Legend has it that some of those who once walked the spacious rooms and hallways of Carson House have never left.

Passersby report seeing the spectral figure of a lady in white on the long front porches. Could this be the spirit of Rachel McDowell Carson, first wife of Col. John, who died shortly after her new home was built? Or perhaps Mary Moffitt McDowell Carson, the second wife, who would become mistress of a large plantation? Or maybe Mary Presnell Carson, whose home was ransacked by Union soldiers during the Civil War?

Whoever she may be, the lady is apparently not the only spirit that remains. Many lives and deaths have touched the house during its tenure of more than two centuries, and many stories are associated with the place. The house and grounds have become a favorite “haunt” of paranormal investigators. Perhaps you too may touch the hand of a gracious lady or a Confederate soldier as you walk the halls of Carson House.