Beneath the domed Academy chapel lies the marble crypt of Revolutionary naval hero John Paul Jones, whose spirit anchors Annapolis ghost lore.
121 Blake Rd, Annapolis, MD 21402
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
The chapel and crypt are free to visit, though access to the Yard requires a valid photo ID and entry through the Armel-Leftwich Visitor Center. Guided tours are ticketed.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Campus walkways; the crypt is below the chapel and reached by stairs, with limited step-free routing.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1908 · Tomb of Revolutionary War naval commander John Paul Jones · Remains located in Paris in 1905 and returned to the United States · 1906 memorial ceremony presided over by President Theodore Roosevelt · Beaux-Arts crypt designed by Whitney Warren, completed for 1913 interment
John Paul Jones died in Paris in 1792 and was buried in the Cimetiere St.-Louis, a small graveyard for foreign-born Protestants. Within a few years France's revolutionary government sold the cemetery land, buildings rose over the graves, and the site of Jones's burial was effectively forgotten for more than a century.
In 1905 the U.S. Ambassador to France, Horace Porter, led a privately funded search that located and exhumed Jones's well-preserved body. Forensic comparison of the remains with a portrait bust confirmed the identification. The casket was carried to the United States and arrived at Annapolis in July 1905, where it was placed in a temporary brick vault on the Academy grounds.
On April 24, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt presided over a large memorial ceremony in Annapolis honoring Jones. The permanent crypt, however, took several more years to complete. Designed by architect Whitney Warren in the Beaux-Arts style, it features a sarcophagus carved by sculptor Sylvain Salieres from roughly 21 tons of black-and-white marble, supported by stylized dolphin legs and ringed by columns; the surrounding deck is inscribed with the names of seven ships Jones commanded.
Jones was finally interred in the crypt beneath the Naval Academy Chapel on January 26, 1913. The chapel above, designed by Ernest Flagg with its prominent dome, had been dedicated in 1908. The crypt remains one of the most visited sites at the Academy.
Sources
Like many old military campuses, the United States Naval Academy has a body of ghost stories passed among midshipmen and tour guides. The most prominent is tied to John Paul Jones, whose remains rest in the chapel crypt. The lore is documented in the regional book Haunted Annapolis by Mike Carter and Julia Dray, which collects Jones among the figures said to linger in the city.
The most-repeated version describes a sailor's apparition seen on the Yard, often placed near the Naval Academy Cemetery and the chapel grounds, especially on nights around Halloween. Because Jones spent more than a century in an unmarked grave before being brought to Annapolis, the stories cast him as restless, watching over the institution that finally honored him.
The haunting accounts are firmly in the realm of campus tradition and published ghost-lore rather than investigation. No specific incident, photograph, or documented case anchors them, and the Academy presents the crypt as a place of naval history. Hauntbound treats the John Paul Jones ghost story as well-known but unverified folklore attached to a thoroughly documented historical tomb.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Visit the United States Naval Academy Chapel and descend to the crypt beneath it, where the remains of Revolutionary War naval commander John Paul Jones rest in a 21-ton black-and-white marble sarcophagus ringed by columns. The deck around the crypt lists the seven ships Jones commanded. Entry to the Yard requires a photo ID through the visitor center; guided campus tours are available separately.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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