Things seem paranormal around Dumfries

Things seem paranormal around Dumfries
February 28, 2009
By Aileen Streng
Inside NoVA

A woman went to the Weems-Botts Museum in Dumfries last summer to inquire about historical photos. She saw a docent dressed in a Victorian-era costume looking out of a second floor window.

She then went up to the front door and peered through a window, seeing the same docent walk down the stairs and into a side room. She knocked on the door.

When the docent didn't answer the door, the woman left and called the museum office to complain.

"She was justifiably concerned and upset," said Emma Young, administrative assistant for Historic Dumfries, Virginia Inc., which manages the museum.

The annoyed visitor came back several days later and spoke to Beth Cardinale, Historic Dumfries administrator. They soon figured out that the woman had gone to the wrong building—the 260-year-old museum building instead of the office building next door—and that there had not been a docent in the museum at the time of her visit.

"There was no one in the museum that day," Cardinale said.

The two women then went back to the museum and went inside. They looked at the photos on the wall of Annie and Violet Merchant, who used to live in the house.

"She immediately went to Annie's picture and said, 'That's her. That's who I saw, as sure as I see you standing here,'" Cardinale said.

"I said, 'That's interesting since she died in 1952.'"

A group of ghost hunters recently visited the museum to prove what Cardinale and Young and many others already know.

There appears to be something other-worldly about the historic old house, often referred to as the "most haunted house in Dumfries."

Seven members of the Supernatural Investigators of Virginia spent a night in the building last fall. They came away with what they believe is evidence of the paranormal.

"I would characterize it as a very active house," said Tracey Burnett, one of the founding members of the Harrisonburg-based group. "It is the first place we have gotten so many EVPs."

Among ghost hunters, EVPs are known as Electronic Voice Phenomena.

The crew of ghost hunters said they captured 18 voice recordings during their overnight visit. On the tapes you hear: "Hello," "Get out of my house," and "Can you hear me? I'm not dead."

The group will be back in Dumfries on Saturday to present its findings to the public at 7 and 8:30 p.m. in the Dumfries Town Hall Council Chambers. The free lecture is sponsored by Historic Dumfries.

History of the house

First owned by Quantico Church and built around 1750, the original two-room building was purchased by Locke Weems, George Washington's first biographer, in 1798 and used as a bookstore. Around 1802, Benjamin Botts bought it and used it for his law practice.

In 1869, Richard and Annie Merchant bought the house and added four rooms. It was there they planned to raise their daughters, Violet and Mamie.

Mamie suffered from epileptic seizures and was kept in an upstairs room in confinement until she died in 1906 at the age of 23. Her father died the same year.

Annie asked her daughter Violet, who had moved away and fallen in love, to come back home and take care of her. Violet did so until Annie died in 1952 at the age of 98. Violet spent the rest of her life in the house until she died in 1968.

In 1974, when major repairs were being made to the house and future museum, the strange occurrences began.

Sounds and sightings

"It is largely believed that the Merchant family is haunting the house," Young said.

"We can go months with nothing happening," Cardinale said.

"Then we will go days that something happens every day," Young said.

An antique doll has moved around the parlor room, and a photograph hanging on the wall has been found on the floor or propped up on a chair. Books move, curtains flutter.

Young's most vivid experience was two years ago with whom she believes was Violet. "It had to do with a window that opened and closed on command," she said.

"People love these sorts of stories," Young said. "Frankly, the ghosts are our biggest fundraiser."

Ghost hunters

Historic Dumfries has been hosting overnight Ghostly Lock-ins at the museum in October since 2004. It becomes more popular each year.

The Supernatural Investigators learned of the lock-ins and booked a night. "We were looking for something to do around Halloween and decided to try it," Burnett said.

Young said that the museum gets a fair number of visits from self-proclaimed ghost hunters.

"You can tell those who are doing it as a lark versus those who are serious in the inquiry," she said.

Young said she didn't know how serious the Supernatural Investigators were until they showed up with infra-red cameras, video cameras, digital cameras, digital recorders and asked her very detailed questions.

"They were taking pictures and temperature readings in all the rooms. They were systematically going through each room," she said. Young stayed with the group throughout the investigation.

The Supernatural Investigators formed in 2006 and consists of six core members and three associates who have at least a couple of things in common—an interest in the paranormal and jobs at Wal-Mart for most of them.

The group has conducted investigations at five houses, as well as a number of cemeteries. They do not charge for their services and their availability is spread largely through word of mouth, Burnett said.

"We do all of our ghost hunting in the dark. That's because if you have the lights on you won't be able to see shadows as well," Burnett said. "Also, if you have the electricity on, it can interfere with our electro-magnetic field detectors."

"Usually when ghosts manifest, they will give off a certain energy about them that can be picked up by the detectors," Burnett said. "You don't want any outside energy to affect that."

The ghost hunters try to disprove any evidence that could be considered paranormal with logical explana-tions.

For example, Burnett does not put much credence into photographs that show orbs. "Orbs can be dust, bugs or moisture," she said.

The investigators did get a photo outside the museum that showed a blue-colored mist surrounding the base of a tree. "It actually had some sort of form to it," Burnett said. "It struck us as odd."

They also set digital recorders in all the rooms. "We just leave them there to run the entire time," Burnett said.

"We picked up a lot of EVPs there and a lot of them were quite clear," she said.

However, when the group left the museum the next day, they didn't think they had caught any paranormal activity with their equipment.

"Usually with most of our investigations, we come away thinking we don't have anything," Burnett said. "Then when we get home and review all of the video and audio and download the pictures, we find there is more there than we thought. A lot of times it's boring while you are there but the end result is very interesting."

That was the case at the Weems-Botts.

The Supernatural Investigators will head back to the museum after their presentation Saturday for another investigation, hoping once more for a visit from the netherworld.

For more information about the Supernatural Investigators, visit their Web site at http://www.siofva@googlepages.com.

For more information about the Weems-Botts Museum, call 703-221-2218 or contact by e-mail at weemsbotts@msn.com .