Ghostly encounters at Connecticut's Old State House

HARTFORD, Conn. — The Old State House in downtown Hartford has stood for more than 230 years — long enough, some say, for a few ghosts to settle in.

Some say the building, which once housed all three branches of Connecticut’s state government, has a long past that includes both political history and even paranormal activity.

One of the spirits believed to linger there is Joseph Steward, a minister and painter born in 1753 in Massachusetts.

Steward moved to Hartford in his early 40s and, in 1796, got permission to open a “museum of curiosities” inside the newly built State House.

Rebecca Taber, with the Connecticut Democracy Center, said Steward’s museum fit right in with popular trends of the time.

"Museums of curiosities, cabinets of curiosities, were very popular in the late 18th