Williamsburg Ghost Tour

26. The Wren Building

Williamsburg, VA

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The Wren building was built between 1695 and 1700 and is the oldest academic building still in use in the United States. It burned down three times, in 1705, 1859 and 1862. It served as a hospital during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, contains an underground crypt beneath the chapel, and has housed many of the College's students and faculty. The Wren courtyard has been filled with amputated body parts and dead bodies on several occasions throughout its history. The structure remains strong to this day, as do the spirits from the structure's more than 310-year history. Some report hearing footsteps inside the building when no one is there, doors that open and shut on their own, screaming, and various apparitions. After years as a hospital during two bloody wars, three fires, a burial ground, and several hundred years as a school building, it is anyone's guess as to who or what these ghosts could represent. One account comes from a student that had night class in the Wren building in 1967. Class was interrupted by loud footsteps above in the room above them. The professor had the room searched, since no one else was supposed to be in the building. They found nothing and continued class. Until, they heard the footsteps again. The professor remarked that Sir Christopher Wren must be back to look over his building, and when he said that there was a horrifying crash that shook the ceiling. It sounded like a chandelier or something heavy that fell to the floor, but when they searched the room everything was in its place, and like last time, found no one.