Surry County, Virginia, is home to over four hundred years of history, so it seems only natural that some ghost stories and legends should come with that. And they do.

Bacon’s Castle was built about 1655 by Arthur Allen and was known as “Allen’s Brick House” until 1676, when it was occupied and looted by Bacon’s men during Bacon’s Rebellion. It has been called “Bacon’s Castle” ever since. Now owned by Preservation Virginia, “The Castle” has been host to ghostly events, according to local legends. Most famous is the fireball or “Ghost Light” that floats from the old Lawne’s Creek Church ruins across the fields and into The Castle grounds, wandering about for a while and scaring the “bejabbers” out of hapless witnesses until it turns and floats back to the old church ruins where it disappears.

FACTOID: Surry County, Virginia, was formed in 1652 from the southern part of James City County, which grew from the 1607 Jamestown Colony.

FACTOID: Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 was an armed uprising protesting government’s failure to protect settlers on the Virginia’s frontier from Indian attacks.

FACTOID: Skirts of the Dead Night, a novel featuring Bacon’s Castle and the ghost light, was written by Virginia author, Dr. William Seward, and published in 1950.

Reprinted in Surrey Side News in 2012, from Diners Digest by permission of the publisher, Teresa Gregory.

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