Over the years, there have been many ghost stories about Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home. The best ones revolve around encounters with the ghost of the great man himself. Below are some fascinating facts about accounts revolving around the specter of America’s first president.

This Association’s Members Reported Numerous Encounters With George Washington’s Ghost

Members of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, America’s first national historic preservation organization, and the country’s first women’s patriotic society, reported an encounter with George Washington’s ghost. In the nineteenth century, the MVLAA raised money to purchase a dilapidated Mount Vernon 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. Many who did were adamant that they felt the presence of George Washington’s ghost. Some of them described it as “a strange and brooding spectre”. 

One night, as two MVLAA members shared Washington’s bed, they saw an apparition 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 killed off any chance either one had for sleep. Terrified for the rest of the night by every squeak, both got up, dressed, and stayed wide awake until the sun came up. As an 1890 newspaper article put it: “They all agree that Washington visits his chamber in the still watches of the night”.

The Mayor and the First President’s Ghost

In the first half of the nineteenth century, few Massachusetts men were more prominent than Josiah Quincy III (1772 – 1864). He served in the US House of Representatives from 1805 to 1813, was mayor of Boston from 1823 to 1828, and became President of Harvard University from 1829 to 1845. In 1806, Quincy visited Mount Vernon, which had been inherited by George Washington’s nephew Bushrod Washington. He stayed the night, and was hosted in the first president’s bedroom – the one which the great man had passed away. By then, rumors already abounded of encounters with Washington’s ghost in that bedroom.

Like most Americans at the time, Quincy revered George Washington. He was not afraid, and indeed, he actually hoped “that he might be found worthy to behold the glorified spirit of him who was so revered by his countrymen”. His son Josiah Quincy Jr. recounted decades later that his father was not disappointed. At some point that night, he reported that he ended up meeting the first president’s ghost. Frustratingly, however, Quincy Jr. gave no details, other than to write that his father’s “assurance in this matter was perfect”. As a result, we can only wonder just what might have passed between the Massachusetts bigwig and George Washington’s ghost.

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Some Sources & Further Reading

History Halls – Folklore and Mythology: The Dark Origins of the Pied Piper of Hamelin

Mount Vernon – Ghost Stories: Washington’s Ghost Haunts Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon – Great George’s Ghost: Josiah Quincy III and His Fright Night at Mount Vernon