Moment in Oddity - Claire Sylvia Transplant Recipient (Suggested by: Tammie Burroughs)
In 1988, 47 year old professional dancer Claire Sylvia was dying from primary pulmonary hypertension. She required a heart-lung transplant. Her story gained international interest as she was the first person in New England to be a recipient of the procedure. Her donor was an 18 year old male that had passed away in a motorcycle accident. Post surgery Claire began to experience some unusual and uncharacteristic behaviors. She suddenly craved beer, chicken nuggets and green peppers. These were foods she had never liked before. Her energy levels heightened drastically which could have been due to the younger heart that she had received, but she also became much more assertive. Even her manner of walking changed, becoming heavier and more masculine in nature. Sylvia began having vivid dreams after her transplant. She dreamed of a tall young man whose name was Tim and his last name began with an L. In the dream Claire said, "we kiss, and as we do I inhale him into me. It feels like the deepest breath I have ever taken. And I know at that moment the two of us, Tim and I, will be together forever. I woke up knowing - really knowing - that Tim L was my donor and that some parts of his spirit and personality were now in me." Eventually Claire was able to track down the family of her donor and Tim's family confirmed his love of the foods that she suddenly craved, as well as other new personality traits. Claire Sylvia chronicled her journey in her 1997 memoir, "A Change of Heart," which was later adapted into the TV movie 'Heart of a Stranger' starring Jane Seymour. Sylvia lived for 21 years after her transplant, becoming a prominent advocate for organ donation before passing away in 2009 at the age of 69. Surprisingly, her experience is not a unique one. There are many stories of transplant recipients taking on the characteristics of their donor's, but one can imagine, experiencing it personally, certainly would be odd.
The Capitol Building
The Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. is the heart of our American government. Both houses of Congress meet here to pass the laws of the land. The building is over 200 years old and has changed through the decades. While this just seems to be a standard government building, there is a lot of symbolism connected to the structure and its location. And there were rituals too. Could that be why this is one of the most haunted buildings in Washington, D.C.? Join us for the history and hauntings of the Capitol Building.
The United States Capitol is no longer the geographic center of the national capital, but it is the center of the American government. The location was chosen on what is known today as Capitol Hill, but when Frenchman Pierre Charles L'Enfant designed the capital city, he called this Jenkins Hill. This was named for a man who had owned nearby pasture land, Thomas Jenkins. The tract where the actual Capitol would be built was owned by the Carroll family and they had called it Rome - kinda fitting. Thomas Jefferson would give Capitol Hill its name and was influenced by the Temple of Jupiter on Rome's Capitoline Hill. This was finally an opportunity for the government of the United States to have a set house for making laws or the Legislative Branch. Prior to this, representatives met at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Federal Hall in New York City and other places in Maryland and New Jersey. L'Enfant originally called the building the Congress House and he secured quarries in Virginia to get stone for use in the foundation and outer walls of the Capitol. L'Enfant was dismissed from the project in early 1792 and so Thomas Jefferson proposed a design competition and this was won by an amateur architect named William Thornton in January of 1793. Thornton was actually a doctor from the British Virgin Islands. The design was praised for being simplistic, but also grand and beautiful. The architectural design was Neoclassical.
(Record scratch) And here would be a good time to dig out our conspiratorial hats and talk about the Secret Society elements connected to the Capitol building and Washington, D.C. in general. The Capitol was placed in a very strategic spot. Many of the Founding Fathers were members of various secret societies and the Freemasons in particular. L'Enfant was as well and when he mapped out the future District of Columbia, he incorporated the symbols of masonry into that design. These include the square and compass and various geometric patterns like triangles, squares, circles, pentagrams and hexagrams. The Golden Ratio was used and the Capitol was built to represent a womb. The Washington Monument was the obvious phallic symbol to go with the womb and the structures sit across from each other. President George Washington was a Freemason and he lead a masonic ritual while laying the cornerstone for the Capitol. This ceremony took place on September 18, 1793 Several of the items used during this ceremony still exist today and continue to be used during the placement of foundation stones at other official buildings. Members of the Masonic lodges from Maryland, Virginia, Georgetown and Federal City joined Washington. A silversmith from Georgetown fashinoned a silver plaque and gave it to Washington to lay down on the corner before the cornerstone was placed. The plaque was inscribed with a tribute to Washington and dedication of the building in the "first year, of the second term, of the presidency of George Washington ... and in the year of Masonry 5,793." After the stone was laid, Washington struck it three times with a gavel as the gathered Masons chanted. Three Worshipful Masters presented sacrifices of corn, wine, and oil and a 15-gun salute followed to represent the 15 states at the time. An invocation was given and a 500 pound ox was sacrificed. There is more when we get to the interior of the Capitol.
Thornton served as the first architect of the Capitol, but his original plan was altered by French architect Stephen Hallet who had also sent in a design, but lost because his design was too elaborate. The commissioners brought Hallet onto the project as an act of goodwill, but this turned out to be really stupid. Hallet was jealous and spent most of his time obstructing and altering Thornton's design and the men fought often. This pushed building back and caused many delays and after investigating what was holding things up, Hallet was dismissed.
White House architect James Hoban was brought on as the new supervisor. Two other architects, Benjamin Henry Latrobe and Charles Bulfinch, would eventually be brought on to help finish the project. The north wing, which is the Senate's side, was completed first in 1800 and so the House shared that for awhile in an area that was dubbed the "Oven." The south wing would be completed in 1811. The rotunda and dome were not done at that point. Something most people probably don't know is that the Capitol was used for Sunday church services in the early 1800s. The reason why the construction took longer on these wings is because early building was poorly done and within six years, plaster was already peeling, the roof was leaking and the floors were rotting, so everything on the interior had to be demolished and rebuilt. Benjamin Henry Latrobe had been brought in to do this because he had done a great job on the Supreme Court building and his creation of the vaulted, semi-circular ceiling in that building had not been done in America before. Latrobe would be responsible for much of what made up the interior including painting the walls and ceiling in blue and straw yellow, carvings and columns and velvet drapes were placed on the windows. He also shipped in mahogany furniture. Italian sculptors were offered three dollars a day to carve the capitals and frieze, which depicts an enormous eagle and allegorical figures of Liberty, Science, and Art.
In 1814, the British destroyed all of the beautiful carvings in the Capitol when they fired cannon balls at the public buildings in Washington, DC. Residents' efforts to put out the fires were unsuccessful until the sky opened up with torrential rain. The Library of Congress inside the Capitol had been destroyed along with everything except a few walls that had been left blackened.
There was a worry that the new government would decide to leave the burned district. President James Madison had also fled the district. Many wealthy people in the area had invested in land speculation around the new capital and they had vested interest in the government staying here, so they dug into their own pockets to begin the rebuild of Washington, D.C. President Madison hoped that the Capitol would be rebuilt in a couple years. The past laughed at his hopes and indeed, the Capitol took decades to come back due to labor disputes and work stoppages. Benjamin Latrobe had been called back for the rebuild and he eventually resigned over criticism after completing the north and south wings. The central part of the Capitol had still never been finished. This was when architect Charles Bulfinch of Boston was brought in and he realized that the President at the time, Monroe, and other politicians didn't understand the blueprints. So he built scale models. One of them had this immense dome over a Rotunda and Bulfinch wasn't crazy about this design. He tried to downplay it, but everybody loved it and even asked to have it enlarged. This was completed in 1830 and was bigger than any of the architects from Thornton to Bulfinch had ever wanted.
Robert Mills became the Capitol Architect in 1836, while Andrew Jackson was President. Jackson realized that the Capitol was getting too small as more states were added to the country, bringing more representatives to D.C. He developed a plan to increase the size, but was dismissed by the next president, Millard Fillmore, who brought on Thomas U. Walter in 1851 and Walter would triple the size of the Capitol by the time he left in 1865.
One thing he did was replace the Bulfinch dome with an even bigger one that was made from iron. This took some ingenuity to get in place considering there weren't things like cranes back then. The dome was placed on thirty-six Corinthian columns that represented the 36 states at the time. Interior craftsmanship was done by Italian artisans once again and this included the Chariot of History clock above the entrance of Statuary Hall, the Statue of Liberty in Statuary Hall, figures representing Peace and War at the entrance to the Rotunda and a carved relief of George Washington in the Rotunda. But the grandest artwork was completed by Constantino Brumidi on the interior of the Rotunda dome. Looking up inside the Capitol dome, visitors find the Apotheosis of Washington. It's a weird massive fresco covering the entire interior of the Capitol dome, which measures 4,664 square feet. The word Apotheosis means "raising someone to divine status" and that is what this is doing for President George Washington, raising him to the level of a god. This was completed in 1865 and depicts George Washington, draped in royal purple, ascending to the heavens as he is surrounded by allegorical scenes. These scenes are meant to reflect America's accomplishments in War, Science, Marine, Commerce, Mechanics, and Agriculture. The original 13 colonies are represented by female figures and Washington is flanked by Liberty wearing a Phrygian cap and Victory holding a palm branch. War is represented by the goddess of wisdom, Minerva, and cannons. Science is also represented by Minerva and she is joined by the inventors Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Morse and there is also an electric generator. Marine has Neptune and Venus with a telegraph cable. Commerce is represented by Mercury who is joined by merchants and Robert Morris. Mechanics has Vulcan standing at a forge with workers. Agriculture has Ceres with a cornucopia and a McCormick reaper for harvesting.
New York artist Thomas Crawford created the Statue of Freedom that graces the top of the Capitol dome. The statue is made from bronze and stands nearly 20 feet tall and is a female that resembles Columbia, which is the personification of America. The statue holds a sheathed sword in its right hand and a laurel wreath of victory and the Shield of the United States in her left. Atop her head is a military helmut with stars and an eagle's head crowned with feathers. She faces the rising sun. Crawford also designed the beautiful bronze doors of the House wing and carved the figures on the east pediment of the Senate wing.
Another piece of artwork added to the Capitol was also dripping in symbolism and very controversial. This was known as Enthroned Washington and was crafted by Horatio Greenough. The controversy came from the fact that President Washington was depicted half-naked seated on a throne. This 12-ton marble statue was inspired by Phidias' great statue of Zeus. The President is wrapped in a toga as if to look like a Roman emperor and he is pointing up the sky. Many people equate this position to depictions of Baphomet, the goat-headed occult icon and it really is quite similar. Washington holds a sheathed sword in his other hand. There was so much negative reaction to the sculpture that it was removed from the Rotunda and now is located at the National Museum of American History as part of the Smithsonian.
In 1961, an extension was added to the Capitol's midsection. A Capitol Visitor Center was built under the Capitol and finished in 2008. The dome was refurbished in 2016. Today, the Capitol building is the second-oldest public structure in D.C. and has 540 rooms throughout two wings. Office buildings were added over time and the entire complex encompasses two hundred acres. Tours are offered six days a week and are free. Exhibition Hall offers interactive exhibits and a virtual tour. The grounds are beautiful and were originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the mid-1870s.
Some interesting factoids about the Capitol include Samuel Morse sending the world's first telegraph message from it. President John Quincy Adams died of a stroke in Statuary Hall in 1848. Preston Brooks was a US representative in 1856 when he attacked Senator Charles Sumner and brutally beat him with his cane. What was the fight over? Slavery. Brooks supported it and Sumner opposed it. President Andrew Jackson was almost assassinated outside the east entrance in 1835. The Capitol has faced violence throughout the decades and has been damaged several times by fires, cannons and bombs. Perhaps that is why there are said to be ghosts here at the Capitol building. And you don't have to take our word for it. The Philadelphia Press wrote in October of 1898 that the Capitol is "the most thoroughly haunted building in the world." One reason for hauntings is connected to a legend about John Lenthall. He served as Benjamin Latrobe's Clerk of the Works. Lenthall was charged with building an archway, but it was a design he was unfamiliar with and when he removed the supports, the arch collapsed on top of him. This story is true. The legend part comes with his dying breath. He is said to have cursed the Capitol building. His spirit is said to hang out near the Old Supreme Court Chamber where that ceiling collapse happened.
There is a ghost cat here, often referred to as the Demon Cat. The first sighting of it goes all the way back to 1862. Union soldiers were camping out in the Capitol at that time and some of them claimed to see this black cat that would grow to this huge size before pouncing on a victim. There are actual paw prints in the floor of the Capitol and no one knows where they came from and that is perhaps how this legend got started. When the cat appears, it usually signifies that a national tragedy is coming. The cat was seen before President Lincoln was assassinated, before the Stock Market crashed in 1929 and before President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
Bishop Sims was a barber who worked at a congressional barber shop located in the Capitol. This shop was eventually moved to the Russell Senate Building, but Sims worked there before that in the 1930s. Bishop was his nickname because he was very involved in his church. Everyone said he gave the best haircuts and President Calvin Coolidge tried to get him to come work at the White House, but Sims liked the Capitol, so he stayed there until his death in 1934. He used to hum hymns as he worked and his ghost is said to carry on humming hymns in the afterlife.
We mentioned earlier that President John Quincy Adams had a stroke in the Capitol and died. Adams had gone back to be a Representative after his term as President came to an end. There was a measure before the House to honor officers who served in the Mexican-American War when Adams died. He had been staunchly against the war because he believed it was an effort to expand slavery with a land grab. As the roll call vote came to Adams, he yelled "NO!", turned white and slumped over from a stroke. He was taken to the Speaker's Room where he died two days later. He was 80. People claim to see his spirit here and to hear his emphatic "NO" echoing through the halls.
John A. Logan was an Illinois politician who became a Union Major Genera; during the Civil War. People called him the political general. He had key roles at both the battle of Vicksburg and Battle of Atlanta. Logan championed veterans' rights after the war and he issued the order that led to Decoration Day or what we now call Memorial Day. He served as a Senator and ran as a Vice-Presidential candidate with James Blaine in 1884. In 1886, he was stricken with a weird ailment just as Congress opened its session. Logan's arms swelled and his legs hurt and this lasted several days and then went away. It returned a few days later and doctors were stumped. All they could tell him was that he was going to die probably and he did a couple weeks later. Logan's body laid in state in the Capitol. His ghostly figure has been seen in the old Military Affairs Committee room.
Our final known ghost here is said to belong to Congressman William Taulbee. Taulbee had represented Kentucky, but at the time of his murder, he was working as a lobbyist. A newspaper journalist named Charles Kincaid, wrote for the Louisville Times and he had a strained relationship with Taulbee. Their volatile relationship started in 1887 and for the next three years, the men traded insults with each other. It seems to have started with Kincaid reporting on Taulbee having an affair and this forced Taulbee to not seek re-election. Both worked in the Capitol often and were often heard arguing with each other. On February 28, 1890, the two men were again in a fight and it got so intense, House doorkeepers had to separate them. Taulbee told Kincaid that he better arm himself, basically threatening that he would kill the man. So Kincaid got a gun and when he met up later with Taulbee on the east staircase of the House Wing of the Capitol, he pulled out the gun and shot Taulbee who died a couple weeks later. The papers wrote, "For the first time in the memory of man a gunshot was heard in the National Capitol today, and the marble steps of the staircase leading from the House floor to the restaurant below were stained with human blood." Kincaid was acquitted on self defense. There are still blood stains on the stairs today. The former Congressman's ghost has been seen and people claim he likes to trip reporters, especially on these stairs.
The Capitol Building has seen a lot of America's history in its time and has not only been witness to strife and victory, but it has been involved in nearly every federal law of the land. It would only make sense that such an important building would have its spirits. Is the Capitol Building haunted? That is for you to decide!
