HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Costumed Walking Tours of the White House, Lafayette Square's 'Tragedy Square,' and Capitol Hill Haunts
1520 H St NW, Washington, DC 20005
Research updated August 2026
Age
All ages
Cost
$$
Tours starting from $24.99 per ticket. Pricing per the operator's own site.
Access
Limited Access
Walking tour of Lafayette Square and downtown DC sidewalks; the Capitol Hill program covers additional blocks around the Capitol grounds.
Equipment
Photos OK
Lafayette Square (National Historic Landmark District) · St. John's Episcopal Church (1816, 'Church of the Presidents') · US Capitol Building and grounds
AmeriGhost Tours' Washington DC program runs costumed, lantern-led walking tours through Lafayette Square, a National Historic Landmark district directly north of the White House, and separately through the Capitol Hill grounds around the US Capitol Building. The Ghosts of Lafayette Park tour meets at the Cutts-Madison House (also known as the Dolley Madison House), an early-19th-century Federal rowhouse on the square where Dolley Madison lived after James Madison's death. The flagship program covers St. John's Episcopal Church (built 1816, known as the 'Church of the Presidents') and the Hay-Adams Hotel, a 1928 Italian Renaissance-style hotel built on the site of the homes of historian Henry Adams and diplomat John Hay.
Sources
The Ghosts of Lafayette Park tour frames the square as 'Tragedy Square,' tying its 19th-century history of duels and the 1859 killing of Philip Barton Key by Congressman Daniel Sickles to the operator's ghost narrative, and includes stories the operator attaches to St. John's Episcopal Church and the Hay-Adams Hotel. The flagship tour and Capitol Hill Haunts extend the narrative to White House lore associated with Abraham Lincoln and a 'Demon Cat' story the operator ties to the Capitol building.
All of this is the tour operator's own marketing material, not documented history independently verified for this listing; it is included here as a description of what the tours cover, not as an endorsement of any specific claim.
Notable Entities
AmeriGhost's flagship DC walking tour, covering St. John's Episcopal Church, the Hay-Adams Hotel, and White House lore, led by guides in Victorian costume carrying lanterns.
A walking tour meeting at the Cutts-Madison House (Dolley Madison House), 1520 H St NW, covering what the operator calls 'Tragedy Square' -- Lafayette Square's history of duels, crimes of passion, and assassinations -- and concluding in front of the White House.
A tour of the US Capitol Building, the Supreme Court Building, the Library of Congress, and the Folger Shakespeare Library, including the Capitol's Statuary Hall and the operator's 'Demon Cat' story.
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Meeting point for the Ghosts of Lafayette Park walking tour.
Billed by the operator as 'Tragedy Square,' the route's central stop for duel, crime, and assassination lore.
Stop on the flagship Washington DC Ghost Tours route.
Stop on the flagship Washington DC Ghost Tours route.
Featured stop and route endpoint; tour narrative references Lincoln-associated ghost lore.
Featured on the Capitol Hill Haunts program, including the operator's Statuary Hall and 'Demon Cat' material.
Stop on the Capitol Hill Haunts program.
Named as a Capitol Hill Haunts stop; no independently documented venue page found.
Named as a Capitol Hill Haunts stop; no independently documented venue page found.
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