Panhellenic Council tours a haunted capitol

The University's Panhellenic Council kicked off the Halloween weekend Wednesday night by organizing a number of haunted tours of downtown Richmond.

I was one of the students who took advantage of the opportunity to take a trolley ride to the entrance of the Beverly Hotel and then given a historic and creepy walking tour of downtown Richmond. I certainly don't regret my decision.

The trolley was complete with creaky wooden seats, questionable shocks, sugar cookies in the shape of bats and of course Spider Cider and successfully set the tone for the tour.

Once there, my group of about twelve was taken into the charge of Matthew. I wish I could say Matthew was a cute older man with white hair and a fedora, ideally smoking a cigarette and maybe drinking some whiskey. However, "no drinking on the tour" was one of the first ground rules the decidedly young and fedora-less, Matthew gave us. However he was wearing a hat and is obviously a history buff, so I wasn't too disappointed.

Rules and decidedly awkward yet fun initial conversation out of the way, we commenced our tour, stopping at a number of historical spots in Richmond, including the Capitol, the Governor's mansion, and the "White House" of the Confederacy, and being told a story or two about the ghosts said to haunt each one as well as some historical context for the site.

An especially disturbing and fascinating stop was at Monumental Church, which was built as a monument in 1812 to the 72 Richmonders who perished there in a fire. The church replaced what was once a popular Play House, and about 10 percent of the city's population was attending its production of "The Bleeding Nun" on the night of the fire.

In the days before the night of the play, 15-year-old Nancy is said to have been approached by a stranger, who said to her, "Nancy, Nancy, Nancy Green. You won't live to be 16." Nancy was one of the victims of the fire.

In addition to such stories, Matthew also threw in some of his own experiences with ghosts and even some encouragement to attend the next inauguration, which he described as a great experience regardless of your political affiliation.

The conclusion of the appropriately creepy and amusing tour left us on the trolley back to campus and left me with a question pertaining to one of the ghosts who reportedly looks more frightened at those who spotted him than the observers of him. Did you ever think that maybe we're the ghosts?

Contact reporter Rachel Stoltzfoos at rachel.stolzfoos@richmond.edu.