Bruton Parish Church

One of the oldest Episcopal churches in America, in continuous use since 1715. Washington, Jefferson, and Patrick Henry all worshipped here.

On a still night, Colonial Williamsburg security guards sat in their patrol car near Palace Green when a tall, shadowy figure emerged from the darkness. The man wore a black suit with a vest, but what froze them in place was his strangely elongated neck and glowing red eyes. Many believe figures like this belong to those who died by hanging. When the guards pursued him into the church, they heard a strange "whoosh-thud" sound. Switching on their flashlights, they watched hymnals levitate from the pews, fly across the room, and slam into the walls. The guards fled immediately.

That was Bruton Parish Church -- established in 1674, with the current cruciform brick structure designed by Governor Alexander Spotswood and completed in 1715. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry all worshipped here during sessions of the House of Burgesses. But the founding fathers are not the ones who linger.

THE REVEREND'S BROKEN PROMISE

The most enduring ghost belongs to the wife of Reverend Scervant Jones. When complications arose during the birth of their first child, the doctor told Jones his wife would not survive. At her bedside, the reverend proclaimed his undying love and promised to wait for her in heaven. He could never imagine life with another woman, he said.

After her death, parishioners began seeing her spirit sitting peacefully in the church pews and wandering the cemetery grounds. She seemed to be waiting for her beloved husband.

Three months later, Reverend Jones returned to Williamsburg -- with a new wife.

The peaceful spirit transformed overnight. Witnesses reported seeing Mrs. Jones weeping and wailing, her anguished cries echoing through the cemetery at dusk. Adding insult to injury, when Jones died, he had his second wife's grave placed between him and his first wife, permanently separating them even in death. People still hear the church organ playing late at night when the building is empty and locked, along with the sobs of a broken-hearted woman.

THE CIVIL WAR DEAD

After the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, 1862, the church served as a makeshift hospital for wounded Union and Confederate soldiers. Isabella Thompson Sully of Richmond nursed dying soldiers here, promising them burial in consecrated ground. When she later returned to honor that promise, she was horrified to discover that "instead of a dozen bodies being removed there were bones of nearly, or quite 100 men" in mass burial pits. These soldiers now rest beneath a granite obelisk in the churchyard, erected in 1893.

THE SILHOUETTE ON DUKE OF GLOUCESTER STREET

Charles, a former Colonial Williamsburg security guard, had his own encounter walking down Duke of Gloucester Street late one night. He observed a figure that appeared "construction paper black -- like as a kid if you ever cut out silhouettes." The male figure stood about five foot ten with a ponytail, dressed in unmistakable colonial attire: knickers, stockings, shirt, and vest. As the figure approached a tree near the church entrance where a light hung, it simply vanished. Nothing materialized on the other side.

THE SELF-PLAYING ORGAN

The church's 1755 pipe organ has its own reputation. An organist who regularly practices at Bruton Parish reports a persistent tingling sensation on the back of their neck. On April 10, 2014, around 11:30 PM, video footage captured the organ playing by itself while the church remained locked and empty. Curtains have also been observed moving without explanation inside the sanctuary.

The churchyard contains one of the finest collections of table tombs in North America, with graves dating to the 1630s. The oldest marked tombstone belongs to colonial secretary Thomas Ludwell, who died in 1678. Among those interred are John Blair (a signer of the Constitution), Cyrus Griffin (last president of the Continental Congress), and two infant children of Martha Dandridge Custis, who would later become Martha Washington.

Today, Bruton Parish Church remains an active Episcopal congregation with over 2,000 members. Services continue every Sunday in the same sanctuary where founding fathers once debated revolution. Ghost tours regularly stop at the churchyard, where visitors peer through the iron fence hoping to catch a glimpse of Mrs. Jones still wandering among the headstones, forever waiting for the husband who betrayed her dying wish.