Occasionally a report leaks out about yet another haunting episode in the White House. It seems like some of the Presidential specters still frequent the premises. Many people who have lived and worked in the Executive Mansion seriously believe that the residence is haunted by the ghosts of administrations past.
Hillary Rodham Clinton's Experiences
The former First Lady, now Secretary of State, commented on the "Rosie O'Donnell Show" recently that, "There is something about the house at night that you just feel like you are summoning up the spirits of all the people who have lived there and worked there and walked through the halls there. It's neat. It can be a little creepy. You know, they think there's a ghost there. It is a big old house, and when the lights are out, it is dark and quiet and any movement at all catches your attention."
President Harry Truman said the place was "sure as shooting" haunted. John F. Kennedy's Press Secretary, James Haggerty and Clinton's Press Secretary, Mike McCurry both readily admitted to sensing the presence of Lincoln's ghost.
Bob Woodward's Seance
Woodward, the reporter who assisted in breaking the news of the Watergate conspiracy, recounted in his book, The Choice, that in 1995, a psychic held a seance in the White House solarium. During this time Hillary Clinton passed into a trance and channeled the spirits of Eleanor Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi.
White House Seances
Various seances have been conducted during the years, but most of them took place during Abraham Lincoln's administration. They tried to contact their son, Willie. Daniel Webster is reputed to have pleaded with Lincoln to follow through on his slave emancipation plans during another seance event. There are rumors that Nancy Reagan was very much interested in spiritual matters and conducted several seances during her husband's administration.
The North Portico Ghosts
Mary Surratt was executed on July 7, 1865 for her participation in the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln. Her daughter, Anne Surratt, appears here every year on that anniversary moaning and grieving for her mother.
The ghost of a British soldier from the War of 1812 sometimes walks the White House grounds at night in this area carrying a torch.
Rose Garden and Dolley Madison
Dolley Madison, the wife of President James Madison, appeared in the Rose Garden several times during the Woodrow Wilson administration. Wilson's wife wanted the garden dug up and Dolly kept appearing in the garden and scaring the workers. The Rose Garden was never disturbed.
Attic Secrets
William Henry Harrison supposedly haunts this part of the White House. He's rummaging around looking for something, but no one knows what that might be.
Demon Cat in the Basement
Supposedly, a demon cat haunts the basement, appearing as a small kitten from a distance, but as the observer approaches the kitten, it grows into a monstrous hissing demon cat with red eyes. It shows up whenever a national disaster is looming. It appeared a week before the stock market crash in the 1920s and also right before JFK's assassination.
East Room and Abigail Adams
Observers have often reported Abigail Adams, the wife of President John Adams, hanging laundry in this room just as she did during her years at the mansion. Dozens of sightings have been reported. This is also the room where Abraham Lincoln lay in state after his death.
The Lincoln Bedroom
The Lincoln Bedroom is well known for sightings of Lincoln. The President told his wife in 1860 that he would be re-elected for a second term but would die in office; and he foresaw his own assassination. He's been seen looking out the window at the Oval Office, with his hands clasped behind his back as he looks at the Potomac River.
Lincoln's presence is very strong in the bedroom. Franklin D. Roosevelt's personal valet, Cesar Carrera, screamed when he saw the apparition; Eleanor Roosevelt's assistant saw him sitting on the bed as he pulled off his boots.
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands answered a knock at the door one night and fainted when she answered it and found Lincoln standing in the hallway.
Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Britain, refused to sleep there after he walked out of the bathroom naked and smoking a cigar, to find Lincoln leaning on the mantle of the fireplace. Their eyes met and Lincoln seemed embarrassed and faded away.
Others who have experienced Lincoln's apparition are Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Margaret Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Jackie Kennedy, Ladybird Johnson, Susan Ford and Maureen Reagan.
Rose Bedroom and Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson's ghost haunts this bedroom. Mary Todd Lincoln was the first person to see Jackson. She said he was "swearing up a storm." Others have reported hearing him laughing and cursing. Calvin Coolidge's wife, Grace, also saw Jackson in the yellow oval room located next to the Lincoln bedroom on the second floor.
Michelle Obama's Experiences
Since moving into the White House, the current first lady also recounted hearing strange noises in the hallway outside the bedroom that awakened both her and the President.
Diane Evans - I am a retired civil engineer as well as a member of Sisters in Crime and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
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