George Wythe House

Home of George Wythe, signer of the Declaration of Independence and America's first law professor. George Washington used the house as headquarters before the siege of Yorktown.

The George Wythe House, built between 1752 and 1754 by Richard Taliaferro—Virginia's "most skillful architect"—stands as one of Colonial Williamsburg's most historically significant and haunted buildings. George Wythe, America's first law professor and mentor to Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and Henry Clay, received the Georgian mansion as a wedding gift from his father-in-law upon marrying Elizabeth Taliaferro in 1755. Wythe was the first Virginia signer of the Declaration of Independence and served as mayor of Williamsburg in 1768 and 1769. In 1781, the house served as headquarters for General George Washington during his planning of the Siege of Yorktown, and later housed French commander Comte de Rochambeau for nine months after the American victory.

The most famous ghost is Lady Ann Skipwith, wife of Sir Peyton Skipwith, who died in 1779 and was buried in Bruton Parish churchyard. Legend claims that during an elegant ball at the Governor's Palace, Ann discovered her husband in the arms of her sister Jean. Fleeing in hysterics, she lost one red shoe as she ran back to the Wythe House, where she died under mysterious circumstances—variously attributed to suicide, murder by her husband, or complications from pregnancy. Historical records indicate she actually died at Hog Island during childbirth, and the Skipwith family had no documented connection to the Wythe House until 1800, but the legend persists.

Visitors hear the distinctive sound of a woman running up the stairs—the sharp crack of a heel followed by the dull thud of a bare foot. The closet in Lady Ann's former bedroom swings open on its own, and at times the room fills with a faint lavender scent. She has been seen exiting the closet in her cream-colored satin dress and single red shoe, blankly gazing into the mirror before vanishing. Reenactors in the house have reported looking into first-floor mirrors and seeing a beautiful woman in a blue satin gown standing beside them, only for her to vanish when they turn around. This occurs so frequently that when one concerned new employee reported her encounter, a co-worker replied, "Oh yeah, that happens all the time."

The tradition among William & Mary students and visitors is to bring a single red shoe to the home's door and shout, "Lady Skipwith! Lady Skipwith! I found your red shoe!" to provoke her spirit.

George Wythe himself haunts his former home, though he did not die here. On May 25, 1806, at age 80, Wythe was poisoned by his grandnephew George Wythe Sweeney, who faced crushing gambling debts and stood to inherit Wythe's estate. Sweeney put arsenic in Wythe's morning coffee, also sickening Lydia Broadnax (a free African American woman Wythe had manumitted) and Michael Brown (a free African American man Wythe tutored). Brown died on June 1; Wythe lingered for two agonizing weeks, dying on June 8 after amending his will to disinherit his murderer. Though Sweeney was tried, he escaped conviction—Lydia Broadnax, the only witness, was legally barred from testifying against a white man under Virginia law.

Many believe Wythe's angry spirit returns annually on June 8, the anniversary of his death. Guests sleeping in his former bedroom report feeling a firm, cold hand press down on their foreheads. At other times, his spirit is calmer—employees have felt unseen hands tap gently on their shoulders, and some have witnessed a cordial group of "spectral gentlemen" sitting together in wingback chairs by the unlit fireplace in the study.

A third possible ghost is Elizabeth Wythe, George's wife. Colonial Williamsburg employees alone in the building have reported items from their bags being removed, placed in piles on different chairs, and aesthetically arranged—prompting speculation about the ghost of Elizabeth, who was known for excessive organizing.

Security guards have had remarkable encounters. One recounted: "The George Wythe House was the one that myself and one of the guys... we're in there one night, it was slow, summertime. Decided to do some ghost hunting of our own. On the second floor we heard the air conditioning unit kick on. Couple minutes later we heard down on the floor below us a lady singing. She was just as happy as could be... We stood for about two to three minutes listening to her sing and then slowly faded out. It wasn't scary; that one was actually kind of peaceful."

Staff have discovered mysterious locked-door incidents where every entrance was secured from the inside by thumb-turn bolts—the 18th-century equivalent of deadbolts—yet security footage showed no one entering or leaving. The bolts require deliberate force to engage and cannot lock accidentally.

The house, restored by Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in 1940, was declared a National Historic Landmark on April 15, 1970. Today it remains one of Williamsburg's most visited haunted sites, with multiple ghost tour companies including the Williamsburg Ghost Tour and Colonial Ghosts featuring it prominently. Despite official Colonial Williamsburg staff maintaining "There are no ghosts in the Wythe House, and there never have been," the steady stream of unexplained encounters suggests otherwise.