An auction website is selling a white Ku Klux Klan robe which was donated by a New Hampshire woman after she found out that it belonged to her father, the Associated Press reported.
The robe, which bears the white supremacist group's distinctive round, scarlet patch with a white cross, was found by a Rochester woman in her attic, auctioneer Scott Morrill said. Thinking it would be a good idea to sell it, the woman decided to wash the garment.
But upon peeling off the patch, the 80-year-old shockingly discovered her father's name inscribed on the back. Until then, nobody in the family had been aware that he was affiliated with the Klan.
Initially, Morrill debated the idea of whether a garment that represents a symbol of hate should be placed on an auction block. But on Tuesday, he decided the historical value of the robe, which dates back to the 1920s, outweighed other concerns, according to NECN.
"My first reaction was, 'I really don't want anything to do with it,'" Morrill said. "I find it offensive myself. But what we really do here is sell history. And the way you learn from mistakes you make is to not destroy it. After a little soul-searching, I decided it should be sold."
Since the auction of a KKK robe will prove to be rare, the veteran auctioneer wasn't sure about the amount of money it would be able to fetch on Tuesday night.
"It's not the sort of thing people would readily buy in front of their neighbors," Morrill said, adding that he had already received some bids by phone.
But he has also received some criticism, with angry callers expressing outrage at the sale of the item.
"I'm hoping people will be adult about it," he added.
The KKK, a secretive society formed in the post-Civil War South, emerged briefly in Rochester from about 1923 to 1925, according to Martha Fowler, president of the Rochester Historical Society.
