This is the stuff of Virginia’s history, every bit as much as the writings of Jefferson at Monticello, the munnioned windows of Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, and the circle of stones at Ball's Bluff in Leesburg.

Michael Varhola, of Springfield, knows all of this firsthand. He’s been there, done that and did not get a single T-shirt -- at least he didn’t mention one. Instead, he brought back notes and names, photographs and fears that he collected as he traveled the highways and byways of one of the oldest states in the union.

The result, “Ghosthunting Virginia,” is filled to the brim with haunting refrains of Virginia.

From the hustle and bustle of Gadsby’s Tavern in Old Towne Alexandria to the windswept isolation of the lighthouse at Assateague, Varhola found tales romantic and harrowing, funny and absurd, and it all began about a year ago with a telephone call from Jack Heffron, the submissions editor with Clerisy Publications.

Varhola explained he had worked with Heffron on a nonfiction book about the Civil War.

“He asked me if I had any projects going,” Varhola said. "... He said, ‘I’ve got this ghost-hunting series we’re just getting off the ground. Are you interested?’ He said I didn’t have to believe in ghosts. I didn’t have to prove or disprove any of the stories."

Varhola was very interested. In fact, the paranormal and all manner of ghostly phenomena, Vahol said, had interested him for about 30 years. Varhola signed the contract almost immediately.

“It’s a combination of a real history of the place, a travel guide and a haunted history,” Varhola said.

“Ghosthunting Virginia,” Varhola said, is accompanied by books by other authors on sites in Illinois and New Jersey. Varhola said plans call for eight books to be completed for The Haunted Road Trip series by this time next year.

Varhola said he has arrived at some very definite conclusions.

“Usually if a place had a ghost story, it had multiple ghost stories, or more versions of one ghost story,” Varhola said. "What I found with some of the places is that a lot of times a place is believed to be haunted, but there is no name associated with the ghost."

His travels with his wife, Diane, took him to Civil War field hospitals, battlefields, cemeteries, highways and theaters. All sites, Varhola emphasized, are open to the public.

“I’ve heard things, seen things -- odd sounds that have no source, electronic voice phenomena and odd things turning up in photographs,” Varhola said. "The orbs are the main things that I am referring to."

The orb he is speaking of appeared in a photograph taken in Fairfax Station along Colchester Road at an abandoned railroad overpass and abutment. The overpass is known as Bunny Man Bridge.

“This is one of the most haunted placed I visited,” Varhola said. "It’s the one where I’ve gotten the greatest sense of unease."

Varhola said of the 30 places listed in the book, there are five that he considers haunted and, of those five, Bunny Man Bridge is the most haunted.

The legend, as Varhola tells it, is such a gratuitous mix of urban legends that only the most naive would give it any credence. The story goes that a lunatic from a local asylum, clad in a bunny costume, escaped and went on a butchering spree with a chainsaw.

“I’ve been out there twice and the hair just stands up on my neck," he said. "It was at midnight and it is one of the creepiest places I’ve ever been. My hackles went up when I was at home and just thinking about it.

"But it’s not just the creepy things. We found multiple faint orbs in one photograph, and a very solid spherical floating object. This is the only place I’ve found that. It’s a solid white sphere. Some people have seen faces in the sphere. Surrounding the sphere are several very, very faint orbs. I suspect that this is a killer, a spirit surrounded by the orbs of his victims.

“There is some very serious psychic phenomena out there. There’s an evil and dangerous person lurking at Bunny Man Bridge and the spirits of some of his victims are out there with him."

Varhola said he believes that something traumatic did happen at that site, but it’s been forgotten.

“People have compensated by making up these stories,” he said.

Another hackle-raising site is Devils Den in Fancy Gap, the cave where a number of men who shot up Carroll County Courthouse in Hillsville are said to have hidden.

“It’s a weird little cave, and it has a reputation,” Varhola said. "As far back as anyone can remember, it has been a hiding place for people running from the law or authority."

The last known time it was used, Varhola said, was in 1912 when a member of the Allen family was on trial and facing a year in jail. The rest of his clan took humbrage and rifles and invaded the Carroll County Courthouse, killing five people, including the judge and the sheriff. The governor, Varhola continued, called out the National Guard. As time passed, ghost stories emanated from both the cave and the courthouse itself.

“People detect phenomena,” Varhola said. "They feel weird things. The story varies with the teller. ... There is sentiment, a strong division in the county with people who believe Allens were criminals, and others that the family was being persecuted, sent to jail."

Varhola said those who feel the Allens were being persecuted believe the Allens are haunting the courthouse. Others believe the five people murdered by the Allens are doing the haunting.

Regardless, Varhola said, there were stories for every quirk and turn of the imagination wherever he went.

“[The book] just took me all over the Old Dominion,” Varhola said. "To do a book like this you need to get off the interstate."

He also emphasized that 90 to 95 percent of the people buying book are not going to be hunting ghosts.

“One of the things that is important to remember is that this book is, in fact, a travel guide," he said. "It’s got ghosts in it, but normal people can use it to add another dimension.”

Contact the writer at ecarlton@timespapers.com