Is Colonial Williamsburg Really Haunted?

It's been quite some time since my last post and I thought I'd discuss a new subject in my blog. I've had an interest in the paranormal for quite some time. However, I had not actually taken action and done my own "hunting" until some friends and I took one of the Williamsburg ghost tours. This is the "original" ghost tour and features stories from L. B. Taylor's book Ghosts of Williamsburg. During this preliminary investigation, I took about 40 pictures at the various locations. Although I took some pictures during the tour, many of them were taken after the tour as it was still daylight during much of the tour.

Before you scroll down to the pictures below, I'd like to make a few things known.

1) I am a skeptic. So, I did not expect to see anything unusual in the pictures that I took.

2) I realize that props, reflective objects, etc. could possibly be used on such tours to make them "scary".

3) I can assure you that both my lens and the clear, protective filter were free of dust and condensation when the pictures were taken. I checked for condensation and such a few times that evening while taking the pictures.

4) I plan to do a test shoot at home. Why? If my camera captures something unusual there, it will have a great degree of authenticity. In addition, it will show that my camera is functioning properly when taking pictures at night; especially if nothing unusual is captured.

5) There were instances where I intentionally did not use the flash when taking pictures. Although the originals were quite dark, details were captured and I was able to bring out those details by adjusting the levels. A good analogy for "levels" are the 3 knobs that appear on many guitar amplifiers: Bass, Midtone, and Treble. In the case of "levels", it's more like: shadows, midtones, and highlights.

6) I also took a few photos using the camera's built-in infrared feature. Only one of those captured something interesting.

7) The only edits I made to these photos were resizing them for posting in the blog, adjusting the levels, and removing noise caused by low lighting conditions. I did not add anything to the photos that wasn't already there.

Now, the pictures . . . .



This is a picture of the Peyton Randolph house. I used the flash. It is said that the right-most upper 2 windows glow green. However, you can clearly see that the shades are down. Whereas, the shades are up in the other windows. The object of interest is in front of the lower portion of the bottom right window. It appears to be what paranormal investigators would call an "orb".

Below, is an enlarged image of that window.



The next image was taken less than a minute later from the same distance and angle. Again, I used the flash. The object of interest has apparently moved from the lower portion of the window to nearly above the top center pane of the window.



Again, an enlarged image of the window . . . .



Below is another picture of the Peyton Randolph house taken after the tour. I cannot even begin to explain the unusual objects in the image. I can assure you that the lens was free of dust and condensation. In addition, the 2 right hand windows on the first floor appear to have a green "glow". However, I double checked the story. It is definitely those 2 windows on the 2nd floor that supposedly glow. Weird.



An enlarged view of some of the more prominent objects . . . .



The picture below was taken less than one minute later from roughly the same distance, but I was standing more to the left of the house. Although there are fewer of the unexplainable objects, they are still there and appear to have moved.



Again, here is an enlarged view of the more prominent objects. Note that the lower window is still glowing green.



This infrared shot was taken about 8 minutes after the very first picture above and before the other 2 that show several unusual objects. Ignore the splotches in the upper left and right. They were caused by the IR light reflecting off of the clear filter. The object of interest is the bright spot near the bottom of the image on the right side. It appears to be just below the bottom center pane of that first floor window. As you can see from the pictures above, there is nothing in that area that would cause light (especially IR light) to reflect that brightly.



An enlarged view of that window. You can very faintly see some of the panes and the object in question below them.



This is a picture of the Wythe House taken after the tour. I didn't see anything in the image until I enhanced it by adjusting the levels. There appears to be an "orb" hovering over the grass between me (the camera man) and a friend.



This is another shot of the Wythe House taken 3 minutes before the picture above. Note the strange bright light just to the right of the house where the overhang meets the brick face. I can assure you that there was no airplane flying overhead at that time. Besides, it would have to have been quite close for the lights from it to be that bright.



The following shot was taken about 4 minutes after the shot above. It was taken from a similar distance and angle. Note that the strange bright light is not there.



Here's another shot of the Wythe House. Notice the "orb" floating above the fence on the right side of the house.



This next shot was taken less than one minute later from a similar distance and angle. Note that the "orb" is gone.



This next shot is possibly the weirdest of them all. It was a 2 second exposure and no flash. That's why you can see a little bit of motion blur. However, the thing to note is the "ribbon" of light streaking across at what I would estimate to be 2 feet above the ground. I can assure you that no-one was walking in front of me at the time. If that had been the case, you'd see the person as well as the object if it were attached to them.



Another shot taken less than one minute later from a similar distance and angle . . . no ribbon of light. Again, it was a 2 second exposure and no flash.



Here's a shot of the Wythe House before dark. Notice that the indoor shutters are open now whereas they are closed after dark. Take note of the upper left hand window. There is very little reflection in it and the window below it whereas there is a lot of reflection in some of the other windows. Now, look very closely at that upper left window. It could be a reflection, but I see what might be the collar of a light colored shirt and, perhaps, the chin of a figure in the second row of panes from the bottom and 3rd pane from the left. I also see what could be the cuff of a sleeve and a light colored object (perhaps a piece of paper) being held in a hand in the pane next to that.



Due to having to decrease the image size for posting in my blog, you're probably saying, "I don't see anything." So, I have cropped the original image to just that window and enlarged it slightly so you can see more detail. Still, I'll admit that I'm on the fence about this one. It could very well be some sort of reflection. Even so, it took a very interesting shape.



A lot of movies, cartoons, etc show strange stuff going on in cemetaries right? Well, I guess the cemetary behind Bruton Parish Church is no exception. I honestly wasn't expecting to capture anything because that was my thinking; strange stuff in cemetaries only happens in cartoons and movies. So much for thinking.

This first picture shows an unusual object up in a tree that looms over the grave stones. You might say, "oh, that's just a spider web or something." But wait until you see the next picture.



Don't say I didn't warn you! ;^) This shot was actually taken less than one minute before the one above. I guess the first shot scared a few of the object's "friends" away. It was taken from the same vantage point, but at a slightly different angle.



This final picture was taken further down the wall toward the back of the cemetary. Note the "orb" near the grave stone.



Despite the evidence in these images, I'm still not convinced that ghosts and other paranormal beings are real. Although I don't usually do a lot of outdoor night photography, I can assure you that my camera works well under indoor lighting and daylight conditions. I can also assure, as I already have, that the lens and clear filter were free of dust and condensation. I plan to do quite a bit more exploration on the topic. In fact, once I get on a roll, I'll dedicate a separate blog to the subject. I'll need to take a lot more photos at different sites as well as my home for a test site before I'll be anywhere near convinced. That said, I do plan to take another trip to Williamsburg soon. I'm going on a different ghost tour with a friend. We'll stick around afterward and take even more photos.