Edgar Allan Poe Museum

Though the famed writer never lived in this 1740 stone house, it is located only blocks away from his Richmond home and contains a variety of Edgar Allan Poe’s original writings and personal belongings. At least three ghosts have been reported as inhabiting the centuries-old home turned museum—two blonde children and a shadowy male figure believed to be Poe himself. The children, who are believed to have belonged to the house’s original owners, tend to show up in photographs taken by visitors.

The shadow figure seems to be attached to certain exhibits in the museum, chief among them Poe’s old walking stick and his wife, Virginia’s hand mirror. He has also been spotted in the garden and hallways, and captured on photographs standing behind tour groups as if he were with them, listening to the guide. In one peculiar event a shipment of Poe bobbleheads arrived at the gift shop one night, and when employees arrived the next morning they found that shelves had already been neatly lined with the little figures. There were no workers in the building overnight, and the burglar alarm was never tripped.