The Most Haunted Places in District of Columbia

Ranked

1. 

   1. The White House Washington · Museum / Historical Site · Family Comfort: High

   The White House has served as the president's home since 1800, rebuilt after British troops burned it in 1814. Its ghost lore is old enough that the White House Historical Association keeps a formal catalog, most famously about Lincoln, reported by Grace Coolidge, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Queen Wilhelmina, who fainted after finding him at her door in 1942. Abigail Adams hung laundry in the East Room, where staff report the scent of damp linen.

   6 original accounts · documented across 9 decades, 1860-1980 · retold in 2 later publications

2. 

   2. The Octagon (Octagon Museum) Washington · Museum / Historical Site · Family Comfort: High

   The Octagon, an 1801 mansion designed by William Thornton for Colonel John Tayloe III, briefly served as James Madison's residence after the British burned the White House in 1814, and Madison ratified the Treaty of Ghent there in 1815. The Institute of Architects bought it in 1902 as a museum. Staff describe the scent of lilacs tied to Dolley Madison, and a woman on the staircase where a Tayloe daughter reportedly fell to her death.

   6 original accounts · documented across 4 decades, 1902-2022 · retold in 3 later publications

3. 3. Omni Shoreham Hotel Washington · Haunted Hotel / Inn · Family Comfort: High

   The Omni Shoreham Hotel opened in 1930 and has hosted inaugural balls for every twentieth-century president. Shortly after backer Henry Doherty's family moved into the eighth-floor penthouse, their maid, Juliette Brown, died there overnight; the apartment sat empty nearly 50 years before reopening as Suite 870, the Ghost Suite. Guests nearby report faint voices, cold breezes, doors slamming, and housekeeping carts moving, often around 4 a.m., the approximate hour of Brown's death.

   5 original accounts · documented across 5 decades, 1930-2018 · retold in 5 later publications

4. 

   4. The Hay-Adams Washington · Haunted Hotel / Inn · Family Comfort: High

   HauntBound identified four distinct published accounts at this working hotel, across five kinds of published source. Eight later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include a sensed presence and electrical anomalies.

   4 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1885-2017 · retold in 8 later publications

5. 

   5. Lafayette Square Washington · Outdoor / Natural Site · Family Comfort: High

   Lafayette Square, the park north of the White House, was the site of an 1859 daylight shooting in which Congressman Daniel Sickles killed Philip Barton Key II over an affair with his wife, producing the country's first temporary-insanity defense. The square's Decatur House was home to Stephen Decatur, who died there in 1820 after a duel. Visitors report a figure matching Key near the park, and one at an upper window said to be Decatur.

   4 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1860-2019 · retold in 3 later publications

6. 

   6. Old Stone House Washington · Haunted House / Historic Home · Family Comfort: Moderate

   The Old Stone House, built in 1765 by cabinetmaker Christopher Layman, is the oldest building in Washington still on its original foundation, saved partly by a mistaken belief that Washington once lodged there. The Park Service has run it as a museum since 1960. Visitors describe more than a dozen presences, including a colonial-dressed woman by the fireplace, plus a hostile third-floor entity known only as George, blamed for cold spots and pushing women visitors.

   2 original accounts · documented across 4 decades, 1840-2021 · retold in 5 later publications

7. 

   7. Fort McNair (Grant Hall) Washington · Battlefield / Military Site · Family Comfort: Moderate Private, not open to visitors

   Fort McNair has been an Army post since 1791; its Grant Hall served as the courtroom for the 1865 tribunal that tried Lincoln's conspirators, four of whom, including Mary Surratt, were hanged in the courtyard that July. When the building later served as officers' quarters, families reported feverish children describing a woman pressing a finger to her lips, later identified from a photo as Surratt. During 2012 restoration, contractors reported footsteps in the sealed attic.

   3 original accounts · documented across 5 decades, 1977-2022 · retold in 2 later publications

8. 

   8. The Willard InterContinental Washington · Haunted Hotel / Inn · Family Comfort: High

   HauntBound identified three distinct published accounts at this working hotel, across four kinds of published source. Four later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include a sensed presence and apparitions.

   3 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 1903-1963 · retold in 4 later publications

9. 

   9. National Building Museum (Pension Building) Washington · Museum / Historical Site · Family Comfort: High

   HauntBound identified two distinct published accounts at this museum site, across three kinds of published source. Six later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include apparitions.

   2 original accounts · documented across 5 decades, 1908-2016 · retold in 6 later publications

10. 

    10. Walsh-McLean House (Embassy of Indonesia) Washington · Haunted House / Historic Home · Family Comfort: High Private, not open to visitors

    Built between 1901 and 1903 for mining magnate Thomas Walsh, this mansion was Washington's most expensive private residence at the time; daughter Evalyn Walsh McLean acquired the Hope Diamond here in 1911 and died in the house in 1947. Indonesia bought the building in 1952 and has used it as its embassy since. Staff report Evalyn's apparition on the grand staircase, plus a separate, unidentified naked woman elsewhere, lore intertwined with the diamond's curse legend.

    2 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1910-1952 · retold in 6 later publications

Superlatives