Wine with the Dead

(To protect my privacy and courtesy of my employers the locations of these places are kept under anonymity)

From the time when I was a child, I was always the biggest believer in the paranormal, but I soon grew out of that phase as I got older. But unbeknownst to me that as soon as I took my first steps into that world it would not be easy to let go of so easy. Over the course of time, I’ve experienced so many paranormal encounters that they have become my own ghost adventures. I’ve seen things, heard things, and felt things but, my first hardcore paranormal experience that made a true believer once again happened at my first vineyard job in the Maryland Virginia area.

When I first started, I was so excited because I had a strong love and passion for wine, and I wanted to learn as much as I could about the business. But the one thing I was not expecting was that my first summer job while home from school left me shaken. The first month into working at the vineyard was great because I had not only found a job, I loved but, it made me feel apart of the community. As the weeks went by, I started to hear talk of the vineyard being haunted from my manager and co-workers. At first, I thought it was just a joke because I thought that part of my life had been closed off. My manager told me that vineyard was once a horse farm and that the owner of the farm had died in the bedroom that is now the wine club member house. During that time, I thought that just because someone died in a place doesn’t mean its automatically haunted. They said that the primary location of the paranormal activity took place in the wine club house. My fellow the coworker told me that she had a paranormal experience in the wine club house. She said that when she was working one day in the house, and she was the only one behind the bar and there were only a few customers inside that day. She was just looking around and she looked at one of the wine bottles that was in front of her, and she said she could see the reflection of an old man off the bottle. From her account he was standing right behind her and when she turn around there was no one behind the bar. She turned back again at the bottle and the old man she had seen disappeared. Some of the experiences my manager had was that he has heard growling coming from other parts throughout the house. He also told me that they had a medium come into the wine club house to find out what was going on. The medium found that there was a demon in the house and that it would be best to appease by putting pennies on all the windowsills and that they are to never be moved. Whenever there is talk of demonic activity that is when I do normally take it very seriously. I think if I hadn’t stopped believing before I was told the full story it probably would have saved me from being a primary target. It all started one day when I was in the wine club house by myself, I was prepping the place getting everything ready for the day. I had been in the house a few times before hand, but this of course was the one day where I would be working alone. After I had finished getting the bar ready, I was just patiently waiting for customers to arrive an hour had passed and there was still one. But that silence of solitude quickly eroded just talking about this right now still brings me to tears of horror that still haunts me. I was just looking around and then suddenly, I heard what sounded like heavy footsteps on the roof. I’ve heard squirrels on the roof in the past and I knew that squirrels would not be that heavy taking one step at a time on a roof. They stopped as they got from one end of the roof to the other but what came next is what scared me the most. Those foots steps I heard were coming up the stairs from the side kitchen that’s a part of the bar. They were coming up very slowly like they did on the roof. They reached the top that connects to the bar and kitchen where I was, and they made their way to the front of the bar, and they stopped. Then suddenly I heard a low deep growl and my first thought at that moment was to get out as fast as I could. As soon as that happened, I had an overwhelming sensation like it was going to pounce on me like a wild animal. I ran outside as fast as I could, and I was in tears, and I was almost in shock that I was having trouble breathing. I kept saying to myself that I am not going back in there until customers arrive. My general manager comes over checking on me to see if everything was alright and I told that I am not going back in there by myself and I don’t care if you fire me or not. I told my co-workers what happened and of course I was put in a position where they could not believe that something to that extreme happened to me. For me personally I would not have believed it either if I hadn’t seen it.

I believe what made me a primary target was not only the fact that I stopped believing but before I knew what the pennies were meant for on the windowsill. There was one day I was working in the wine club house, and I was vacuuming, and I noticed the pennies on the windowsill and I picked one up and I thought it was strange that they were everywhere on the windows. I then walked and asked my manager and I told him that there are pennies all over the place he then told me to put them back. That was when he told me the story. I wish I had known before it was too late but after all of what I experienced from that day was that whatever it was wanted me scared. The best thing I did in that situation was as soon as I had a bad feeling that I was going to be attacked I immediately got out of there. Over the next few weeks, I hadn’t experienced much but ever so often we would always talk about the paranormal activity. My manager told me from his personal experience that there have been times where he has heard growling from, he doesn’t know where in the house. The only other experiences I had while I was there that summer was that I always felt uncomfortable in the basement. I hated venturing down there I always had a feeling of dread and I always felt that I was being watched by something. I was so scared of that place that sometimes I just wanted to quit but I couldn’t because I needed the job. Every time I walked in there, I just never knew what was going to come next. It was terrifying just not knowing how far this could go. There was one thought in the back of my mind that kept plaguing me and that this could hurt someone. After all my paranormal experiences I’ve had over the years this one has frightened me the most. To this day I currently live close near the vineyard I used to work for but, I have yet to return. If I do go back, I’m not stepping a foot back into that wine club house. Even if someone went with me, I would not go back in there.

The current vineyard I work for is said to be haunted as well and the property dates all the way back to the civil war of 1841. Way up in the mountains lye’s a little family-owned boutique winery. Which has a lot to offer from its quaint setting to its superb wine. I was thinking when I started working at my next vineyard job finally a vineyard that is not haunted but, once again I was wrong. Like the previous vineyard I worked for this one too was once a farm. This is usually the case for a lot of the wineries in this area a lot of farms have been converted into vineyards. In the 1980s a man had committed suicide in the barn that once stood on the property. His presence is felt during the day but it is most felt at night when closing. He is said to be a friendly spirit and he is quite mischievous. My boss says that decorations would always fall, and that items would sometimes disappear. I haven’t experienced hardly anything at this place…yet! But there are times when I’m alone downstairs in the wine storeroom I always feel like I’m being watched from a distance. There have been times where I always keep turning my head in the other direction because I always feel like there is someone standing right behind me when there is no one there. There have been other reports of coughing being heard and doors slamming. There are even times when I come up the spiral staircase and its feels like someone is coming up the stairs as well. It turns out the main tasting room is where the old barn once stood which would explain the paranormal activity. There was a recent incident that took place in the main tasting. We were all gathered having a meeting and we have chandeliers that hang all throughout the tasting room. It was towards the end of the night, and we were all cleaning up and still talking amongst ourselves. I look up at the chandelier for some reason and I don’t know what it was, but something was drawing me to it. Suddenly one of the light bulbs just sparked like a sparkler and blew. It was so strange because I’ve worked there for a long time, and we all said that’s never happened before. Then my fellow co-worker said it was probably the ghost that did it.

The main tasting room is not the only place on the property that’s haunted, the house that predates the civil war also has its share of ghosts as well. Some brief history of the property that dates to the civil war is that the family that once resided there had there only horse commandeered by the union army. So, on the day that the battle took place which is about 15-20 miles from the property the husband walked all the way on foot to get the families only horse back. I haven’t been told about the husband’s fate but, hopefully when the time is right, I can try and find out a little bit more. There is a woman that is said to haunt the house from what I’ve been told she is not a fan of modern conveniences and always likes to wreak havoc. She is always messing around with the thermostat even on the hottest days in the summertime she will flip the A/C from cold to hot. In the laundry room of the house, she is said to open the washing machine door and there was one time it came all the way off after it opened again on its own. I don’t get scared by the ghosts that haunt this property but, even though I’m uneasy about being watched I often times forget that they are just curious to see what we are doing.

The last vineyard ghost story takes place on a huge estate it’s a grand place to be, I’ve seen so many beautiful weddings that take place on this property but, after dark it becomes a whole new story. There is hardly any history of this property, but I hope to dig a little deeper to find the answers. But from what I’ve always been told growing up as a kid that this road that vineyard sits on was the primary root to get to next big town that’s over 40 miles away. There were stagecoaches that would always come up and down this road and I believe that the farm that this vineyard now stands on was probably a weigh station for travelers. On my first day we had just gotten done with a huge shift and we were all talking and that’s when my managers tell me that the place is haunted. I’m like you can’t be serious but then they all shared their stories. One of my co-workers told me that there are sometimes where she is alone in the elevator and she can hear heavy breathing in her ear and there is no one there. Then another fellow co-worker said that he experienced something scary one day in the elevator. It was in the evening and he was taking the elevator from the lower level to the top floor. Then all of a sudden, he could hear a woman screaming at the top of her lungs and it was blood curdling. When he got off the elevator and went to find a co-worker, he asked who screamed and she said no one was screaming. He told her that he heard someone screaming from the other side of the elevator doors. So, far from what I got from everyone that it seems the main focus point is around the elevator at the vineyard. I was thinking at that moment what am I going to experience when I’m here. In short amount of time I soon got my answer. One day I went from the event space to the main tasting room to put away the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. I was taking the elevator up from dishwashing station and I could hear talking as I’m coming up the elevator and at first I thought oh its just my supervisor and the cook because, it sounded like a male and a female talking. But when I get off the elevator my heart just dropped there was no one there and the talking stopped. I called out for the cook who was in there when I went to downstairs and then I realized he had already left for the night. I admit this was another experience where I did not give a whole lot of thought into it but, it didn’t stop there. Whenever I’m getting wine ready for the picks up in the storeroom, I can hear footsteps coming from the barrel room. There have been many times where I see shadow figures in the wine cellar tunnel. If you are ever alone at night walking through that tunnel it feels like there is someone walking right behind, you. I also don’t know what it is but sometimes I get the overwhelming sensation that one of the spirits might be a child. I don’t know why I have this feeling that it could be a child that’s there its almost like I just get a strong intuition of what I can sense. After what I’ve experienced in the past, I keep a level of respect now when I go into a haunted property. I always say in my head to the spirits that I know you are here, and I respect that you are here. But then I have some moments where I am like please just let me do my job in peace.

If you are ever looking for something other than a great glass of wine and I wish I could share the locations of these vineyards. But who knows maybe you’ll be lucky and you might just end up visiting some of them and have an experience for yourself to see if you’re a true believer or not!

RECENT UPDATE ON ACTIVITY 2/24/22

I was done in the wine storage area working on foiling and labeling bottles and I had just finished and at that time I texted my tasting room manager to let her know I was done, and if there was anything else that needed to be done. I then hear someone coming down the metal spiral staircase to the basement. I'm standing there thinking my manager is about to come around the corner and when she doesn't I called out her. No response. I then walk around the corridor to see if she was there and she wasn't. Literally no one was there. I was thinking she must be playing a joke on me and I say "come on this isn't funny". I then decide to call her when she doesn't come out. I ask her if there is anything else you need me to do and she said I was good to go and then I ask her did you just come down the stairs and she "no why did someone come down there?" I then say "well I heard someone coming down the stairs and I thought it was you". I am almost in tears I don't scare easily with paranormal encounters anymore but I think it was the fact I haven't encountered anything like that in a while. I was ready to get the hell out of that basement. I thought I'm gonna barely be able to make it up the stairs. I head back up the stairs and I walk over to clock out and both my managers are looking at me and they could tell something was wrong. I was definitely shook up from that. After all that time I've always felt uneasy about the spiral staircase and now I'm definitely gonna take it easy whenever I'm down there alone.