Haunting tales on historic streets of Georgetown in Washington DC
The US is gearing up to get a new President. Anticipation and anxiety is building up in Washington DC. However, pause for a minute and see if the number 2024 is divisible by 20. No this isn’t a math challenge, but a theory called the ‘20-year curse’, which allegedly dooms US presidents elected in a year that is divisible by 20 to assassination or death in office. Get to know more about this spine-chilling curse and other ghouly matters on a ghost tour of Georgetown, the historic neighbourhood in Washington DC, where 19th-century architecture tells spooky tales of yore.
The Twenty Year Curse
The ‘Curse of Tippecanoe’ started with William Henry Harrison who died from pneumonia just one month after being elected in 1840. Twenty years on, Abraham Lincoln came to power, and was assassinated. His successors, James A Garfield, William McKinley, Warren G Harding, Franklin D Roosevelt and John F Kennedy, were either tragically killed or died of ill health. The curse was broken when Ronald Reagan survived an attempt on his life in 1980. The mind flashes to the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in July, but thankfully 2024 is a safe year.
A presidential progeny as the harbinger of death is yet another story. Robert Todd Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln, was supposed to be with his father at the theatre where he was shot. He was just metres away from James Garfield when he was killed. He was on his way to Buffalo where William McKinley was assassinated. Feeling cursed, he retired from political life to spend his days in Georgetown. One hears this story standing outside his home.
The Old Stone House
Known as Washington’s oldest haunted house, the tour guide says there are nine different spirits associated with the Old Stone House, a landmark building dating back to 1765. One of them is the spectre of a strict-looking, old woman working in the kitchen—some people claim to have seen her dressed in a long grey dress, wiping down the countertops. They believe this is Cassandra Chu, the woman who ran this place when it was a tavern. Other apparitions said to be glimpsed here a man with long hair and a murderer simply known as ‘George’.
A Cursed Building
When a finishing school turned into a hospital during the American Civil War, the woman who ran the school—Miss Lydia—spat on the building and cursed it. Since then, voyeurs say the building hasn’t been the same. When it was turned into apartments, people who moved in complained of eerie feelings—eyes watching them, screaming voices, moans coming from the walls, and the smell of rotting human flesh. This year it’s been converted into swanky condominium, but the question is: will the ghosts of the past linger?
Lights Out
In 1815, a young woman who was a nanny to three generations of children in a Georgetown home followed a strict rule—lights out at 10 pm. After she passed away in this house, it is whispered that on every night of her funeral date, all candles in the building blow out exactly at 10 pm. Apparently in the subsequent years, without fail every night every candle would snuff out at the same hour, until one day, a woman rang the doorbell when nobody was at home and told the housekeeper that she wanted to look around. After investigating carefully, she said, ‘guess they all are really grown up’ and walked out. Legend has it that on that night for the first time in over 200 years, the lights stayed on.
Exorcist Steps
Remember the scene from the The Exorcist when Father Karras falls down the stairs and dies. It was shot at the long, steep staircase at the corner of Prospect Street in Georgetown. The ghost tour ends here with the tale of how the production crew felt it cursed because of the many mishaps during the shooting. Several crew members died before the film was released and a movie set burnt down mysteriously.