Old State House

Completed in 1796, Connecticut's Old State House is one of the oldest state houses in the nation. Designed by Charles Bulfinch, the building served as Connecticut's capitol until 1878 and now operates as a museum complex.

Connecticut's Old State House stands on ground soaked in blood long before its first stone was laid. On May 26, 1647, Alse Young of Windsor became the first person executed for witchcraft in colonial America, hanged at Meeting House Square where the building now rises. The Hartford witch trials predated Salem by nearly five decades and claimed at least eleven lives on this very ground. Today, that dark history mingles with two centuries of political drama, creating one of New England's most active hauntings.

The building that opened in May 1796 was designed by Charles Bulfinch, the renowned Boston architect, making it his first public commission. Oliver Wolcott, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was the first Governor to serve there. The Federal-style structure served as Connecticut's capitol until 1878, witnessing some of America's most consequential events.

In December 1814, the Hartford Convention assembled in secret within these walls. Twenty-six Federalist delegates from five New England states met for three weeks to discuss secession from the United States during the War of 1812. Though they ultimately rejected separation, the shadowy deliberations behind closed doors set a precedent that would echo to the Civil War. In September 1839, the Amistad trial began in the Senate chamber. Cinque and fifty-two other Mende people, illegally kidnapped from Sierra Leone, faced charges of mutiny and murder. Attorney Roger Sherman Baldwin, grandson of Declaration signer Roger Sherman, argued that under Spanish law, the captives were free men. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court, with John Quincy Adams delivering the argument that would free them.

The most persistent spirit is Joseph Steward, a minister, portrait painter, and museum curator who arrived in 1796. Steward asked permission to open a painting studio on the third floor, then established what became one of America's first museums: the Museum of Natural and Other Curiosities. His collection featured a two-headed calf, a two-headed pig, an eighteen-foot Egyptian crocodile, and a narwhal tusk labeled as a 'unicorn horn.' The museum grew so popular that Steward moved to a larger building across the street in 1808, but his spirit apparently never left. Staff and visitors report seeing his shadowy figure in the windows of where his museum once stood, watching over his beloved curiosities. A recreation of his collection, including a stillborn two-headed calf donated by a Michigan dairy farm in 1996, occupies the Old State House today.

Ghost Hunters (TAPS) investigated in December 2009 after staff members reported years of paranormal activity. During their investigation of Season 5, Episode 24, the team captured audio of a doorknob turning in the empty Senate Room, and the distinct sound of a woman sighing in the Steward Museum. The investigation confirmed what employees had long suspected: the building harbored unexplained presences.

The desk incident remains the most dramatic staff encounter. One morning, employees arrived to find all the desks and chairs from the House Chamber moved to the center of the room, completely blocking the aisle. The heavy oak desks weigh approximately forty pounds each, and it took two staff members nearly two hours to return them to their proper positions. No one had been in the locked building overnight.

Other phenomena include footsteps echoing through empty hallways, the sounds of ghostly assembly meetings in chambers where legislators once debated, and an elevator that operates on its own. Visitors report feeling watched, particularly near the third floor where Steward's collection resides. Some speak of encountering the spirits of executed 'witches' whose blood consecrated this ground nearly four hundred years ago. EMF meters and REM pods show consistent activity near the building's town green entrance, suggesting residual energy from the witch trial executions.

The Old State House's layers of history create a perfect storm for paranormal activity. From the first witch execution in America to secret secession plots, from enslaved Africans fighting for freedom to a quirky minister surrounded by his two-headed animals, the spirits of those who lived through pivotal moments in American history linger in these halls. Whether benevolent former legislators or restless souls from darker times, the presences make themselves known to those who listen.