Abraham Lincoln has long been said to haunt the White House.
Sightings
- First Lady Grace Coolidge, wife of President Calvin Coolidge, was the first to claim to spot Lincoln's ghost. She claimed to see Lincoln looking at the Potomac River sadly from the Oval Office.
- Carl Sandburg claimed to have "sensed" Lincoln do the same as well.
- Both Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and Eleanor Roosevelt were said to have seen Lincoln during World War II at the Lincoln Bedroom (Lincoln's office during the war); the Queen admitted to fainting after seeing Lincoln in his top hat.
- Margaret Truman's hearing of tappings that caused Harry Truman to order the White House renovated, keeping the building from falling down, have been attributed to the ghost.
- Gerald Ford's daughter Susan Ford made a point of never sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom, out of fear of Lincoln's ghost.
- Others who have sensed or reportedly seen Lincoln were Harry Truman and Fala.
- President Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman have all claimed to have heard unexplained rappings on their bedroom doors. What made them think it was Lincoln is unknown.
- Lyndon B. Johnson is supposed to have spoken with the ghost of Mr. Lincoln. Johnson, standing in the second floor room that had been Lincoln's office (Lincoln had used the Oval Office as a library), asked "You had a war, you had a Civil Rights movement, you had protesters and critics, what can I do?" And the story goes, the response was "Don't go to the theater."
- Maureen Reagan, daughter of Ronald Reagan and her husband claimed to have seen the ghost several times in the Lincoln bedroom. She described the ghost as "a transparent figure" (prompting a Democratic senator to remark, "Sounds more to me like she's been in the Cabinet Room.") Reagan's dog reportedly refused to enter the Lincoln bedroom and often stood outside the room barking.
Places
Lincoln's ghost has reportedly been seen outside of the White House as well. In Loundonville, New York, Lincoln's ghost is 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 include 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 dream
In one story, Lincoln had a dream that he heard wailing noises. He tried to find the noise, but couldn't. Lincoln then checked the East Room. There, he saw several people, who didn't pay any attention to Lincoln, around a corpse. He grabbed one sleeve of a soldier and asked who is dead. The soldier, replied sadly, "The president is dead." Disturbed by the dream, Lincoln told his friends and wife, Mary Todd, about it. Then, the tragic happened. Lincoln was shot in the back of the head by well-known actor John Wilkes Booth. The dream as Lincoln told his cabinet on April 14, is as follows. "In the dream, I was awakened by a faint moaning coming from somewhere nearby. I stood, and began hunting the noise, finally finding my way to the east room, where men and women were shrouded in funeral shawls. I saw a coffin on a dais, and soldiers at either end. A captain stood nearby, and I addressed him 'Who is dead in the White House' say I. 'The President,' is his answer, 'he was killed by an assassin.' In the coffin was a corpse in funeral vestments, but the face was obscured. A loud sob left the croud, and I awoke."