Cutts-Madison House (Dolley Madison House)

Dolley Madison's haunting reputation at the Lafayette Square house is one of the older and more consistently reported Washington legends. According to DC Ghosts, the White House Historical Association, and Wikipedia's compendium of DC haunted locations, sightings began in the late 1800s, when men leaving the Cosmos Club at night reported tipping their hats to a shadowy female figure rocking on the building's west-side porch. The figure was described as smiling and unthreatening, consistent with Dolley Madison's reputation as a hostess. Some accounts describe a single workman from the porch-removal project being scared off when the apparition reportedly turned and looked at him directly.

A related thread of the lore concerns Dolley's rocking chair itself, said to rock on its own indoors. Reports of this kind appear in late-19th-century newspaper coverage of the house and have continued — more sporadically — through the building's federal-government tenancy.

The rear courtyard now displays the 'Black Aggie,' an unauthorized 1905 bronze copy of Saint-Gaudens's Adams Memorial, which collected substantial Baltimore-area folklore during its decades at Druid Ridge Cemetery (alleged eyes glowing red at night, a fraternity-pledge death). After being removed from the cemetery in 1967 due to vandalism and persistent paranormal-seeker traffic, the statue was donated to the Smithsonian, stored unseen for decades, and eventually relocated to the Cutts-Madison House's rear courtyard. While the courtyard is not generally public-accessible, the statue's presence is documented and adds a secondary haunted-object layer to the property.

This venue is a working federal courts building and not open to the public — appreciate from the public sidewalks around Lafayette Square only.