Haunting tales on historic streets of Georgetown in Washington DC

The US is gearing up to get a new President. Anticipation and anxiety is building up in Washington DC. However, pause for a minute and see if the number 2024 is divisible by 20. No this isn’t a math challenge, but a theory called the ‘20-year curse’, which allegedly dooms US presidents elected in a year that is divisible by 20 to assassination or death in office. Get to know more about this spine-chilling curse and other ghouly matters on a ghost tour of Georgetown, the historic neighbourhood in Washington DC, where 19th-century architecture tells spooky tales of yore.

The Twenty Year Curse

The ‘Curse of Tippecanoe’ started with William Henry Harrison who died from pneumonia just one month after being elected in 1840. Twenty years on, Abraham Lincoln came to power, and was assassinated. His successors, James A Garfield, William McKinley, Warren G Harding, Franklin D Roosevelt and John F Kennedy, were either tragically killed or died of ill health. The curse was broken when Ronald Reagan survived an attempt on his life in 1980. The mind flashes to the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in July, but thankfully 2024 is a safe year.

A presidential progeny as the harbinger of death is yet another story. Robert Todd Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln, was supposed to be with his father at the theatre where he was shot. He was just metres away from James Garfield when he was killed. He was on his way to Buffalo where William McKinley was assassinated. Feeling cursed, he retired from political life to spend his days in Georgetown. One hears this story standing outside his home.

The Old Stone House

Known as Washington’s oldest haunted house, the tour guide says there are nine different spirits associated with the Old Stone House, a landmark building dating back to 1765. One of them is the spectre of a strict-looking, old woman working in the kitchen—some people claim to have seen her dressed in a long grey dress, wiping down the countertops. They believe this is Cassandra Chu, the woman who ran this place when it was a tavern. Other apparitions said to be glimpsed here a man with long hair and a murderer simply known as ‘George’.