfectly. Though the yankees robbed them blind as per usual, they took pity on the wounded yankee soldiers who had been deposited in their yard, and treated them so kindly that they got a formal letter of thanks from General McClellan. That's what I call true Virginians of the gentleman class: dignity and kindness even in the face of the enemy.

the latest on Poe: drama even in death!

2010-01-19T09:00:00.002-05:00

Today is New Year's Day in the Year of Our Poe 201 -- in other words, it would have been Edgar Allan Poe's 201st birthday today. There has been some controversy lately over our late friend and what city should be considered his home, and whether his body should be moved there. I agree with Paul over at All Things Richmond, who says "Richmond has a strong claim to Poe as the place where he was raised, married, wrote and lived half his life." And of course, Poe always referred to himself as a Virginian despite his many travels. You can leave the RVA, but it never leaves you. Poe knew that better than anyone.

Poe descendant Harry Lee Poe, who as spokesperson for Poe's family had the final say in the matter, made an interesting point about the irony of it all:

During his lifetime, one of the great concerns of Edgar Poe was what to do with the body. He stuffed them up chimneys. He bricked them up in the basement and in the catacombs. He hid them under the floor boards. He threw them in the river. He burned them in flaming houses and castles. He fed them to cannibals. He carted them about in oblong boxes. He sunk them in whirlpools. He hid them in secret crypts. He hypnotized them until they oozed. Unfortunately, he died intestate without giving clear instructions as to what we should do with his own body.

Such a strange twist of fate for someone so burial-obsessed! In the end, the Poes have decided not to push for moving Poe from Baltimore to Richmond: "The conclusion of the family is that the whole issue deserves more consideration, and that the family should take it up again in 2049 during the bicentennial of the death of Poe. "

Though it does seem right to me for Poe's body to rest in Richmond, I understand their reluctance to get involved in the complexity of moving a body that's been fine as is for the past hundred and fifty years.

I don't feel any less connected to Poe because of the decision. Nothing has really changed for Richmond, the hometown of our favorite Virginian. The Poe Museum celebrated Poe's birthday this weekend with a 24-hour birthday bash. There's a new middle school in the Southside known as "the Home of the Ravens" in his honor. And Poe's likeness greets me as I travel about the city in busts, statues, mantlepieces, and framed photographs. Indeed he is here with us, and better than just a body -- actually alive in us, as much as ever.

pumphouse news.

2010-01-17T21:35:00.003-05:00

As I think we've mentioned before, Pumphouse Park is a favorite Midnight Society hangout. The old stone Pump House is about as goth as it gets here in Richmond, and at the turn of the century the city actually held public dances there. You can see the dance floor with its open sides from the ground below, and you can tell it was once an EPIC room. Well, it looks like it might be re-opened to the public as a visitor's center and a place to hold events, which would mean my fantasy of going to a dance there in a big, flouncy dress could actually come true. I have no idea how I missed these news items from last spring describing the renovation work going on there, but I've seen them now and I'm nearly overcome with anticipation. I can't allow myself to get too excited just yet, because you know what happens to a lot of public projects: nothing. So here's hoping, just a little bit, that the work being done on the Pump House comes to fruition soon! We can't wait for one of Richmond's little-known historical sites to get the attention it deserves.

Photo from Lost Art of the City.

More photos are in the Flickr group, here.

krampus is coming to town

2009-12-24T08:46:00.001-05:00

So we've talked about this before, but the concept of Krampus still really wigs me out. But he's been around way longer than I have, so let's raise a glass of grog to our punitive cousin Mr. Krampus. Thanks for keeping us on the straight and narrow, friend.

new moon -- who's with me?

2009-11-09T09:14:00.003-05:00

As a longtime fan of most things vampirish in nature and also a longtime fan of cheesy teen dramas, I am of course very excited for the release of New Moon on Friday, 11.20.09. Have you seen the lovely photo shoot for Vanity Fair featuring Miss Stewart and Mr. Pattinson, our very own Bella and Edward? And more importantly, do you have your ticket yet?

I think the books and movies are so great because they show teenage infatuation in all of its exhilarating, humiliating, un-self-aware glory. That's what made those times so poignant and meaningful to you; you were too young to know or care how ridiculous you looked. And so you surrendered completely and everyone made fun of you. And I can't think of a more fitting portrayal of that unabashed type of obsession than Stephenie Meyer's series.

Though I confess I'm a diehard TEAM JACOB girl, I must clarify that I'm Team Jacob for Bella's sake and Team Edward for my own sake. Either way, we all win with New Moon. Can't wait to see it!

happy (next) halloween!

2009-11-09T08:43:00.003-05:00

I'm back! Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween...as you know, I believe it's never too early to say Happy Halloween and start preparing for the next one (less than 12 months to go, people!). If you haven't seen the Midnight Society's Guide to Haunted Richmond, a piece I wrote for RVANews.com, please read it! It features some of the sites nearest and dearest to my black heart.

Loved these Mr. Yen papercut signs, featured by poppytalk.
Check out the "Poe's Women" exhibit this week at the Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen. The exhibit runs from November 12th - January 10th and features paintings by Poe Museum curator Chris Semtner!
Spooky road trips on I-95? Yes please.

Hope you enjoy these few tidbits as I get back into the blogging groove here.

the ghost machine.

2009-10-14T11:21:00.003-04:00

Who's ready for Halloween? My all hallows' eve-related blogging is minimal this year, because I'm actually enacting the spooky rite of marriage on Saturday. But that shouldn't stop you from getting all the info about local haunted events and attending them religiously!

These lovelies remind me of old Vincent Price movie posters.
Speaking of movies, the Byrd is playing classics next week! It's your duty to support.
An amazing story in paranormal history: Edison and the ghost machine.
The best Halloween costume idea EVERRRRRRR.
VASPER is putting on a paranormal investigating workshop on November 15th, so please get connected with them if you'd like to attend!
File under Oh My Goth: a lamp that's powered by blood.
Spiders: creepy, useful.
Local Ghost Hunters: Edgewood Plantation style!
Scary wall embellishments: so necessary.

haunters and the haunted.

2009-09-14T21:43:00.003-04:00

Get it now from the Central Virginia Haunted House Enthusiasts: your very own "VA is for haunters" t-shirt. From CVHHE:

I have shirts in all sizes: S, M, L, XL, and XXL

Pricing is $15 plus shipping. If you want more than 1 we can work out a deal. Send me a message on Facebook or contact via E-mail: rsligh [at] gmail.com

Thanks!

- Ryan

grim indeed.

2009-09-10T20:09:00.004-04:00

Gris Grimly will be signing books at the Poe Museum's September Unhappy Hour, September 24th at 6pm. I've been a huge fan of his since my mom bought me Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness, which he illustrated. Some of his original watercolors will be on display, and they'll also be showing the film The Black Cat starting at 9pm.
A couple of Poe's tales have been released on Librivox, the best place to get free audiobooks of public domain works!
Get your own household Nosferatu!
This bat backpack is so over-the-top and too amusing not to post.
Three more amazing photo sets of abandoned places from opacity.us. Seriously this is one of the only sites that consistently leaves me speechless after all these years.

a contest, etc.

2009-09-01T18:31:00.002-04:00

Hello screamsters. Today was the first semi-chilly day of the fall, and I can feel myself gearing up for the gothest season of the year already. A few links today:

My friend Jenny brought this competition to my attention. You win if you make the best parody of Poe's "The Raven." Oh man!
Even wired.com is talking about sleep paralysis.
About.com puts out a good amount of paranormal news, so subscribe! I particularly like the story this time about the "crying boy" cursed paintings.

Aaaand, a quick note about comments: We love comments that are helpful and posted with an attitude of contributing to the conversation. If you have an opinion, feel free to agree or disagree -- politely. If you're not polite, your comment won't be published, whether you're spot-on or not. Also, don't say "Hey that's not true, such-and-such totally ain't haunted," because we don't care whether stories are "true" or not...that's completely besides the point. While we love personal stories and encourage people to submit them, what we're chiefly interested in are the ideas of folklore and urban myths, and studying the process that gets a story to become a legend. And that's clearly stated in our About Us section.

Bluff Mountain -- Blue Ridge Parkway

2009-08-23T10:24:00.000-04:00