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CHAPTER 1

GHOST OF A SPOOK

GRUDGE LINGERS IN THE AFTERLIFE

Alexandria's most notorious ghost has carried a grudge for centuries, haunting the house at 210 Prince Street with a particular hatred for all things British. Some say that the ghost here is an American hero who began haunting the house after his grave was disinterred. Others say that the ghost is a spy who was executed by the British. In any event, it's one of the most talked-about ghost stories in Old Town.

"I don't normally believe in ghosts," said Virginia Rocen (who purchased the house with her husband, Donald Rochen) in a 2006 interview with the author. "But I could change my mind if I heard something. Couldn't we all?"

The house looks much the same today as it did two hundred years ago. Basement windows peer into the street from below, and a hand-carved doorway beckons visitors. The windows have the romantically flawed sense of distortion, indicating original material or something replicating the aesthetic. A mysterious garden is guarded by a red brick wall as shadows gather in a pitch-black archway that's almost invisible from the street. From all appearances, something is lurking at 210 Prince Street.

This house is haunted.

Various versions of the legend have emerged over the years. One says that the ghost is Colonel Michael Swope, a commander of a Pennsylvania brigade who was captured during the war and later released in a swap for Loyalist William Franklin — the son of Benjamin Franklin. Another version identified the ghost as John Dixon, a wealthy Alexandria merchant who joined the militia and was executed by the British as a spy. Interestingly, each version of the story presents a tension between Loyalists and rebels.

"If a ghost is seen by only one person, you have to question either the authenticity of the ghost or the veracity of the teller of the tale," explained historian Ruth Lincoln Kaye in Legends and Folk Tales of Old Alexandria. "But when a ghost is seen many times over a number of years — who wants to be the first to dispute its existence?"

In the beginning, this tract of muddy land was part of the original 1749 auction. According to the Alexandria Gazette, the original sale took place for fifteen pistoles on July 14, 1749. Considering the land where the house now stands is valued at $600,000, exchanging a handful of Spanish gold pieces seems like a bargain. But the landowner failed to seal the deal.

This was a time when the city leaders wanted to encourage landowners to begin construction as soon as possible. Alexandria was a questionable startup seaport without much of an identity, set in a Virginia wilderness, and rules were designed to force the landed class to build within two years or forfeit their property. Empty lots served no one. And so it was that the poor soul who threw down fifteen pistoles lost his investment when the government acquired the property by eminent domain and returned it to the open market.

On June 18, 1754, the property was sold to Alexandria founding father William Ramsay — one of the city's first mayors and owner of several other significant properties in town. He laid down thirty-six and a half pistoles, a "sharp advance in value" from its original selling price according to one account published in the newspaper. Yet the record does not indicate any construction at the site until 1784. That's when a man by the name of Michael Swope enters the picture.

"Swope was a true patriot," said Wellington Watts, owner of Alexandria Colonial Tours. "Here's a man who is a real hero of his day, someone who was admired and revered."

Swope's story is chronicled in Heitman's Register of Revolutionary Officers, Saffel's Lists of Revolutionary Soldiers, records of the United States War Department and documents in the Pennsylvania archives. His father came to America in 1720 from Wurtenburg to settle in a corner of Lancaster County known as Swope's Knob, now known as Conner Spring.

Michael Swope became an active participant in the Pennsylvania rebellion. As early as 1774, he was a member of the York County Committee of Observation. The next year, he joined the Safety Committee and later became a colonel of the First Battalion, First Brigade, of the Pennsylvania Flying Camp. While Michael Swope was at war, he wife kept the Swope Inn on West Market Street in York, where President of Congress John Hancock entertained friends while visiting York.

In the fall of 1776, the rebels suffered the most serious loss of York County troops during the Revolution at the Battle of Fort Washington, which took place in the northern part of what is now New York City. In November, it was attacked by a large force of English and Hessian troops. Colonel Robert Magaw ordered Swope to defend the approaches to the fort. But that's not how things worked out. On November 16, 1776, Swope was apparently captured at Fort Washington in New York and held for years as a prisoner of war.

"Terms of surrender were offered by the enemy, but Swope refused," wrote York County historian George Prowell. "A furious contest ensued when the gallant colonel and 400 of his York County soldiers were killed, wounded or became prisoners of war."

Swope lived in captivity for years on a prison barge in New York Harbor before the British indicated that they were "willing that Colonel Swope be returned for Governor Franklin." That would be William Franklin, who was governor of New Jersey and was taken into custody by the Provincial Congress of New Jersey in 1776. But the exchange didn't take place — at least not until several years later, and Franklin may not even have been part of the deal. During time in captivity, the British captured Philadelphia, and the Continental Congress moved to a little town in Pennsylvania known as York — Swope's hometown.

"When he was imprisoned in the British ship, he was treated miserably," explains Watts. "So he built up an even healthier anger against his old enemy."

When Swope was finally released, the story goes, he was forced to walk all the way to Alexandria, hundreds of miles and after suffering years of captivity. After the war, Swope appears in Alexandria in 1784. His life after the war is not as well chronicled. Some accounts say that Swope and his sons became chandlers, shining a light on the postwar boom that the city was experiencing. Others say that he opened a riverfront warehouse and began a shipping business to Barbados and beyond. Whatever became of his professional situation, his personal life appears to have followed the old maxim about good fences making good neighbors.

According to an item in the Alexandria Gazette, he and a neighbor split the cost of a thirty-six-pound, six-shilling garden wall separating their properties — a wall that survives to this day, proving that this was a time when things were built to last. The house itself is a fine example of architecture from the era, with fine hand-carved moldings. People say that he loved the third floor best, as well as the music room and the library.

He died in 1809. But that's not the end of the story for Michael Swope. His body was apparently hauled by carriage to a ship lying off Union Street. From there, it set sail for Philadelphia. There, he was laid to rest in the family vault. But Swope would not rest in peace. In 1859, a yellow fever epidemic swept through Philadelphia. The health officer ordered the Swope family vault to be disinterred. That's when the haunting began.

The first report of a ghost at the house took place in 1859. Perhaps the rising tension between North and South provoked old rivalries. Or maybe earlier sightings went unreported. Maybe, just maybe, the reason the ghosts started haunting the house in 1859 is because that's when Swope's body was unearthed. Whatever the reason, this was when people realized that the building was more than a historic home. The house was most definitely haunted.

"When his grave was moved, that's when the haunting began," said Watts. "That's when the ghost of Michael Swope came back to the house and started haunting it."

The archive at the city's library is full of stories about 210 Prince Street. In some of the old newspaper clippings, neighbors have reported music playing when nobody was home. Others have described a "hostile, bone- chilling cold spot" on the stairwell. Some have described feeling the presence of a man when alone in the house. On one occasion, a young woman reported seeing a man walking through the hall wearing an American uniform from the Revolutionary War.

"The startled witness, obliged to future history, chased the spy into the music room, where he was nowhere to be seen," wrote Eric Segal in his 1975 study of Alexandria ghosts. "To this day, neighbors often speak of hearing someone play the piano when there is no one home."

The most famous appearance of the ghost took place in the 1930s, when a real estate agent was showing the home to a visiting British woman. The tour began spectacularly enough, with the woman starting in the impressive root cellar. She then walked through the grand living room and the opulent dining room on the first floor. The pair moved upstairs, seeing the second-floor bedrooms.

"The Realtor and the owner had no trouble going up the stairs to inspect the upper floors," wrote Angela Soper in a 1989 article for the Alexandria Gazette Packet. "But the lady from England had trouble."

When the real estate agent attempted to take the woman up to the third floor, something — or someone — stopped her dead in her tracks. Was it the ghost of Michael Swope? Perhaps it was the specter of John Dixon. Whatever the identity of the ghostly force, she was unable to overcome the apparition. Unable to see the third floor, the British woman explained that she could not purchase the house.

"I'd love to buy the house, but something is preventing it," she is reported to have told the real estate agent. "I'm very psychic, and I can tell you there is definitely a ghost in this house — one that, for one reason or another, does not like me."

That's not the only story of the ghost having an anti-British bias. Ghost tour guide Amanda Allen said that she was walking near the house when she heard another guide explain the famous story about the British woman who was turned away by the ghost. The other guide concluded the story and then warned the crowd that British people should be careful walking by the house.

"Just then, a woman tripped in front of it," said Allen. "Coincidence?"

The house at 210 Prince Street has long been at the center of attention. Aside from being on a prominent street across from the Athenaeum, it's also been featured in countless ghost stories. It was also the home of one of Alexandria's most notable local historians, Ethelyn Cox, author of Historic Alexandria Virginia Street by Street. In a 1965 interview with the Washington Star, Cox was skeptical.

"Mrs. Hugh B. Cox says she's never seen a ghost," wrote reporter and longtime Alexandria resident Frances Lide. "So she can't vouch for the tales of a Revolutionary solider said to haunt the old Alexandria house in which she and her husband have lived for the past 17 years."

But that doesn't mean it didn't exist. The infamous story of the British woman's tour being stopped by a ghost is so famous that it has been immortalized by artist Babs Van Swearingen. She chose the famous story as one of several for a series of watercolor paintings based on well-known ghost stories of Old Town. Because the story of the British woman and the real estate agent had been told and retold so many times, Van Swearingen knew that it would be perfect material for a spooky watercolor. She later explained that her ghost series had a style unlike her other paintings because her hand seemed guided, almost as if by automatic writing.

"I can't paint a ghost unless I can see it," Van Swearingen told Washington Post reporter Frances Lide in 1956.

Stories of the ghost at Prince Street have lingered for years, with a number of variations. One version of the story has Swope as an extremely hospitable host, as long as you're not British. Another alternative has the ghost come down the stairs, go along the hall and disappear into the music room. According to one account, the ghost of Swope has been known to answer the door of the house during dinner parties in full military dress from the Revolutionary War.

"He'll take their coat and ask for their drink orders," says Watts. "But then he never comes back with the drink."

Watts says that the guests will then complain to the owners of 210 Prince Street that they never got their drink from the butler. Astonished, the homeowners will say that they don't have a butler. The guest will then describe the colonial soldier who answered the door and took their drink order. Eventually, the guest will get their pinot noir, and the evening will go off without a hitch, except for that spooky appearance of the ghost of Michael Swope.

"He's probably not a very good butler," Watts says with a smile.

Tour guide Barbara McAdams says that she was leading a tour through Old Town several years ago and brought a group to the Swope House. Just as she began to explain the well-known story of the ghost haunting the house, a man came out of the house with his daughter in hand. The pair paused to listen to McAdams's version of events. After she was through, something strange happened.

"Daddy," the girl said loudly, according to McAdams. "I've seen the ghost!"

Incredulous, the father couldn't believe what he was hearing. He asked his daughter if she was sure, and she said that she was. Then the girl proceeded to give an uncannily detailed description of a colonial soldier, down to every last detail of buff and blue. McAdams said that the girl described Swope perfectly.

"And she had never seen a picture of him," said McAdams. "Oh, that was weird."

One popular variation is that the ghost is a mysterious man by the name of John Dixon, who is haunting 210 Prince Street. Little is known about Dixon, other his position as a wealthy Alexandrian before the war. During the war, folks say, he was executed by the British as a spy. Washington is full of spooks, of course. But here's a house that could be haunted by the ghost of a spook.

"Conjecture, Old Town's most reliable source, would identify the ghost as an American spy executed by the British during the American Revolution," explained Hal Feldhaus in a 1985 article for the Old Town Crier.

Others obviously agree with the conjecture. "If life after death exists," mused Segal, "certainly no one in such an afterlife would hold any lost love for his executioners, and history indicates that John Dixon was and is no exception."

Down the block a few doors, there's another house with a spooky history — spying, that is. It's a red brick building on the same side of the street a few doors down from the Swope House. During the War of 1812, two British spies were captured and taken into custody in Alexandria. Instead of being shot, they were executed by hanging. But they weren't hanged in Market Square. Instead, they were taken here to this house on Prince Street. There, in the living room, the two spies were executed. Their bodies were apparently left there to send a message to the British when they invaded the city in 1814.

"When they burst into the house to raid it, they found the spies hanging there," said ghost tour guide Wellington Watts. "Those ghosts are still haunting that house."

Watts hadn't heard the story until recently, when a little boy who lived in the house came and told him all about it three or four years ago. After Watts finished his tours for the evening, the kid approached the tour guide and explained the whole story. The shocking tale was complete with gruesome details, including how the boy still sees the ghosts of the British spies hanging around in the living room.

"It was kind of like the Sixth Sense," said Watts, referring to the 1999 movie. "This kid saw dead people."

LEGEND OF THE FEMALE STRANGER

WHO IS BURIED IN THIS ANONYMOUS GRAVE

The elaborate inscription on the grave bears no name, no hint as to who may have been buried beneath the tabletop tombstone. The name has not been erased from centuries of wind and rain. It was never there at all. Instead, the epitaph is dedicated to the memory of a "Female Stranger," an inexplicable monument to an unknown woman.

"I suppose it's sort of like a crossword puzzle," explained city historian Michael Miller. "You don't want to leave it until you've solved the puzzle."

The pieces of this puzzle date back to the early nineteenth century, when a mysterious couple arrived at the port of Alexandria. Over the years, many theories have emerged about who this couple may have been. Although there are many theories and a handful of clues, no one is sure about who they were or why they came here or what was the purpose of their ambiguity. What is known, however, is that they left behind this mysterious monument in St. Paul's Cemetery, one that brings visitors from all over the world. People speak of its mysteries and conjecture as to its origins.

"Of all the legends and tales of old Alexandria, the most poignant is the mysterious story of the Female Stranger," wrote local historian Ruth Lincoln Kaye. "It's the greatest mystery of them all."

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Excerpted from "Ghosts of Alexandria"
by .
Copyright © 2010 Michael Lee Pope.
Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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