Does the Ghost of Abraham Lincoln Really Haunt the White House?

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Lincoln himself was a strong believer in the supernatural.

Like any other home, the White House has it's ghost stories.

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Blog Created: 12-5-2023

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The ghost of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, also known as the White House Ghost, is said to have haunted the White House since Lincoln's assassination in 1865. Lincoln's ghost has also been said to haunt many of his former residences in Springfield, Illinois, including his former law office.

The ghost of Abraham Lincoln is said to haunt the White House.

Of the several stories about the ghosts of former presidents of the United States revisiting the White House, Lincoln's ghost is perhaps the most common and popular. First Lady Grace Coolidge, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and President Theodore Roosevelt are among those who claimed to have seen Lincoln's ghost in the White House.

Theodore Roosevelt.

Reported apparitions ~

The White House's most famous alleged apparition is that of Abraham Lincoln. The first person reported to have actually 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.

Perhaps the most famous incident was in 1942 when Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands allegedly heard footsteps outside her White House bedroom and answered a knock on the door, only to see Lincoln in frock coat and top hat standing in front of her (she promptly fainted).

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill loved to retire late, take a long, hot bath while drinking a Scotch, and smoke a cigar and relax. There is an account that on this occasion, he climbed out of the bath and naked, but for his cigar, walked into the adjoining bedroom. He was startled to see Lincoln standing by the fireplace in the room, leaning on the mantle. Churchill, always quick on the uptake, simply took his cigar out of his mouth, tapped the ash off the end of his cigar and said "Good evening, Mr. President. You seem to have me at a disadvantage." Lincoln smiled softly, as if laughing and disappeared.

President Theodore Roosevelt, presidential daughter Maureen Reagan, her husband Dennis C. Revell, and a number of staff members of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration all claimed to have seen Lincoln's spirit. On one occasion FDR's personal valet ran screaming from the White House claiming he had seen Lincoln's ghost.

One of William H. Mumler's most famous photographs apparently 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), claim that the photo was taken in the early 1870s, Lincoln had assumed the name of 'Mrs. Lindall' and that Lincoln had to be encouraged by Mumler's wife (a medium) to identify her husband on the photo. Though the image has been dismissed as being a double exposure, it has been widely circulated.

William H. Mumler's photograph showing "Lincoln" behind his wife Mary Todd Lincoln.

Eleanor Roosevelt never admitted to having seen Lincoln's ghost, but did say that she felt his presence repeatedly throughout the White House. She also said that the Roosevelt family dog, Fala, would sometimes bark for no reason at what she felt was Lincoln's ghost.

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.

The former president's footsteps are also said to be heard in the hall outside the Lincoln Bedroom.

Lillian Rogers Parks stated in her 1961 autobiography My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House that she had heard them.

Margaret Truman, daughter of President Harry S. Truman, said she heard a specter rapping at the door of the Lincoln Bedroom when she stayed there, and believed it was Lincoln.

President Truman himself was once awakened by raps at the door while spending a night in the Lincoln Bedroom.

Several unnamed eyewitnesses have claimed to have seen the shade of Abraham Lincoln actually 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).

Lincoln's ghost was reportedly seen outside of the White House as well. In Loudonville, New York, Lincoln's ghost was said to haunt a house that was owned by a woman who was present at Ford's Theatre when Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth. Other Lincoln hauntings included his grave in Springfield, Illinois, a portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln and a phantom train on nights in April along the same path his funeral train followed from Washington, D.C. to Springfield.

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.

Abraham Lincoln is not the only Lincoln ghost witnesses claim to have seen in the White House. Willie Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's 11-year-old son, died in the White House of typhoid on February 20, 1862. Willie Lincoln's ghost was first reported to have been seen in the White House by staff members of the Grant administration in the 1870s, but reports have been made as recently as the 1960s. President Lyndon B. Johnson's college-age daughter, Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, claims to have seen the ghost and talked to him.

Willie Lincoln died in the White House during his father's presidency.

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From: Mental Floss

12 People Who Have Supposedly Seen or Felt Lincoln's Ghost

By Stacy Conradt | Oct 28, 2016

It would seem that one of the most haunted houses in the U.S. is also one of the most famous. Many spirits have been reported roaming the halls of the White House, but the one that’s seen most often is 16th president Abraham Lincoln—and that includes sightings by some of the most powerful people in the world.

GRACE COOLIDGE ~

In a series of articles for American Magazine, First Lady Grace Coolidge revealed that she once saw Lincoln standing by a window in the Lincoln Bedroom, which had previously been his office. She noted that he was gazing out the window across the Potomac, to a spot that had once been the site of a Civil War battlefield.

QUEEN WILHELMINA OF THE NETHERLANDS ~

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands stayed at the White House during a state visit in 1942, and apparently heard a knock at the door around midnight. When she opened it, the 16th president was standing there. The queen promptly fainted.

MARY EBEN, ELEANOR ROOSEVELT’S SECRETARY ~

The First Lady’s secretary once reported seeing Honest Abe in the northwest bedroom. He was sitting on the bed, pulling his boots on hurriedly as if he had somewhere important to be.

WINSTON CHURCHILL ~

There’s a famous story about how the British Prime Minister met Lincoln’s ghost. During one of his stays at the residence in the 1940s, Churchill had just finished a bath and was walking into the main bedroom, completely nude, when he saw the president standing by the fireplace. “Good evening Mr. President. You seem to have me at a disadvantage,” Churchill is said to have quipped. Though he handled it well, the Prime Minister requested different rooms on subsequent visits.

Before you dismiss the story out of hand, note that it does get one thing right—Churchill was known for lounging around his White House quarters in the buff.

MAUREEN REAGAN AND DENNIS REVELL ~

Ronald Reagan’s daughter Maureen was no stranger to overnight visits at the White House. On at least one occasion, her husband Dennis woke up to see a shadowy figure standing by the fireplace. Maureen didn’t believe him until she, too, saw a man in a red coat standing in their room in the middle of the night. She initially thought it was her father in a red bathrobe—until she realized she could see right through him.

When the president heard of the encounters, he said, “Why don’t you send him down the hall? I’ve got a few questions I’d like to ask him.”

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER ~

Ike once told press secretary James Hagerty that he was once walking down a hallway when he spied a figure coming down the hall straight toward him. After a moment, he realized it was Abraham Lincoln.

LADY BIRD JOHNSON ~

Lady Bird Johnson’s press secretary, Liz Carpenter, once said that the First Lady had been watching a documentary on Lincoln’s death when a plaque hanging in the room caught her attention. When she read it, she realized that it mentioned Lincoln’s time in the room—and a feeling of coldness and unease washed over her.

FDR’S VALET, CESAR CARRERA ~

It’s been reported that Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s personal valet, Cesar Carrera, ran from the White House screaming on one occasion—he had just spotted the 16th president’s shade.

TONY SAVOY, WHITE HOUSE OPERATIONS FOREMAN ~

Savoy has said that he was working on the second floor of the residence in the early 1980s when he happened upon a snazzily dressed Lincoln. Wearing a pinstripe suit, the president was sitting in a chair with his hands folded together and his legs crossed. Savoy blinked, and Lincoln was gone.

HARRY TRUMAN ~

Truman never saw Lincoln, but according to one story, he believed that phantom knocks on the door were caused by his predecessor. The rappings often happened when he was working on important speeches. Truman's daughter Margaret said her father actually wished Lincoln and other deceased presidents would drop by. “I’m sure they’re here,” he told her. “I won’t lock my doors or bar them if any of the old coots in the pictures want to come out of their frames for a friendly chat.”

It wasn’t the only time Truman talked about the ghosts in the White House. In 1945, he wrote a letter to his wife, Bess, that said, “the floors pop and the drapes move back and forth—I can just imagine old Andy and Teddy having an argument over Franklin.”

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT ~

Eleanor used the Lincoln Bedroom as her study, and though she never saw him like her secretary did, she reported feeling his presence, especially when she was working alone late at night. The Roosevelt's Scotch terrier, Fala, was prone to staring intently at nothing while barking, which FDR chalked up to Lincoln's ghost.

NICE TRY, BETTY FORD ~

On her last night in the White House, Gerald and Betty Ford’s daughter Susan slept in the Lincoln bedroom with a friend, hoping to catch a glimpse of the famous apparition. Nothing appeared, but Betty Ford tried to make it up to them—in the morning, she entered the room wearing a sheet, making scary noises, and reciting the Gettysburg Address. “We were like, yeah mom, we’re a little too old for that, but it was funny,” Susan later said.

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FROM: INSIDEHOOK

Lincoln Presidential Library Weighs Auctioning Artifacts to Pay Off Debt

The gloves Lincoln wore the night of his assassination could be among the relics sold.

BY REBECCA GIBIAN, May 18, 2018 5:00 am

Back in 2007, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALMPLM) in Springfield, Illinois, acquired a number of precious artifacts connected to the 16th president. But, to finance the purchase, the foundation that runs the library took out a $23 million loan that it has been unable to repay in full. So to resolve the debt, the foundation is considering a radical step: sell some of the items in the collection that they acquired using the loan. With that money, the foundation had bought the privately held Barry and Louise Taper Collection, which included a notebook Lincoln wrote calculations in during his childhood, as well as a fan belonging to Mary Todd Lincoln and bloodstained gloves that Lincoln wore the night of his assassination.

Stovepipe hat believed to have belonged to Abraham Lincoln and the bloodstained gloves he carried on the night of his assassination. (Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum).

Historians at the ALMPLM asked the foundation to acquire these relics 11 years ago so they could “broaden the ALPLM’s holdings and once purchased, ensure [the collection] would be made available to the public in perpetuity,” according to a GoFundMe page set up by the foundation. The foundation has privately raised $13.3 million over the past 11 years to repay the loan but the remaining $9.7 million comes due in Oct. 2019. The foundation is doing everything it can to avoid selling the relics, including the auctioning off of several Marilyn Monroe items that were also acquired in the 2007 purchase.

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Lincoln lookalike strikes the same pose as the portrait.

Lincoln's original death mask cast.

Lincoln laid out in his casket.

Does Lincoln actually roam the White House and it's grounds?

Photo taken during re-construction reportedly showing the ghost of Lincoln.

Close up.

The White House in Washington DC.

The Lincoln bedroom was used by Lincoln as a second floor study and reception room.

Another place said to be haunted is Lincoln's mausoleum.

Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theater.

The presidential box at Ford's Theater where Lincoln was shot is another haunted place. He sure gets around.

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