Reportedly haunted locations in Washington, D.C.

Being the site of military battles, deadly duels, assassinations, untimely deaths, and other associated tragedies, there are a number of reportedly haunted locations in Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States.

Washington's haunted history is so well known that some of its haunted locations were featured in a 2006 documentary, America's Haunted Houses, on the A&E cable network. Novelist Dan Brown mentioned them prominently in his 2009 novel, The Lost Symbol. Notable purportedly haunted locations include the United States Capitol, Capitol Hill, the White House, Lafayette Square and nearby buildings, Independence Avenue SW, The Octagon House, Chinatown, the National Theatre, Hay–Adams Hotel, Woodrow Wilson House, Omni Shoreham Hotel, and many others.

The U.S. Capitol is reputedly haunted by many past representatives and government officials, officers who served during the American Revolutionary War, workers who died during its construction and a "demon black cat" that is said to make appearances just before national tragedies or changes in presidential administration. Apparitions of deceased presidents have been reported in the White House, the most famous of which is Abraham Lincoln's ghost, reported by first lady Grace Coolidge, president Harry S. Truman, and British prime minister Winston Churchill, and apparitions of presidents Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and John Tyler have all been witnessed, as have the spirits of many First Ladies.

The President's Park, Lafayette Park, and nearby buildings are reported to be home to ghosts such as Philip Barton Key II and Stephen Decatur who died there following pistol duels. The Octagon is supposedly one of the most haunted buildings in D.C., with sightings of its past occupants and African American slaves who once worked there. The National Theatre is said to be haunted by the ghost of actor John McCullough, who was murdered in the 1880s by a fellow thespian. Hay–Adams Hotel is claimed to be host to the ghost of Marian "Clover" Hooper Adams, the wife of Henry Brooks Adams, the celebrated 19th-century American journalist, historian and novelist, who was the grandson of John Quincy Adams, and the Woodrow Wilson House is allegedly haunted by former president Woodrow Wilson himself who spent his final years in illness there before dying in his bedroom in 1924. Houses in the Georgetown area of the city are reported to be haunted by figures from colonial times, including slaves, merchants and children. Staff and guests of the Omni Shoreham Hotel have told of stories of faint voices, cold breezes, and doors slamming shut and opening and televisions and lights turning on and off of their own accord.

Capitol Hill

The Capitol The United States Capitol is considered one of the most haunted buildings in Washington, D.C.French, Joseph Lewis. The Best Ghost Stories. New York: Boni and Liveright, Inc., 1919.Cosgrove-Mather, Bootie. "Haunted House On The Hill." CBS News. October 31, 2003. The first apparition to be seen there was in the 1860s as the Capitol was being completed.Alexander, John. Ghosts: Washington's Most Famous Ghost Stories. Arlington, Va.: The Washington Book Trading Co., 1988. Several spirits are said to haunt the Capitol due to tragedies associated with its construction. One such ghost is said to be that of a worker who died after a fall during the construction of the rotunda, and who now is occasionally seen floating beneath the dome carrying a tray of woodworking tools. Another spirit is allegedly a stonemason who died (crushed to death beneath a wall which collapsed, or murdered by a co-worker) and is seen in the Old Senate chambers or passing through a wall in the basement beneath the Senate.Norman, Michael and Scott, Beth. Historic Haunted America. Reprint ed. New York: Macmillan, 2007.

Many politicians with strong personalities and a powerful attachment to the institution of Congress are reputed still to roam the halls of Congress long after their deaths. The shades of Representative Joseph Cannon (R-Ill. and Speaker from 1903 to 1911) and Rep. Champ Clark (D-Mo. and Speaker from 1911 to 1919) are claimed to occasionally return to the dark chamber of the House of Representatives after midnight and, after a loud rap from a gavel, resume the strong, angry debates they once had in life. Members of the United States Capitol Police have claimed to have seen Senator (and from 1852 to 1854, Representative) Thomas Hart Benton sitting at a desk in National Statuary Hall, although it has not been used as a legislative chamber since 1857.Bardes, Barbara A.; Shelley, Mack C.; and Schmidt, Steffen W. American Government and Politics Today: The Essentials. 15th ed. Florence, Ky.: Cengage Learning, 2008. Steve Livengood, chief tour guide for the United States Capitol Historical Society, says he has seen the ghost of former Representative Wilbur Mills (D-Ark.) near Mills' former office late at night.Jordan, Elizabeth. "Ghosts Wander the Hill." Roll Call. July 13, 2009. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, although not a politician, was a brevet Major during the American Revolutionary War who served with George Washington at Valley Forge.Jusserand, Jean Jules. Major L'Enfant and the Federal City. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1916; Bowling, Kenneth R. Peter Charles L'Enfant: Vision, Honor, and Male Friendship in the Early American Republic. Washington, D.C.: George Washington University, 2002. OCLC 51037796 In 1791, L'Enfant was appointed architect and planner of the new city of Washington in the District of Columbia. Although L'Enfant submitted grandiose plans for the new capital city, his plans were never fully adopted and President Washington dismissed him. L'Enfant spent much of the rest of his life attempting to wrest a monetary payment from Congress, and he died in poverty in 1825. Eyewitnesses, however, claim to have seen his spirit walking through the Capitol, head down, murmuring to himself, with the plans for the capital city tucked under his arm.Miller, William and Leighton, Frances Spatz. Fishbait: The Memoirs of the Congressional Doorkeeper. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1977.

The Capitol has also been witness to murder and death. Rep. William P. Taulbee had been a congressman from Kentucky from 1884 to 1888.Office of the Clerk. United States House of Representatives. "The Death of Congressman William Taulbee on the Steps of the U.S. Capitol." No date. Accessed 2009-10-09; Kessler, Ronald. Inside Congress: The Shocking Scandals, Corruption, and Abuse of Power Behind the Scenes on Capitol Hill. Reprint ed. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998. ; Brown, Sherrod. Congress From the Inside: Observations From the Majority and the Minority. 2d ed. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2000. ; Remini, Robert Vincent. The House: The History of the House of Representatives. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. ; Klotter, James C. Kentucky Justice, Southern Honor, and American Manhood: Understanding the Life and Death of Richard Reid. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2003. Charles E. Kincaid, a journalist for The Louisville Times, had accused Taulbee of adultery and involvement in a Patent Office scandal, which had ruined Taulbee's political career. On February 28, 1890, the ex-congressman and the reporter ran into one another in the Capitol, and Taulbee assaulted and embarrassed Kincaid by tweaking the much smaller man's nose. Kincaid ran home, grabbed a pistol, and, when he encountered Taulbee on a marble staircase leading from the House chamber down to the dining room, shot him in the face just below Taulbee's left eye. Taulbee died two weeks later, and Kincaid was acquitted after claiming self-defense. Journalists and others claim that whenever a reporter slips on these steps, Taulbee's ghost briefly appears.Taylor, Troy. Wicked Washington: Mysteries, Murder & Mayhem in America's Capital. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2007. Former President and then-Rep. John Quincy Adams suffered a stroke at his desk in the House chamber on February 21, 1848, and was taken into the Speaker's Room.Widmer, Edward L. Ark of the Liberties: America and the World. New York: Hill and Wang. ; Remini, Robert Vincent. John Quincy Adams. New York: Times Books, 2002. His physical condition was too precarious to permit him to be moved, and he died at the Capitol two days later. Many people claim to have heard Adams' ghost denouncing slavery late at night in National Statuary Hall, and one Congressional staff member claims that by standing in the spot where Adams' desk once stood a person can still hear the former president's ghostly whisper. James A. Garfield was a member of the House from 1863 to 1881 before assuming the Presidency in March 1881.Reeves, Thomas C. Gentleman Boss. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1975. Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker, on July 2, 1881, at 9:30 a.m. as he walked through the Sixth Street Station of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad in Washington, D.C. Garfield died of heart failure brought about by blood poisoning (itself caused by poor medical care) on September 19, 1881, while recuperating at a beach house near Long Branch, New Jersey. Witnesses have seen Garfield's specter walking solemnly through the halls of Congress.

Not all Capitol hauntings are related to people who worked there. The "Demon Cat" is alleged to prowl the halls of Congress, and make appearances just before a national tragedy or change in Presidential administration.Rainbolt, Dusty. Ghost Cats: Human Encounters with Feline Spirits. Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot, 2007. and Yager, Jordy. "Haunted House — and Senate." The Hill. March 3, 2009. It was first seen in the early part of the 19th century, and a night watchman shot at it in 1862. It has also been seen by other night watchmen and members of the Capitol Police. It appeared before the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, the October 1929 stock market crash, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The cat has not only been seen in the halls, but has repeatedly appeared in Washington's Tomb. The Tomb (two levels below the crypt beneath the Capitol Rotunda) was an original feature of the Capitol, planned as a resting place for George Washington and members of his family.Moore, John Leo. Speaking of Washington: Facts, Firsts, and Folklore. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, 1993. ; Aikman, Lonnelle. We, the People: The Story of the United States Capitol, Its Past and Its Promise. 13th ed. Washington, D.C.: United States Capitol Historical Society, 1985. The Washington family politely declined the offer. The Tomb stands empty, although from 1865 to 2009 (when it was moved to the United States Capitol Visitor Center) the Lincoln catafalque was stored there. The specters of at least two soldiers are also said to haunt the Capitol. A few eyewitnesses have claimed that whenever an individual lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda, a World War I doughboy momentarily appears, salutes, then disappears. A second apparition, which eyewitnesses say is the ghost of an American Revolutionary War soldier, has also appeared at the Washington Tomb. According to several stories, the soldier appears, moves around the Lincoln catafalque, and then passes out the door into the hallway before disappearing.

Capitol Hill