The Unknown Patriotic Specters at the Capitol

Soldiers from wars long past may haunt the capitol, marching time from time in dead of night. Witnesses have seen the ghost of an American Revolutionary War solder, in full uniform, passes by the empty Washington crypt, meant to entomb George Washington but he preferred to be buried in Mount Vernon. Also, the specter of a World War I infantryman, believed to be the young soldier whose body was placed in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, has been seen. But when spotted by living witnesses, the ghost hurriedly saluted, and then vanished.

The specters of at least two soldiers are also said to haunt the Capitol. A few eyewitnesses have claimed that whenever an individual lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda, a World War I doughboy momentarily appears, salutes, then disappears. The Unknown Soldier from World War I was the eleventh person to lay state in the Rotunda in 1919.  Ever since, he has made his presence known. A second apparition, which eyewitnesses say is the ghost of an American Revolutionary War soldier, has also appeared at the Washington Tomb. According to several stories, the soldier appears, moves around the Lincoln catafalque, and then passes out the door into the hallway before disappearing.

Ghosts of Scary DC Blog 7 The Unknown Patriotic Specters at the Capitol © 2017 by Dr. Philip Ernest Schoenberg, Ghost with a Blog #ghosts