HAUNTED MARYLAND THE HAUNTS OF MARY SURRATT

Mary Surratt was the only female conspirator convicted in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.... and her ghost is said to haunt several places in Maryland and Washington today.

Mary Surratt was born in Maryland in 1823 and married John Surratt in 1840. In 1852, they built a tavern in what is now Clinton, Maryland, although with a post office also located there, it became known as Surrattsville. John died in 1862 and left Mary deeply in debt. She moved into the city of Washington, into a house that she and her husband had owned, and turned it into a boarding house, which would lead to her downfall.
Among the occupants of the house were her son, John, who was a Confederate courier, several southern sympathizers and  a frequent guest, an actor named John Wilkes Booth.  While Booth did not reside in the house, he visited there often, conspiraing with John Surratt. Following Lincoln's assassination, the house and the former tavern were searched. The tavern had been leased to a man named John Lloyd and he had testified that Mary had been involved in the plot to kill the president. She was subsequently taken into custody.
She was convicted by a military court and condemned to death, although she appealed the sentence to her dying day. On July 7, 1865, she and her three fellow conspirators were hanged at the Old Capitol Prison.... and she became the first woman ever executed by the Federal government.
Questions have remained however as to the guilt of Mary Surratt in Lincoln's murder. Some believe the case against her was purely circumstantial and that her involvement in the assassination was really just her association with the killers. We will probably never know for sure..... but it may be these questions which cause her spirit to still linger in this world.

As is the case with many historical figures, the ghost of Mary Surratt is said to haunt several different places. One of the spots is said to be the grounds where the old Arsenal Penitentiary once stood. It was here, on the northern end of Fort Lesley McNair in Washington, that she and her fellow conspirators were hanged. Their bodies were buried near the gallows and then moved later to more permanent graves.

Her ghost is also said to frequent her home in Clinton, Maryland, located off of Brandywine Road. She is believed to be just one of the ghosts who haunt the place. John Wilkes Booth was said to have stopped at the tavern after making his escape from Washington, leading the tenant (and former policeman) to inform the authorities of Mary's part in the assassination.
Stories of odd events at the tavern began in the 1940's when a widow lived in one half of the house and rented out the other. People spoke of seeing the ghost of Mary Surratt on the stairway between the first and second floors while others spoke of hearing men's voices, engaged in conversation, in the back of the house when no one was there.
In 1965, the site was taken over by the state and turned into a historical landmark. People who have worked there and have visited there claim to have seen apparitions of people in period clothing, have heard the phantom cries of children and have heard footsteps pacing through the upper floor of the house when no one else was present.
Who are the ghosts in the Surratt House? If one of them is Mary, has she returned because she was guilty in the plot to kill Lincoln, or innocent?
Who are the others? Could one of them be John Lloyd, whose testimony convicted Mary in the conspiracy? If so, what has caused him to return.... perhaps his own guilty conscience?

Others claim that Mary's restless ghost has been seen at the site of her old boarding house in the 600 block of H Street, Northwest. It was to this place where Mary came after the death of her husband. It was from this house that she was arrested by Federal troops after Lincoln's assassination. Police and troops rousted her out of bed near midnight and took her off to the prison at the Old Brick Capitol. Her pleas of innocence fell on deaf ears.... and as recounted earlier, she was soon convicted and executed for her part in the murder.
Within a few years of her death, there were stories of something strange going on at the boarding house. Mary's daughter, Annie, sold the place for less than half its value and the rapid turnover of subsequent owners attracted the attention of many people. Writers began chronicling the stories of people who had lived in the house.... and then had a story to tell after they had gotten rid of the property. Most of them spoke of strange sounds and voices, whispers and phantom moans.
The house has since been renovated several times... although the odd stories still remain.

The town of Clinton, Maryland used to be called Surrattsville, but was changed when the association with the Surratt name made it undesirable after Lincoln's assassination. The town is located in Prince Georges County, 13 miles south of Washington.
The old Surratt Boarding House is located in Washington, D.C. at 604 H Street, Northwest.

Special Thanks to the Surratt House Museum in Clinton, Maryland.

Copyright 1998 by Troy Taylor

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