No one knows exactly when or where Isaac was born, just that he came to the Morris- Jumel Mansion with his wife Hannah. According to museum documents, the enslaved couple were rented out to George Washington as cooks while he and the Continental Army camped out on the mansion grounds. We only know that Isaac and Hannah existed because of the meticulous financial records kept by Washington detailing their rental fees, but staff at the mansion are working to honour them and the other unnamed enslaved people who lived in the mansion’s basement over the years.
“The legend of the paranormal really draws folks who may not have come to a regular historic house museum on their own,” said Gaita. “And while they’re here [they’re] learning the stories of all the folks who lived and worked in the house, which they may not have learned about otherwise. It kind of gets their foot in the door.”
I first encountered Isaac less than 15 minutes into one of the mansion’s guided paranormal historical investigations, when a friend and I both heard the low hum of an old spiritual song emanating from the basement. After a brief history of the house, Danielle Gaita, public programmes and visitor services manager, gives us our ghost hunting tools – the dowsing rods, an EMF meter, which measures electromagnetic fields and cat toys that light at the slightest movement – before leading us from room to room to look for evidence of spirits. Our conversation with Isaac in the basement happened after our EMF meters lit up near the old fireplace that he likely used to cook meals. In an exchange that consisted entirely of yes/no questions, answered via dowsing rod, he confirmed it was his voice that we had heard singing.
Getty ImagesIsaac isn’t the only one who haunts the building. Gaita told us that the home’s one-time owner, Eliza Jumel, regularly moves items and once appeared on the balcony, spooking a group of schoolchildren waiting for a tour. Burr, who married Jumel in the mansion’s parlour in 1833, after his tenure as vice president, is also said to roam the halls. There’s also a whole host of unnamed spirits – one of whom we encountered in an upstairs room that Washington used as an office, when our EMF meters once again flashed red despite being nowhere near any visible source of electricity.
