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| Mt. Vernon behind the sign for the house tour |
Recently I visited the home of Mount Vernon, the home of President George Washington and his wife Martha. The home sits overlooking the Potomac River in northern Virginia, about 11 miles south of Washington, D.C. It was also there that I had an interesting, but short experience.
Sometimes, ghosts have shared their pain with me to tell me that they still linger. This was a similar experience.
When I entered the mansion, I sensed some residual energy from emotion that lingered in the home.
Upon going into one of the upstairs guest rooms I was overwhelmed with energy, and suddenly got a sharp pain in my throat! - I wasn't sure what was going on. The sharp pain became a dry throat, and it hurt. After walking through the room into a small hallway where a docent stood I learned why I felt that pain.
The docent said "You are now in a small hallway, and pointed to an adjoining bedroom. She said it was the room where George Washington died. She said that he said 2 days before he died that he suddenly had "a sharp pain in his throat!"
So, I immediately knew that President Washington was letting me know what happened to him, and what he experienced before he died! I didn't really expect to meet President Washington that day, but it seems I did.
SOME BACKGROUND ABOUT GEORGE WASHINGTON'S PASSING from a Doctor, blogging on Salon.com. Source: http://open.salon.com/blog/michael_hebert/2009/02/16/what_killed_george_washington
Joseph Ellis' biography His Excellency: George Washington includes many fascinating details about the life of our first president, including the account of the president’s death in 1799, at the age of 67.
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| Swearing in of Pres. Washington- Mt. Vernon Exhibit |
One morning in mid-December 1799, Washington went out, as it was his daily habit, on horseback from his home to inspect his Mount Vernon property. That particular day the weather was very cold and there was an ice storm. It is said that Washington spent five hours out in freezing rain, then returned home and dined with guests in his wet clothes because he did not want to keep them waiting. The next day he complained of a sore throat and was hoarse, but otherwise appeared well. The following night he awakened Martha to tell her that he felt a severe pain in his throat, and was having trouble breathing.
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| George and Martha Washington's tomb on the grounds |
I have also been in the house on tour and when I was there and I could of sworn I saw a figure in the corner of the living room. It was a male, I would've guess about in his 50s, but I am not really good with guessing ages myself, I think the man was wearing a nightgown. At first I thought it was all a trick of the mind, I haven't had too many experiences like that before then, and when I went upstairs to the bedrooms, I saw a picture, and I have learned that Washington died in his sleep and the picture was showing him in his death bed with his family surrounding him, and he looked exactly like I had seen.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you saw President Washington himself walking around! Thank you for sharing.
Deletei also felt it in 8th grade on our schools trip to D.C and area.
ReplyDeleteIt makes perfect sense that you felt a presence as a student. The younger we are the more we are more apt to trust our feelings and senses - especially when it comes to sensing ghosts or spirits that crossed over. As we grow older, we are taught to be more "logical thinkers" and we try to explain away our interactions with ghosts or spirits. You had a genuine encounter!
DeleteI went in the summer of 2015 and it was ABSOLUTELY FREEZING in President Washington's room. There was no air conditioning in the house esp on the second floor on the landing it was stiflingly hot with several mini fans blowing to make it easier for the guides to do their "talk"but when I came to Pres. Washington's room, even though there was plastic that prevented entry into his room proper, you COULD extend your arm into the actual room and it was FREEZING i could not help but feel he was in that room
ReplyDeleteI visited Mount Vernon in the summer of 2015. I was in Virginia/D.C. for the fourth. It was my first time ever visiting and it was BOILING hot. I mean like 98 degrees outside, and dry (compared to my native South Florida).
ReplyDeleteIt's hot. I'm wearing a tank top and sweating my ass off. The house was built in the early 1700s/late 1600s, so it's safe to assume adding central cooling into the house might jeopardize its structural integrity. So, the only breeze entering any room of the house came from open windows.
But, I kept on enthusiastically through the house since I am a FANATIC for the founding fathers and their complex, rich histories.
Now, some of the rooms (the ones with more important artifacts, I suppose) have a plastic half-door over the door frames so as to allow visitors to peer into the room (sticking their heads and torsos in) and nothing else. Pretty standard stuff.
So the tour guide's taking us through the house, telling us about the history of the estate and the purpose of each room, and- finally- we reach George and Martha's bedroom. I'm SUPER excited at this point. I knew that this is the room George slept in (as well as the one where he died), and I was DYING to see what it looked like. I vaguely noticed that everyone else in the tour group was standing around the room, looking at it from afar in the hallway, but I paid that no mind.
Instead, I walked right up and peered past the half door. There, I saw his bedroom. I was in the room past my chest. I was looking around and felt it was absolutely FREEZING in the room. It wasn't like, mildly cold. It was like I had just stuck my face into a freezer cold.
I was confused (because NO other room was like that) and trying to find a source for the cold (a vent or an A/C unit outside the window) but there was none. The tour guide was talking about Martha's experience with Washington's ghost. Before I could ask more about it, I felt all the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
I mean like. In a way I've NEVER experienced before. And, from the center of the room, I felt somewhere staring at me. Like, intently staring at me. I felt their eyes move closer and closer, as if this spirit in the center of the room was walking towards me while staring me down. It was an intimidating presence. I knew immediately that it was him.
At this point, I was FREAKING out. I tried to move away, but I found I was paralyzed (at least from the waist up). I couldn't move at all. I struggled and tried to move or at least look away but couldn't. I tried to open my mouth and scream, but nothing but air came out.
Finally, after what felt like at least 30 minutes (but was probably more like 2), the eyes left me, and I was able to free myself, and I nearly fell trying to pull myself away. The tour guide looked at me like I had two heads and I tried to ask him if there was A/C in that room and he told me "no, of course not."
I worked as a docent there many years ago. The room where you felt the pain in your throat was notorious for sightings and "feelings". One day near closing I was stationed in the upper hallway and saw a dark, solid shape (it looked like the bottom half of a woman) glide across that room and go into the wall.
ReplyDeleteSounds to me like President Washington's doctors killed him ,or at least had a lot to do with it. All the blood they let off him,when he was already ill. Though ,I do understand that was one of the main procedures back in those times.
ReplyDeleteI once walked into a building that I and my former husband were considering purchasing ,to convert into a home. I'd only gotten to the middle of the second room on the first floor,when I started having some rather strange symptoms. I stopped in my tracks..I felt like my whole body was being squeezed,had pressure on it, felt light headed and an emotional over all bad feeling. I looked at my husband,tow sons and real estate agent and said,"I don't know what happened here,but I have to go"! they all looked surprised and bewildered.
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