by Nan C Avery

Created on: January 28, 2013

The history of the scandals that cause the haunting of places is what makes a place interesting. Across from the White House in Washington, D.C., is the Hay-Adams Hotel, built in 1928. It was named after Henry Brook Adams (great grandson of John Adams and grandson of John Quincy Adams), and John Hay (Secretary under Abraham Lincoln). The two mansions of Hay and Adams were razed and the hotel built.

Marian “Clover” Hooper Adams' spirit returned to the mansion to reside after she died on December 6, 1885. Her interment was postponed until December 9th, and burial was December 11th. The death, interment and burial are significant because her spirit is most prevalent during the first two weeks of December. During those two weeks, hotel guests hear a woman weeping and door knobs turning. Many staff members report a presence that touches them.

Marian “Clover” Hooper Adams, the spirit who haunts the Hay-Adams Hotel had a very sad life. It began with the curse of the Sturgis legacy.

The Sturgis family were prominent and wealthy members of Boston society. The Hooper family was also a part of the Boston Brahmin. Ellen Sturgis married Dr. Robert Hooper. Ellen died of tuberculous when Clover was five. Dr. Hooper raised the children. She and her father maintained a very close and loving relationship until his death in 1885.

The Sturgis women suffered from deep depression. Grandmother Sturgis was institutionalized for depression. Clover's aunt, Susan Sturgis Bigelow, committed suicide in front of nine-year-old Clover. She took arsenic, and she and her unborn child died in the throes of a painful death.

Clover married Henry Brook Adams in 1872. He was a professor at Harvard. Henry's brother Charles warned Henry that he should not marry Clover. “Heavens,” Charles reportedly said, "they're all crazy as coots. She'll kill herself just like her aunt!” Henry wrote, “I know better than anyone the risks I run. I have weighed them carefully and accept them.”

In Washington society, Clover had a reputation for being a clever and outspoken woman with a quick wit. She entertained politicians, artists and intellectuals in her home on Lafayette Street. She was the inspiration for Henry James' “Daisy Miller” and “The Portrait of a Lady”

Her husband, Henry, did not hold much regard for her and tore down her self-esteem in many ways. Before their marriage, Henry wrote to a friend, “She is not handsome nor

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