Haunted hotel guide · Abingdon, Virginia

The Haunted Martha Washington Inn, Abingdon: Beth's Violin, the Bloodstain and the Tunnel

An 1832 general’s mansion that became a women’s college, a Civil War hospital and then a hotel, with more ghost stories per room than almost anywhere in Virginia.

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate hotels

4.8/5Haunted Rooms Score
1832Preston mansion built
Room 403Most requested room

Visit hotel websiteMeet the ghosts

The Martha Washington Inn & Spa stands on West Main Street in Abingdon, a small town in the far southwest corner of Virginia, directly across the road from the Barter Theatre. Locals simply call it The Martha. Behind the long white-columned porch is a brick house built in 1832 for General Francis Preston, which spent seventy years as Martha Washington College and was pressed into service as a hospital and barracks during the Civil War. It has been a hotel since 1935 and today has 63 rooms and suites, a spa and Sisters American Grill.

Few Virginia hotels have as many ghost stories attached to them. Published accounts list at least six: a student named Beth who played the violin for a dying Union captain, a Confederate courier whose blood will not scrub out of the floor, a riderless horse, a wounded soldier who leaves muddy footprints, the enslaved people said to be buried in the basement walls and an unfriendly presence in the old tunnel to the theater. This guide sets out each story, what the records say, and how to book the rooms people ask for.

The Martha Washington at a glance

4.8/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation5
History5
Ghost hunter access4
$$ · $150 to $300Haunted room bookableHotel embraces its ghosts
  • Address 150 West Main Street, Abingdon, VA 24210, opposite the Barter Theatre
  • Opened Built 1832 as the Preston family home; Martha Washington College from 1858 to 1932; a hotel since 1935
  • Most haunted spots Room 403, the main staircase and upstairs halls, the front steps, the basement and the closed tunnel entrance
  • Best-known ghosts Beth and her violin, the Confederate courier’s bloodstain, the riderless horse, the soldier with the muddy boots
  • Booking the haunted room Room 403 is a regular guest room. Book direct by phone at (276) 628-3161 and ask for it by number; it depends on availability.
  • Good to know 63 rooms (49 guest rooms and 14 suites), The Spa at the Martha and Sisters American Grill on site; a member of Historic Hotels of America. The Virginia Creeper Trail starts a few blocks away.

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The ghosts of The Martha Washington Inn & Spa

Beth and the Union captain

The story everyone comes for is a Civil War love story. During the war the college took in wounded soldiers, and many students stayed on as nurses. According to the legend, a student named Beth was assigned to Captain John Stoves, a wounded Union officer brought to the room that is now Room 403. She nursed him for weeks and played her violin to comfort him, and the two fell in love.

As he was dying, the story goes, Stoves asked Beth to play for him one last time, and he died before she finished. When a Confederate officer arrived to take him prisoner, Beth told him the captain had already been pardoned by an officer higher than General Lee. She died of typhoid fever a few weeks later. Students, staff and guests have said ever since that they hear violin music at night, and some say Beth still visits Room 403.

One popular article places the music at the door of Room 217 instead, but the room most sources, and most guests, connect with Beth is 403. No wartime record of a Captain John Stoves dying at the college has been published, so treat the names as part of the legend.

The bloodstain that keeps coming back

A second story involves a young Confederate courier who was in love with one of the students. The tale says two Union officers found him on a hidden stairway in the building and shot him in front of her. His blood soaked into the floorboards, and the stain is said to reappear however often the floor is refinished. Carpets laid over the spot are said to develop unexplained holes. Staff have never pointed to the stain publicly, so this is the story as it is told rather than something you can inspect.

The riderless horse

Outside, a horse without a rider is said to wait by the front steps for its master, a Union soldier who was killed during the war. On moonless nights people claim to have seen it wandering the grounds as if searching for him. It is one of the oldest stories attached to The Martha and one of the few told about the outside of the building.

The soldier with the muddy boots

Visitors have described a soldier hobbling down a hallway on a crutch and leaving a line of muddy footprints behind him. In the legend he died of a head wound after a musket ball shattered his skull. The footprints, so the story goes, are gone by the time anyone comes back with a mop.

The basement and the tunnel

The darker stories belong to the lowest parts of the building. The spirits of enslaved people who worked for the Prestons are said to haunt an underground chamber in the basement, and some accounts claim people were buried inside its stone walls. There is no archaeological evidence for that claim, but the story reflects a real history: the house was built and run by enslaved labor.

A tunnel once ran between the inn and the Barter Theatre across the street. Actors who used it in the 1930s and 1940s described a hostile presence they could feel but never see. It has been blamed on a man killed when the tunnel collapsed in 1890, or on a Confederate soldier who smuggled ammunition through it during the war. The entrance on the inn side has been sealed for years, and it is not open to guests.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • Room 403: The room in Beth’s story, where guests listen for violin music at night. It is a standard guest room, so ask for it by number when you book.
  • Room 217: Named in some articles as the room where the violin is heard. Worth requesting if 403 is taken.
  • The Premiere Suites: Martha’s Residence and George’s Bed’n Parlor are the inn’s two largest suites, in the historic part of the house.
  • The East Parlor and lobby: Not bookable, but the old Preston living room is now the lobby, and a grandfather clock over nine feet tall stands in the East Parlor.

History of The Martha Washington Inn & Spa

General Francis Preston, a hero of the War of 1812, built the house in 1832 for his wife Sarah Buchanan Preston and their nine children. It cost $15,000, a huge sum for southwest Virginia at the time. Preston died in 1835, and in 1858 the family sold the house for $21,000 to the trustees of Martha Washington College, a Methodist school for women named for the first First Lady.

The college had barely opened when the Civil War began. The local militia, the Washington Mounted Rifles, trained on the grounds and used the building as barracks, and wounded soldiers from both armies were brought here for treatment, with students acting as nurses. That wartime chapter is the source of almost all The Martha’s ghost stories.

After the war the college added two Neo-Classical side wings, and in 1905 a third-story mansard roof. It educated women for about seventy years; one graduate, Nellie Nugent Somerville, valedictorian in 1880, became the first woman elected to the Mississippi Legislature. The Depression, falling enrollment and a typhoid outbreak closed the college in 1932.

The building reopened as the Martha Washington Inn in 1935. The Barter Theatre across the street had opened in 1933, and visiting actors stayed at the inn for decades, which is how the tunnel stories began. Guests over the years have included Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Lady Bird Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Elizabeth Taylor. The inn sits within the Abingdon Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

In 1984 the United Company, a group of local businessmen, bought the inn and spent about $8 million restoring it; it is now a member of Historic Hotels of America. Today it trades as The Martha Washington Inn & Spa, with 49 rooms and 14 suites, antique-filled public rooms, college yearbooks and photographs donated by alumnae families on display and The Spa at the Martha. Barter Theatre actors, who once filled the inn, now usually stay at the theater’s own Barter Inn.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Book by phone and ask for Room 403 by number. If it is taken, ask for Room 217, the other room named in Beth’s story.
  • Get a ticket for a show at the Barter Theatre across the street, the other end of the tunnel legend.
  • Walk the upstairs halls late at night, when guests most often report hearing the violin.
  • Look for the college yearbooks and photographs in the public rooms; they put faces to the students in the stories.
  • Bring a bike or rent one: the Virginia Creeper Trail starts in Abingdon and runs east through Damascus toward Whitetop.
  • The inn is a popular wedding venue, so book early for fall weekends, when the stories draw the most interest.

Want to investigate, not just sleep?

Sleeping in a haunted hotel is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through the building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and lets you explore on your own during free roam.

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Frequently asked questions

Is the Martha Washington Inn haunted?

It has one of the best-known reputations in Virginia. Guests and staff tell of violin music linked to a student named Beth, a bloodstain that returns, a riderless horse, muddy footprints and a hostile presence in the old tunnel. These are legends and personal accounts, not documented events.

What is the haunted room at the Martha Washington Inn?

Room 403, where Beth is said to have nursed Captain John Stoves and played the violin for him. Some articles name Room 217 instead. Both are regular guest rooms you can request when booking.

What was the Martha Washington Inn before it was a hotel?

It was built in 1832 as General Francis Preston’s family home, then from 1858 to 1932 it was Martha Washington College, a women’s school. It served as a hospital and barracks in the Civil War and opened as a hotel in 1935.

Is there a tunnel under the Martha Washington Inn?

A tunnel once linked the inn to the Barter Theatre across the street, and actors used it in the 1930s and 1940s. The inn-side entrance has been sealed for years and is not open to guests.

Who has stayed at the Martha Washington Inn?

Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Lady Bird Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Elizabeth Taylor are among its best-known guests.

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

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About the authors

The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.

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