The White House is without question the most well-known residence and government institution in the United States. It is also one of the oldest standing homes in the country. So, with a history that dates back to 1801 and has been filled with such drama and importance, it's only fitting that it comes with its share of ghosts.
Americans for their part have long enjoyed telling ghost stories. It's a basic component of our folklore and our shared national identity. From the ghost of Abigail Adams doing her laundry in the East Room to the spirit of Dolley Madison overlooking the Rose Garden, the White House has legions of ghost stories that have been passed down over the years. Each generation of Americans who have themselves been elected and served in this fabled house has only added to its legion of ghosts, spirits, and reflections.
But, not all sections of the great mansion are created equal in terms of ghostly presence. Since the massive Truman restoration in the early 50s, there has been a dramatic shift in the amount and location of ghosts. Regardless, here is the place in the white house where you are most likely to experience or witness a deceased President, child, soldier, or demonic creature.
The Residential Area
Everyone wants to meet Lincoln
The White House's most famous alleged apparition is that of Abraham Lincoln. The first person reported to have seen Lincoln's spirit was First Lady Grace Coolidge, who said she saw the ghost of Lincoln standing at a window in the Yellow Oval Room staring out at the Potomac. But, that may be untrue, given that many people who work, live, or even visit the mansion, claim to feel his presence. In truth, accounts of Lincoln's ghost go back even further than Mrs. Coolidge. As far back as Mrs. Lincoln herself. One of William H. Mumler's most famous photographs shows Mary Todd Lincoln with the "ghost" of her husband, Abraham Lincoln. Paranormal researcher Melvyn Willin, in his book Ghosts Caught on Film, claims that the photo was taken around 1869 (after Abraham Lincoln's death) and that Mumler did not know that his sitter was Lincoln, instead believing her to be a 'Mrs. Tundall'. Willin goes on to say that Mumler did not discover who she was until after the photo was developed. The College of Psychic Studies, referencing notes belonging to William Stainton Moses (who has appeared in photographs by other spirit photographers), claims that the photo was taken in the early 1870s, Lincoln had assumed the name of 'Mrs. Lindall' and Lincoln had to be encouraged by Mumler's wife (a medium) to identify her husband in the photo. Though the image has been dismissed as being a double exposure, it has been widely circulated.
President Theodore Roosevelt, presidential daughter Maureen Reagan, her husband Dennis C. Revell, and several staff members of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration all claimed to have seen Lincoln's spirit. On one occasion FDR's valet ran screaming from the White House claiming he had seen Lincoln's ghost.
Lincoln is said to lurk around the Yellow Oval Room and the Lincoln bedroom. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt spent a lot of time working in the Lincoln bedroom, and she saw him often. She also said that the Roosevelt family dog, Fala, would sometimes bark for no reason at what she felt was Lincoln's ghost. Calvin Coolidge’s wife, Grace, reportedly caught Lincoln looking out of a window in the Lincoln Bedroom. One night, Lady Bird Johnson was watching a documentary about Lincoln’s death when she said she felt his spirit nearby.
President Dwight Eisenhower's press secretary, James Hagerty, and Liz Carpenter, press secretary to First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, both said they felt Lincoln's presence many times.
Susan Ford, daughter of President Gerald Ford, ran smack-dab into the specter of Abraham Lincoln, alongside the fireplace in the Lincoln bedroom. Scared to return to the room, Susan never entered again until, on a dare, she and a friend decided to sleep in the bedroom on the last night of the Ford Presidency. The girls hoped to see Lincoln putting on his boots, just as one of Franklin Roosevelt’s (1933-1945) clerks had seen. But, this time they were just treated to a pleasant sleep in a slightly chilly room.
One Halloween, wishing to “call upon '' Lincoln's ghost, Amy Carter and her friend, Claudia Sanchez, dared to spend a night in the Lincoln bedroom, consulting an Ouija board before falling off to sleep. As Amy’s mother Rosalynn joked, “Of course they heard the ghost,” for mother and maid (Amy’s nurse Mary Fitzpatrick) pulled a hair-raising hoax, and covered with sheets, “burst into the room to the young girls’ screams.”
Ronald Reagan’s dog, Rex, is believed to have seen Lincoln’s ghost as well. The dog would regularly stand at the door to the Lincoln bedroom and bark, and the president believed Rex could see Lincoln.
Several unnamed eyewitnesses have claimed to have seen the shade of Abraham Lincoln lying down on the bed in the Lincoln Bedroom (which was used as a meeting room at the time of his administration), and while others have seen Lincoln sit on the edge of the bed and put his boots on. The most famous eyewitness to the latter was Mary Eben, Eleanor Roosevelt's secretary, who saw Lincoln pulling on his boots (after which she ran screaming from the room).
The last reported sighting of Lincoln's ghost was in the early 1980s, when Tony Savoy, White House operations foreman, came into the White House and saw Lincoln sitting in a chair at the top of some stairs.
Lincoln seems to always stay near the Lincoln bedroom, which was not his bedroom, but rather his presidential office. He doesn't seem to ever be seen in the newer portions of the home and very seldom was he seen on the ground floor. The great man merely lingers within his old stomping grounds. Yet, with each new White House renovation, in particular, the massive Truman remodel, it appears that Lincoln sightings have become quite rare.
Andrew Jackson
The nation’s seventh president Andrew Jackson, apparently still spends time in his old bedroom where he can be heard laughing. Mary Todd Lincoln often said she heard Jackson stomping and swearing. Perhaps his ghost was reliving the raucous 1829 inauguration party in which the White House was effectively trashed by thousands of celebrants exploring the estate. Perhaps it is one of these guests who is still determined to destroy the residential floors. Later on, another observer claimed to see Jackson lying in his old bed and laughing. There was also a reported Jackson encounter during the administration of President Dwight Eisenhower. When he was staring in a menacing manner by the stairway.
Not too far down the hall one of the most observant ghost watchers to ever occupy the Oval Office, Harry Truman, may now himself be a spirit. Jenna Bush, daughter of President George W. Bush, awoke to music from the 1920s, describing, “I was asleep. There was a fireplace in my room, and all of a sudden I heard 1920s music coming out. I could feel it. I freaked out and ran into my sister’s room.” Jenna’s sister, Barbara, believed the story to be malarkey, real rubbish! But, when Jenna dared Barbara to sleep in her room the following night, both heard an ear-splitting opera blaring from the exact same fireplace! No warm, cozy sleep for either that night! At first light, White House workers spilled the beans to the shivering, shaken sisters, stating “they heard it all the time.” In the Bush twins' bedroom, they often heard piano music coming from their fireplace.
"We knew that if any place was haunted, it was this house, but we tried to rationalize it," Jenna wrote in her 2017 memoir with Barbara, "Sisters First."
When White House butler Buddy Carter asked the girls how they slept, they told him about the mysterious singing and music that they heard.
"'Oh, Ms. Jenna, I believe you. You wouldn't believe what I have seen and heard over the years.' Buddy hasn't yet told me his ghost stories, but I keep hoping," she wrote.
William Henry Harrison, who was the first president to die in the White House, was said to haunt the attic, which after a 1927 restoration is now located on the third floor. Harrison was still unpacking when he fell ill, and his poor wife hadn't even arrived from their homestead when he suddenly died. By all accounts, the remote ghost is casually looking for a personal object on the third floor. No one knows what the hell he's looking for, yet he appears to be stuck in some fixed moment in time, even after the attic itself was moved.
Truman's knocking, Michelle's feet, and Ghostbusters
In 1946, Truman wrote to his wife Bess in a letter after he heard a knock on his bedroom door but no one was there.
"I jumped up and put on my bathrobe, opened the door, and no one was there," he wrote. "Went out and looked up and down the hall, looked in your room and Margie's. Still no one. Went back to bed after locking the doors and there were footsteps in your room whose door I'd left open. Jumped and looked and no one was there! The damned place is haunted sure as shootin'. The Secret Service said not even a watchman was up here at that hour ... You and Margie had better come back and protect me before some of these ghosts carry me off."
First Lady Michelle Obama said that she and President Barack Obama once heard noises coming from the hallway outside their room. She also said that family members felt an odd sensation as if someone was gnawing at their feet. Ghosts of Presidential pets would certainly be a change of pace. No one has seen the figures of Lyndon Johnson's dog who was killed on the south lawn by a car or Roosevelt's parrot. But, some have claimed to witness shadows that race across the floor.
Sasha and Malia Obama used the White House ghosts for some fun with friends as well. During a slumber party, as they ate late-night snacks—chocolate-covered pretzels and flavor-blasted goldfish—Malia started telling her friends about the spooky presidents of the past, now roaming the halls as ghosts. As the girls grew quieter and quieter, they heard a whisper…the ghost of George Washington. He told Malia how great a job her father was doing in office and how proud she should be of him. Just like the Ghost Busters, and “not afraid of no ghost,” Sasha crept to the kitchen, from where the whispers seemed to be coming. Crash, Clang, Kaboom—all the pots fell. As she turned on the lights, Sasha discovered the source—of both the clanging and the whispering. There was her dad, Barack Obama, or should we say the “new” George!
Even today, recent White House staffers reported hearing strange noises late at night in the White House. But there’s one president who probably hasn’t come back for a guest appearance. Clinton White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry says he is a believer. "There are, from time to time, reports that the White House is haunted ... from time to time, mysterious appearances of figures from history," McCurry said. "I believe."
McCurry, being interviewed by CNN during his time in the West Wing couldn't say if either of the Clintons have had any midnight encounters of the supernatural kind. "There have been serious people who have serious tales to tell about these encounters. Now, I haven't heard the president or the first lady tell any of these tales, but some people seriously believe that there is a haunting quality to the White House," he said.
Later that year Hillary Rodham Clinton would state in an interview that she was in fact a believer in the House's ghostly history. Claiming to sometimes get the shivers in the residence. “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,” she told Rosie O’Donnell in 1996. “It's neat. It can be a little creepy.”
Like with all things having to do with the presidency, we can all choose to believe or mock what our Presidents, guests, and staff claim to have felt, seen, or experienced. But one thing is certain about our Presidential ghosts, the ghost sightings are usually associated with popular Presidents. Those who seem to have bungled their chance at the high office, don't usually seem to appear in the old residence. After all, seeing Millard Fillmore in his bathtub is not as interesting to the general public as Abe Lincoln watching Winston Churchill come out of one.