It’s unclear why this abandoned house in Virginia is populated with life-sized mermaids, although there is some history regarding the house and the murders that happened there. In 2018, I had the good fortune to take images from inside.
The massive home was constructed in the 1840s. Before it was once again established as a restaurant, it served as a place to billet soldiers during the American Civil War. Around this time, the owner was discovered to have killed around 20 people and concealed their bodies in a cave under the house (local historians have documented all of this). It seems to be among America’s most haunted residences. In order to safeguard both the property and other people’s safety, the serial’s name is being kept secret.
The exterior
I was only interested when I first walked into the house because I had seen this big, foreboding house by the side of the road while traveling through Virginia. I had no idea about the history of the building. Nevertheless, I had the impression that this site may have had a strange or terrible past. Why would a big, exquisite ancient mansion like this be left absolutely deserted? At first, I felt more like I was depressed than horribly ill.
The main foyer where underneath the bodies were found
In 2018, my photos would always turn up grainy no matter how many I snapped. I had never experienced anything like this inside of an abandoned home before. It eluded me to explain. In 2020, I made another attempt to go, but upon arriving to the destination, I discovered—another first for me—that I had forgotten my camera. It was as though something opposed my taking pictures of the house. It worked the third time around.
There was vintage apparel all over the place. The mermaids were left all by themselves, lounging around for no apparent reason. No written explanation of the reason could be found anywhere, and an internet search turned up nothing.
Apart from the house’s style and the fact that it was built in 1842, there was no proof that it was used during the conflict. The local historian who provided that information admitted that even they had difficulty researching the past. Everything in the house seems to date from the 1940s and beyond, which is probably when the last person who lived there.
