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BettyO · 01-22-2013, 12:35 PM

Oh no..... "Must stop urge to Make Cartoon....." !!!!!!

MaddieM · 01-22-2013, 12:48 PM

(01-22-2013 12:35 PM)BettyO Wrote: Oh no..... "Must stop urge to Make Cartoon....." !!!!!!

Restrain yourself, for Gawd's sake woman!!

BettyO · (This post was last modified: 01-22-2013 01:00 PM by BettyO.)

Oh, I will... but that one would be fun! Joan Chaconas at Surratt House and I used to try and outdo ourselves way back about 30-40 years ago making up cartoons - we drew by hand then and we had a blast - Mr. James O. Hall and John C. Brennan LOVED them!

Laurie Verge · 01-22-2013, 01:19 PM

Just a quick note to let you know that I am not avoiding answering the ghost stories at McNair. My home was broken into twice in one week ten days ago, and I have been taking care of personal business. I am happy to report that the gang has been caught, and I am leaving early today to meet with detectives to identify what I hope are my possessions.

Law and Order does really happen in real life, and occasionally the good guys and the police win. I will say that our police have been wonderful to work with on this. It has been an experience after what had already been a frustrating six months dealing with some other unsavory characters related to work, but this steel magnolia (aka She Rebel) is making it through. As I said, I have had more problems with real people than with ghosts, but I will repeat some of the stories I have been told about the presences and even poltergeist at Ft. McNair asap.

Gene C · 01-22-2013, 01:26 PM

Sorry for your run of bad luck, hopefully its over. We are happy that the gang has been caught and hope your belongings can be recovered.

Jenny · 01-22-2013, 05:53 PM

Gosh, that's scary as heck, Laurie! I am glad they were caught and I hope you get back your possessions!

BettyO · 01-22-2013, 06:00 PM

We so very, very glad to have Laurie back -- and I'm sure she is feeling much better now!! I've been calling and checking up on her periodically!

WELCOME BACK, Laurie!

LincolnMan · 01-22-2013, 09:40 PM

Betty: Make cartoon! Give in to the Dark Side!

Jim Page · 01-22-2013, 11:07 PM

(01-22-2013 01:19 PM)Laurie Verge Wrote: My home was broken into twice in one week ten days ago, and I have been taking care of personal business.

Laurie! I am astonished to hear this terrible news. Well, thank goodness the creeps are caught and I hope you regain your possessions.

If I wasn't (finally) working all the time, I'd bring you a box of baked goods to make up in some tiny way for some of your tribulations!!!

Best always--

--Jim

LincolnMan · 01-23-2013, 06:35 AM

Laurie: glad you are safe. You were at work when they broke in?

Dawn E Foster · 01-23-2013, 07:39 AM

Oh no, Laurie, how awful! Yes, thank God for real-life law & order heroes! I'm so glad to hear they caught them, and found at least some of your things. My brother came home a couple of days after Christmas to find his back door kicked in, and his whole house ransacked. It's such a terrible feeling of violation. But even if they ever do happen to catch up with the ones who did it, we'll probably never be able to prove it, and our stuff is most likely all long gone. It's so frustrating!

Laurie Verge · 01-23-2013, 11:01 AM

Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts. Just a word of advice, don't ever assume that you live in a nice neighborhood and have no crime to worry about. The bad ones are everywhere these days. I never thought that I would live with two deadbolts on each door and have to punch numbers to get into my own house, but that's how I'll be living from now on.

Now, back to the ghost stories: From the 1970s on, we have been regaled with stories of the lady in black who "inhabited" Quarters 20 at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington. Quarters 20 (now Grant Hall) was officers' quarters in all that remained of the original penitentiary building of 1865. The third floor of now-Grant Hall is what is being restored to the Conspiracy Trial courtroom today.

In the early-1980s, the ghost stories surrounding that third-floor apartment were so great that the old TV show, That's Incredible, featured it on one segment. I believe Ed Steers was involved with this production, along with Joan Chaconas, who was then president of the Surratt Society.

The star of all the stories is a lady in black who floated through the rooms, would come to comfort children who cried during the night, who did not like to have the indoor shutters closed over the windows, etc. She was especially fond of floating into the apartment's bathroom. We would laughingly say that she appreciated the indoor plumbing - until we placed an overlay of what the courtroom looked like in 1865 over the then-floor plan and found that the modern bathroom was located where the prisoners' dock would have been during the trial. We stopped laughing.

At one point, I even received a phone call from an officer who was scheduled to move into the apartment. "I understand I'm going to be living with Mary Surratt. Please fill me in on her story."

The neatest story that I have heard so far from families who have lived there concerns a poltergeist experience. One of the wives went to the basement laundry room, but forgot her detergent. She went back upstairs to get it, but when she returned and tried to get into the laundry room, she couldn't get the door to open. She finally called the MPs, who could not get it open either. It was the only means of entrance to the room except for the small basement windows - none of which had been damaged in any way. However, the MPs could see that the washer had been pulled over and placed in front of the door to block it. They went in through one of the windows and corrected the situation. Everyone just chalked it up to another antic from the lady in black. Frankly, it sounds more like a trick that Herold would pull to me.

antiquefinder · 01-25-2013, 08:01 PM

(01-23-2013 11:01 AM)Laurie Verge Wrote: Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts. Just a word of advice, don't ever assume that you live in a nice neighborhood and have no crime to worry about. The bad ones are everywhere these days. I never thought that I would live with two deadbolts on each door and have to punch numbers to get into my own house, but that's how I'll be living from now on.

Now, back to the ghost stories: From the 1970s on, we have been regaled with stories of the lady in black who "inhabited" Quarters 20 at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington. Quarters 20 (now Grant Hall) was officers' quarters in all that remained of the original penitentiary building of 1865. The third floor of now-Grant Hall is what is being restored to the Conspiracy Trial courtroom today.

In the early-1980s, the ghost stories surrounding that third-floor apartment were so great that the old TV show, That's Incredible, featured it on one segment. I believe Ed Steers was involved with this production, along with Joan Chaconas, who was then president of the Surratt Society.

The star of all the stories is a lady in black who floated through the rooms, would come to comfort children who cried during the night, who did not like to have the indoor shutters closed over the windows, etc. She was especially fond of floating into the apartment's bathroom. We would laughingly say that she appreciated the indoor plumbing - until we placed an overlay of what the courtroom looked like in 1865 over the then-floor plan and found that the modern bathroom was located where the prisoners' dock would have been during the trial. We stopped laughing.

At one point, I even received a phone call from an officer who was scheduled to move into the apartment. "I understand I'm going to be living with Mary Surratt. Please fill me in on her story."

The neatest story that I have heard so far from families who have lived there concerns a poltergeist experience. One of the wives went to the basement laundry room, but forgot her detergent. She went back upstairs to get it, but when she returned and tried to get into the laundry room, she couldn't get the door to open. She finally called the MPs, who could not get it open either. It was the only means of entrance to the room except for the small basement windows - none of which had been damaged in any way. However, the MPs could see that the washer had been pulled over and placed in front of the door to block it. They went in through one of the windows and corrected the situation. Everyone just chalked it up to another antic from the lady in black. Frankly, it sounds more like a trick that Herold would pull to me.

Hi Laurie- so sorry to hear of your house being robbed! I hope the police can recover all of your belongings. Do you have a dog? Dog's will hopefully scare anyone from walking around your property away. Thank you for remembering to share your ghost stories. I'm assuming the lady in black is Mary Surratt?

MaddieM · (This post was last modified: 01-26-2013 11:17 AM by MaddieM.)

(01-23-2013 11:01 AM)Laurie Verge Wrote: The star of all the stories is a lady in black who floated through the rooms, would come to comfort children who cried during the night, who did not like to have the indoor shutters closed over the windows, etc. She was especially fond of floating into the apartment's bathroom. We would laughingly say that she appreciated the indoor plumbing - until we placed an overlay of what the courtroom looked like in 1865 over the then-floor plan and found that the modern bathroom was located where the prisoners' dock would have been during the trial. We stopped laughing.

I'd have given anything to have seen your faces when you realised the Shade of Surratt was merely following her pathway to the dock.

Sounds more like Stone Tape to me. The Stone Tape theory is where old energies become trapped in the fabric of buildings and replay when the conditions are just right, or people are receptive to them. It's a classic haunting.

Just found this about Mary Surratt and her ghost. From 50mins onwards.

L Verge · 01-26-2013, 01:09 PM

Ah, yes - I remember that well... Not one of my favorite videos because it contains factual errors from the very first. I was also surprised when I first saw it that they had David Robertson doing much of the narration. He was the author of a terrible book entitled "Booth," which was really all about John Surratt in a fictionalized tale. The insistence of bringing the sexual theme of Mary's involvement with her priest and Booth also irritated me - especially when they edited out some of my explanations. The photos of Surratt House and Quarters 20 (now Grant Hall) are pretty good, however.