Dead Man's Hollow

It’s nearly impossible to think of a name more menacing than “Rosslyn,” but a close second may be the neighborhood’s former name: Dead Man’s Hollow. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Rosslyn was notorious for murders, robberies, and suicides. It was definitely not a place you would want to be, but sometimes you’d have to go through there in order to get home, like many Virginians who sold their goods in D.C. As a result, these men would bring armed guards along to protect them and their money. As a 1906 Washington Post headline read, the neighborhood was a “Fearsome place,” with “Grewsome record” (sic) of “Bloody Happenings.” (Note: If a name like “Dead Man’s Hollow” gives you the creeps, we can also accept “Deep Throat’s Garage” as a nod to Rossyln’s Watergate history.)