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A Screaming Queen’s Ghost and More Spooky Encounters that Haunt Us

Khalid Elhassan October 23, 2022 24 min

Spooky - The screaming ghost of Catherine Howard is said to still haunt Hampton Court Palace — The screaming ghost of Catherine Howard is said to still haunt Hampton Court Palace. Historic Royal Palaces

The Spooky Spectre of George Washington

George Washington on his deathbed. History Network

George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon, has been the site of numerous spooky ghost stories. The best ones revolve around encounters with the ghost of the great man himself. One such is attributed to members of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, America’s first national historic preservation organization, and the country’s first women’s patriotic society. The MVLAA raised money to purchase a dilapidated Mount Vernon in the nineteenth century, in order to restore and preserve it for posterity. In the early years, when members were in the area, they slept in the mansion, sometimes in the four poster bed in which Washington died.

Spooky - Illustration from a nineteenth century newspaper article, about an encounter with the ghost of George Washington — Illustration from a nineteenth century newspaper article, about an encounter with the ghost of George Washington. Mount Vernon

Many who did were adamant that they felt the presence of George Washington’s ghost, which some described as “a strange and brooding spectre“. On one occasion, as two of them shared Washington’s bed one night, they saw a spook as their bedside candle went out with a noise. Alarmed, one of them told her friend: “You are on the side of the bed where Washington died!” Her friend replied: “No, I’m not. He died on your side!” That did it for their sleep that night. Both got up, dressed, and sat around wide awake until the sun came up, terrified by every squeak. As an 1890 newspaper article put it: “They all agree that Washington visits his chamber in the still watches of the night“.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.