Officially established in July 1790, Washington D.C. (The
District of Columbia) has served as the heart of the United States of America,
home to the nation's movers and shakers. However, the city isn't all gleaming
white and star-spangled; there are darker corners to explore along its
well-ordered streets. Let's take a look at some of the many spooky tales
surrounding this legendary city.
The nation's lawmaking center, the US Capitol Building, is
reputedly haunted by many spirits, among which we find a worker who fell to his
death during construction of the dome that reaches 160' above the floor of the
Rotunda. The worker has been seen floating about the dome, tools in hand, as
still trying to do his job. A stone worker was crushed to death beneath a
collapsing wall. He, too, is equally dedicated to his tasks and can be seen
throughout the oldest sections of the building. A host of politicians wander
the staid, marbled halls like Hogwartian apparitions: Rep Joseph Cannon, Rep
Champ Clark, Sen and Rep Thomas Hart Benton, and Rep Wilbur Mills. Even the
architect of DC himself, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, has been witnessed sulking at
his dismissal and unrealized vision. Former presidents like John Quincy Adams
and James A. Garfield also call the Capitol Building home in the afterlife. One
can find tales of a phantom feline dubbed the "Demon Cat" that can be
seen before national tragedies or the arrival of a new President (one in the
same for many, I'm sure). Several unknown soldiers make appearances from time
to time, one Revolutionary and another from World War I. |
| The White House and Lafayette Park |
The White House is haunted by more than tarnished
reputations. The presidential home was first occupied by John Adams and his
wife, and many claim they still call the place home. Thomas Jefferson, Andrew
Jackson, William Henry Harrison, and John Tyler all lay claims to this
timeshare of terror. While he didn't die here, Abraham Lincoln is nonetheless a
fixture at the house. The Lincoln bedroom is among the most haunted rooms at
the White House. Many important, sober-minded individuals have claimed to sense
his presence or hear his footsteps. Several have heard him knocking at the door
to the bedroom. First Lady Grace Coolidge claimed to see the apparition of
Lincoln staring out the Yellow Oval Room toward the Potomac. Winston Churchill,
Theodore Roosevelt, Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands, and Maureen Reagan
claimed sightings as well. Unfortunately,
the most recent sighting dates back to the 1980s. Lincoln's not alone. His
young son, Willie, joins him in the afterlife at the White House. Many
non-residents also strangely call the White House home. David Burns owned the
land upon which it was built still hangs about, as does a British Soldier from
the War of 1812. Anna Surrat, the daughter of Lincoln assassination
co-conspirator Mary Surrat, stalks the halls still. She barged into the home
prior to her mother's execution in a vain attempt to beg for reprieve. Every
July 6, some say, she comes banging on the doors of the White House, demanding
to be let in to again plea for her mother's life.
Due west of the White House lies an expansive French Second
Empire style chateau crowned with a delicate mansard roof known as the
Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Employees at this "wedding
cake" of an office building speak of apparitions who roam its corridors at
night.
Lafayette Square, just north of the White House, is haunted
by the ghost of Philip Barton Key (son the famous Francis Scott Key) who was
shot in the park by his friend Daniel Sickles when Sickles learned of his
wife's affair with Key.
St. John's Episcopal Church, across the street from
Lafayette Park, was built in 1816 and contains a bell made by Paul Revere's
foundry that was installed in 1822. Legend says when the bell is rung in honor
of a notable death, six white-robed specters appear along the "President's
Pew" at midnight and then suddenly vanish. Why this occurs or who these
men are isn't clear.
Across from both Lafayette Square and St. John's is the
highly haunted hotel known as the Hay-Adams. The hotel was built in 1927 when
developer Harry Wardman razed the historic homes of John Hay and Henry Adams to
build his 138 room residential hotel. Later, hotelier Julius Manger purchased
the property and converted it into the more traditional hotel we see today. In
1885, when Henry Adams still had a home on the site, his wife Marian (a
photographic enthusiast nicknamed "Clover) committed suicide and many
believe she still haunts the corridors and rooms of her old home--they just
happen to exist within a hotel now. Her presence is often detected by the scent
of almonds, the same aroma as potassium cyanide--the darkroom chemical she ingested
to end her life. Others have heard the soft keening of a weeping woman or a
female voice asking softly, "What do you want?" There are doors that
open and close of their own accord and housekeeping staff who claim to have
received phantom hugs. Much of the activity peaks in December around the
anniversary of Marian's death.
The Octagon House was built in 1801 by Colonel John Tayloe
III, a member of a prestigious and storied colonial family. After the burning
of Washington, President Madison lived there for a time and even signed the
Treaty of Ghent at the house. But the home he had constructed at 1799 New York
Ave NW is a darker legacy as well. Legend says in its yard, a slave market once
operated and that mistreatment saturates the ground like blood. Two of the
Tayloe daughters haunt the home; both young women fell from staircase. Either
or both can sometimes manifest as a flickering light that drifts up the stairs
like a mote caught in a breeze. Phantom bells are rung by the disquiet spirits
of slaves forever chained to the home and its hardships. Dolley Madison (who
already gets around the city like an Uber driver) also haunts the home, as does
the ghost of a British soldier from the War of 1812 (maybe it's the same one as
from the Capitol), and a gambler who had been shot on the 3rd floor in the late
1800s joins in on the fun as well.
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| Peterson House |
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| Ford's Theater |
Ford's theater, which many will be surprised to learn is
almost entirely a reconstruction inside, is most famous as the site of
President Abraham Lincoln's assassination at the hands of an actor and Southern
conspirator, John Wilkes Booth. While mortally wounded in the presidential box,
Lincoln was taken across the street to the Peterson House where he died some
hours later. Within even the rebuilt theater, witnesses have reported hearing
the discarnate sounds are reported reliving the events of that tragic night:
The rush of footsteps, a sudden gunshot, and screams. The anguished ghost of
Mary Todd been spotted in the President's box. Some say John Wilkes Booth still
stalks the theaters backstage. A frequent cold spot manifests at stage left,
making some feel ill. There are those who have reported Booth's ghost racing
across the stage. And while Lincoln himself has been spotted here, his ghost
more often manifests across the street at the Peterson house where he died.
EXORCIST STEPS: While definitely cool with its association
to the seminal film, The Exorcist, there is nothing actually paranormal about
this steep set of stairs that leads pedestrians up a precipitous hillside in
DC's Georgetown neighborhood from one street to the next. Still, if you're
looking to up your cardio game...
Also in Georgetown, we find The Old Stone House, which was
built in 1765 by Christopher Layman. It's considered the oldest extant home in
the DC area. Not surprisingly that through all those years, the home would
accumulate a ghostly patina. A woman in a brown dress is sometimes seen near
the fireplace. Another, heavy-set woman is spotted by the stairs and in the
kitchen. Some have spotted a man in a blue jacket with long blond hair, as well
as several other disparate, colonial-era men. There is a little boy who runs
down the third floor hallway. We also find reports of a woman in a rocking
chair, a slave boy, a German worker, the laughter of children, phantom cooks
working in the kitchen... The list goes on. The Old Stone House might well be
among the most haunted in DC--if not the country. This is quite a statement,
given how small it actually is.
The Smithsonian museum--founded in 1846--is actually many
large and small museums spread throughout DC, although most are concentrated on
the Mall between The Capitol and the Washington Monument. Among the disparate
edifices associated with this storied institution of science, art, and history
lies the red sandstone castle that was the Smithsonian's original incarnation.
Here, the Smithsonian Institution's founder, James Smithson, has been
spotted. Paleontologist Fielding B. Meek
who died in 1876 while living at the castle is also believed to haunt the
place.
An article from a 1900 Washington Post article recounts that
the spirit of a stuffed bird specimen would fly about the original museum (now
the Arts an Industries Building) at night. The article goes on to tell of other
strange occurrences witnessed by night watchmen, such as the shuffling of
phantom feet, objects that seem to move on their own, or disembodied voices.
Among the chief suspects for these spectral shenanigans are the museum's first
curator, Spencer Fullerton Baird, and Smithsonian Secretary, Joseph Henry--both
of which have been witnessed by night watchmen and other late working staff.
In the Natural History Museum, which boasts an amazing
collection of fossil, mineral, and gem specimens, we find the legendary Hope
Diamond, which many believe is cursed. While it's true that tragedy had
followed the enormous, 45 carat blue diamond its entire life, no actual curse
adheres to the gem. In fact, according to the Smithsonian itself, it was famed
jeweler Pierre Cartier who created the legend as a romantic way to entice Washington
DC socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean to purchase the stone. However, it's a matter
of record that darkness followed her purchase. Her husband left her for another
woman before dying in a sanitarium; her son and daughter died of drug
overdoses. Recalling Cartier's tale, McLean had the diamond subjected to an
exorcism, in hopes of ridding the diamond of its curse. After McLean died,
jeweler Harry Winston took possession of the diamond and then donated it to the
Natural History Museum. The postal worker who delivered the package broke his
leg and then endured the death of both his wife and his dog--all within a year
of his delivery. While a contentious acquisition at first, the fact remains
that millions of visitors have come into the sphere of the Hope Diamond over
the past half-century with no discernible pattern of disaster. Whether the
curse is real or not, the legend and legacy of this amazing stone is
undeniable.
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