Do you Swope? Many tour guides don't for fear of offending the family that used to live there. But good news, tour guides. The family that lived in the house from 1997 to 2006 is now gone. They are the ones who were uptight about mentioning the specific location of the house.The new owners are fine with being featured as a haunted house. In fact, they've already been outed by the Alexandria Gazette Packet in a feature about Historic Garden Week in 2009.
How do you tell the Swope House story? What have you heard about the house? Can you contribute to the discussion about this ghost story, one of the most famous in the Alexandria?
This is the story I tell using the Swope name. How or if it relates to any history of Michael Swope or the Swope House, I don't know. - Leigh:
ReplyDelete>>Now, from where we are right now, we are near one of the most haunted homes in Alexandria. In the 18th century a gentleman lived here by the name of Michael Swope. He was a colonel during the Revolutionary War, serving with great distinction under the command of General George Washington – unfortunately, he was captured by the British. He was not a spy, so they chose not to execute him, but they did not treat him very well. He was starved by the British. He was beat by the British. He was kept in a very small cell, and they even applied thumbscrews to this poor man trying to get information from him….crushing the tops of all his digits. Eventually he merited an even trade for a Loyalist to the English Crown we ourselves had captured, and he went on to continue with great respect in the war, but he vowed revenge against the people who had so badly mistreated him.
When the war was over, he returned to Alexandria and lived out a good full life. When he died, he was buried in Philadelphia…that’s where the family vault was. But the mid19th century saw a series of Yellow Fever epidemics, and they cleared out those crypts in an attempt to eradicate the disease. They say….since he has no final resting place, he has returned to the home he loved so well during his life. The people who own the home now promise they have never had a manifestation of their own, but their guests have frequently commented they are greeted at the door by a gentleman in a Revolutionary War uniform. He will invite them into the house, escort them into rooms, even sit to play the piano before disappearing into thin air.
But the story doesn’t end there… Several years ago the house was on the market. The realtor had a hot prospective buyer and wanted to show him the place. The gentleman feel in love with the period detailing, the spacious rooms, the charming street, and the hardwood throughout. The realtor was eager to show him the bedrooms upstairs, the recently remodeled master suite. But a strange thing occurred. As the gentleman was climbing the stairs to the second floor, he said he felt some invisible force grab him around the waist and kept him from going any further. As he tried to push himself up to the third step on the staircase, he was seized by a horrible cramp in his stomach that literally doubled him over. A terrible chill washed through him. At that very moment, the power in the house went out…the lights went dark and the man quickly and immediately left the house. The realtor lost the sale. We were told the realtor shared no information of the history of the home or of Colonel Michael Swope. We know a bit about him, however…he was British.<<
Not to contradict Leigh, but I have heard Michael Swope was not treated kindly by the British. Reports I have read documented that Swope was tied to the bow of an RMS frigate just high enough so he wouldn't drown by low enough so he would be regularly dunked under the bitter, salty ocean water. He was released only as a prisoner of war exchange. The POW captured by the Americans for whom he was exchanged--the illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin who was a devout British loyalist and Royal Governor of the Colony of New Jersey.
ReplyDeleteI have also heard the ghost may be that of Colonel John Dixon who was convicted by the British of espionage and was executed by a firing squad. His connection to the Swope House--prior to the war, he rented a room from Colonel Michael Swope.
Thank both of you for contributing. What I'm trying to capture here are the variations on the theme, so you're both right. Anybody else have a different take?
ReplyDeleteYou're not contradicting me, Ken. You're adding options. I pointedly say he was not treated well by the British.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the story about swapping him for the Franklin boy is not true and searchably so online.
In fact, perhaps Mike can direct me to documentation about a Colonel Michael Swope of Alexandria who served under Washington because I've never found any.
But my story is a story, and it's the story I tell.
L
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 the Pennsylvania archives. If you're looking for an online source, check out "York County and World War," which has a great essay about early wars by George Prowell.
ReplyDelete