Carlyle House

A Georgian Palladian manor built in 1753 by Scottish merchant John Carlyle. British General Braddock planned the French and Indian War campaign here in 1755.

Carlyle House stands as one of Alexandria's oldest and most haunted structures, a Georgian stone manor built between 1751 and 1753 by Scottish merchant John Carlyle on the banks of the Potomac River. The imposing residence would witness tragedy, war, and death over its nearly three centuries of existence—leaving behind multiple restless spirits who refuse to depart.

John Carlyle (1720-1780) arrived in Virginia around 1741 and quickly rose to prominence through his mercantile ventures and strategic marriage to Sarah Fairfax, daughter of one of Virginia's wealthiest families. On August 1, 1753, the couple moved into their grand new home—the same evening their first son was born, prompting Carlyle to write his brother that it was "a fine beginning." But tragedy would define the household. Of their seven children, five died young. Sarah herself died in childbirth on January 22, 1761, at just thirty years old.

Nine months after Sarah's death, Carlyle married Sybil West, daughter of fellow Alexandria Trustee Hugh West. According to J.J. Smith, author of "Haunted Alexandria and Northern Virginia" (2009), of all persons who died in Carlyle's home, Sybil is believed to be the most active spirit. Consumed by jealousy toward her predecessor, Sybil allegedly burned all of Sarah's possessions stored in the basement, attempting to erase her existence entirely. Sybil herself died March 17, 1769, following her fourth pregnancy. Today, visitors report seeing the apparition of a woman standing in the garden behind the house, screaming into the night—believed to be Sybil's tormented ghost.

In April 1755, Carlyle House hosted one of the most significant meetings in colonial American history. General Edward Braddock, Commander-in-Chief of British Forces in North America, selected the mansion as his headquarters during the French and Indian War. On April 15, five colonial governors convened in what became known as the Congress of Alexandria, debating how to fund Braddock's military campaign. The governors' refusal to submit to British demands for taxation planted seeds that would grow into the American Revolution two decades later. Carlyle himself described Braddock as "too fond of his passions, women and wine" and complained the general "abused his house and furnishings."

After Carlyle's death in 1780, the property passed through various hands. Furniture merchant James Green acquired it in 1848 and built the Mansion House Hotel—later renamed Braddock House—directly in front of the original manor. This hotel era produced Carlyle House's most famous supernatural legend: the Falling Ghosts.

During the Civil War, Union forces seized Green's Hotel and converted it into Mansion House Hospital, treating wounded soldiers from nearby battlefields. On December 1, 1861, it opened as a general hospital with 500 beds, later depicted in the PBS series "Mercy Street" (2016-2017). One fevered Union soldier convalescing after the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862 jumped from an upper window in a hallucinatory belief that he was being chased. His anguished cries still echo across the property.

Two more men would die falling from the building after it returned to hotel operations: Samuel Markell in 1905 and twenty-year-old Pat Buckley in 1912. Some say they jumped from windows; others claim they fell from the balcony. Though the hotel was demolished in 1973 to restore Carlyle House, visitors still report seeing phantom figures standing silently in the upper windows of the original manor, only to vanish moments later. The ghosts seem confused about which building they haunt.

When the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority began restoring the mansion in the 1970s, workers made chilling discoveries. Stone mason Jon Battista found a mummified cat sealed inside the chimney foundation, resting in a stone alcove sprinkled with rosemary. This was no accident—builders following Scottish tradition had deliberately placed the dead cat there to ward off witches and evil spirits. Witch bottles were also discovered: wine bottles corked with pins, filled with urine and sharp objects, then buried beneath hearth stones as protection from curses.

The upstairs right bedroom, where John Carlyle died in 1780, is considered the most active location. Visitors report flickering lights, photographs revealing figures in windows, and the sensation of unseen hands tugging at their clothing or touching their shoulders. Local paranormal investigators have documented strange orbs, unexplained knocks at doors when no one is present, and mysterious audio recordings.

Carlyle House Historic Park remains open for tours at 121 North Fairfax Street, where the mummified cat still rests in its hidden alcove. The Congress of Alexandria is reenacted annually, but the spirits of the Carlyle family—and those unfortunate souls who fell from the hotel above—continue their eternal residency, unaware that the building that killed them no longer exists.