Haunted Haven Beach aka Old House Woods

Of all the ghost stories of Virginia, none have been told over and over more than the stories of Old House Woods.  Located near the tiny town of Diggs in Mathews County, scary tales have been passed down generation after generation for more than 200 years.  The tales were so wide spread that the Baltimore Sun newspaper wrote an article about the woods back in the 1920's.  The 50 acres of woods and marshlands contain some of the most bizarre and unusual paranormal phenomenon ever recorded.    The recurring tales include characters like British Redcoats, pirates, skeletons in knight's armor, mysterious groups of shovelers digging, ghost horses and cows which appear and disappear before one's eyes, a full rigged Spanish galleon which vanishes in thin air, mysterious floating lights in the woods similar to lantern light, and a "Storm Woman" who floats above the pines warning fishermen of impending gales. 

There are legends about lost treasure in the area as well.  Charles II purportedly sent treasure from Enland to the New World in the event he had to go into exhile there.  The ship carrying the treasure got lost, went down the wrong river and had their treasure stolen by pirates (who then buried it in the vicinity of Haven Beach and Old House Woods).  Another legend of treasure claims Cornwallis had silver and gold buried in a graveyard near White's Creek following the battle of Yorktown.  One of the spooky tales centers around a man who went treasure hunting and disappeared, only to be found dead in his drifting boat and holding a gold coin.


Ectoplasmic mist forming. 


During my own trips to Old House Woods, I've had several unexplained experiences. During our first paranormal investigation of the area, one member of our group immediately felt threatened and unable to breathe and asked us to get in the car and leave. At the same time, we all smelled a sulphur like odor. Moments before the car door slammed shut though it was fully open, locked in place and no one was anywhere near it. (after we returned home, we experimented with shutting the door and concluded that it must receive a solid shove in order to completely close tight as it had in the woods).  As we were driving down the road heading home, two members of our group witnessed a light in the woods. When asked, they described it as being yellowish glow about the same height off the ground that a lantern would be. Neither person was aware that one of the stories was of a mysterious light in the woods.

We have returned to Old House Woods many times.  On one occasion, we (and by we I mean my family and fellow investigators) pulled over to see if we could obtain any evidence of the paranormal.  As we sat there with our recording equipment, I began to hear a distinct clicking noise.  It was a very metallic sound.  I turned to my cousin Kelly and asked, "Do you hear that?" (purposefully not mentioning specifics of what I was hearing).  "You mean that clicking noise? Yes, and it's getting closer," she answered.  More afraid of the living than the dead we opted to leave without waiting to see what the noise was coming from (I want to mention here that there was a body found in the area some time ago and though the killer was caught, it was unnerving nonetheless).  When we returned home that night, Kelly dug around in our kitchen utensils and found a pair of metal tongs.  She began clicking them together.  It produced the exact same sound.  Perhaps had we waited we would have witnessed some crazy tong wielding killer the skeleton in Spanish armor some have seen there.


Still frame of odd light obtained on video.


Another trip to the woods was equally active.  We stopped in one area and began taking photos and readings. Kelly and I were discussing that this was the area where we had the car door slam shut a few years ago. We began to feel somewhat uneasy and decided to move down the road a bit. As we drove, my Aunt Patsy noticed that the trunk was open. Kelly and I knew we had closed and checked the trunk earlier (we had some expensive equipment stored in the trunk at the time and made sure everything was closed and locked up). After closing the trunk, we then started back down the road for further investigation. I began hearing footsteps walking up to the back of the car on the gravel. We saw no one at the time, but decided to leave the area as we were uncertain if there was a living person wandering around. The area where we heard the footsteps was the same area where we heard the clicking noise. While driving back home, we discussed possible reasons for the trunk opening. It was thought that the inside latch may have been hit while driving. Kelly attempted to use her foot to pop the latch, but the angle was awkward and it was impossible to open the trunk from inside while driving unless done on purpose.  


So if you're up for a little thrill, stop by the woods.

For other photos and some ghostly recordings you can head to Gettysburg Ghosts Paranormal Investigations and check them out.

And if you have a ghost story from the Tidewater, let me know!