A Female Stranger

Port at Alexandria Virginia

This story began in 1816 with an arrival of a young married couple to the Old Town port in Alexandria, Virginia.

Gadsby Tavern

They disembarked and rented a carriage to take them to what is today Gadsby’s Tavern and Museum but then was known as City Hotel.

This hotel sat at the center of the city’s social life in the late 1700s into the 1800s.

Immediately, rumors began. Who was this young couple? They were fashionably dressed and appeared to have wealth.

Even more attention was focused upon them because the husband had carried his beautiful young wife through the hotel lobby—she being gravely ill.

Wild rumors flew that she was the daughter of Aaron Burr, Theodosia who had been lost at sea years earlier. I write about her ghost here. Another rumor stated the young wife was the daughter of an English lord and the couple was eloping.

Once situated in Room #8 at the hotel the husband called for a doctor to attend his wife. He oddly refused to give Mr. Gadsby, the owner of the hotel, or the doctor his or his wife’s names.

For three weeks his young bride suffered in pain. On October 14, 1816 she died. Strangely, the husband requested the doctor and owner of the hotel take an oath. They both swore they would not reveal the identities of the young couple.

His wife was buried at St. Paul’s Cemetery nearby. He arranged for a fancy tombstone to be placed on her grave. The inscription on it is a long sad letter to his wife. This epitaph begins, “To the memory of a Female Stranger . . .”

Female Stranger headstone

Soon after his wife’s funeral this man left town without paying any of his bills. These expenses included: the hotel bill, the medical expenses and the money owed for his wife’s funeral.

The townspeople were furious but there was nothing to be done for they did not know the name of this clever young man or his wife. Their identities are still a mystery today.

They say when this young husband first carried his wife into Room #8 at the hotel the number on the door slipped sideways. This is not a good omen being the symbol for infinity.

Is this the reason the Female Stranger haunts the Gadsby to this day? Some believe it is.

One recent encounter with her ghost scared a college student working in the Tavern’s restaurant. This server had just picked up a food order and had the plates balanced on both arms when she turned around.

The ghost was standing close to her staring right into her face. The ghost spoke to her and then vanished.

Terrified, the young lady screamed and dropped the plates.

Ballroom

The Female Stranger also haunts the building’s ballroom. Especially during parties held in this room.

She is most often seen in Room #8 where she died. Since the encounter with the young student she has not spoken to anyone else.

Robert E. Lee’s Ghost

General Robert E. Lee

Lee took command of the Southern Confederate troops during American’s most decisive and deadly war--the Civil War.

Robert E. Lee was a military tactical genius and is ranked against the world’s finest generals, including Alexander, Hannibal, Napoleon, and Frederick the Great.

Born in Virginia in 1807 Lee graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with no demerits. He married Mary Anna Custis the great-granddaughter of George Washington.

After serving with distinction during the Mexican War, Lee gained a reputation for being the most courageous and intelligent officer in the American army.

He served as the Superintendent of West Point and then served in the cavalry in Texas in 1855. In 1859 he was called to put down John Brown’s slave rebellion at Harper’s Ferry. He did this within one hour.

At the beginning of the Civil War Abraham Lincoln asked Lee to head the Union forces. First and always a Virginian, he refused and then resigned his post.

He would not take up arms against his fellow southerners even though he adamantly opposed succession from the Union and he considered slavery an evil.

He did not fight for the south until his beloved Virginia was invaded. Lee distinguished himself on the battlefield and took command of the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862.

Lee’s Confederate troops experienced numerous victories on the battlefield-- basically because he was an expert at outmaneuvering the Union troops which were larger and better equipped than his.

It is said that he of all the great generals through history did more with less than any others.

But at Gettysburg in July of 1863, the tide turned against the Confederacy. The fact the Civil War lasted as long as it did is a testament to Lee’s abilities as a general.

Lee at Appomattox Court House

In 1865 Lee faced odds that were too great--this and the fact the Confederate’s had run out of supplies resulted in Lee surrendering to Ulysses S. Grant in April of 1865 at Appomattox, Virginia.

After the war, Lee became the president of Washington College--which is today Washington and Lee University. To his credit during this time he worked diligently to reconcile the South and North.

Lee died of a massive stroke while still president of this college in 1870.

Washington College
Lexington, Virginia

Haunted Boyhood Home

Lee was a dignified southern gentleman, but his family was more colorful. For several generations, his family had been plagued with scandals.

Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee

His father, Light Horse Harry Lee, was an American Revolutionary war hero who was a hell-raiser. He was a drinker and gambler who found himself in constant debt. At one point he served time in a debtor’s prison.

Lee and his mother were forced to leave his beloved childhood home in Alexandria, Virginia, because of his father’s debts.

This Alexandria mansion and two other homes where Lee lived during his life are considered haunted. But it is this mansion located on Oronoco St. where Lee’s ghost resides.

Lee's Boyhood Home
Alexandria, Virginia

In 1967, a family that moved into this mansion immediately experienced this haunting.

During the day, the whole family heard the soft footsteps of a child and giggling coming from the upper floors in the mansion. They also felt this child ghost walk around them as they stood upstairs.

This ghost made his presence known at least two to three times a day. He often ran around, and he sometimes moved objects. The wife had a cigarette lighter flung at her feet.

One neighbor that visited the home was sitting in the living room when snow started to drop on her from a foot above--now wet she left.

The family also saw the apparition of a black dog with floppy ears playing in the mansion’s backyard.

Subsequent families that have lived in the home have reported similar activity.

A child’s giggles are still heard upstairs, and this young ghost likes to ring the home’s doorbell. He always moves objects, and on two different occasions, he has dropped snowflakes on visitors.

One neighbor reported seeing an apparition of a small boy playing in the mansion’s backyard with a ghostly black dog.

Virginia’s Woodlawn Plantation

George Washington never slept at this home but his ghost is seen on the property.

The first president of the U.S. never had children of his own but after he married Martha Custis he became a devoted stepfather to her 2 children, Patsy and Jackie from a previous marriage.

Jackie as a young adult married and gave George and Martha 4 grandchildren. Her youngest daughter Eleanor nicknamed “Nelly” was only 4 and half months old when George and Martha brought Nelly and another young sibling to Mt. Vernon to raise.

Eleanor "Nelly" Lewis

When Nelly grew up, to the delight of the entire family she married George Washington’s nephew, Major Lawrence Lewis. George gave the newlyweds a gift of 2,000 acres from his 8,000-acre estate. Washington arranged for a distinguished architect, Dr. William Thornton to design a home for the young couple.

Nelly and Lewis had this grand home built on a hill overlooking Mt. Vernon, between 1800-1805. * Washington spent a lot of time supervising this construction--it became his favorite pet project. But he died before the home was complete so he never saw it finished. 

The Lewis' furnished their new home lavishly and immediately started to throw elegant parties. The couple had 8 children of which only 3 survived past childhood. The rest died at Woodlawn.

Major Lawrence Lewis

When Lawrence died in 1839 Nelly left Woodlawn and went to live with her only surviving son at a plantation called Audley.

The plantation then was bought and sold several times. In 1896 the home was damaged by a hurricane--after this it sat empty for 6 years.

The home was restored and in the mid 20^th century the National Trust for Historic Places acquired the property. Today only 127 acres of the original 2,000 remain. The home is a museum and hosts thousands of visitors each year.

* Woodlawn is just south of Alexandria, Virginia.

The Hauntings

Before and since the home was restored in the 20^th century there have been reports of ghost sightings.

This activity occurs throughout the home but a lot of it is concentrated on the south side--where an open basement well is located. Many believe wells are portals or natural entryways for ghosts. It is felt this well located beneath the kitchen allows spirits to enter the home. * 

Witnesses over the years have reported being disturbed by footsteps, slamming doors, banging sounds and whispers without any known source.

Items in the home often crash down from shelves and pictures fall off the walls and smash onto the floor. Doors also often lock by themselves.

A ghost is heard thumping loudly up and down the stairs. Some believe this ghost is that of John Mason a previous owner of the estate during the Civil War. Mason had a wooden leg.

The Lafayette room a bedroom upstairs is very active. When candles were still used to light the home they were often found relit after they had been extinguished. Chairs in this room were found rearranged. Since, a ghostly figure is seen at the window of this room when the home is empty.

In the 1930s the owners of the home experienced a terrifying event in this bedroom. The wife put her infant down in his crib for a nap when moments later she heard him crying loudly. When she entered the room she found him lying on top of a tall dresser.

The Lorenzo room another bedroom upstairs also has unusual activity. This was the Lewis’s only surviving son's bedroom. People see the door on an antique armoire open without explanation.

Odd noises are often heard and many people have reported having their shoulders tapped by an unseen hand while in this bedroom.

Downstairs in the master bedroom the lights go on and off mysteriously. Visitors have reported a cold rush of air swoshed passed them in this room.

Both dogs and cats refuse to enter the home’s center hall area.

Floating figures are seen in the home and overnight visitors have been awakened only to see men dressed in old-fashioned clothing walking around.

The ghost of George Washington is seen on moonlit nights outside the home. He is seen riding around the estate and circling the drive on a translucent white horse. Some speculate his ghost still lingers because he never saw his pet project completed.

* The home's kitchen has been converted to the present day gift shop--so the well can be seen here.