Edgar Allan Poe wrote that the scariest monsters are those which lurk inside our souls.
However what in regards to the souls which lurk within the halls of Congress?
The U.S. Capitol is greater than 200 years outdated. And any constructing which has been round for 2 centuries, is stocked with legends and ghosts. This time of yr, folks flock to pop-up haunted homes “on the hill.” However with regards to Washington, DC, there is just one haunted Home (and Senate) on “the Hill.” So permit me to spook you with tales of the Capitol macabre as we descend into the Congressional catacombs.
4 grand staircases occupy every quadrant of the Capitol. However the steps within the southwest portion of the constructing on the Home aspect inform maybe one of the vital grotesque tales in Congress.
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Capitol Hill, like some other staple of latest Americana, has a wealthy historical past of folklore bordering on the macabre. (Getty Pictures)
And we’re not speaking about one of many large omnibus spending payments.
Rep. William Taulbee, D-Ky., served in Congress within the late nineteenth Century. And similar to as we speak, the Capitol groups with journalists, chasing lawmakers for a citation or details about laws. However Taulbee had an issue. Reporter Charles Kincaid wrote for the Louisville Occasions. Kincaid penned an article about Taulbee’s dalliances titled “Kentucky’s Silver-Tongued Taulbee Caught in Flagrante or Thereabouts.”
After the article, Taulbee didn’t search reelection however caught round in Washington, pushing numerous causes – lengthy earlier than “Okay Road” grew to become a factor. However Taulbee and Kincaid would usually run into each other on the Capitol. Taulbee was so much taller than the diminutive Kincaid and would generally bodily harass the scribe.
The pen could also be mightier than the sword. However it’s definitely not as highly effective as a pistol.
In February, 1890, the 2 males encountered each other close to the Home chamber. Kincaid produced his firearm and shot the previous Congressman within the face. Taulbee bled profusely as he headed down the marble stairwell.
Many lawmakers come to Washington, intent on leaving a mark on the physique politic. However because it seems, it was Taulbee’s physique which left an indelible mark on the U.S. Capitol.
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You see, the composition of human blood and the Georgian, white marble used to make the stairwells of the constructing don’t precisely combine. Splotches of Taulbee’s blood lined the staircase each few ft from the second flooring to the primary. Some markings appear like shapes in a Rorschach check. Taulbee died the subsequent day from his wounds. However his plasma is perpetually part of the U.S. Capitol, completely staining the staircase.
On account of his destiny, Taulbee doesn’t suppose a lot of reporters. Even to today. And it’s believed that Taulbee generally makes himself identified by tripping members of the Congressional press corps.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the Capitol in the summertime of 2019. He had simply met with then-Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Nonetheless, phrase broke that day that the attendance-starved Tampa Bay Rays would possibly attempt to work out an settlement to play a few of their house video games in Montreal. The Montreal Expos deserted Canada in 2005 to develop into the Washington Nationals.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a identified Expos fan – there’s even an image of him and his late father, Pierre, watching them play at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium in his youth. (Bettmann / Contributor)
Trudeau was a fan of the Expos. There’s even an image of a boyish Trudeau within the stands at Olympic Stadium in Montreal along with his father, late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
It could be a scoop if the youthful Trudeau weighed-in on the prospects of Main League Baseball returning to Montreal.
Trudeau walked down a spiral staircase not removed from the place Kincaid killed Taulbee. I attempted to get a remark from Trudeau. However for no obvious motive, I tripped over the lip of a step and cascaded in entrance of the Canadian chief. I didn’t drop the microphone. I additionally knew that I might break my arm or hand if I attempted to catch myself.
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Happily, I studied martial arts for years. One of many issues they educate you is fall. I shortly adjusted my weight so I plunged onto my proper shoulder and rolled. My ft flew up within the air. This was all caught on tape by my photographer Robert Fetzer.
“Oh Chad! Chad! Chad! Chad,” yelled Fetzer, as I plopped straight in entrance of Trudeau.
I used to be unhurt and Trudeau prolonged an arm to help me. However I had already sprang again to my ft. Alas, Trudeau didn’t reply my query in regards to the Rays and Montreal and went on his approach.
I could have had my very own run-in with the ghost of William Taulbee throughout an try and interview the youthful Trudeau. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press by way of AP)
However there was no logical motive why I tripped there. I’ve stood by these stairs a whole lot of instances. I’ve by no means been caught by the lip of the decrease stairs.
A attainable rationalization?
Maybe the ghost of William Taulbee noticed to it that I keister over teakettle in entrance of the Canadian Prime Minister.
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Nonetheless, there is just one Capitol haunting which surpasses the Taulbee tripping story.
However solely by a whisker.
It’s the legend of the demon cat.
Cat pawprints immortalized within the Capitol’s flooring are rumored to be these of the so-called “demon cat,” whose sporadic appearances round Washington have coincided with wars and assassinations. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Pictures)
Capitol Cops and even nineteenth century watchmen declare they’ve seen a phantasmic feline prowl the hallways of the Capitol earlier than nationwide emergencies. Particularly warfare and assassinations.
Purr-portedly.
That mentioned, nobody noticed the demon cat earlier than 9/11 or the 2021 Capitol riot.
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Possibly the demon cat – like all cats – solely has 9 lives.
However I can take you to a spot the place the demon cat is claimed to have walked.
Go to the primary flooring of the “mini” Rotunda on the Senate aspect of the Capitol close to the Outdated Supreme Court docket chamber. In the event you be taught in opposition to one of many columns close to that room and look down, you would possibly simply see a number of paw prints completely etched into the ground. Nonetheless, the sunshine should catch the prints excellent. You could possibly stand proper on prime of the prints and by no means spy them.
Typically, the most effective phantasms one can conceive of in our nation’s capital exist within the thoughts’s eye – the specters of nice males who’ve lengthy since handed, leaving naught however their indelible marks on American historical past. (Tom Williams/Roll Name/Getty Pictures)
Supposedly the demon cat signed its initials in an obscure Senate stairwell within the basement. Scrawled into the concrete are the initials “DC.”
Nonetheless, this proof is as much as interpretation. Might the DC stand for “District of Columbia?” How about “direct present?” Possibly even, “Detective Comics.”
I warned you we might descend into the Congressional cat-acombs.
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The Capitol includes a cornucopia of tales about spooky voices, departed staff singing late at night time and even one story of a senator rocking in a chair, studying laws. The Capitol Rotunda and Statuary Corridor (the outdated Home chamber) are dotted with life-life renderings of statesmen, inventors, heroes and scientists. It’s mentioned that after midnight the statues generally come alive to debate each other.
Within the Home of Representatives, that’s not a “Particular Order” speech however a “Spectral Order.”
However generally the most effective ghosts within the Capitol are those you conjure in your thoughts’s eye. Abraham Lincoln sitting at a desk towards the again of the outdated Home chamber. Lyndon Johnson roaming the Senate flooring. Scenes of presidential inaugurations from years passed by on the Capitol.
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The ghosts of the republic actually hang-out the halls of Congress.
And in lots of instances, these phantasms aren’t ghosts.
They’re American historical past.
