The Haunted Historic Beaufort County Courthouse

All Things Judicial

Each Halloween season, All Things Judicial releases a special episode called "Fright Court," where the focus turns to ghostly legends associated with North Carolina's courthouses. The second oldest courthouse in the state, built in 1786, is located in Beaufort County, in the City of Washington. Allegedly, this courthouse is haunted by the ghost of a defendant named Reverend George Washington Carawan, who was tried for murder in 1853. We interviewed Terry Rollins, Youth Services Librarian at the Brown Library in Washington, to get the full story about this remarkable case.

"(After the trial) people started reporting something very strange occurring in this building," said Rollins on the podcast. "Those stories have persisted decade after decade, and year after year, since 1853."

The second segment of the podcast involves former Supreme Court of North Carolina Associate Justice George Brown, and his wife Laura Ellison Brown. The justice and his wife were local benefactors in the City of Washington, who after their deaths, bequeathed their estate to establish a public library. The Brown Library found a permanent place on the justice’s old homesite, but some report that the Browns continue to visit the library almost 100 years after their deaths.

The reports of hauntings in North Carolina's courthouses are unverified. However, witness claim that they are true. Are some of North Carolina's courthouses haunted? Listen to the podcast and you be the judge.
See a video rendition of the podcast called Fright Court - Old Beaufort County Courthouse.