Things That Go Bump at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Part One: The Presidential Phantoms| The Strange History Podcast

0:00 Speaker 1: Hello, dear listeners, Welcome back to the Strange History podcast, where we explore the spooky corners of the past and occasionally wander into a government building that may or may not still host its former tenants. Tonight, we're tiptoeing through the most famous and possibly most haunted house in America, sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. The White House has seen everything, wars, weddings, scandals, assassinations, and at least one seance in the Red Room. It's been burned, rebuilt, expanded, renovated, and redecorated.

0:36 Speaker 1: Yet no matter how much fresh paint or patriotic bunting they slap on those walls, history still bleeds through. In fact, there are so many ghost stories inside the White House that if you listen carefully, you can practically hear the echoes of every decision ever made there, along with a few disembodied opinions about how you're running the place now. So grab your ghost to techcting monacle, light of founding Fragrances, lavender and liberty candle, and join me as we uncover the presidential phantoms of Washington, d C.

1:10 Speaker 2: The Resident in Chief Abraham Lincoln.

1:14 Speaker 1: Lincoln's ghost is the undisputed star of White House hauntings. His presence has been reported more than any other spirit in residence by first ladies, queen's, prime ministers, and even Winston Churchill, who, depending on who you ask, met Lincoln while wearing absolutely nothing but a cigar. The stories began soon after Lincoln's assassination in eighteen sixty five. In the years that followed, Grace Coolidge, wife of President Calvin Coolidge, was the first first lady to publicly admit seeing him.

1:48 Speaker 1: She described the tall figure of Lincoln standing silently at a window of what's now called the Lincoln Bedroom, hands clasped behind his back, gazing toward the Potomac. She said, he looked as if he were still watching over the Union. Then there was Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, who was staying overnight when a knock at her door jolted her awake. She opened it to find a tall, bearded man in a black coat and top hat. She fainted on the spot. When she came to the hallway was empty, but the identity of her visitor seemed rather obvious.

2:23 Speaker 1: Even Eleanor Roosevelt, the pragmatic powerhouse of the New Deal, said she often felt Lincoln's presence while working late in the Lincoln bedroom. She would sense someone behind her, turn and find no one, but the feeling of being quietly watched lingered. And then there's Winston Churchill's version. After a hot bath, cigar in hand, he stepped into the bedroom naked as the day he was born, only to find President Lincoln standing near the fireplace. Churchill, never want to lose his composure, greeted him with good evening, mister President, you seem to have me at a disadvantage.

3:03 Speaker 1: The apparition vanished. Churchill promptly switched to another room for the rest of his stay, which frankly was the most British possible way to handle a ghost encounter. No drama, just quiet embarrassment and a room change. Maybe Lincoln just never left, because well, his work never really ended. He carried the weight of an entire country through Civil War, and even after death, it seems he couldn't quite put the burden down. Some say he walks those halls not out of unrest, but out of duty or maybe dear listeners, He's just there to make sure no one else redecorates that bedroom in Millennial Gray.

3:40 Speaker 2: The boy in the halls Willie Lincoln.

3:44 Speaker 1: Lincoln's son Willie died of typhoid fever in eighteen sixty two, at only eleven years old, inside the White House. His death devastated both parents. Mary Todd Lincoln, in her grief, held seances in the Red Room, convinced she could reach him. Spiritualism was fashionable then. The Civil War had left countless families desperate for connection to their lost loved ones. After the Lincolns left, stories of a small boy appearing in hallways persisted. In the eighteen seventies, members of the Grant Administration described seeing a child playing quietly in the shadows, always wearing mid century clothing, often with an expression both curious and sad.

4:27 Speaker 1: A maid in the early nineteen hundreds claimed she would be folding Linen's only to feel a gentle tug on her sleeve. No one there, just a faint giggle echoing down the corridor. Others say that if you stand near the old staircase at midnight, you might hear the light patter of a child running by, or the creak of a door opening for someone small. Unlike most hauntings, Willie seems to bring comfort rather than fear. Perhaps he's still waiting for his mother, perhaps he just in joys the attention, or maybe, like most eleven year olds, he's still trying to stay up past bedtime.

5:07 Speaker 1: Either way, he's the sweetest ghost in Washington, which is saying something in a town not known for innocence.

5:15 Speaker 3: Tonight's episode is brought to you by Old Abe's Afterlife Insurance, protecting presidents from unfinished business since eighteen sixty five, whether it's lingering, cabinet disputes or eternal hallway pacing. We'll make sure your legacy sticks around forever, Old Abes, because some policies never expire.

5:33 Speaker 2: The angry General Andrew Jackson.

5:36 Speaker 1: Now we move to Andrew Jackson, a man so fiery in life that death apparently didn't slow him down. During the Lincoln administration, Mary Todd Lincoln reported hearing Jackson's booming laughter and furious stomping in what's now called the Queen's Bedroom, then the Rose Room. White House staff over the decades have told similar stories. A sudden chill, heavy footfalls, and low muttering that could only belong to Old Hickory himself. One butler in the nineteen forties, swore he heard Jackson's distinctive Tennessee drawl, swearing under his breath in an empty hallway.

6:15 Speaker 1: Modern psychics claim they still feel his presence in that same room, angry, restless, and muttering about those blasted politicians, which could describe half of DC. But still. Jackson was known for duels, temper tantrums, and an unwavering belief that he was always right. So if anyone was going to stick around just to argue with posterity, it would be him. Honestly, if you ever feel a draft of hot air and indignation while touring the White House, it might not be politics. It might just be Andrew Jackson still yelling about tariffs.

6:52 Speaker 2: Laundry day never ends, Abigail Adams.

6:57 Speaker 1: When the White House first opened in eighteen hundred, it was barely finished, cold, damp, and surrounded by muddy fields. Abigail Adams, ever practical, needed a place to dry laundry, so she strung clothes lines across the East room, which had no furniture yet and plenty of space for sheets to billow in the breeze. To this day, White House staff and visitors sometimes report the smell of wet linen and lavender wafting through the east room, especially on humid days. Others claimed to see a petite woman in colonial dress, arms outstretched as if carrying laundry.

7:33 Speaker 1: President Taft once joked that the east room was well aired for ghosts, though he refused to sleep there. I like to think Abigail's not haunting the place out of regret, just commitment to her chores. The woman ran a household, raised a future president, and helped her husband shape a nation. If she wants to come back and fold a few towels, she's earned it. Besides, if you've ever done laundry for a family, know it never really ends, not even in the afterlife.

8:04 Speaker 2: The Violin in the Night Thomas Jefferson.

8:08 Speaker 1: Few ghosts are as understated as Thomas Jefferson's, who said to wander the Yellow Oval room softly playing his violin. Jefferson loved music. It was his solace and his pride. He owned several violins, and letters from his friends describe him playing for hours after dinner. Guards through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries claimed they sometimes heard a faint string melody at night drifting down from the Yellow Oval room, no one could ever locate the source. Once a watchman followed the sound all the way to the door.

8:43 Speaker 1: When he opened it, silence, Another decades later said he heard a full melody and even wrote it down. It matched a known minuet Jefferson had once performed in Monticello. It's almost comforting, isn't it. Jefferson's ghost doesn't see lamb doors or rearranged furniture. He just practices. The idea that even in the afterlife, some presidents can't stop multitasking feels very on brand for America.

9:12 Speaker 2: The garden guardian Dolly Madison.

9:16 Speaker 1: Dolly Madison was in her day the most famous woman in Washington. She saved George Washington's portrait from the British Fire of eighteen fourteen, turned political receptions into elegant affairs, and basically invented the concept of first Lady glamour. After her death, gardeners in the early nineteen hundreds were ordered to remove the rose garden she had designed, But as the story goes, several workers saw a woman in a turban and flowing gown appear among the roses. She smiled pleasantly, but with unmistakable authority, and the crew dropped their tools.

9:52 Speaker 1: The project was canceled immediately. Since then, Dolly's ghost has reportedly been seen wandering the garden, especially at dusk, checking on her beloved roses. Staffers have heard the rustle of her skirts or caught the scent of her perfume when walking alone near the hedges. Dolly Madison the only first Lady who could host a tea party and stop a construction project from beyond the grave. Honestly, every ha needs a ghost like her. If you ever visit the White House grounds and smell lilac perfume on the wind, don't worry.

10:28 Speaker 1: You just got a nod from Washington's most stylish specter.

10:32 Speaker 3: Tonight's episode is also brought to you by Founding Fragrances. The candle line inspired by America's most aromatic hauntings, light Up Abigail's East Room, Linen, Lincoln's Midnight Resolve, or my favorite, Dolly's Ghost Garden. Founding Fragrances because history smells better by candlelight.

10:51 Speaker 1: And that, Dear listeners, concludes Part one of Things that Go Bump At sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. I've met the presidents and first ladies who never truly left, each with a reason to stay, unfinished business, eternal loyalty, or just an unbreakable lease on American history. But our tour isn't over yet. Next time we'll descend deeper into the West Wings shadows, where knocks echo at midnight, a British soldier patrols the lawn, and an entire staff once lived in terror of something known only as the Thing.

11:27 Speaker 1: Until then, keep your lights low, your mind open, and your laundry hung responsibly. I'm Amy, and this is the Strange History Podcast. Sleep Tight. And if you hear violin music drifting through your walls tonight, don't be alarmed. It's just Thomas Jefferson practicing again.