Pershing’s ghost reportedly haunts DC officers' club

As you probably know, Los Angeles's Pershing Square is named for General John Pershing. Well, it turns out there’s a ghost story about Pershing. The general’s rumored to be haunting a club in Washington, D.C.

Pershing had a distinguished career. He commanded the American expeditionary force in France during World War I and served as a military governor in the Philippines. He was nicknamed “Black Jack” Pershing because he commanded the Buffalo Soldiers, the African-American cavalry unit in the Spanish-American War.

U.S. Army Civilian Historian Kim Holien says some believe the ghost of General Pershing haunts the officer’s club at Fort Lesley McNair in Washington, D.C. "A certain military officer made disparaging remarks about General Pershing one evening in the Pershing Room, which has a big oil portrait of General Pershing in it," Holien said. "And the next thing he knew, he was flat on his back."

Holien says Fort McNair is reportedly haunted by two other ghosts: Walter Reed, the doctor who discovered that mosquitos carry yellow fever, and Mary Surratt, one of the alleged conspirators in the Lincoln assassination. Reed died of blood poisoning after emergency surgery for appendicitis at Fort McNair. Surratt was hanged at Fort McNair.