If there ’s any group of people who tend to leave bare stage business , it ’s America ’s presidents . Perhaps that ’s why theWhite House , the Washington , D.C. , residence of the state ’s commander in chief since 1800 , is often called the most haunted planetary house in America .
Over the centuries , presidents , visitors and staff have account hearing unusual noise and even seeing ghosts . First ladiesand others have evenattempted to communicatewith the otherworldly residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue .
The President Who Never Moved Out
The most frequently spot White House ghost is that of Abraham Lincoln , the 16th president , who has reportedly haunted the White House since his character assassination in 1865 .
" President Abraham Lincoln is plausibly the most - narrate ghost sighting at the White House , " say Sarah Fling , a historian at theWhite House Historical Association , via email . " And many of the stories about him come from Jeremiah ' Jerry ' Smith , a longtime White House employee , who claimed to have see him hundreds of time , gliding wordlessly about the stairs and rooms and always with a sad , serious look on his nerve . "
consort to lore , Lincoln tends to show up most frequently when the land is in some kind of risk . He ’s been descry in the room he used as an position , now love as the Lincoln Bedroom , by first peeress Grace Coolidge , and by both Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill . President Ronald Reagan said his dog , Rex , refused to go into the room ; he ’d just bark at the room access .
Mrs. Lincoln’s Ghosts
Before her hubby became the White House ’s best - known specter , first lady Mary Todd Lincoln was one of its most preoccupied . After her 11 - class - old son , Willie , croak in 1862 , the aggrieve first lady commence holding sitting and flavour circles in an attempt to meet him .
In the Red Room , Mrs. Lincoln held more than half a dozen seances , some of which the chair himself may have attend . " The Lincolns had suffer the tragic loss of their son , Willie , to typhoid fever fever while living at the White House , " says Fling . " These seances really help Mrs. Lincoln handle her grief over the loss of her child . "
Mrs. Lincolnonce toldher half - sister , " Willie lives . He comes to me every night and stands at the foot of the layer with the same sweet endearing smile that he always has had . " Sometimes , she said , Eddie — the Lincoln ’s boy who fail a few age earlier , at the age of four — was there too .
More Ghouls and Ghosts
Many of the White House ’s ghosts have appear to staff members . Jerry Smith , the employee who take to have meet Lincoln ’s ghost on several occasions , was the White House ’s prescribed duster for almost four decades , beginning in the late 1860s . " Jerry also claimed to see the ghost of presidents Ulysses S. Grant and William McKinley , " says Fling .
Other ghost have appeared to faculty , too . Some " have claimed to reek laundry in the East Room , where first dame Abigail Adams used to hang her wash , " say Fling . " And Major Archibald Butt , military aide to President Taft , claimed to see a young boy . " Butt called it " The matter " and tell its presence was like " a slim insistence on the shoulder , as if someone were leaning over your berm to see what you might be doing . " Taft " did not care these ghostly rumour , " tell Fling , " and threatened to give the sack any staff who might replicate the storey of ' The matter ! ' "
There are mess of other haunt . A ghostly Dolly Madison is aver to ward therose garden , and in 2009,Michelle Obama tolda mathematical group of bookman that she and her married man , then - President Barack Obama , sometimes heard noises in the hallway at nighttime . Jenna and Barbara Bush say they once heard eerie medicine come from a fireplace in the residence .
" One of my favorite ghost stories is that of Anna Surratt , the girl of Confederate sympathizer Mary Surratt , " sound out Fling . " Mary was find hangdog of harboring John Wilkes Booth and other Lincoln conspirators at her Washington , D.C. , boarding house , and was doom to death . Her girl , Anna , visited the White House , hop to beg President Andrew Johnson to pardon her female parent … regrettably , she was unsuccessful , and it is say that her ghost can still be heard knock at the door of the White House , plead for her mother ’s spirit . "
So , should you find yourself on a tour of the White House , do n’t be surprised if you hear — or even see — something a bit spooky .
