THE STORY
Reported Haunting
The National Building Museum has developed a reputation for unexplained activity within its historic walls. Employees and visitors have reported shadowy figures, strange noises, and ghostly encounters after hours.
The 1887 National Building Museum is said to be haunted by ghosts who appear in an unusual way. Formerly the “Pension Building,” where pensions were processed for Civil War veterans, widows, and orphans, it has 15 Corinthian brick-and-plaster columns painted to resemble black onyx. Witnesses say the colors on the columns swirl to form outlines of recently deceased folks wh had ties to this building. Also, in the 1940s night workers saw the apparition of a man on horseback on the upper floors as well as the ghost of court stenographer James Tanner, who took down testimony of eyewitnesses after Lincoln’s assassination. Some of the stories of the building’s hauntings appeared in the works of mystery writer Margaret Truman.