A long, tree-lined drive in Surry County, Virginia, ends at a brick house with Flemish gables and triple-stacked chimneys, built around 1665 by Arthur Allen and recognized as the oldest brick dwelling in North America. Its bricks were made on site by indentured servants and enslaved people. For more than three and a half centuries it has stood among the fields. Some say it has never stood empty.
In 1676, followers of Nathaniel Bacon seized the house during his rebellion and held it for four months before they were driven out. Bacon himself never set foot there, but the name stuck. The Allen family kept the land for nearly two centuries, and it was worked largely by enslaved people. A great fireball is said to appear near the stair tower at night, rush down the stairs, and burst outside, though witnesses disagree on whether it flies toward the cemetery or from it. A lady in white has been reported in the tower and the yard. Visitors describe knocking in empty rooms, voices that laugh and cry, and light taps on the shoulder from about the height of a child.
Preservation Virginia has owned the house since 1972. Its interior opens seasonally on 45-minute guided tours, with select after-dark haunted history tours booked in advance. Stand at the foot of the stair tower. Listen for the knock.
Story Source: hauntedus.com
Address: 465 Bacons Castle Trail, Surry, VA 23883
Accessibility Rating: Guided Tours Only — Access permitted only as part of an organized tour. Independent exploration not allowed.
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What Others Have Experienced
A guest on the after-dark Haunt Night tour was handed an EVP recorder and sent into the unlit gardens to listen for anything unexplained. Inside, the hour-long walk ran from the basement kitchen up to the old servants’ quarters, with some rooms left deliberately dark, and the small group size kept the experience close and atmospheric.
— from TripAdvisor
Arriving at the castle, a family blogger felt the brick house tower over them and thought it looked exactly like a place that could be haunted. They saw no ghosts that day, but the guide’s telling of Bacon’s Rebellion drew them in more than they expected, and they said they’d happily return hoping for something stranger.
— from Only Fun Things
