Maine Attraction

Check out Maine Ghost Hunters Radio on Sunday, February 13 at 8 pm to hear Michael Lee Pope, author of "Ghosts of Alexandria," a collection of 10 true ghost stories in Alexandria, Virginia including The Legend of the Female Stranger, the Ghosts of Red Hill and the haunting of The House of Cards. Listen live here.

Part Three: The Female Stranger

Metro Connection: Friday October 29, 2010
WAMU’s Northern Virginia Reporter Michael Pope takes us to the Old Saint Paul's Cemetery in Alexandria, where we muse over an infamous grave devoted to the memory of a Female Stranger. We hear theories about who she might have been… and why it might have been important to hide her identity.

A flower marks the infamous grave of the Female Stranger, located in the St. Paul's Cemetery in Old Town Alexandria.

Listen to this segment

• Real Audio
• Windows Media

Part Two: Tragic Love

Metro Connection: Friday October 29, 2010
There’s something off about Alexandria’s Schafer House. WAMU's Northern Virginia Reporter Michael Pope takes us to the building, which now houses a candy store owned by Candida Kreb. Kreb recounts her run-ins with the ghost of Laura Schafer, who died in an 1868 fire. Schafer’s fiance later committed suicide in a nearby ally, and the house has never been the same…



Candi's Candies owner Candida Kreb looks toward the stairwell where Laura Schafer fell after being burned by a cracked oil lamp.

Listen to this segment

• Real Audio
• Windows Media

Part One: Ghost Tours

Metro Connection: Friday October 29, 2010

WAMU’s Northern Virginia reporter Michael Pope (author of Ghosts of Alexandria) introduces us to a bevy of ghost tour guides in Old Town, Alexandria – some of whom believe in ghosts, some of whom don’t and some of whom aren’t quite sure…

Alexandria Colonial Tours owner Wellington Watts speaks during the launch of "Ghosts of Alexandria," published by History Press.

Listen to this segment

• Real Audio
• Windows Media

Television Appearance

Check out Reston Impact host John Lovaas interviewing author Michael Lee Pope about "Ghosts of Alexandria."

Reston Impact October 2010 from Comcast Channel 28 on Vimeo.

Book Tour 2010

Here's where to get your copy of "Ghosts of Alexandria"

Books-A-Million on Saturday on October 9 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. In the heart of Old Town, the author will sign books and greet visitors. Stop by for a chat and a copy of "Ghosts of Alexandria."

Thieves Market on Saturday on October 16 from 1 p.m to 3 p.m. Down Richmond Highway a few miles, the author will sign books at the Mount Vernon Antiques Center. The bookstore was once known as "Thieves Market."

Pumpkin Patch on Sunday on October 17 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Across the street from the Virginia Theological Seminary, the author will donate a portion of the proceeds to the Immanuel Pumpkin Patch fundraiser.

Krupicka Halloween on Saturday, October 24: Masquerading as longtime Alexandria Gazette editor Samuel Snowden, the author will give a reading of "Ghosts of Alexandria" and solicit Del Ray ghost stories.

Barnes & Noble on Saturday, October 30 from noon to 3 p.m. The author will participate in an event the bookseller is calling "Ghost Stories at Barnes & Noble."

Death at Carlyle on Saturday, October 30 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Come to the Carlyle House to grieve with the family of the recently departed John Carlyle, founding father of Alexandria and prominent Scottish merchant. The author will be a pallbearer.

Spring Gardens

DISPATCH FROM 414 FRANKLIN STREET


War of the Rosegardens
Revolutionary ghost may be able to solve a modern-day dispute.

The story of Spring Gardens is one of the city's well known ghost stories, chronicled in a number of ghost story anthologies and featured in a 1950s-era painting by Babs Van Swearingen. It's also at the heart of a debate about the history of the property, one that is making headlines now that the house is for sale.

Perhaps the ghost has a message for us. According to Alexandria historian Ruth Lincoln Kaye, the ghost of a Revolutionary War solider led the Yates girls to the back yard where they found a ghost building in a green mist. The next morning, the girls returned to the same spot. But the building was gone, searching the ground, they found the foundation of an old building that had one been a stable.

Perhaps, Kaye suggests, the ghost was leading us to a clue. Is that old stable an outbuilding that was once used at Spring Gardens? Or is it simply part of the Yates family garden business that was later located here? What do you think?