Virginia Military Institute

Founded in 1839, VMI has the distinction of being the oldest state-supported military college in the US. At one point Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was among the school’s professors; some of his possessions and the bones of his horse are displayed in the campus chapel. Among the many ghosts that are said to appear on campus is a strange blue light which drifts through the halls and regularly enters Jackson’s former classroom.

Other spirits include the apparition of a hanged man and a ghost called the Yellow Peril which features a boney, yellow face and manifests in the third floor of the barracks. The Yellow Peril’s appearance is sometimes accompanied by strange wails. Cries can also be heard coming from the statue of Virginia Mourning Her Dead, sculpted by Moses Ezekiel; real tears are even said to stream from its eyes. Another more helpful ghost is reported to knock on cadets’ doors just before they need to wake up for sentry duty.