Happy Retreat...Haunted?

West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle is arguably the most haunted area of the whole state, and for good reason. The area is filled with historic structures that are still being occupied today, and very few other places in the state was Civil War activity more prevalent. However, despite the numerous historic haunts that dot the landscape, there’s one 18th century property that you really never hear about when it comes to ghost stories. In fact, if you do a search for this location and ‘haunted’ or ‘ghosts,’ you come up pretty empty handed.

That location is Happy Retreat, located just outside of Charles Town. Happy Retreat was the happy retreat for Charles Washington (George’s youngest brother), his wife Mildred, and their children. When Charles was just 14, he inherited the land from his older brother Lawrence upon Lawrence’s death. This would have been about 1752. There’s reason to believe that the property was being farmed as early as 1768, and Charles certainly did visit the property a few times before finally moving his family out there for good and starting construction on what would be known as Happy Retreat in 1780.  Six years later, Charles would take 80 acres of his inherited land and establish the city of Charles Town.

Upon his death in 1799, Happy Retreat was sold to Charles’ son-in-law, Thomas Hammond and stayed in the family until 1837, when George Washington Hammond sold the property to Judge Isasc R. Douglass. Douglass was responsible for extensive renovations to the house, and decided to rename it Mordington after his ancestral estate back in Scotland. 

You would think that a home with such a long history involving such historic personages would be haunted, right? But, there was never anything in any of the paranormal literature that I’ve come across suggesting that the Washington (or any other) family stuck around after death. In fact, in Rosemary Guiley’s Big Book of West Virginia Ghost Stories, she explicitly states on page 23 when introducing the chapter about that region, that Happy Retreat does not have any reported ghosts. And, so that was the accepted answer; Happy Retreat was NOT haunted. Or was it? 

I just recently came across an article from the Shepherdstown Register, dated June 17, 1920. I ALMOST missed the connection because in the article, it talks of a house where Charles Washington lived, but it doesn’t call the house Happy Retreat. Instead, in 1920, the home is still being referred to as Mordington. Whether you choose to refer to the home as Mordington or Happy Retreat is a moot point, though. What’s important is that this article clearly states that the home has had a long reputation for being haunted by ghosts who enjoy opening doors, even ones that are locked! And, despite the family having no problems with their alleged poltergeists, certain residents in the area have been known to avoid the property when possible.