Description of Place: One of several buildings under the helm of the Smithsonian Institute east of the Lincoln Memorial and West of the United States Capitol, the National Building of American History is a plain brick building three stories in size patrolled by security guards at all times and protected by a timer on the front doors. The exhibits include the John Glenn capsule, the Wright Brothers Plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, the Old Iron Horse #7 and an Eli Whitney cotton gin among several dinosaur skeleton displays.

Ghostly Manifestations: It comes to no surprise that museums, libraries and galleries often rank among the most haunted locations in the United States. Items on display separated from people who have passed on are supposed to have the imprints of those people on them. In the after hours then, these objects are heard trying to come to life and relive the glories that proudly put them in display.

The Smithsonian guards and staff are often instructed not to repeat their stories and experiences so as to not frighten away the public, but these are sometimes the first things the public asks about as they take the tour. Some of the tales are boring and concern objects that just vanish and turn up after a few days or stray sounds that occur long after the last tourist has left. Some guards have noticed fleeting images of shadows hurrying across the ceiling trying to hide or people where they should not be. Most of the employees agree that the place is dark and spooky enough to prey on the imagination.

The museum once used displays with mannequins to simulate important American events or to exhibit artifacts on display. Often dressed in actual period uniforms preserved and painstakingly restored, the figures often looked human enough that many tourists confused them with real people. After hours, they sometimes acted like real people. One female tourist swore to have seen out the corner of her eye the Benedict Arnold display turn its head to her and then turn it’s head back. One guard thinking he was following a figure wandering around after hours turned a corner quickly and crashed into a female figure taken twelve feet from out of the Pilgrim fathers display. Figures sometimes change poses and others change locations. One photograph taken in 1978 showed a strange light hanging over the figures of Benedict Arnold, Major John Andre and William Damon that completely distorted the faces of the figures.

On May 20, 1978, one guard who preferred to remain anonymous reported he thought he heard the engine in the Spirit of St. Louis trying to start up. He listened it a few times and brought out with him someone else to testify to the sound without mentioning what it was, but it didn’t happen again. Nevertheless, every year on the anniversary of Lindbergh’s famous crossing, at least one person reports to have heard the now engineless plane trying to start itself.

The plane is not to only thing to start up on its own. An Eli Whitney cotton gin has started up under its own power despite being inoperable and the noise of an old steam locomotive has been heard barreling through the place near the old Iron Horse #7 display. Still others have heard animal noises from the dinosaur bones displays.

Not all the phenomenon is confined to the past. A phantom guard has been observed by the staff wandering through the place. Only three guards are kept on duty at a time after dark, yet some inconvertible fourth figure has been seen patrolling the building after closing. He’s been seen on closed circuit cameras and has vanished from rooms with second exits. Reports of his appearances are filled with the uncanny description of his face as he stares up into the cameras as he passes and tilts his cap to the person watching him.

"Rumor has it that he was an employee who went downstairs and got lost, never to be seen again." Retired guard George Stiller comments. He worked for security in the National Building of American History for twenty-two years until he retired, and today, he passes his time by following tourists and field trips and telling the stories the regular guides don't tell, like what the guards do off duty and the strange things done to exhibits.

"I knew one guard who set several mummies up like they were playing poker." Stiller grins clandestinely. "It stayed set up that way for three weeks until someone noticed it. One guy mounted a figure of General Custer on a figure of Amelia Earhart. Another guy hid his smokes on Genghis Khan. It's an incredibly boring job, you need something to break the tension."

"In the years I worked for the Smithsonian," Stiller remarks. "I knew several guys who said they heard voices and whispers in the location, but I never heard anything. Only day I ever heard anything, this other guy and myself heard several people wandering around inside and realized it was a couple of kids and their dog wandering around after we had closed up early. It had been a rainy day, and we had barely seen anyone come by so we had locked up not knowing these kids had slipped in, and they said they had been followed by ghosts. Three of them they claimed..."

"The last time I went by, this one guy I had worked with told me in passing that he was hearing voices near the Egyptian Artifacts section, but they seemed to be speaking another language. There was a report from several tourists spooked by a shadow in the engineer's cab of the Iron Horse locomotive, and most recently, one guy said he thought he saw the Wright Brother's plane flying over the property..."

"I don't know what they're now, but I wish I could have some of it..." 

History: The National Museum of History and Technology was established as part of the United States National Museum on July 1, 1957. Frank A. Taylor was appointed Director of the MHT on April 1, 1958 and was primarily possible for the planning and supervision of the construction of the museum building in 1964. The USNM ceased to exist as an administrative entity in 1967 and at that time, the National Museum of History and Technology became a separate museum within the institution.

Most of the hauntings increased during the Bicentennial 1976 year but later since tapered off since the removal of the figures and the spacing out of the exhibits. In May 2009, however, staff, security and employees discovered the worst case of mischief inside the location. Figures were moved, objects were moved and found in other levels, cases and windows were broken and some objects shifted as much as ten inches to ten feet, all without occurring on the security cameras. It is considered possibly one of the largest cases of poltergeist activity every recorded. 

One security guard clandestinely comments: "It's almost as if everything came to life to have a party."

Identity of Ghosts: Theory has it that the activity is caused by psychic energy left over from over several hundred years, although popular sentiment is that the spirits of the deceased that have passed over visit the museum to relive past glories or to sulk near objects signifying their greatest shame.

Source/Comments: Scooby-Doo, Where Are You, Episode “The Spirits of ’76” and Night at the Museum: Battle For the Smithsonian (2009) - Structure based on the National Museum of National History in Washington, D.C. Hauntings based on varied cases, mostly museums.