Spooked at the Smithsonian

Sidedoor

Smithsonian Institution

Zoo, National Museum, Postal Museum, Smithsonian, Society & Culture, Art19, National Zoo, Tony Cohn, Natural History, Dc, Exhibits, Museum, American History, Exhibit, History Of The World, African American History And Culture, History, Washington, Air And Space, Pop Culture, The Smithsonian, Sidedoor, Science

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2022

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Smithsonian Institution was founded on principles of reason and scientific inquiry. So why is the museum home to countless tales of unexplained phenomena and —dare we say — ghost sightings? Inspired by an apparition at the National Museum of American History, we creak across the floorboards of the museum's attics, sneak into an old house in the woods, and even travel back in time to bring you a collection of spooky stories that can only be found at the Smithsonian.

Guests:

Molly Horrocks, Collections Manager, Division of Political and Military History at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

Pamela Henson, Institutional Historian at the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives

Cpl. Ronald Howlin, Security Officer at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Deborah Hull-Walski, Collections Manager, Education Collections at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

Melissa Johnson, daughter of Deb Hull-Walski and former skeptical teenager

Kim Dixon, former volunteer at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is SideDark, a podcast from the Smithsonian with support from PRX.
0:15.3	I'm Lizzie Peabody.
0:25.9	This is the stairwell and you're washed in.
0:28.4	Here we go.
0:29.4	This story begins in a stairwell and we'll come back to that stairwell in just a moment.
0:42.6	But first, I need to tell you a little story.
0:48.2	A little while ago, I was at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History for
0:52.3	an interview.
0:53.3	As I followed the curator through a staff door and into a little old elevator and down
0:58.4	a narrow hallway toward her office, I started to wonder how it would feel to be in here
1:04.4	alone.
1:06.0	In the bowels of the museum, all by yourself, with the long hallways and the buzzing overhead
1:11.6	lights and the dim corners and the quiet.
1:16.6	So I asked her, do you ever feel illidies when there aren't visitors around?
1:21.9	No, she said, but I do have a colleague who saw a ghost once, totally matter of fact.
1:29.7	We went on with our scheduled interview, but the prospect of a ghost lurking the halls
1:33.6	of American history kept tugging at the back of my mind.
1:36.6	I thought about it every time I visited the museum until I decided I needed to know more
1:42.0	about this ghost.
1:44.5	Which is why we're in a stairwell in the National Museum of American History, with Molly Horox.
1:50.0	I'm the collections manager for the exhibit that's right under this staircase, the price
1:54.1	of freedom, which is an exhibit about a war, basically.
	...

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