Walk Washington's most haunted locations. 12 stops, self-guided. 3 stops free. No guide, no schedule — just you and the dark.
On December 6, 1885, Marian "Clover" Adams swallowed potassium cyanide in the house that now sits beneath the Hay-Adams Hotel. Her husband Henry destroyed her photographs; guests on the fourth floor still smell almonds — the scent of cyanide. Washington's haunted landmarks read like a presidential roll call. Lincoln's ghost appeared to Winston Churchill at the White House in 1940; Churchill walked out of his bath to find the president standing by the fireplace. At Ford's Theatre, actors hear a gunshot from the presidential box on loop since April 14, 1865. Stephen Decatur died in agony at Decatur House after an 1820 duel, and his ghost still presses a hand to his stomach at the second-floor window. This self-guided tour covers 13 free stops across the capital — from the Octagon House to Congressional Cemetery.
The Hay-Adams Hotel stands on the site where Henry Adams and John Hay — best friends, neighbors, and two of the most brilliant men in Gilded Age Washi...
The Treasury Building is the third-oldest federally occupied building in Washington, with construction beginning in 1836. Andrew Jackson allegedly cho...
The Octagon House — which actually has six sides — was built in 1801 for Colonel John Tayloe III, one of Virginia's wealthiest planters. After the Bri...
Abraham Lincoln held séances in the White House while grieving the death of his eleven-year-old son Willie in 1862. Mary Todd Lincoln invited mediums ...
You climb the Capitol steps, entering the marble halls where democracy breathes and something else lingers. John Quincy Adams collapsed at his desk in...
You walk through Lafayette Square, the seven-acre park across from the White House that history remembers as Tragedy Square. Philip Barton Key II — so...
Dolley Madison spent her final years in this house on Lafayette Square, holding court as Washington's most beloved hostess until her death in 1849 at ...
You stand at the top of the Exorcist Steps — 75 stone stairs dropping steeply from Prospect Street to M Street in Georgetown. In 1973, this became the...
James Smithson never set foot in America. The illegitimate son of the Duke of Northumberland, this British chemist left his entire fortune to the Unit...
You stand before Halcyon House, built in 1787 by the first Secretary of the Navy. But the house became truly strange when Albert Clemons, an eccentric...
Built in 1765 by cabinetmaker Christopher Layman, the Old Stone House is the oldest unchanged building in Washington. It served as a home, a shop, a b...
The Washington ghost tour includes 12 documented haunted locations covering 186 years of documented history.
The first 3 stops are completely free — no account required. To unlock all 12 stops, a History Nearby premium subscription is $4.99/month or $49.99/year.
No. This is a self-guided walking tour. Each stop includes the address, a map pin, and the full haunting story. Walk at your own pace, start anytime, and take any route you like.
Plan for approximately 2.5 hours. This accounts for walking between stops and reading each haunting story. You can also split it across multiple evenings.
The most visited stop on our Washington tour is Hay-Adams Hotel at Hay-Adams Hotel, 800, 16th Street Northwest, dating back to 1928.
3 stops free in Washington. No guide, no schedule — walk at your own pace after dark.
Last updated February 22, 2026. Researched by the History Nearby editorial team.