The Ghosts of the George Washington Hotel in Winchester, Virginia

Hello, spooky cats!

If you love historic hotels with a few ghost stories tucked between the guest rooms, the George Washington Hotel in downtown Winchester, Virginia, deserves a spot on your haunted-travel list.

We stayed overnight at the hotel for a paranormal investigation, and our room happened to be Room 208—a particularly interesting location considering one of the hotel’s best-known ghost stories centers around that part of the second floor.

Of course, a good ghost story is one thing. Finding actual paranormal evidence is another.

So, who is supposedly haunting the George Washington Hotel? And did anything strange happen while we were there?

A Brief History of the George Washington Hotel

The George Washington Hotel opened in 1924, built by the American Hotel Corporation. The original hotel contained 102 rooms and 45 baths.

In 1929, another wing was added, giving the building its distinctive C-shaped design and adding another 50 guest rooms.

The hotel eventually closed in 1978 and became the George Washington Home for Adults, operating as a retirement home until 1993.

After sitting vacant for approximately 11 years, the building was purchased in 2004 and underwent a major restoration. The George Washington Hotel reopened in April 2008 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

Today, the historic hotel has 90 guest rooms along with an indoor pool and hot tub, fitness room, restaurant, and bar.

But its polished restoration hasn't stopped stories about something—or someone—from wandering the halls.

The Ghost of Reverend Lewis Echenburgger

The most famous ghost associated with the George Washington Hotel is Reverend Lewis Echenburgger, a Lutheran pastor who died in 1859.

Long before the hotel existed, Reverend Echenburgger reportedly lived in a house that once stood on the property where the George Washington Hotel now sits.

According to the story, he died in his home during a storm.

More than a century later, another storm would supposedly bring him back.

The 1963 Ghost Encounter

One of the hotel's best-known paranormal stories reportedly happened in 1963.

A couple staying at the George Washington Hotel encountered a disturbing figure in the hallway during a stormy night.

The figure was described as a dark man with sunken eyes.

That's creepy enough on its own.

But according to the story, things became considerably stranger the following morning.

The guests mentioned their encounter to the hotel clerk, who reportedly told them there hadn't been anyone else staying nearby who could have been the mysterious man.

The figure was then identified as Reverend Echenburgger.

Whether that identification came from earlier descriptions of the apparition or established hotel lore isn't explained in the version of the story I had, but the encounter became part of the George Washington Hotel's haunted reputation.

And there was one other interesting detail.

The ghost was associated with the area around Room 208.

Guess which room we were staying in?

Yep.

Room 208.

Because apparently I make excellent life choices.

Is Reverend Echenburgger Searching for His Old Bedroom?

The story surrounding the apparition suggests Reverend Echenburgger may be trying to find the bedroom that once existed in his former home.

If the stories are true, the hotel was constructed over the location where his house once stood. The building he knew during his lifetime is gone, replaced by hallways and hotel rooms.

That creates an appropriately eerie possibility.

Perhaps the figure seen near Room 208 isn't simply wandering the hotel.

Maybe he's looking for a room that no longer exists.

And if you happen to be walking around the second floor near the corner of Cameron and Piccadilly Streets on a stormy night, apparently you might want to keep an eye on the hallway.

You never know who might be looking for his old bedroom.

We Stayed in Room 208

Knowing the ghost story made our room assignment particularly interesting.

We checked into Room 208 on the second floor and began our usual routine of checking out the room and setting up some paranormal equipment.

While we went out to dinner, I left a time-lapse camera running.

I also placed a motion-activated cat ball on the bed along with another motion-detecting ghost-hunting device.

If something wanted to make its presence known while we were gone, it had plenty of opportunity.

Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on how much sleep you want during a haunted hotel stay—nothing happened.

At least, almost nothing.

The Mysteriously Opening Drawer

When we returned from dinner, we noticed one of the drawers had opened.

That immediately caught our attention.

Had I simply forgotten to close it?

Had something moved it while we were gone?

More importantly, had Reverend Echenburgger decided that after more than 160 years of wandering the Earth, his first attempt at communication should be opening hotel furniture?

We checked the time-lapse footage.

Nothing unusual appeared.

I closed the drawer again.

Then it began slowly sliding open.

Now that looked creepy.

Watching a drawer gradually move by itself in a supposedly haunted hotel room is exactly the kind of thing that gets your attention.

But looking creepy and being paranormal aren't the same thing.

Ghost...or Crooked Floor?

Instead of immediately declaring that Reverend Echenburgger had opened our drawer, I tried to recreate what happened.

I closed it again and watched.

The drawer gradually slid open.

I repeated the experiment.

Once again, it opened.

That gave us a much less exciting—but considerably more likely—explanation.

The floor or furniture appeared to be slightly uneven, allowing gravity to slowly pull the drawer outward.

Old buildings settle. Floors aren't always level. Furniture can tilt slightly even when it looks perfectly normal.

And gravity has been moving objects without ghostly assistance for quite a while.

Verdict: Not Paranormal

As much as I would have loved to blame our mysterious drawer on the resident ghost, we could reproduce the event.

That matters.

When an allegedly paranormal event can be repeated under the same conditions without anything paranormal being involved, the ordinary explanation becomes much stronger.

So the haunted drawer was officially demoted to slightly crooked furniture.

Poor Reverend Echenburgger lost that round.

What About the Cat Ball?

At another point, the motion-activated cat ball lit up while both of us were sitting on the bed.

Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to capture it happening on camera.

Could something unexplained have triggered it?

Maybe.

But one activation isn't enough for me to call it paranormal.

Cat balls can react to vibration, movement, unstable surfaces, people shifting nearby, or other environmental factors. Without repeatable activity or additional evidence occurring at the same time, it remains an interesting moment rather than evidence of a ghost.

And during the time-lapse experiment while we were out of the room, the cat ball didn't activate.

Haunted Hotels Are Perfect Places for False Positives

Historic hotels are fascinating places for paranormal investigations, but they can also be false-positive factories.

Old buildings often have:

• uneven floors and settling foundations
• aging plumbing
• heating and cooling systems
• air-pressure changes from doors and elevators
• vibrations from other guests
• unfamiliar nighttime noises
• furniture that doesn't sit completely level

Add a famous ghost story and a dark hotel room at two in the morning, and suddenly every creak becomes a Civil War soldier checking into Room 209.

That doesn't mean strange experiences shouldn't be investigated.

It means they should be tested.

The drawer in Room 208 is a perfect example. If we had simply filmed it opening once and stopped there, we could have uploaded a video titled GHOST OPENS DRAWER IN HAUNTED HOTEL!

And technically, we'd have a creepy video.

What we wouldn't have is good evidence.

Testing it changed the story completely.

Is the George Washington Hotel Really Haunted?

That's the question I always come back to.

The George Washington Hotel certainly has the ingredients for a classic haunted hotel: nearly a century of history, an older residence that reportedly once occupied the property, decades of guests passing through its rooms, and a well-established apparition story.

The tale of Reverend Echenburgger wandering the hallways near Room 208 is particularly creepy.

But a ghost story isn't evidence of a ghost.

During our stay, we encountered an opening drawer that initially looked mysterious but turned out to have a repeatable natural explanation. The cat ball activation was interesting but couldn't be reproduced or connected to anything else.

So did Reverend Echenburgger visit us?

I can't say that he did.

But that's exactly why we keep investigating.

Would I Investigate the George Washington Hotel Again?

Absolutely.

I'd especially like another chance to investigate the area around Room 208 and the nearby hallways.

A good follow-up experiment would be even more controlled: continuous cameras covering the hallway and room, environmental measurements, vibration monitoring, and repeated testing of anything unusual that occurs.

I'd also love to be there during a storm.

If Reverend Echenburgger really does make appearances under conditions resembling the night of his death, that gives us an actual claim we can try to test.

And that's much more interesting than wandering around a dark building asking, “Is anybody here?”

Give the ghost a hypothesis.

Searching for the Ghosts of Winchester, Virginia

The George Washington Hotel gave us exactly the kind of investigation I enjoy.

There's a genuinely creepy ghost story.

There's history behind it.

We experienced something strange.

And then we tested that strange thing and discovered a likely normal explanation.

No, the drawer wasn't a ghost.

And no, we didn't find convincing evidence that Reverend Echenburgger was wandering outside Room 208.

But the legend is still fascinating, and the hotel remains an intriguing place for anyone interested in haunted hotels, Winchester ghost stories, Virginia paranormal history, and skeptical ghost hunting.

Maybe Reverend Echenburgger is still searching for the bedroom that disappeared when his home disappeared.

Or maybe an old story has simply become part of the personality of a historic hotel.

Either way, if I find myself walking past Room 208 during a thunderstorm someday, I'm still going to look down that hallway.

I'm skeptical.

I'm not stupid.

Have you stayed at the George Washington Hotel in Winchester, Virginia? Did you experience anything strange? Let me know your story.

Stay spooky, cats.