Ghosts of DC

Want to be the “hit” of your tour group? Try telling them the stories of ghosts and hauntings. It doesn’t matter if they are believers or not, they will be entertained by your tales and impressed by your knowledge of history.

Washington, DC may be the most haunted area in the United States with legends from almost every neighborhood so let me begin with one that has been reported in several locations, the Demonic Cat named DC. It is believed that DC lives in the sub sub sub levels of the National Capitol Building and normally appears when Administrations change and just before a national disaster such as the Great Depression and the assassination of President Kennedy. Not only does DC appear around the Capitol, on the Mall, and near the White House, the cat has a very strange quality. The cat appears to be a kitten until you approach, then DC begins to grow to the size of a leopard and may lunge. Don’t worry though because when you blink the cat disappears.

The Capitol Building is also known for some other strange occurrences. People have told of music coming from the Statuary Hall and the sculptures dancing through the halls. There are still others who have witnessed a Confederate Soldier roaming the Rotunda, which was used as a hospital during the Civil War. And then there is the story of a carpenter who is mysteriously missing. Apparently someone sealed him inside the walls.

The Supreme Court Building stands on the site of the Old Capitol Building. It received the name while the temporary location of employees after a fire hit the National Capitol Building. It was then used as a prison for Confederate soldiers, some of whom died while incarcerated. Years later some of our first Suffragettes made the building into their office and claimed to hear shouting, screams, banging, cursing, and moans while they held their meetings, apparently from the ghosts of the Rebels.

The Library of Congress is home to possibly the friendliest of ghosts. One is a deceased Police Officer who has helped people lost in the stacks find their way out. Another is said to have moved shelves during a renovation allowing workers to move materials. Of course Thomas Jefferson can not be skipped over as he sold his personal 6,487 volumes to the Library just after the British torched the Capitol and two years before his death. He can be heard walking the stairs and closing doors.

Lafayette Square is probably the most haunted place in all of Washington, and not just because the White House is there. Commodore Stephen Decatur lived just around the corner and while in his early 40’s was killed in a duel and died in the home. Decatur, a hero of the War of 1812 and the Barbary Wars was thought of as a future President so he and his family had moved to the location just two years earlier. Many people have claimed to see the Naval hero walking inside the building, now a museum, as well as looking out the window.

Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key and nephew of Chief Justice Roger Taney was shot to death by Congressman Daniel Sickles on Lafayette Square for having an affair with Sickles wife Teresa. While the home no longer stands Key is often seen roaming the area.

The Hay-Adams Hotel stands just across from the White House on the site of the Winter residence of Henry and Marian “Clover” Adams. Cover committed suicide in 1885 but is said to frequent the hotel, hug staff members, and call people by name. If you smell Mimosa or hear doors closing, say hello to Clover.

A rather small yellow home still stands across the street from the Hay-Adams, the Cutts-Madison House, at 721 Madison Place NW. This was built by the Brother-In-Law of Dolly Madison and purchased by President Madison some time later. Dolly moved there for a while after the President died and for good after selling the Montpelier estate. Changes were made over the years but Dolly is often seen sitting in a rocking chair where the West porch once was. If you see her talking to someone it may be one of the eight Presidents who visited her there or possibly First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy who saved the structure from demolition.

The Willard Hotel stands across the street from the Treasury Building at 1401 Pennsylvania Ave. and has been the temporary residence of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Harriet Beecher Stowe and many others. President Grant normally walked there after office hours for a drink and cigar. When people discovered this they would stand in the hallway waiting to talk to him about an issue or a job. He called them “Lobbyists”. Some visitors and staff have smelled the aroma of the cigars as his spirit is said to be still hanging around. Remember, DC has a law against smoking in public building areas.

The White House requires tickets to enter which you must get through your Congress Person and security is very strict so you probably will not be able to investigate spirits there but they exist. Among those who have claimed encounters are Winston Churchill, Grace Coolidge, Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Queen Wilhelmina, Ronald Reagan’s dog, and secret service agents. And who did they see? How about Abe Lincoln, his son Willie, John Kennedy, William Henry Harrison, Abigail Adams (carrying laundry), Eleanor Roosevelt, Andrew Jackson, Dolly Madison (in the Rose Garden), Thomas Jefferson, John Tyler, Frances Cleveland (Grover’s wife), David Burns (the original owner of the land), and an unknown British soldier. Oh, and DC, the Demon Cat.