8. The Octagon House in Washington DC.
Less than half a mile from the White House in Washington stands the Octagon House, which is described as one of the most haunted buildings in the nation’s capital, and in fact one of the most haunted sites in America. One of the oldest legends surrounding the house is of the ringing of bells, once used to summon servants, which at the time of the house being built were slaves. The legend of the bells ringing on their own began before the Civil War, and by the time of Reconstruction was well known in Washington society. After the British Army burned the White House in 1814, James and Dolley Madison resided in the Octagon House, and Dolley’s ghost has been reported as being seen in the house (presumably when she is not visiting the White House Rose Garden around the corner). The original owner’s daughters are said to haunt the house as well.
The house and its surrounding outbuildings were built by Colonel John Tayloe beginning in 1799. By 1812 he resided in the house only in the winter months. According to the tales regarding his daughters, one of them quarreled with her father, which led to her falling down a flight of stairs, killing her. The other daughter died after returning home to reconcile with her father after eloping with a young man of whom he disapproved. Neither story is true, though reports of spectral sightings of the sisters have been persistent for decades. Other tales of haunting at the Octagon House include lights turning themselves off and on at random, screams and moans emanating from the cellars, and appearances of ghosts wearing clothes of a style in fashion decades earlier.