Evening star., 1934-01-20
WASHINGTON HELD.
"CHOST-FREE" CITY
"Haunted Houses" Here De-
y scribed by Society of
Natives Historian.

Eerie noises, dim lights and spooky
doings have been associated with many
Washington homes, but these mysteri-
Gus manifestations, mind you. have
been but bare reports, Neer man
lived who'd tell you that he. himself
had seen or heard the things that
make houses haunted"
So Washington, with all its tradi-
tions, its lives and its deaths Of great
and near great, has been ghost-free
city
That is the conclusion which James
r Duhamel historian of the Society
of Natives of the District of Columbia.
has reached in his observant life here.
Mr.. Duhamel read a paper on The
Haunted Houses OF Washington" at
the Natives meeting last night. 1t
was a paper which ended with:
And so I am obliged to diSappoint
those who have expected narrowing
tale"
But no sooner had Mr.. Duhamel fin
ished his paper. the meeting was
plunged in darkness and quartet
of moaning ghosts stalked into the
hall. Mr.. Duhamel stood his ground.
however, and the returning lights re-
vealed the ghosts" were children from
Neighborhood House who had trooped
program of entertainment
Haunted Mansion"
In his paper, Mr.. Duhamel went
back to his youth and cited as one
of mis- very first haunted houses,
the old chain house" which stood on
H street near Fourteenth adjoining
the Columbia Medical College. The
house was fronted by stone posts sup
porting a chain barrier and this man
sion was "haunted'-folks said 1t
had been occupied by the French Min
lister and later by Mrs. Alexander Ham
ilton, who died there. The place grad
ually became unattractive as a resi-
dence and, so the story went, ghosts
moved in.
Now it is possible, Mr.. Duhamel
suggested, the chain house ghosts"
were some of those who stalked the
medical school next door Old-faSh-
toned colored folks then swore that
after dark doctors would go forth
armed with adhesive tape and rope.
They always wore gum-Soled shoes,
those doctors, and they'd sneak up
behind unsuspecting colored folk, slap
a square of tape over their mouths,
bind their hands and feet, and smuggle
them off to the college dissecting rooms
to cut them up by inches" Mr..
Duhamel remembered the horrible tales
his nurse told him of the shrieks and
means of the victimS-"right thar
next to that Chain House,
Then there was another haunted
house" in Mr.. Dunhamel's youth. 1t
occupied site at New Jersey avenue
and I street southeast and. about 1870,
the old Baltimore and Potomac road
skirted the house so that it, too, was
not desirable as a home. First, the
tramps stayed there and, as its doors,
windows and shutters gradually fell
from it, the spirits moved In and the
Youngsters Of the neighborhood had
wonderfully frightful times peering into
its darkened depths for a glimpse Of the
spooks.
Watched for Ghosts.
Mr.. Duhamel clearly admitted he was
q ghost skeptic and there was rea-
son. He and some of his boyhood
friends were pretty bold and on more
than one occasion they stood midnight
watch at haunted houses to catch a
ghost in the act of haunting the place.
But. he told his society last night,
nothing ever happened and so the boys
very early lost faith in the creepy tales
they heard.
With all the talk of haunted houses,
Mr. Duhamel pointed out with rather
devastating logic last night, no person
ever was willing to say that he had
actually seen ghost.
Some one had heard of some one else
having seen or heard spirit, and that's
the way it went" he said.
Strangely enough, with all its really
good ghost material, Washington has
11a @r tod tl,n
Natives historian said. No one ever
reported seeing the spirit Of Abraham
Lincoln stalk the house in which he
died None ever has said Mrs. Surratt
returned to her H street house, and
Phil Barton Key has never been seen
to haunt his neighborhood at Lafayette
Square, he pointed out.
And SO Mr.. Duhamel concluded:
MANY houses in early Washington
have gotten the reputation Of having
been haunted. but there is not a single
case where a ghost has been seen or
heard, SO l am obliged to disappoint
those who have expected a narrowing
tale. because of all the ghost tales, not
one can be substantiated and we have
no proof that ghost was ever seen"
Entertainment Given.
Just as Mr.. Duhamel finished read
ing, the lights went out. The audience
sat still in the darkness a moment, and
then with weird Shrek, four real
live ghosts sheets and all
swooped into the hall. The entertain
ment program of the children Of
Neighborhood House was on. After
properly haunting the hall. the ghosts
fled, and, with the return Of light, the
little children came back singly, in
pairs, and in choral groups to sing
and play for the Natives. The young
sters themselves were natives of Wash
mgton
First, wee Dorothy Raymond sat be-
fore the big piano and played solo.
Posey was next with another vocal
solo. chorus of girls followed Irma
to sing of the life of a Cookie Sol
der" Catherine Raymond was the
next pianist and she was followed by
Ruth kaldenbach, vocalist Margaret
Barghausen and Margaret Koehler
then sang duet. Sidney Shulman Of
fered difficult piano solo, then came
a piano solo by Catherine Hart, an
other choral offering and another piano
solo by Betty Becker.
Miss Dorothy Dixon Wright directed
the musical program of the children
and was piano accompanist for the
singers. On their part the Society OF
Natives applauded their young enter
tainers roundly.
m PIRNrt " IN oRraH