THE WHITE HOUSE
Location: Located at the center of Washington DC, the White House was placed according to legend by Freemason designs drafting the layout of the city. Known variously through history as the Executive Mansion, the President's House and the President's Palace, it is situated at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue surrounded by almost twenty acres of landscaped lawns and gardens among with several trees of historical interest. Only five of the 132 rooms are open to the public on tours, 9:30 to 12:30, Tuesday through Saturday except holidays and presidential functions. No admission is charged, but it is a good idea to get to Ellipse Booth early where the tour starts. The tours end promptly at 12:30.
Description of Place: The White House is one of the most easily recognized structures in the United States. A symbol of liberty, prudence and prestige, the face of the American government, it has been the home of every American President except for George Washington. Subject to numerous renovations and additions since it has been built, every American President has left their own touch on the mansion during their term of office. Constructed of Virginia sandstone, the stately white edifice was built in a classic style associated with the 16th Century style of Italian architect Andrea Palladio. The North Side facing Lafayette Square has an Ionic portico with a semi-circular portico on the South Side and a private entrance for the President and his family. Low-lying terraces or pavilions were added in 1807 during the administration of Thomas Jefferson A west terrace connects with the three story Executive Wing built on 1902 for Theodore Roosevelt, later joined by an east terrace joining the East Wing in 1942. Several rooms of note are shown on tours including the East Room, the largest room in the White House where Presidents William McKinley and John Kennedy once lay in state, an Oval blue room where the current President receives his guests for state dinners, the Red Room where the First Lady receives and entertains guests, the Green room used for informal receptions and the State Dining Room used for formal dinners. The most famous room is the Lincoln Bedroom which has been a guest room for guests of the President; it's the only room devoted to a previous president. The White House is also a museum filled with a treasure trove of priceless and irreplaceable portraits, artwork and antiques; every object has a story or legend connected to it in some capacity enough to cover a volume of books.
Ghostly Manifestations: The White House is one of the most famous haunted locations in the United States. President Harry S. Truman knew it was haunted at the end of his term of office. It's history is full of turbulent legends, historical significance, tragic events, recurring periods of restoration and characters who became much larger after death than they were in life. Like Truman, nearly every president has departed office with at least one story from his term of office. Most of the hauntings begin with President Abraham Lincoln as he tried to preserve the union of the United States and welcome back the seceded states that was then the Confederate States of America. Lincoln was believed to have held séances in the East Room for his wife, grieving over the death of their son, William, who died from typhoid fever symptoms, but it was also rumored he was taking advice from long deceased American figures in the spirit world to lead the war. His assassination on April 14, 1865 has been at the center of more ghost stories than any other historical figure. In fact, Lincoln himself even had visions and a dream of his death. Grace Coolidge was the first person to see his depressed visage as he stared deep in thought from the oval window over the main entrance. Lincoln was known to stand there as he brooded over the Civil War, and many White House servants have seen him standing there over the years. Congresswoman Christine Sullivan saw him standing there during a visit to the White House in 1995.
Since then, the Lincoln Bedroom across the hall from the Queen's Suite has been at the center of most of the stories in the White House. It's been guest quarters for Queen Elizabeth, Princess Anne of Great Britain, Queen Wilhelmina and Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Queen Frederika of Greece. Winston Churchill also once used the room, but modern legend insists, that during her stay during the Roosevelt Administration, Queen Wilhelmina was wakened by a knock at the door in the middle of the night. When she opened it, she was met by the apparition of Abraham Lincoln standing in the hallway then turning away from her. She recounted this story to FDR the next day, but he was little surprised because Mrs. Roosevelt often felt she was being watched when she worked at the desk in the room. She turned around often to try and catch who was looking over her shoulder, but it never appeared as an apparition for her.
Ironically, while he was alive, Lincoln never slept in that room, but he did use it as a Cabinet room and signed the Emancipation Proclamation there. He also met guests in the antechamber next door, but he was often stressed by visitors, but he endured it because he believed the American President should be accessible to the people. In those days, people came and entered the White House at all times. A partition was installed so he could slip from his office to the waiting room of guests and into the private family library where his small family shared many moments. As even historian Benjamin Franklin Gates is quick to point out, Lincoln is not even known to have slept in that bed, but it was ordered by his wife during his administration along with a Rosewood table for what was then the Prince of Wales Room in hopes the prince would honor them with a return visit.
From time to time, Fala, FDR's Scotch terrier, barked at the empty air, and many people including Roosevelt, believed he was barking at the amused ghost. Rex, the basset hound owned by President Josiah Bartlett also seemed to run through the hall barking at something. An aficionado of American history, Bartlett himself does not scoff at the paranormal.
In her book, My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House, Lillian Park shared a number of supernatural experiences, some of them were her own. She sometimes worked as a seamstress, and while she was hemming the bedspread in the Rose Bedroom (the modern Queen's Suite) to have it ready for a visit from Queen Elizabeth, she gradually became aware of a cold presence standing behind her. Frightened, she rushed out of the room not looking once behind her. It was three years before she could bring herself to finish that bedspread.
On another occasion, Parks was working in a small bedroom near the Lincoln bedroom when she heard footsteps. She kept looking up and expecting to see someone come near her, but no one ever did. When she asked who was staying in the Lincoln Bedroom, the houseman on duty merely suggested that could only be Old Abe making himself known. During the Haney administration, Senator John Blutarsky used to sneak into the White House tours in order to encourage guests to ask about the ghosts.
Roosevelt's secretary, Mary Eben, sad she was saw Lincoln laying on his bed, and Katurah Brooks, a maid, eventually confided in Parks that she had heard hollow laughter coming from the Queen's Suite, but this could not necessarily be Lincoln, as that room had once been used by President Andrew Jackson, proving that Lincoln is not the only one in the White House. Jackson was first heard by Mary Todd Lincoln here in 1865, and Lincoln's son, William, was witnessed during the Grant administration. He was seen often by the daughters of President Andrew Johnson. Lincoln's wife is also said to have experienced the apparitions of Thomas Jefferson and John Tyler in the Oval Room next to the Lincoln Bedroom. President Grover Cleveland's wife was the first woman to give birth in the White House, and her screams of childbirth are heard from time to time. Woodrow Wilson's wife was approached by the ghost of Dolly Madison when she wanted to dig up her rose garden and replace it. Dolly apparently had her way because those roses are still there to this day. During the Taft administration, Abigail Addams could be seen walking through the doors of the East Room and even be seen hanging spectral laundry. The ghost of President William Henry Harrison was once seen in the attic. At the North portico, the ghost of Anne Surratt still pounds at the doors for clemency when her mother, Mary Surratt, was falsely accused of complacency in the Lincoln assassination. (Marry Surratt's ghost haunts Fort McNair, where she was hung for her alleged crime.) In 1953, the ghosts of British soldiers were claimed running through the hall trying to once again burn down the White House. President Cole Munroe during his presidency was often sending secret service to bring him proof the ghosts existed for his fascination with the supernatural, and he's been in contact with every successor since from Kramer to Bartlett to send him stories of Lincoln, Jackson, Dolly and the rest.
Most of the stories though are attributed to Lincoln who grows restless during times of national crisis. Truman felt him often and even heard him walking the hallway and knocking as his door trying to give him advice. As recent as 1990, President Matthew Douglas used to talk out loud to the ghosts of the Oval Office as he paced back and forth, but he never recalls getting an actual response from them. His visiting daughter, Samantha, and her daughter often stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom, and she believes she saw the outline of his apparition standing at the window one night. Time Magazine thought enough of her experience to add her story to their next issue where she adds that the portrait of Lincoln that hangs in the room is often askew. It's been adjusted often, but it invariably skews back back eventually. Another First Daughter, Hallie Richmond, always hastens her step as she passed that room.
In recent years, even Executive Chef Victor Baxter hired to prepare the dinners for the president and his gatherings has been touched by ghosts. The White House kitchen is very crampt, and he often feels the sensation of being watched. At times, he catches a glimpse of someone in the Executive Dining Room, but when secret service rushes up to escort the person out, the mysterious visitor has vanished.
History: When one looks at the White House today, it is hard to believe that it was once surrounded by less auspicious and more rural surroundings within walking distance of swamps and marsh. Construction started with a cornerstone first laid on October 13, 1792, marked with a brass plate that later vanished, leaving behind a mystery as to where that cornerstone is today. It was designed by Irish-American architect James Hoban through a public architecture contest, beating out architect and later President Thomas Jefferson. During it's construction, President George Washington lived in new York City and his home at Mount Vernon, Virginia, but he never lived to see the structure finished. When the Executive Mansion was finished in 1800, Second President John Adams was the first president to preside there, and at the time, most of it was still unfurnished with his wife, Abigail Adams, using the East Room to hang laundry.
The stately white edifice, however, suffered damage when during the War of 1812, British troops set fire to the structure, gutting the interior structure. Legend claims that Dolly Madison, wife of President James Madison, was only able to save one piece of artwork, a portrait of George Washington. Helped by servants, she carried it through an escape tunnel leading to the Octagon, briefly dropping it once in the tunnel as the White House burned behind her. Hoban supervised the restoration, completing it in 1817, adding the South Portico at the time, although thoughts were once entertained as moving the nation's capital further inland to Cleveland, Ohio. The Washington portrait was subsequently returned to its original place of honor, and has not been removed from that spot since. White paint was applied over the blackened exterior, which lead to the first use of the mansion being known as the White House, although this designation would not become official until President Theodore Roosevelt had the name applied to the official stationary in 1902.
Renovations and alterations were constant over the years. President William McKinley was the first president to have a telephone, and President William Howard Taft required a much larger bathtub for a man of his side. Between 1948 and 1952, President Harry S. Truman authorized the largest renovation project thus far, adding new foundations and a steel framework to strength the the original sandstone walls. As a result of his renovations, the number of rooms increased from 62 to 132. It is during the Truman renovations that the ghosts of the White House first became stirred and and part of the American consciousness.
During the administration of President John F. Kennedy, the White House was again refurbished by his wife, First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. A permanent art collection was assembled for the White House, and Kennedy's successor, President Lyndon Johnson later established the Committee for the Preservation of the White House in 1964.
Identity of Ghosts: Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 by an actor and Southern sympathizer named John Wilkes Booth who escaped to Virginia with co-conspirator David Herold by his side. It is believed that their original plans were to kidnap Lincoln with the assassination occurring as an afterthought by Booth. Booth was shot and killed at Garrett's Farm near Port Royal, Virginia just twelve days after the assassination. The man who shot him was a Union soldier named Boston Corbett acting against orders to take Booth alive. As Booth was buried, Corbett became a bit of a celebrity, but later lost his mind by opening fire in public and vanishing into obscurity. The man known as John St. Helens confessing to be the living Booth was possibly Corbett, but this is unconfirmed. Booth's ghost has been seen at Ford's Theater where he shot the President. Lincoln's ghost has also been described at Fort Monroe in Virginia and his vault in Springfield, Illinois.
Andrew Jackson was the first president to experience an assassination attempt, but he survived. He's also been linked to the the Legend of the Bell Witch. Dolly Madison has also been felt at the Octagon, now the American Institute of Architects Museum. William "Willie" Lincoln died in the White House in 1862, survived only by Robert, the eldest of Lincoln's four sons, who went on to serve under Presidents McKinley and Garfield, both assassinated in office like his father. Presidents Thomas Jefferson, John Tyler and William Henry Harrison have been reported along with First Ladies Abigail Addams, Dolly Madison and Frances Cleveland, Grover Cleveland's wife. Anne Surratt and unnamed British soldiers have also been described.
Source/Comments: The West Wing (1999-2006) - Research culled from Haunted America by Michael Norman and Beth Scott, page 79, Haunted Houses by Richard Winer and Nancy Osborn-Ishmael, page 135, Haunted Houses USA by Dolores Riccio and Joan Bingham, page 183 and Houses of Horror by Richard Winer, page 93