John Marshall House
Chief Justice John Marshall built this brick Federal home in Richmond's Court End neighborhood in 1790 and lived there 45 years until his death in 1835. Now a museum cared for by Preservation Virginia since 1911, it is a centerpiece of the area's ghost lore, including a figure described as 'the brooding nun.' During the museum's haunted-history tours, investigators from the Center for Paranormal Research and Investigation have reported equipment malfunctions, sudden cold breezes, and the sensation of unseen hands brushing visitors, much of it concentrated in the bedroom believed to have belonged to Marshall's wife, Mary 'Polly' Marshall, who spent her final years there in illness and grief. Witnesses describe a small figure peering from a closet, lights flickering at candle height in empty windows, furniture shifting on its own, and disembodied voices in the halls. One investigator said a recorder left on a roped-off bench captured footsteps, creaking wood, and a ghostly sigh.
📍 818 East Marshall Street, Richmond, VA 23219, Richmond, VA · Get directions