Do you believe in ghosts? According to a 2013 HuffPost/YouGov poll, 45 percent of adults do, and nearly a third of those surveyed claim that they’ve actually seen a specter.
Whether you’re a believer or not, fall is an ideal time to take a ghost tour, especially when the moon is full and leaves crackle underfoot. You probably won’t meet any actual spirits on these walking tours, but you will hear stories about the houses, streets, taverns and hotels they’re said to still inhabit—and along the way, pick up some juicy gossip about historic places. “Our ghost stories center on unfinished endings, broken relationships, things left unexplained,” writes Colin Dickey in his book Ghostland, a study of haunted places in America. “They offer an alternative kind of history.”
It’s true, for example, that when the U.S. Capitol was being constructed in the 1790s, cats were brought in to control a growing rat problem. But does one demonic black cat remain, terrorizing security guards by growing to tiger size and springing at them with a roar, only to vanish when they scream? Whether fact or fancy, it’s a tale worth pondering as you stroll through the shadows on a chilly evening.
Put these five ghoulish tours on your seasonal “fun things to do” list.
Old Town Alexandria
This quick, one-hour tour is so popular that on weekends around Halloween, several different guides from Alexandria Colonial Tours lead concurrent groups around Old Town, using multiple routes. No matter which route you take, you’re guaranteed to end your evening by being abandoned in a graveyard. (Old Town has several historic resting places.) Each route features its own set of stories.
Dressed in period costumes and swinging candle-lit lanterns, the guides tell ghost stories from the town’s Colonial history, as well as tales collected from local residents about their centuries-old homes. Fans of the PBS series Mercy Street might get to visit the site of the real Civil War hospital profiled in the show, a hotel that stood in front of the Carlyle House on North Fairfax Street. Unlike the U.S. Capitol, the Carlyle House is not believed to be haunted by a cat, although the remains of one were found in the building’s foundation during renovation work in the 1970s. (In 1751-53, when the house was built, the British custom of burying a cat was thought to bring good luck.)
Some tours pass by Gadsby’s Tavern, where in 1816, a young woman died of cholera soon after arriving in town. Her grieving husband refused to reveal their family names, so her tombstone in the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex reads, “To the memory of a female stranger.” You can still see her grave today, although the townspeople who erected the elaborate marker got a surprise when it was finished—the banknote the husband used to pay for the work turned out to be forged.
Alexandria Colonial Tours runs its Original Ghost & Graveyard Tour from March to select dates in December. In October, the tour takes place every night at 7:30, with an extra walk leaving at 9 on Friday and Saturday nights. Tours begin at the Alexandria Visitor Center at 221 King St. in Old Town. Tickets are $15; $14 for seniors and military; $10 for children; and free for kids 6 and under. Children must be accompanied by an adult, and the company says the tour is most appropriate for ages 9 and older. You can reserve and buy tickets online, or pay in person at the Visitor Center. For more information, call 703-519-1749 or visit alexcolonialtours.com.
Harpers Ferry
The meeting spot for this West Virginia ghost tour wins points for scenic beauty. It begins at historic St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, perched above some winding steps hand-carved into rock, and overlooking the town’s rooftops and the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. Harpers Ferry may also be the most atmospheric location; its historic district consists entirely of period buildings and is nearly empty at night. After dark, the downtown feels like a time capsule, as if the place itself is haunted by its own memories.
According to tour guide Rick Garland, the Harpers Ferry ghost tour is the oldest in the country. It was started by Shirley Dougherty, who moved to the town in 1968 and opened a restaurant in a historic building. After some unexplained events, she began collecting paranormal lore from local bartenders, park rangers and homeowners claiming to have had spooky encounters. She published them in a book in 1978. The ghost tours have been venturing out ever since.
Because Garland is both a musicologist and historian, the tour features an account of John Brown’s raid, as well as some Civil War songs and even an impromptu sing-along. If you’d like to do some serious ghost hunting, you’ll also find out which storied Civil War tavern can now be rented out for vacation lodging—if you’re not put off by the murder that took place there, and ongoing reported sightings of the victim.
Ghost Tours of Harpers Ferry operates year-round, with tours available Monday through Saturday. The tour starts at 8 p.m. in front of St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church at 110 Church St. and ends at 9:45. Plan to arrive 15 minutes early to check in, and leave plenty of time to park, as parking in the historic downtown is limited. If the weather is extremely cold or rainy, the guide tells the same stories inside the historic church while showing photos. Tickets are $14; $10 for kids 8 to 12; free for kids 7 and under. From April to September, no reservations are needed for the nightly tour; just pay by cash or check when you arrive. During other months, you must reserve in advance by phone. This tour doesn’t include a lot of walking but may not be suitable for those who have trouble with steps. Call 304-725-8019 or visit harpersferryghost.20m.com.
Gettysburg
On July 1, 1863, the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg was overrun by Union and Confederate troops, fighting what turned out to be one of the key battles of the Civil War. The battleground is now a national park, but the streets of the town, which formed a no-man’s land between Northern and Southern forces during the fray, has stories of its own. Writer Mark Nesbitt claims that Gettysburg is one of the most haunted places in America. The ghost stories he’s collected from people around town now fill seven books, so it seems like plenty of others agree.
Nesbitt’s company, Ghosts of Gettysburg, offers several tours, but the most in-depth is the Carlisle Street tour, which lasts almost two hours and winds past the house where Abraham Lincoln stayed the night before he delivered the Gettysburg Address. On your way to the Gettysburg College campus, where the oldest building served as a makeshift Civil War hospital, you may hear a story about a recent tourist who entered the back room of a local museum and was delighted to find a group of Union generals discussing battle strategy. He was so impressed by the realism of the reenactors that he complimented an employee on the way out—only to discover that no such reenactment had been scheduled. When they returned to the room together, it was empty.
Ghosts of Gettysburg has four walking tours to choose from, including shorter and longer options, for $11 (kids 7 and under free). The tours run from March until November. Walks can sell out, so the company recommends reserving in advance by phone or online. All tours start at the company’s store at 271 Baltimore St. Plan to arrive 15 minutes early to redeem your reservation. Call 717-337-0445 or visit ghostsofgettysburg.com.
Capitol Hill
If Capitol Hill isn’t haunted, it probably should be, considering all the momentous events that have happened here. Part of the fun of the Capitol Hauntings tour is the novelty of seeing the U.S. Capitol deserted and glowing from within after dark, or sitting on a bench outside an eerily quiet Folger Shakespeare Library long after everyone else has left for the night.
The lights in the library are routinely turned off when it closes, according to one Washington Walks tour guide. If you notice them burning late at night, it might be the work of Henry Folger, who, along with his wife, Emily, curated the world’s largest collection of books relating to William Shakespeare, including 82 copies of the playwright’s 1623 First Folio of plays. The Folgers built the library to house their beloved book collection, but Henry died before the building was completed in 1932—and some workers say the oil baron flips the lights on sometimes to view his finished project. It may help that Henry and Emily are still present in the building; their ashes are interred inside the reading room, behind a bust of Shakespeare.
This walk stands out for how much interesting American history is hidden inside the ghostly tales. Other stops on the same tour include a former trolley stop, the Library of Congress, a district police station and the oldest house on Capitol Hill.
Washington Walks offers its Capitol Hauntings tour only in October, on Friday and Saturday nights. The two-hour walk leaves from the Capitol South Metro station at 7:30 p.m. Reservations are unnecessary but arrive a few minutes early to pay your $20 fee, or book and pay online. Those with a military or federal government ID receive a $5 discount, and both cash and credit cards are accepted. The walk departs rain or shine. For more creepy D.C. tales, try the Most Haunted Houses tour, also scheduled for Friday and Saturday nights in October. Call 202-484-1565 or visit washingtonwalks.com.
Annapolis
Ghost tours in Maryland’s capital come with a view of the Chesapeake Bay, which seems just right for a city that started life as a Colonial seaport. Between views of the water, the walk wanders through a historic cemetery before ending up at Ego Alley, the city dock where you can check out the high-end sailboats visiting for the day.
Sailors, shipbuilders and sea captains all factor into the town’s lively naval history, both ghostly and well-documented. One of the funniest stories, however, has to do with an early town gravedigger. When local children teased him, he was said to get even by going to their homes and digging a miniature grave in each child’s front yard.
Some of the stories dig into the past of the downtown’s many pubs. For example, inside the Maryland Inn, a small downstairs bar called the Drummer’s Lot Pub is named after the parcel of land the hotel is built on—once an open lot where the town drummer (similar to a town crier) stood to spread public messages via drumbeats. The inn has remained in business ever since its doors opened during the American Revolution, making it one of the oldest continuously operating hotels in the U.S. And what would a building that old be without a few ghost stories?
Annapolis Tours and Crawls offers a walking tour through the historic downtown that lasts 90 minutes to two hours and runs from spring through fall. Reserving online is recommended. Tickets are $18; $15 for military; $12 for kids ages 5-11. The walk departs from the front porch of the Maryland Inn at 16 Church Circle. For those who prefer spirits with their spirits, the company also runs a haunted pub crawl. Call 443-333-4774 or visit toursandcrawls.com/annapolis_home.