The Ghosts of Virginia III
By L.B. Taylor, Jr.
Copyright ©1994 L.B. Taylor, Jr.

A Materialization at Sweet Briar

The Spectral return of a school’s founder - possibly looking in to see how things are going - has also often been recounted at Sweet Briar College in Amherst County near Lynchburg. Here, it is said, the ghost of Indiana Fletcher Williams, who began the college, has been sighted and felt by several witnesses over the years, even though she died in 1900.

In a charming pamphlet on the lore and legends at Sweet Briar, author Ann Marshall Whitley, class of 1947, even told of one personal experience she had with the otherworldly entity. Some years ago she had been mulling through a cardboard box of old photos dating back to the 19^th century. The box had been found in the corner of a storage room. Under careful examination, Ms. Whitley was able to determine from the faded photographs that an unknown portrait hanging in a red velvet frame in the library was that of Indiana Williams, the founder. Previously, no known picture of her existed, and no one had known who the woman in the portrait in the library was. But by comparing some of the older photos, Ms. Whitley recognized Ms. Williams. It was an exciting discovery. She had been in the room sorting through the pictures with Edith Whiteman, wife of the college president at the time.

When Ms. Whitley realized what she had uncovered, she exclaimed, "We have found Miss Indie." As she did she said she heard a "distinct low laugh behind my left shoulder." She turned to tell Mrs. Whiteman, only to find that she had left the room, in fact, had left the house! "I was alone," Ms. Whitley said.

But she was not the only one to have experienced the presence of Indiana Williams at Sweet Briar. Signora Hollins was born during the last phases of the Civil War and worked for many years at the college as a cook. She reported seeing Mrs. Williams’ apparition on the campus on more than one occasion. She said the figure was wearing her "usual black shirt and white shirt waist."

In the fall of 1916, Signora said "Miss Indie" materialized again, and this time the vision told her that her silver was buried in a wall in the Sweet Briar House on the landing of the front staircase - the wall of Mrs. Williams’ bedroom. Signora told this to Emilie Watts McVey, then president of the college, and she had carpenters open the wall. They found the silver wrapped up in three paper packages blackened with dirt!

Several other, both faculty members an students, have reported seeing the images of a woman dressed in 1890s-attire accompanied by a young girl of about 16. Mrs. Williams’ daughter, Daisey, died at 16. The two are glimpsed for a few seconds, and then they just seem to disappear. One old woman who had worked for the Williams family for many years perhaps expressed the visitations best when she said, "they may be dead, but they’re not gone."