On Friday the 13th my dad and I went ghost hunting at The Exchange Hotel in Gordonsville, Virginia.  All my friends thought I was crazy because of the day we went.  I wasn’t scared, it was just another day to me.

My dad and I are big fans of the show Ghost Adventures and when we found out that somewhere near where we lived offered ghost tours we jumped at the chance.  We got there an hour early (we were a little excited) and we had to wait outside.  Now I’ve been to the Exchange Hotel during the day two times before, once was when I was a child and the second time was about a month ago.

When we went a month ago my dad and I walked around and did recordings on our phone.  My dad caught a disembodied voice and I caught the piano playing, we didn’t hear any of this with our own ears.  Unfortunately the other night we didn’t capture any noises but we were in a group and it was hard to decipher the others from possible ghostly sounds.

After everyone had arrived they took us around and told us about some of the experiences that they had had there before.  They caught a woman crying in one room, heavy footsteps in the War Room, and multiple people had been touched or seen apparitions.  They told us that one time some people were there during the day and had a conversation with a man in full Civil War regalia, but they didn’t have anyone there that day in full Civil War gear.

We were split into three groups and our guide took us to the train depot first.  Well, we weren’t getting a lot of activity there.  A flashlight came on, we heard some talking and knocks on the walls, and just as we were about to leave a train came through and that’s when things got interesting.

In the train depot there was a table and on it was a white box that you could see from the glow of the lights outside.  Well, when the train came through human like shadows started to pass in front of it.  One time something even stopped and blocked out the light.  I saw the glow of lanterns inside this place and I kept getting chills.  And before you say it was probably cold in there let me inform you that it wasn’t.  I had to roll the sleeves of my sweatshirt up because I got warm, but when these shadows came through the air changed and I got chills and became cold.

After the train had left we headed for the main house and we went up to the third floor.  There wasn’t much activity there.  My dad did get dizzy and was pushed, and I felt like someone was touching my thigh (the person that used to inhabit the room used to be frisky).  As we were leaving we did get the word ‘Hate’ on the Ovulus X.

We went down to the main floor to relax while we waited for one of the groups to finish in slave kitchen and I saw these light anomalies coming from the War Room on the TV monitor.  We stood there for a good five to ten minutes watching these anomalies.  One lady even saw a shadow by the door.  My dad had gone to the bathroom during this time and when we were on our way home that night he told me that while he had been in the bathroom he thought he heard me in the hallway saying, “My dad’s in there” but I was nowhere near the bathroom and neither had anyone else.

Finally, we went to the slave kitchen and the woman told us about her buddy Cornbread.  Cornbread wasn’t his real name, but it was the nickname he had.  The lady that was doing the tour said that back then slaves couldn’t look at white women and one day Cornbread was on the street and a white woman pulled up and she was wearing the prettiest dress that Cornbread had ever seen, well some soldiers saw him and called out to him.  Cornbread ran to the slave kitchen thinking he would be safe there, but they caught him and hung him right there.  And as she was telling this story it was like I could see it playing out in my mind and an overwhelming sadness washed over me.  Cornbread had done nothing wrong, but he was killed for it anyway.

I think Cornbread liked me because as we were sitting in the kitchen the flashlight came on and it kept blinding me.  We asked him to dim the light, but sometimes it would just get brighter.  One time it went dim but then blasted me again.  I actually have a video of this happening.  Finally, I moved and the flashlight activity slowed down.

That was basically the end of the night for us.  As my dad and I left I looked back to the slave kitchen and shouted out, “Bye Cornbread!” and waved.  I just felt compelled to tell him goodbye.

I want to go back and see if I can get any EVPs from Cornbread or any of the other spirits there.  But if you have a chance to go, I would highly recommend it.