Ghosts of Georgetown and The Exorcist Steps Walking Tour is a 90-minute Georgetown walk from DC by Foot, booking from $49 per person at our August 3, 2026 check. It is the dearest and the best reviewed of the three guided Washington DC ghost walks we carry pages for, 4.8 from 742 Viator reviews. It starts outside the Old Stone House at 3051 M Street NW and, per our July 29, 2026 facts pass, finishes at the Exorcist Steps at 36th and Prospect Street NW. Three things to know. It carried a likely-to-sell-out flag at our August 3, 2026 check, the only one of the three that did. It was flagged not wheelchair accessible, and the route ends at a staircase. And the listing's promise of access to the yard of what it calls the oldest and most haunted building in Georgetown is the operator's claim, not ours: the superlative is unverifiable, and nothing we hold says this walk enters the yard.
| Detail | What the listing shows |
|---|---|
| From price | $49 per person (checked August 3, 2026), the dearest of the three guided Washington DC ghost walks we carry pages for |
| Duration | 1 hour 30 minutes (checked August 3, 2026). Our July 29, 2026 facts pass recorded 1 hour, so the current figure is the longer of the two. |
| When | Not established. No clock time was captured at either pull. Viator's own page title called it a night-time ghost tour at our July 29, 2026 pass, which is framing rather than a departure. |
| Ages | Booking bands run ADULT 16 to 99 and CHILD 4 to 15 (checked August 1, 2026). No verbatim age line was captured, so we print the bands rather than a threshold. |
| Meeting point | Outside the Old Stone House, 3051 M Street NW. The listing's own address string drops the street letter; the full address comes from NPS. |
| End point | The Exorcist Steps, 36th and Prospect Street NW, per our July 29, 2026 facts pass |
| Stops named | Seven itinerary entries, five stops and two pass-bys. Stops: the Old Stone House, The Colonial, Georgetown, Halcyon and the Exorcist Steps. Pass-by: Wisconsin Avenue Northwest and Georgetown University. We hold no research on The Colonial or Wisconsin Avenue Northwest and write nothing about either. |
| Group size | Posted maximum of 15 (checked August 1, 2026), larger than either of the other two DC ghost walks, both capped at 10 |
| Yard access | The listing promises access to the yard of what it calls the oldest and most haunted building in Georgetown. Both halves are the operator's, not ours. NPS opens the Old Stone House grounds sunrise to sunset, and nothing we hold establishes after-dark access. |
| Accessibility | NOT wheelchair accessible (checked August 1, 2026), and the route ends at a stair |
| Confirmation | At the time of booking (checked August 1, 2026) |
| Cancellation | Free cancellation flagged at our August 3, 2026 check; free to 24 hours in advance per our July 29, 2026 facts pass |
| Rating | 4.8 from 742 Viator reviews (checked August 3, 2026), the largest base of the three DC ghost walks and eleventh of the thirteen Washington DC rows in that check |
| Availability | In stock with a likely-to-sell-out flag at our August 3, 2026 check, the only one of the three DC ghost walks carrying one; two non-ghost DC products carried one too |
| Not captured | Stroller access, weather policy, start times and end-of-tour timing, at either our July 29 or August 1, 2026 pull |
| Operator | DC by Foot. We do not run this tour. |
What you will see
Seven itinerary entries, five of them stops, and two named entries have no research in our checked Washington DC corpus, so we say nothing about The Colonial or Wisconsin Avenue Northwest. Two housekeeping notes. The live listing writes the title with an ampersand, which house style renders as and, the booking link still resolves through a Tragic Tales of Georgetown address, and this page once carried the shorter Ghosts of Georgetown Walking Tour: one product, three names. And DC by Foot's own site would not load for us, returning an image instead of a page, so the yard promise and the superlative were never checked against the operator's words.
The Old Stone House at 3051 M Street NW is the documented anchor: a National Park Service unit, on the National Register since 1973, reference 73000219. Christopher Layman, a cabinetmaker, bought Lot 3 on Bridge Street in 1764 and built it as home and shop; he died in 1765 and it passed to Cassandra Chew, who added the rear wing in 1767. NPS calls it the oldest structure on its original foundation in Washington, D.C., a formula worth attributing rather than sharpening, since the 1973 nomination says believed to be. Demolition had been announced by 1950; the government bought the property, by then a car dealership site, for $90,000 in 1953.
The best story here is the debunk. Attempts to prove the house was Washington's Engineering Headquarters or Suter's Tavern were made and never substantiated, and NPS says the building was preserved through a case of mistaken identity and a desire to remember George Washington. The myth is what saved it, and the doubt is old rather than modern: a December 1902 Washington Times piece found no authentic history of any occupancy by President Washington, and Allen C. Clark of the Columbia Historical Society said the markers on its face had been false in their message. Where Suter's Tavern stood is still unresolved.
The yard behind the house is federally documented, described in the 1973 nomination as a garden area suggesting the kitchen gardens typical of period town dwellers, and NPS opens the exterior grounds sunrise to sunset. Indoors is narrower than visitors expect: as of the NPS page update of 4 November 2022, only the kitchen area and store are open. That matters for the lore, because the figure local tradition calls George attaches to third-floor rooms the public cannot enter. We pass it on as neighbourhood tradition.
The Exorcist Steps are an engineering artifact that a film made famous. The Georgetown Retaining Wall and its inset stairway were built in 1894 to 1895 during the regrading of Squares 1202 and 1203, in preparation for the Capital Traction Company Union Station; the risers are 7.5 inches, with two intermediate landings. We print no step count: DCist says 97, the Georgetown Voice has the stuntman falling down 75, and no survey settles it. William Peter Blatty heard the Mount Rainier possession story as a Georgetown undergraduate, filming ran here in 1972, and on 30 October 2015 Mayor Muriel Bowser and Georgetown University president Jack DeGioia joined William Friedkin and Blatty at a plaque unveiling at the foot of the stairs.
The 2019 landmarking is the part guides get backwards. That January the Historic Preservation Review Board landmarked the steps, the wall and the Car Barn, and explicitly not for the film: the adopted report said the film's endurance does not necessarily rub off on the 36th Street stairway, and that the stairs alone cannot be called an exceptionally significant historic site. The Areas of Significance field reads ENGINEERING. The stunt detail in circulation is a recollection Clifford Chieffo gave the Georgetown Voice about 50 years after the fact, not a production record, so we state no take count.
Halcyon, the fifth stop, is Halcyon House, the Benjamin Stoddert House, at 3400 Prospect Street NW, National Register reference 71001002. The Historic American Buildings Survey worked from the deeds and dated it to about 1787, noting that although 1783 has been asserted, the deeds show no structure on the lots before then. Stoddert was one of the 19 original proprietors and first Secretary of the Navy under John Adams. Albert Adsit Clemons bought the house on 7 August 1900 for $7,500 and died on 17 March 1938, having extended the wings, added a ballroom theater and framed a vast unfinished second-floor room largely out of a demolished church, which the 1971 nomination calls an amazing assemblage of architectural details from demolished buildings. Clemons was not Mark Twain's nephew, and the story that he built to stay alive is a third-hand report of neighbourhood belief printed 28 years after he died. The house is private and nothing supports interior access.
Who it suits
Adults and older children who want the film landmark plus street-level Georgetown history in 90 minutes, capped at 15. It is the best reviewed of our three DC ghost walks and has the fullest stop list.
- Not for wheelchair users. The listing records it as not wheelchair accessible, and the route ends at a staircase.
- Not for anyone expecting interiors. The Old Stone House upper floors are closed and Halcyon is private.
- Not for children under 4. The booking bands run ADULT 16 to 99 and CHILD 4 to 15.
- Not for anyone booking on the promise of yard access after dark. Nothing we hold confirms it.
- Not for anyone who wants a departure time from us. Neither pull captured one.
How it compares
The denominator is three, the guided Washington DC ghost walks we carry pages for. Against the Capitol Hill night walk at $25 and Booze and Boos at $34.68, this is the dearest and the best tested: 4.8 from 742 reviews against 4.4 from 177 and 4.5 from 55 at our August 3, 2026 check. Its cap of 15 is the largest of the three, so the small-group argument belongs to the other two, both capped at 10. It is the only one of the three flagged likely to sell out, though two non-ghost DC products carried that flag the same day. What it has that the others do not is a named film landmark and a federally documented 1764 house, on seven itinerary entries against four and three. Our haunted Washington, D.C. guide has the rest of the city.
Questions people ask
How long is it, and when does it run?
One hour 30 minutes at our August 3, 2026 check, up from the 1 hour our July 29, 2026 pass recorded. No clock time is verified in either pull, so we print none. Viator's own page title framed it as a night-time tour, which is not a departure.
What ages can book?
ADULT 16 to 99 and CHILD 4 to 15 at our August 1, 2026 check. No verbatim age line was captured, so check for anything stricter at booking.
Where does it start and finish?
Outside the Old Stone House at 3051 M Street NW, finishing at the Exorcist Steps at 36th and Prospect Street NW per our July 29, 2026 pass. Uphill, ending at a stair.
How many steps are there?
We do not print one. DCist says 97, the Georgetown Voice has the stuntman falling down 75, and no survey we hold settles it. The nomination gives the risers as 7.5 inches with two landings.
Do you go inside anything?
Nothing we hold establishes interior access. NPS opens the Old Stone House grounds sunrise to sunset and, as of its November 4, 2022 page update, only the kitchen area and store are open indoors. Halcyon is private.
Is it accessible, and can I cancel?
Not wheelchair accessible at our August 1, 2026 check, and the route ends at a staircase. Free cancellation showed at our August 3, 2026 check, free to 24 hours in advance per our July 29, 2026 pass.
