Brackens Pond - Colonial Parkway

As you drive down the road you never really know what events have happened there unless you have really done your homework on the area. Well, if you live in a historic area where there are numerous haunts, you tend to find them all out in a relative short amount of time.

The Colonial Parkway is a scenic drive that goes from Yorktown, Va through Williamsburg and all the way up to Jamestown Island. Its a beautiful drive and full of history itself. There are several pull offs that you can stop and take a walk to the waterfront of the James River and there are even areas that are no longer open to the public unless you park 5 miles down and walk into. (I will be doing that this summer when it's warm so we'll see what I get then). There are also several little swamps and ponds along the way. I took this picture at a pond that boasts a little bit of haunted history.




This is Brackens Pond and the photo was shot looking through some branches on the bank. (I think it kinda adds to the spookyness of the shot) It was then edited with a Daguerreotype finish to give it that deep black and white tone.

The Story:
A long time ago in the Colonial days when people used horse and carriage to get from place to place, this area used to be a well traveled path. Some say it was a dirt road while others say it was cobblestone that got replaced when they made the Parkway. Well, a group of people were traveling down this road one night and as they neared the pond, something spooked the horse. The horse bolted to the side of the road, lost its footing and fell into Brackens Pond taking the whole carriage along with the people into the pond. It was said that the people passing by couldn't get to them fast enough and when they finally was able to get to them, no one, not even the horse survived.

Now, if you drive by this pond, there is a pull off on the other side of the road where you can park your car and get out. If you come out at night and sit and listen, you can still hear the sound of the horses hooves on the road today. When they get to the side of the pond, they vanish...


*********************************DISCLAIMER****************************************
I am stating the obvious here... I am only retelling ONE of the NUMEROUS stories about this particular ghost story. This is in no way to be taken in any other way except for entertainment.

Leia Mais...

Bruton Parish Church

It's no big secret that I love ghost stories, I mean after all my mom used to work as a tour guide on these nightly ghost tours by lantern through Colonial Williamsburg. Having lived in Yorktown for 21 years and working in Williamsburg myself you see a lot of history. History just in the land itself, such as the Battlefields of Yorktown and then all the history that is Williamsburg, all the original houses and even the local ghosts.

Well, I love working on my photography in these areas because of all the history and you never quite know what you may end up with by taking a picture here. This photo was taken at the Bruton Parish Church on Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg.




The story:
A long time back when Williamsburg was booming, there was this little boy around 8 who had made best friends with a slave boy of the same age. These two were practically inseparable. They would sneak out and play around the graveyard of this church and steal potatoes from workers as they would pass by to go into the taverns. The father did not approve of the boys friendship and tried to keep the two apart. This did not stop the boys from sneaking out and playing together at night. Well, the young boy became very ill and eventually passed away. The father laid his son to rest in a family tomb in the cemetery at Bruton Parish. Heartbroken and now without his only friend, the young slave boy ended up passing away a year later. The father, knowing how much this little boy meant to his son, buried the slave boy on top of his own son in the same plot.
Now, these two little boys are together in death as they had been in life. They have been seen by passerbys of the cemetery at night. They say that if you look real carefully you can see the two boys, one white and one black holding hands and walking around the cemetery.



*********************************DISCLAIMER****************************************

I am stating the obvious here... I am only retelling ONE of the NUMEROUS stories about this particular ghost story. This is in no way to be taken in any other way except for entertainment.

Leia Mais...