For a truly spirited fall vacation, consider a trip to Virginia's haunted places that are so inviting some souls never leave.
Be ye fond of phantoms or excited by apparitions, ye are in the right place in the Old Dominion, which may be our most haunted state, according to a Williamsburg author who has written more than a dozen books about the subject.
“I'm not the only one to claim that,” says L. B. Taylor Jr., the preeminent authority on Virginia's ghosts. “But it appears that's true due to the long history of the state and the fact that there has been so much trauma and tragedy here, with the Indian conflicts, the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.
“Couple that with the abundance of old, historic houses here and you have an explanation for all the paranormal activity,” he said. “Ghosts seem to hang around old houses.”
Taylor has compiled reports of ghouls in places open to anyone who craves the ambiance of a tourist spot said to be haunted by spirits both ordinary and famous.
Guides to ghosts
One way to rub elbows with apparitions is to take an organized tour.
Leesburg Ghost Tours bills itself as “the only ghost tour in America led by a paranormal investigator.” Tours leave Friday and Saturday nights from April through November. The tour's Web site says guides “discuss in a scientific way the existence of paranormal phenomena” and warns, “young children do not find this interesting and are sometimes frightened by our stories.”  
So many spirits reside in Virginia's first capital city that Taylor needed an entire book, “The Ghosts of Williamsburg,” to chronicle them. A guided tour through the town's colonial section is based on that work. One stop is the home of Peyton Randolph, where a female apparition has been seen, apparently as a guest in an upstairs bedroom. “She appears very agitated, like she's trying to warn people of something,” said Taylor. The tour runs nightly.
Another tour based on Taylor's work highlights ghosts of Yorktown, the site of Cornwallis' surrender. A bus will take you past Revolutionary War hotspots where wraiths of long-dead soldiers are said to dwell. Then, a candlelight walk leads past haunted 18th-century houses and taverns. Included is a stop at the home of Revolutionary War general Thomas Nelson, where the ghost of a British soldier killed there allegedly resides. Taylor said Nelson advised George Washington to fire cannons into his own house. Tours run nightly from June through August, then on Saturdays in September and October.
Ghost tours of Old Town Alexandria are available on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from March through November. They start at Ramsay House, home to the Alexandria's visitors' center and itself said to be haunted by the ghost of the town's founder.
On Virginia's Eastern Shore, a walking tour of Cape Charles and its Victorian homes includes tales of The Phantom Schoolmistress and The Ghost of the Old Lamplighter. Tours are held between Father's Day and Labor Day.
In Lexington, home to Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute, ghost tours leave the visitors'center and wind through backstreets and alleyways by candlelight in search of the dearly departed. Tours run from Memorial Day through October.