Surratt House on TV

[RJNorton]

I am sharing the following note I received from Louise Oertly at Surratt House:

"I'm not sure how many of you are aware that a film crew was at the Surratt House, just before it closed down in March. The paranormal show, "The Holzer Files", revisits sites that Hans Holzer investigated over 50 years ago. The Surratt House was one of those sites, before it became a museum.

Park and Planning allowed the show access to the Surratt House, and the show will be aired this Thursday, November 12, at 10:00 ET.

I have no clue what the investigators found, but I would hope that they asked if Laurie is still hanging around the site."

[LincolnMan]

And as much as she loved Surratt House I’m sure she is.

[Gene C]

This program is on the Travel Channel.
https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/holz...to-tyrants

No offense but Fido says he would rather watch some old episodes of Scooby Doo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHqKoLZD...NvJTQ31yH9

[LincolnMan]

One of the co-creators of Scooby Doo just passed away sadly.

[Anita]

If the film crew met Laurie she'd make they'd better had their facts straight!

[richard petersen]

It was mentioned by a volunteer that the previous director said the museum was for tourist and the spirits were not to be mentioned.
Roger, do you recall Laurie ever mentioning about Anna Surratt or others ghosts?
I was not aware that there was a special slave quarters room.
As a member of the Surratt Society, not sure if I want to visit with all the ghosts.

[RJNorton]

Richard, here's a post Laurie made regarding this topic:

https://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussi...l#pid11190

It's apparent from the show that the new director has a different policy than Laurie had.

[wpbinzel]

As a docent at Surratt House for years, I have probably spent well over 300 hours in the historic House, and maybe half of it alone. I have never heard or seen anything that would suggest that it is a site of paranormal activity. I neither believe nor disbelieve in paranormal activity, but I have never experienced it there. Nor do I disparage those who say they have witnessed such activity there in the form of sounds or apparent movements as flashes of light. I have heard and seen those in the House, but I attribute them to the noise and reflections of automobile traffic given the House's proximity to a very busy road. As a docent, I am frequently asked if the House is haunted, and my response is that there are some who believed that it is, but I have no reason to think so. I was never instructed by Laurie to engage or not engage on the topic.

Off the top of my head, there were a couple of things I noticed that were misidentified in the program. The bedroom above the House's public dining room that was identified as being that of Mary and John, Sr.'s, was not theirs. Their bedroom was above the front parlor, and had to be sacrificed and converted to restrooms in order to open the House as a public museum. The room shown on the program was that of the Surratt boys, Isaac and John, Jr.'s room, which in fairness to the program, is now furnished as the master bedroom and is probably too much detail for a TV hour.

The loft that was shown, is directly above the kitchen, and is accessed through a small door in what was Anna Surratt's bedroom. (It was in the rafters above the family dining room, which are accessible in the loft, where Booth's Spencer carbines (and possibly other weapons) were hidden.) The loft is currently furnished as the room of Rachel Semus Hawkins, a slave/domestic servant of the Surratts. It is doubtful that "Aunt Rachel" (as they called her) actually ever resided in that room. While possible, it is more probable that she resided in slave quarters elsewhere on what was originally the Surratt's 287-acre property.

I would have to watch the program again more closely to see if there others.

[RJNorton]

I would have to watch the program again more closely to see if there others.

Bill, maybe I missed something, but I thought the show made it sound like Mary and Anna were living at Surratt House at the time of the assassination. I missed it if they clearly told the audience that Mary and Anna were living at the boardinghouse in Washington when Booth shot the President.

[wpbinzel]

I would have to watch the program again more closely to see if there others.

Bill, maybe I missed something, but I thought the show made it sound like Mary and Anna were living at Surratt House at the time of the assassination. I missed it if they clearly told the audience that Mary and Anna were living at the boardinghouse in Washington when Booth shot the President.

Roger, I have not watched the program again, but I believe your observation is correct. I do not recall much of a discussion of the H Street boardinghouse, or anything more that a fleeting reference that John M. Lloyd was residing in the Surrattsville house at the time of the assassination. At some point this week, I will watch it again. I understand that the Travel Channel wanted to focus on what they could portray as sensational, but that does not give them license to ignore or rewrite history. (One would think that if Anna Surratt was going to haunt a home, it would be the boarding house, which is what got her mother hanged. It still stands in WDC and is a Chinese restaurant, called -- and you can't make this stuff up -- the Wok and Roll.)

[wpbinzel]

I have rewatched the program. Roger's observation is spot on. There is no mention of the fact that the Surratts moved to the H Street boardinghouse in WDC in the fall of 1864 or that the occupants of the house in Surrattsville in April 1865 were John Lloyd and his wife. Those are facts that could have been incorporated into the narrative of the program, but were not, which increases the probability that the program was much more about sensationalism than facts. Nor does the program mention that the Historic House sits very close to the heavily-travelled Brandywine Road in Prince George's County, Maryland. Sounds and the reflection of light in the House could easily be traffic related.

[richard petersen]

I would have to watch the program again more closely to see if there others.

Bill, maybe I missed something, but I thought the show made it sound like Mary and Anna were living at Surratt House at the time of the assassination. I missed it if they clearly told the audience that Mary and Anna were living at the boardinghouse in Washington when Booth shot the President.

Roger, I have not watched the program again, but I believe your observation is correct. I do not recall much of a discussion of the H Street boardinghouse, or anything more that a fleeting reference that John M. Lloyd was residing in the Surrattsville house at the time of the assassination. At some point this week, I will watch it again. I understand that the Travel Channel wanted to focus on what they could portray as sensational, but that does not give them license to ignore or rewrite history. (One would think that if Anna Surratt was going to haunt a home, it would be the boarding house, which is what got her mother hanged. It still stands in WDC and is a Chinese restaurant, called -- and you can't make this stuff up -- the Wok and Roll.)

After a visit to Ford's theater and the Petersen House, I ate at the Wok and Roll. My thoughts were that I was sitting in the house where so much happened; the plot, Mary's arrest, etc. Would definetly recommend the experience.

[J. Beckert]

I have rewatched the program. Roger's observation is spot on.

I found the whole mess very disappointing, Bill.