Ghosts On Capitol Hill? Q&A With Tim Krepp, Author Of'Capitol Hill Haunts,' Who Is Looking For A Good HauntedBar

Steve Livengood, the chief guide of the Capitol Historical Service, has seen him many times and is afont of ghostly knowledge. "We have an artist that won't work in that section."

Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

Despite this alleged haunted activity, James says he "can't confirm nor deny" the existence of ghostsand has never relied on the supposed real spooks to attract customers.

Also on HuffPost:

. I like ghosts because they're somewhat whimsical,and their stories revolve around the darker sides oflife, which my at times gloomy personality identifieswith.

HuffPost: What is your favorite story in your book?And are there any great stories that had to get leftout?

Krepp: I think my absolute favorite tidbit I found was in reference to the jail that used to be in HillEast. I still have some hopes there is a good haunted bar somewhere on the Hill, but I haven't foundit yet.

GALLERY: HAUNTED ATTRACTIONS THAT MAY REALLY BE HAUNTED

Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

This time of year, there are lots of haunted attractions where people pay good money to get the witsscared out of them by actors. Ghosts make great stories, but they could be anything. Probably theone person who unabashedly sees ghosts I talked to and relates his story matter-of-factly. So much

of the narrative of this neighborhood has been about racism, either overtly in the last 50 years or so,or the hidden subtext for the last 200-plus.

But specifically with ghosts, there was often a underlying thought that ghosts and "haints" weresomething suitable for children, black people, and other "less serious" folks. But some of thesehaunted attractions may have some real-life spooks that are working free of charge.

Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

The Dent Schoolhouse is a haunted attraction built on the premises of an old schoolhouse inCincinnati, Ohio, that was supposedly the site of a mass murder.

Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

The school opened up in 1894 and, legend has it, got shut down in the 1950s after it was discoveredthat a janitor named Charlie McFree killed a bunch of kids and put the bodies in the basement,according to owner Bud Stross.

Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

Although Stross' employees have reported spooky encounters, he admits he was skeptical until twoweeks ago when he had his own encounter with an apparition. Who'd have thought?

Krepp: Seriously. Some I find from word of mouth. Why not examine them? The historical record ismore bare than say, Lincoln's assassination, but it's not completely empty.

HuffPost: Do you think ghosts and other supernatural-type things are still considered to be thedomains of less-serious folks?

Krepp: Oh yes. We jetted out pretty quick."

Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

The Pennhurst Asylum in Spring City, Pa., is built on the site of a former mental institution thatbetween 1908 and 1986, housed as many as 25,000 mentally disabled people.

Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

Owner Randy Bates sometimes sees strange flickers of light and says employees report having verycreepy encounters, such as the man who had an experience that was so shocking that he ran out of abuilding so fast, he almost tore the hinges off. He has, however, documented the many, many storiestold by people who think they do in "Capitol Hill Haunts."

HuffPost DC caught up with Krepp just before the "Capitol Hill Haunts" launch party, being heldThursday night at the Argonaut on H Street NE.

The Huffington Post: Let me get the obvious question out of the way first: Did you see any ghostswhile researching this book?

Tim Krepp: Ha! No, I did not. It's Difference Between Condos And Townhouses Capitol Hill DCfunny. These were stories people, quite often black people, sincerely believed. "He came back, but

won't talk about what he saw."

Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

Some haunted places that charge admission don't feel the need to advertise the possibility of realspooks, such as the Cutting Edge Haunted House in Fort Worth, Texas, which owner Todd Jamessays the attraction is built on the site of an old meat packing plant in an area of town once known as"Hell's Half-Acre."

Haunted Attractions That May Really Be Haunted

Before James built a haunted house, he says there were lots of gunfights on the site. They didn't livethat way then, and we don't live that way now. But an incredibly similar tale happened in recenttimes in a house across the street from the Madison building. "It was my first ghost. We have so fewhistoric bars on the Hill. John Quincy Adams may perhaps be the most reliable, giving his finalspeech on the floor of the old House Chamber (now Statuary Hall). Although James hasn't seen anyghosts, a few of his staffers have run into a gangly ghost they have named "G.G." "It's very creepy,"he said. The most rewarding is when I can talk to someone who has first-hand experiences.

HuffPost: Did you hear from many people who see ghosts these days?

Krepp: Several. And then H Street Playhouse had another eerily similar occurrence, although withprop money during a play.

It seems we have a ghostly klepto on the Hill who thinks better of his actions!

HuffPost: Money going missing in Washington. I catch myself responding to the "So you wrote aghost book?" with "Yes, but it's actually history, not just a bunch of stories. I tried finding one atAtlas Theater (what kind of theater doesn't have a ghost!?!?). Some are from previously publishedaccounts. Argo just has an older feel, it isn't that old in it's own right. Hawk n Dove closed, but Idon't see how it couldn't have been haunted. In fact, I looked all over for a good haunted bar.Damnit. It was an 1893 Washington Post article about Georgetown ghosts and it casually dismissedthe jail ghost as "only what theosophical science now knows familiarly as the Jiva" and goes on tostring a bunch of pseudo-scientific garbage together. Henry's but they didn't pan out. Is that placehaunted?

Krepp: No. Three were kind enough to give me face-to-face interviews, and many more relatedinteresting occurrences.

I thought it interesting that all three, in carrying degrees, were cautious about using the term"ghost," but were certain they had come across something unexplained.

HuffPost: What had they come across?

Krepp: A variety Condo Vs Townhouse Vs Duplex Capitol Hill DC of things. Perhaps they note mycynical side and refuse to show themselves to me?

HuffPost: Are there a lot of politicians haunting Capitol Hill? Or do most pols go haunt their homedistricts?

Krepp: Yes, but quite sensibly they stay on their side of the Hill, in the big white building we get our

name from. A local politician or two might want to blame a ghost right about now...

Of course, in the [Library of Congress] ghost, the money may, or may not, have reappeared, but theghost continues to search for it.

HuffPost: Do you find the ghost stories interesting because of the ghosts, or do you mostly like theghost stories as a way to explore some of D.C.'s history?

Krepp: I'd say more of the later. Not many out-and-out apparitions, but quite a bit of mysterioushappenings. We are absolutely certain about so many things in our lives without direct evidence, butwe seem to hold a higher standard to the supernatural. I suppose there are a number of "rational"reasons why this could happen, but the multiple unconnected occurrences kinda gave me a shiver.

The original story was in the Library of Congress; some debate as to whether it was in the Capitol orwhen it moved to what's now the Jefferson Building. A less obvious answer is sticky-fingered ghosts.

Local author and tour guide Tim Krepp, having just published a book about Capitol Hill'sotherworldly beings -- including some that pilfer money -- isn't sure that that ghosts actually exist. "Itwas around three or four in the morning when I caught something in my eye, a lady in a blackmask," he said. He also has a great recollection of Wilbur Mills, an all but forgotten giant of theHouse.

HuffPost: Where did most of the ghost stories come from? Did you read about them, or talk to peoplewho'd experienced the ghosts?

Krepp: I try to cast a wide net. It could be the history of architecture. But the only stories I cut wereones that were boring or repetitive.

HuffPost: You talk about racism and ghosts in your book quite a bit -- can you explain how those twothings go together?

Krepp: It's not necessarily that racism and ghosts go together, but rather the idea that Capitol Hilland race go together (and not just racism). "He stayed away for three days," Bates said. Basically,the Jail ghosts weren't "real" because black people saw them, while Georgetown had the real article.

It really captured the condescending racism of the time, in a way that textbooks don't.

WASHINGTON -- Why does money keep going missing on Capitol Hill? There's an obvious answer(politicians). So when I find a story from, say, 1871, it's impossible to write about it in a race-neutralway. What caught my attention was several occurrences of money mysteriously disappearing from aknown location, the owner searching for it, in one case for years, and then having it reappear exactlywhere it should have. It would sound artificial if I tried to write it that way.

And, I think, that ghosts, and in a larger sense, folklore history, is something that has been sidelinedby "real" historians. Or any of the other lens we use to examine our history. And people know it. Ireally wish I had a good ghost at Eastern Market or the Old Naval Hospital. Or race. [I'm] a littledisappointed at that. Or transportation. It's another place I tried finding a ghost. I tracked downsome rumors at Mr. Not saying that's a bad thing, it's just funny that we "know" so many otherthings with just as scanty evidence.

I'm not much better, by the way. Look it has footnotes and everything!".

HuffPost: You are holding your book launch at the Argonaut this week. Many, perhaps most, arefrom newspaper archives. Man, black people can't even have their own ghosts?

As to left out, I had a lot of leads that petered out. When someone tells me about their house, thestory almost invariably starts with "I don't believe in ghosts, but there's this thing I just can'texplain"