13. Powel House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Another Philadelphia house which has claimed to be the most haunted house in the City of Brotherly Love is the Powel House, a Georgian style mansion in Society Hill which dates to 1765. Although there is no record of George Washington having slept there, he did reside for a time in the house next door, and several other notables of the Revolutionary Era were guests in the house. Specters have appeared to people while on tours of the house, only to disappear before their eyes. The Marquis de Lafayette and Benedict Arnold, or rather their ghosts, have been reported to have been seen in the house, as has Benjamin Franklin and a mysterious young woman wearing a lavender dress.
This woman has been reported many times, including by one man who became separated from his tour group when the lights went out as he was using the restroom. He reported groping his way in the dark when he felt someone take his hand and when the lights were restored a woman was holding his hand and smiling at him before vanishing. She has also been reported sitting in the drawing room, fanning herself, before vanishing once noticing she has been seen. The house has several cold spots, said to be associated with ghosts and spirits, and doors which open and close of their own accord. It is said that George Washington, who lived next door, has also been seen in the house, though the presence of Washington and Arnold under the same roof seems most unlikely.