Ghost Cities · The Research Desk
We lead walking tours in Arizona. We research haunted history everywhere. Field notes and honest picks for Washington DC, from the same team that leads our tours in Flagstaff, Tucson and Prescott.
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Discover the hidden history and local legends of Georgetown with a ghost tour. Today the upscale area is bustling with tourists, but it also has a darker past. Learn about supernatural occurrences and listen to true crime stories as you traverse the cemeteries, churches, and alleys of the city’s oldest neighborhood.
Take a spooky stroll through Washington DC on this guided walking ghost tour. Visit one of the most haunted buildings in the world, the United States Capitol Building, as well as the Supreme Court Building and the Library of Congress. Hear the stories of feuding ghosts of past lawmakers, haunted souls surrounding the Trial of the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators, the phantoms of past presidents and the curse that surrounds everything on Capitol Hill. It’s a fascinating, eerie adventure.
Make the most of your evening in Washington D.C. by combining two after-dark activities in one.This ghost tour and pub crawl is led by a costumed guide who tells you tales of the city's past and it people, from presidents to ghosts, as they lead you through Lafayette Square. You'll stop in at four haunted pub stops and have a drink at each.
Let’s Roam is the #1 app-led scavenger hunt company. Walk to all the best landmarks and hidden gems, answering trivia questions and solving challenges. Work with your team or compete against them, as you learn new facts and create memorable experiences. Let’s Roam Scavenger Hunts are great as an everyday activity, or for bachelorette parties, birthday parties, corporate team building events and more. Each player chooses an interactive role, with challenges varying by person.
Washington DC is the capital of the United States and legally part of no state at all; the DC stands for District of Columbia. For history buffs it is one of the best walking cities in the country, with museums, monuments and historic architecture packed inside the beltway, and it stays lively well after the museums close.
After dark is where our interest starts. The city's oldest neighborhoods carry stories the daytime tours skip, and a DC ghost tour is the easiest way to hear them. The booking cards on this page are the three guided ghost walks we carry pages for, plus an app-led scavenger hunt; here is how the city breaks down.
Our rundown of the spots that anchor nearly every tour: the White House, the Capitol, Lafayette Square and the hotels with reputations. See haunted Washington DC.
Ghost walks fill the evening; the Smithsonian museums and the monuments fill the day. Our things to do in DC guide pairs the two.
From Georgetown boutiques to Capitol Hill classics, our where to stay in DC guide keeps you close to the tour meeting points.
One of DC's oldest neighborhoods, all Victorian row houses and manicured gardens, with a darker ledger underneath. The Ghosts of Georgetown route walks it, from the Old Stone House to the Exorcist Steps.
Sometimes called Tragedy Square, the park across from the White House has collected deaths, attacks and crimes of passion since the city's founding, and most top-rated tours build a stop around it.
The White House keeps the country's most famous ghost story, with Abraham Lincoln reported in its halls by generations of residents and guests. Capitol Hill adds the Lincoln conspiracy trials, the phantoms of past lawmakers and a supposed curse that guides love to argue about.
No single winner, but the shortlist is stable: the White House, the Capitol Building, the Library of Congress, the Hay-Adams Hotel and Lafayette Square. Our three guided walks divide them: the pub route stops at Lafayette Square and passes the White House, and the Capitol Hill walk passes the Capitol.
Yes. The stories attach to buildings you were going to see anyway, which makes DC one of the most efficient haunted cities in the country. A ghost walk turns the standard monuments-at-night outing into something with names and dates attached.
Tours run most evenings year-round, and booking ahead is recommended since operators keep head counts. Spring and fall are the comfortable seasons, and October is the squeeze.
Yes, and they are popular. Several operators blend a ghost walk with stops at reportedly haunted pubs around the city, including a 21-and-over route through Lafayette Square that the listing sells with a costumed guide.
Browse the rest of our haunted city guides for the next trip, or come walk with the team that writes them on our Arizona tours in Flagstaff, Tucson and Prescott.
The One State Where We Hold the Lantern
Everywhere else, we write the guide. In Flagstaff, Tucson and Prescott we lead the tour, nightly, in person, with five generations of Arizona roots behind every story.