Monday, November 5, 2007

Paranormal Investigation Of Virginia Mansion

Ghost hunters converged onto the Major Grahams Mansion in Wythe county searching for spirit activity.

The historical property located in Grahams Forge has many folklore stories that make it a prime spot for possible paranormal activity.

Recently the Virginia Paranormal Society (formerly known as the New River Paranormal Group) contacted Mary Lin Brewer about investigating any activity in the mansion. The GrahamFest director did her research on the group and then welcomed them to a visit after the music festival. On Oct. 13 the VPS had its initial investigation and picked up a child’s voice on an audio recorder – what is known in the researcher circles as an EVP (electronic voice phenomena). The local group also recorded a man’s voice inside the music room saying, “I don’t play that tune.”

Brewer is gathering Major Graham Mansion history through local historians.

The first parts of what make up the mansion started in the 1830s when Squire David Graham inherited the property. The property stayed in the family until the 1930s, after which it went through a few different owners until J.C. Weaver bought the farmland and historical home in 1990. He still owns the property and this past summer hosted an inaugural music festival there.

According to Brewer, one of the more well known legends is that the frame section of the mansion was built around a log cabin owned by John Baker ii 1785. The story has it that Baker and two of his slaves were making moonshine. Baker told the slaves that he would give them their freedom upon his death. The slaves hastened Baker’s death, disposing of his body in the mash. During that time this area was part of Montgomery County and there are indeed records of the slaves being arrested, tried and hanged.

A local neighbor told Brewer how his grandfather had pointed out the hickory tree where the slaves were said to have been hanged.

A tour guide for the GrahamFest, who is also a clairvoyant, had strong feelings of a frightened young female child while she was giving tours. She spoke of how this girl held onto her skirt the entire time she was in the house. The mansion has been vacant since the 1980s.