There are quite a few haunted places in Washington DC and they are all quite scary. However there is one place that can be traced back to one of the most terrifying and awful moments in the country’s history. It may look unassuming now, but the Mary Surratt’s boarding house is the most evil place in Washington DC.
Today 604 H Street NW is the home to Wok and Roll Restaurant, a Japanese restaurant and karaoke lounge.
But in 1865, this was the site of the Mary E. Surratt Boardinghouse and it’s where John Wilkes Booth, David Herold and Mary Surratt planned the kidnapping and assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
Mary Surratt was assumed to be a Confederate sympathizer and she opened her boarding house in 1864. John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt and David Herold stayed at the boarding house between September 1864 and April 1865. It’s during this time, Booth and his men, and Surratt, planned Lincoln’s assassination with chilling detail. Mary Surratt even assisted in the plans by storing ammunition and supplies at her family’s tavern in Surrattsville, MD.
Mary Surratt was arrested two days after President Lincoln’s assassination at the boardinghouse. During her trial, residents of the boarding house testified that Mary Surratt regularly met with John Wilkes Booth. One resident testified that Mary Surratt told him to provide binoculars and guns to Booth and his co-conspirators. Mary Surratt was found guilty and was the first woman executed in the United States. The rumor is that Mary Surratt still haunts several places in DC, including the place her former boardinghouse. The stories say you can hear her crying and proclaiming her innocence.
Today the building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is the home to Wok and Roll, a Japanese restaurant. But if you visit it, it may be hard to not think about what occurred there in late 1864 and early 1865. It’s hard to not think about the conversations that were held there and the plans that were made there leading up to one of the most tragic events in the country’s history.
