Ghosts of Capitol Hill: The Ghost of Delaware Avenue

Our final ghost story for this month finds us back on the Capitol grounds, and the Russell Senate Office Building in particular.

When it came time to clear the site preparatory to building the first office building for the Senate, a number of old buildings had to be torn down, including the old Casualty Hospital, as well as a small wood-frame structure next door. When the workmen entered this long-abandoned building, they were confronted with a grisly sight, which has become an enduring mystery.

The house on the 200 block of Delaware Avenue NE was at least 100 years old when it was demolished in 1905, and it had already been empty so long that not even the oldest neighbors remembered it ever having been lived in. The local homeless population shunned it as a place to sleep, as it was known to be haunted, though by whom, nobody could say.

Detail of picture that ran in the Washington Times article showing the location of the crime, as well as the position of the gun found on the premises.

When the workmen tasked with demolishing the building entered in the Spring of 1905, they found a solidly-built house with an old and ornate fireplaces, hewn joists and beaded paneling. As they began their demolition, they became aware of a secret that the house had been hiding for years. Behind a false wall next to a fireplace there was a small chamber, large enough for a half-dozen or so people to sit on the benches that were attached to the walls. On the floor were bones, human bones which were mute testimony to some ancient crime.

By the time they were discovered, the bones had been disturbed by the work being done, and any other clues that might have told investigators who these bones had belonged to had long crumbled into dust. All that was left were scraps insufficient to even determine the sex of the victim. The ghost, whose haunting had kept the place undisturbed for so many years, had, in the end, failed in its attempt to bring to justice the perpetrator of this crime.

The house did deliver up a few other surprises: A pistol was found wedged into the attic roof, as was a coin from 1808, and, wedged behind a mantle, a workman discovered a diamond. The lucky finder managed to sell it for 50 dollars to friends, who in turn discovered that it was a fake when they took it to a jeweler.

None of these clues added up to anything, the police were not even called in, and only an article published in the Washington Times in April, 1905 keeps this tragic story from being entirely forgotten.

No ghosts are known to inhabit the actual Russell Senate Office Building.

Ghosts Tours of Capitol Hill continue next weekend, on Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 PM. More details here.