Exchange Hotel

Built in 1860 as a railroad hotel, it became a receiving hospital for both Confederate and Union wounded during the Civil War. Over 70,000 soldiers passed through, and many died here.

The Exchange Hotel stands as a solemn monument to one of the Civil War's most harrowing chapters. Built in 1860 as an elegant railroad hotel at the junction of the Virginia Central and Orange & Alexandria Railways, this three-story Greek Revival structure was designed to welcome travelers making stopovers in Gordonsville. Within two years of opening, mounting hostilities would transform it into something far darker.

By June 1862, the Exchange Hotel had become the Gordonsville Receiving Hospital, considered America's first triage facility. Over the next three years, more than 70,000 soldiers—mostly Confederate but including Union prisoners—passed through its wards. Doctors performed countless amputations, often without adequate anesthesia, while nurses battled outbreaks of typhoid, dysentery, and gangrene. The screams of the dying echoed through halls once filled with the laughter of vacationers. Over 700 soldiers perished within these walls, their names etched into the hospital's tragic legacy. After the war ended, the building served as a Freedmen's Bureau Hospital for newly freed slaves before eventually returning to its role as a hotel.

Today, the Exchange Hotel is recognized as one of America's most haunted locations. In 1997, A&E and the History Channel ranked it fifteenth among the top 100 most haunted places in America. The museum has documented over 80 recorded paranormal incidents since 1989, and investigative teams have collected more than 1,000 EVP recordings along with hundreds of photographs and videos showing unexplained phenomena.

The most frequently encountered spirit is Anna, a former slave and close friend of Margaret "Meg" Crank, the second wife of one of the hotel's early owners. Historical diary entries describe Anna as having moderate complexion, standing four feet eleven inches tall, with "an irascible nature and ungovernable temper." Meg brought Anna to run the summer kitchen, and her ghost is most often seen walking between the kitchen building and the main house, her apparition startling countless witnesses. Ghost hunters consider the summer kitchen one of the property's most active locations.

Above the room where Anna once cooked lurks a far more malevolent presence: Major Quartermaster Richards. According to museum staff, Richards murdered his wife after discovering her affair with a surgeon, buried her body in the woods behind the hotel, then hanged himself. His spirit is described as "not so nice"—he reportedly holds his wife's spirit hostage "for what he says is eternity." Richards has physically assaulted visitors and staff members, pinning the museum president against a wall on two separate occasions and pushing at least one investigator down the stairs. Paranormal teams have learned to approach his area with caution.

The hotel's four confirmed Civil War suicides have left permanent spiritual imprints. Two female nurses who lived in boarding houses on the grounds took their own lives, overwhelmed by the endless suffering they witnessed. Visitors frequently report seeing these nurses dressed in black, climbing the stairs and going room to room as if still making their rounds. Perhaps most heartbreaking is the spirit of a young boy who worked at the hospital during the war. Unable to bear the torment-filled environment, he reportedly hanged himself from one of the upstairs windows. Visitors hear soft sobs and small footsteps near the old operating rooms, and some have glimpsed a fleeting figure in period clothing before it vanishes.

Other spirits include Emma, a little girl frequently photographed by paranormal investigators, and possibly Major Cornelius Boyle, the Confederate post commander who oversaw Gordonsville's military operations. One of the most remarkable encounters involved a Confederate soldier—bandaged head, missing one leg—who supposedly carried on a fifteen-minute conversation with visitors before disappearing. A Union corporal, believed to be the last patient discharged when the hospital closed in 1865, has also been reported.

The paranormal activity at the Exchange Hotel spans virtually every category investigators track. Doors open and close by themselves. Heavy objects are heard being dragged across floors and dropped. Cold spots appear throughout the building. Employees hear footsteps in empty hallways, disembodied voices in conversation, and occasionally witness full-bodied apparitions. One staff member, formerly a skeptic, reported seeing two apparitions—one full-bodied, one partial—within a single month. Guests have awoken to screams and moans that seem to echo from the building's hospital days. Security guards have heard a woman singing happily, her voice slowly fading after several minutes. Items unplug themselves. Objects move from their positions. Visitors feel unseen hands brush their shoulders or tug their clothing. The scent of medicinal herbs and antiseptics occasionally wafts through rooms that have been empty for over a century.

Multiple paranormal investigation teams have verified the hotel's haunted status. The Shenandoah Valley Paranormal Society conducted Investigation #28 in August 2009, concluding the building is definitively haunted. Black Raven Paranormal encountered a "shadow person" and communicated with Emma during their visits. The Tennessee Wraith Chasers, stars of Destination America's Ghost Asylum and Haunted Towns, have returned multiple times. Research Investigators of the Paranormal (R.I.P.) from Richmond featured the location in their television series The Twisted Realm.

The Exchange Hotel Civil War Medical Museum now operates in the fully restored building, the only Civil War receiving hospital still standing in Virginia. The museum opens for public paranormal investigations on select Friday nights, offering visitors the chance to experience the supernatural activity firsthand. Over 250 investigators have visited across 45 weekends, contributing to the museum's vast collection of evidence. Annual ghost walks around Halloween draw crowds to this tragic and haunted site.

For those brave enough to visit, the spirits of the Exchange Hotel seem eager to make their presence known—some seeking comfort, others demanding attention, and at least one, Major Richards, apparently seeking victims to torment for eternity.