On a cold, rainy night in D.C., a group of AU students ready to "Experience D.C." embarked on the Capital Hauntings Ghost Tour of Lafayette Park, one of the most "haunted" areas of the District.
The tour guide, who went by Renee, told the stories of the Washington elite who made their homes around the park many years ago. Today, many of the houses still stand but are now government buildings or museums.
The tour began with a description of the difference between ghosts and spirits and the history of the park itself. In 1792, when the White House was built, it was situated across from a park in a remote part of the city. At that time, residents living nearby the park would protect themselves from the night air by covering up to protect themselves from the evil and spirits they believed resided in the cold. They would also wear white clothing and ride white horses to protect themselves from ghosts, Renee said.
Dolley Madison, the wife of James Madison; William Henry Seward, the Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln; Daniel Sickles, a New York congressman; and Philip Barton Key, son of Star Spangled Banner author Francis Scott Key, were among the prominent figures mentioned in the tales of duels, insanity, jealousy and strange coincidences.
The White House had the most ghost stories attached to it. Renee said workers there had reportedly seen the ghost of Abigail Adams with loads of laundry during the Taft administration, and Dolley Madison's ghost chased workers away from uprooting the famed rose garden over 100 years after she'd planted it.
Stories of the Lincolns' supernatural encounters were also relayed, and Renee said many presidents have commented on seeing the ghost of Lincoln in the White House during their terms. The most recent president to have claimed to see the ghost was Ronald Reagan, who said that he would welcome Lincoln's advice, and also said he believed his dog had encountered Lincoln's ghost in the Lincoln bedroom on multiple occasions, the tour guide said.
Some AU students who went on the tour said the tour was not scary.
"For a ghost tour, it wasn't very spooky, and the tour guide was laughing the whole time," said Laura Rose, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs.
Jeff Miller, a senior in SPA, said the event was "cute and the stories were well thought-out, but it wasn't that spooky."
The tour, part of the Washington Walks program, is one of many year-round tours lead by a number of tour guides who reside in and around D.C. They are teachers, actors, artists and storytellers, many of whom were drawn to the District by the very sites they show people and the very stories they tell, according to a brochure the guide distributed at the beginning of the tour.
Rose said she'd consider attending a different tour in the program, while Miller said he'd consider attending the same tour with a different guide.
