HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
The park facing the White House, scene of an 1859 daylight killing
Lafayette Square, Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public park. Access can be restricted during security events near the White House.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved walking paths and lawns
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1804 · 1859 Sickles-Key shooting and temporary-insanity defense · Stephen Decatur's 1820 death after a duel · Clark Mills equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson
Lafayette Square sits directly north of the White House and was set aside as a public park in the early nineteenth century. It is centered on Clark Mills's 1853 equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson and ringed by historic houses that once belonged to senior figures in American political and military life.
The square's most notorious event occurred on February 27, 1859, when Congressman Daniel Sickles shot and killed Philip Barton Key II, the district attorney for Washington and a son of Francis Scott Key, in broad daylight in the park. Sickles had learned that Key was conducting an affair with his wife. At trial, Sickles was acquitted in what is widely cited as the first successful use of a temporary-insanity defense in the United States.
The houses around the square carry their own dark history. The Decatur House, on the northwest corner, was built for naval hero Stephen Decatur, who moved in during 1819 and died there in March 1820 after being mortally wounded in a duel with Commodore James Barron at Bladensburg. His widow left the house soon after.
Lafayette Square remains an active public space and a frequent gathering point for demonstrations near the White House. It is administered by the National Park Service and bordered by buildings now used by the federal government and historic preservation organizations. Commercial walking tours of downtown Washington routinely include the square for its concentration of nineteenth-century history.
Sources
Lafayette Square appears on nearly every list of haunted Washington, and the lore is rooted in two documented deaths. Accounts collected by local media describe the figure of Philip Barton Key II reported in the park where Daniel Sickles shot him in 1859, and the killing's notoriety has kept the story attached to the square for generations.
The most-repeated apparition story belongs to the Decatur House on the northwest corner. Stephen Decatur died there in 1820 after his duel with James Barron, and visitors and staff have long reported the impression of a figure at an upper window said to be the naval officer, along with the sound of footsteps. The story is a fixture of downtown ghost tours.
Reports of other figures, cold spots, and the sense of being watched circulate among tour guides and visitors. These accounts are anecdotal and unverified, but the underlying events behind them are matters of documented record, which is part of why the square endures as a dark-tourism stop.
Notable Entities
Walk the seven-acre park directly north of the White House, anchored by the Andrew Jackson equestrian statue. The square is a regular stop on commercial evening ghost tours of downtown DC, which recount the 1859 Sickles-Key shooting and the duel-related history of the surrounding houses.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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