W W Pool

AKA:

The Richmond Vampire

Birth Name:

William Wortham Pool

Birth Date:

April 1, 1842

Birth Place:

Jackson, Mississippi

Death Date:

February 26, 1922

Place of Death:

721 28th St. in Woodland Heights, Richmond, Virginia

Age:

Cause of Death:

Pneumonia

Cemetery Name:

Hollywood Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

The Odd and the Interesting

William Pool was a well respected account manager and bookkeeper for the wealthy and influential Bryan estate. His wife died in 1913 with William passing away several years later. They are entombed at Hollywood Cemetery and you would think that would be the end of the story. Years later local residents claim that the mausoleum of W. W. Pool (dated 1913) in Hollywood Cemetery holds the remains of a vampire with the rumor that Pool was run out of England in the 1800s for being a blood-sucking creature of the night. The legend may have been influenced by the architecture of the tomb, which has both Masonic and ancient Egyptian elements, and the "WW" over the entry to the crypt looking like fangs. At the same time another version of events began on October 2, 1925, when a disastrous cave-in at the Church Hill Tunnel occurred, with tons of rock and soil crashing down on a work train, killing, trapping and wounding several laborers. Shortly after the catastrophe, eyewitnesses saw a horrific creature running from the tunnel’s end – with fanglike teeth and rolls of decomposing flesh hanging from its body. The creature is said to have sprinted into Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery and disappeared into the mausoleum of W.W. Pool where today the iron doors remain sealed to prevent the creature from escaping.

There is a Bit of Truth to the Legend …

On October 2nd 1925, a work train and around 200 workmen were in the tunnel, about 160 yards from its western end. Their job was to clear dirt by loading it onto the steam train’s flatcars. As the tunnel began to collapse, dozens of workman crawled under the flatcars to the tunnel opening. One of last to appear at the opening was a creature staggered into view, spattered with gore and streaked with blood. This entity seemed partially decomposed, with rolls of skin hanging from its naked muscular torso and swollen arms. Fresh blood smeared the creature’s cheeks, neck and mouth, a mouth which hung open to reveal jagged fanglike teeth. Sadly that “creature” was the unfortunate locomotive fireman Benjamin F. Mosby, who staggered scalded and battered out of the railroad tunnel cave-in. He lingered a while at the hospital before his death. He is buried at Hollywood Cemetery under a simple marker in Section 26, Lot 37A, Grave 1.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Hollywood Cemetery

412 South Cherry Street

Richmond, Virginia, 23220

United States

North America

Map:

Map of Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia

Grave Location:

Section D, Plot 26, Pool Family Mausoleum

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery drive straight ahead and take the first right and over the bridge. Take the very first left and drive just past the intersection on the right and you will see the iron gates that protect the W.W. Pool mausoleum on your right.