Caroline, the Playful Poltergeist
Back in October I had a book signing at a shop in Merchant Square, Colonial Williamsburg called Everything Williamsburg. During my time there, I asked if anyone had any paranormal experiences while working there. Heather, the manager, immediately told me the story of Caroline, a little girl who haunts the place. Part of the inventory at this store includes dolls and toys, and this playful poltergeist gets out the dolls on display upstairs and puts them in a circle on the floor. She will in the process redress certain dolls with each other’s clothing, as well as change or rearrange displays to her liking. I asked where the name Caroline came from, and no one on staff was quite sure, but they said the story came from the previous occupants of the shop—The Toymaker, which closed in 2013 after 48 years in business there. (The Toymaker had unusual and often collectible toys that you would not find in any department store, and was a Williamsburg staple for almost a half a century.) The house that once stood on this property burned down, and this would have been sometime before Merchant Square was built in the 1930s (completed in 1932). What I don’t know is if Caroline was a victim of this fire; although I hope not, I’m assuming that she was because evidently she is still playing as if she is a child. Therein lies my question—does the ghost of a child ever mature, or does that stop upon death? Caroline may be over 100 years old, so why is she still playing with dolls? Could it be a lack of maturity, or is it perhaps boredom? I can only guess what’s going on with the other side, but after seeing how ghosts are able to quickly master our technology, I have to wonder why they may not reach maturity of thought.
The lights are very bright in this shop, so I had to ask Heather if she would dim the lights for just one night so that I could photograph the store. (Lights that are too bright will wash out any appearance of ghosts in the glass.) She did for one evening and I captured quite a few apparitions in the windows—I can only guess if one of them is Caroline (one of the three faces that I captured in an upstairs window). One wispy white wraith also showed up in the downstairs front show window—could that be the curious child ghost checking out my activities outside the store late at night?
By the way, I’ve been away from this blog for several months while revising my first book with new and exciting photos, new stories, and a couple of corrections to old stories. (Some of the stories that I have been told have been greatly exaggerated, and I discovered what really happened by talking to the people that actually experienced it.) I have replaced about twenty to twenty five percent of the book’s photos and even certain chapters with new places that have even more intriguing and compelling stories. I’m excited for this new version of my first book to come out, particularly because of new photos at the Peyton Randolph House that will amaze you, as well as photos of people on ghost tours—oblivious to the ghosts that I’ve photographed around them! Although the book photos, photo captions, and text have all been turned in to the publisher, I have a few more documents to fill out for publicity—which is often more time-consuming than writing books!
This is my favorite photo from the downstairs window in the back of Everything Williamsburg:
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This next photo is from the back window in the upstairs of Everything Williamsburg-the place where Caroline plays with the store’s dolls. Could one of these 3 faces be Caroline? Does she have playmates too?
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These last 2 faces appeared in the front display window of Everything Williamsburg:
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If you look closely in the left front window of the top photo, you will see this wispy white wraith in the bottom panes. Could this be Caroline?
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After 2 years of research, a lot of experimentation, and over 10,000 photographs, check out the world’s first groundbreaking photographic study of ghosts: Haunted, Historic Colonial Williamsburg Virginia with Breakthrough Ghost Photography (Part 1) available at both Schiffer Publishing and at Amazon, nominated for consideration in the nonfiction category for the 19th annual Library of Virginia Literary Awards:
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Amazon: http://amzn.com/0764350609
Part 2 of this book features the largest number of ghosts ever captured in a single camera shot, as well as several photos of apparitions that look alien to our world. Here is the link:
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Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/0764355724
Tim Scullion is a published author, photographer, and musician. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree Cum Laude. In addition to the book mentioned above, Tim has written a novel, a series of instruction books on the guitar, a children’s book (all available on Amazon) and has a photo-essay published by the University of Virginia in the book Troubled Times Companion, Vol. III.
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