The decay of the electrical energy in a resistor-vacuum capacitor circuit is shown to involve multiple sequential relaxation processes, with increasing time constants, separated by transition regions that involve a change in current direction. This is measured using a vacuum capacitor to eliminate the effect of a dielectric between the plates (although ceramic and polypropylene capacitors exhibit similar behavior). A simple phenomenological model accounts for this behavior in spite of the difficulty in applying Maxwell's equations to such a circuit. These results will lead to a revision of our understanding of the physics of circuits, having particular impact on applications that use capacitors as sensors in collecting precision data (such as found in quantum measurements and dielectric spectroscopy).