They say the Palace of Westminster is haunted. Walk its corridors now, when they are free of MPs and many of their staff, and you could easily believe it.
You don't need the imagination of Edgar Allen Poe to suspect the sudden unexpected hammerings, unseen whispered voices and creaking floorboards - not to mention the strange smells - are evidence that the poltergeists are crawling out of the dank cellars to scare the bejeebers out of the few mortal souls still skulking around the Palace of Ghosts.
Over the centuries, the walls of this fabulous Gothic cathedral have certainly witnessed enough treachery, plotting, infidelity and political assassinations - and who knows, even murder? - to provide material for a collection of horror stories.
But, while those of a gloomy nature quite enjoy this Scary Movie ambience, others believe there is a far more accurate comparison.
The Palace of Westminster without MPs is like Fawlty Towers without the guests - it works better and is far less frustrating and bothersome for the staff.
The people who keep this place going through thick and thin can just get on with the job.
And was that a sigh of relief I detected from the excellent barman in Strangers on Tuesday when he called last orders - until May 10th?
This transformation from bustling political village to ghost town only happens once every four or five years, at election time.
The summer recess might last a lot longer than an election campaign, but it is different.
It is the difference between a home where the family has gone on its annual holiday and a house that has been abandoned with no indication that anyone will ever return.
There is something brutal about the way MPs are turfed out of the place once the general election is called and told never to return unless they are re-elected or, in a move apparently designed to humiliate, as a guest.
And this year, far fewer of them will be returning than for decades.
Thanks in part to natural wastage and the expenses scandal, perhaps half of the Commons will be new.
Then we will see even more lost souls wandering the corridors looking for the chamber, the voting lobbies, the lavatories or even their offices - assuming the whips have decided they deserve one.
The question is, how long will it be before the Commons 2010 turns into a House of Horrors?
