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,

0:04 Speaker 1: where we explore the spooky corners of the past and

0:07 Speaker 1: occasionally wander into a government building that may or may

0:10 Speaker 1: not still host its former tenants. Tonight, we're tiptoeing through

0:15 Speaker 1: the most famous and possibly most haunted house in America,

0:19 Speaker 1: sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. The White House has seen everything, wars, weddings, scandals, assassinations,

0:28 Speaker 1: and at least one seance in the Red Room. It's

0:31 Speaker 1: been burned, rebuilt, expanded, renovated, and redecorated. Yet no matter

0:37 Speaker 1: how much fresh paint or patriotic bunting they slap on

0:41 Speaker 1: those walls, history still bleeds through. In fact, there are

0:45 Speaker 1: so many ghost stories inside the White House that if

0:48 Speaker 1: you listen carefully, you can practically hear the echoes of

0:52 Speaker 1: every decision ever made there, along with a few disembodied

0:56 Speaker 1: opinions about how you're running the place now. So grab

0:59 Speaker 1: your ghost to techcting monacle, light of founding Fragrances, lavender

1:03 Speaker 1: and liberty candle, and join me as we uncover the

1:06 Speaker 1: 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.

1:18 Speaker 1: His presence has been reported more than any other spirit

1:21 Speaker 1: in residence by first ladies, queen's, prime ministers, and even

1:26 Speaker 1: Winston Churchill, who, depending on who you ask, met Lincoln

1:30 Speaker 1: while wearing absolutely nothing but a cigar. The stories began

1:35 Speaker 1: soon after Lincoln's assassination in eighteen sixty five. In the

1:39 Speaker 1: years that followed, Grace Coolidge, wife of President Calvin Coolidge,

1:44 Speaker 1: was the first first lady to publicly admit seeing him.

1:48 Speaker 1: She described the tall figure of Lincoln standing silently at

1:51 Speaker 1: a window of what's now called the Lincoln Bedroom, hands

1:55 Speaker 1: clasped behind his back, gazing toward the Potomac. She said,

1:59 Speaker 1: he looked as if he were still watching over the Union.

2:02 Speaker 1: Then there was Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, who was

2:06 Speaker 1: staying overnight when a knock at her door jolted her awake.

2:10 Speaker 1: She opened it to find a tall, bearded man in

2:12 Speaker 1: a black coat and top hat. She fainted on the spot.

2:17 Speaker 1: When she came to the hallway was empty, but the

2:20 Speaker 1: identity of her visitor seemed rather obvious. Even Eleanor Roosevelt,

2:25 Speaker 1: the pragmatic powerhouse of the New Deal, said she often

2:28 Speaker 1: felt Lincoln's presence while working late in the Lincoln bedroom.

2:32 Speaker 1: She would sense someone behind her, turn and find no one,

2:37 Speaker 1: but the feeling of being quietly watched lingered. And then

2:41 Speaker 1: there's Winston Churchill's version. After a hot bath, cigar in hand,

2:46 Speaker 1: he stepped into the bedroom naked as the day he

2:49 Speaker 1: was born, only to find President Lincoln standing near the fireplace. Churchill,

2:54 Speaker 1: never want to lose his composure, greeted him with good evening,

2:58 Speaker 1: mister President, you seem to have me at a disadvantage.

3:03 Speaker 1: The apparition vanished. Churchill promptly switched to another room for

3:07 Speaker 1: the rest of his stay, which frankly was the most

3:09 Speaker 1: British possible way to handle a ghost encounter. No drama,

3:14 Speaker 1: just quiet embarrassment and a room change. Maybe Lincoln just

3:18 Speaker 1: never left, because well, his work never really ended. He

3:22 Speaker 1: carried the weight of an entire country through Civil War,

3:25 Speaker 1: and even after death, it seems he couldn't quite put

3:28 Speaker 1: the burden down. Some say he walks those halls not

3:31 Speaker 1: out of unrest, but out of duty or maybe dear listeners,

3:35 Speaker 1: He's just there to make sure no one else redecorates

3:37 Speaker 1: 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,

3:47 Speaker 1: at only eleven years old, inside the White House. His

3:51 Speaker 1: death devastated both parents. Mary Todd Lincoln, in her grief,

3:56 Speaker 1: held seances in the Red Room, convinced she could reach him.

4:00 Speaker 1: Spiritualism was fashionable then. The Civil War had left countless

4:04 Speaker 1: families desperate for connection to their lost loved ones. After

4:08 Speaker 1: the Lincolns left, stories of a small boy appearing in

4:11 Speaker 1: hallways persisted. In the eighteen seventies, members of the Grant

4:16 Speaker 1: Administration described seeing a child playing quietly in the shadows,

4:21 Speaker 1: always wearing mid century clothing, often with an expression both

4:26 Speaker 1: curious and sad. A maid in the early nineteen hundreds

4:30 Speaker 1: claimed she would be folding Linen's only to feel a

4:32 Speaker 1: gentle tug on her sleeve. No one there, just a

4:35 Speaker 1: faint giggle echoing down the corridor. Others say that if

4:40 Speaker 1: you stand near the old staircase at midnight, you might

4:44 Speaker 1: hear the light patter of a child running by, or

4:47 Speaker 1: the creak of a door opening for someone small. Unlike

4:51 Speaker 1: most hauntings, Willie seems to bring comfort rather than fear.

4:56 Speaker 1: Perhaps he's still waiting for his mother, perhaps he just

4:59 Speaker 1: in joys the attention, or maybe, like most eleven year olds,

5:04 Speaker 1: he's still trying to stay up past bedtime. Either way,

5:08 Speaker 1: he's the sweetest ghost in Washington, which is saying something

5:11 Speaker 1: in a town not known for innocence.

5:15 Speaker 3: Tonight's episode is brought to you by Old Abe's Afterlife Insurance,

5:18 Speaker 3: protecting presidents from unfinished business since eighteen sixty five, whether

5:23 Speaker 3: it's lingering, cabinet disputes or eternal hallway pacing. We'll make

5:27 Speaker 3: sure your legacy sticks around forever, Old Abes, because some

5:30 Speaker 3: 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

5:39 Speaker 1: in life that death apparently didn't slow him down. During

5:44 Speaker 1: the Lincoln administration, Mary Todd Lincoln reported hearing Jackson's booming

5:49 Speaker 1: laughter and furious stomping in what's now called the Queen's Bedroom,

5:53 Speaker 1: then the Rose Room. White House staff over the decades

5:57 Speaker 1: have told similar stories. A sudden chill, heavy footfalls, and

6:02 Speaker 1: low muttering that could only belong to Old Hickory himself.

6:06 Speaker 1: One butler in the nineteen forties, swore he heard Jackson's

6:10 Speaker 1: 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

6:18 Speaker 1: same room, angry, restless, and muttering about those blasted politicians,

6:24 Speaker 1: which could describe half of DC. But still. Jackson was

6:29 Speaker 1: known for duels, temper tantrums, and an unwavering belief that

6:33 Speaker 1: he was always right. So if anyone was going to

6:36 Speaker 1: stick around just to argue with posterity, it would be him. Honestly,

6:41 Speaker 1: if you ever feel a draft of hot air and

6:43 Speaker 1: indignation while touring the White House, it might not be politics.

6:47 Speaker 1: 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

7:00 Speaker 1: was barely finished, cold, damp, and surrounded by muddy fields.

7:06 Speaker 1: Abigail Adams, ever practical, needed a place to dry laundry,

7:10 Speaker 1: so she strung clothes lines across the East room, which

7:13 Speaker 1: had no furniture yet and plenty of space for sheets

7:16 Speaker 1: to billow in the breeze. To this day, White House

7:20 Speaker 1: staff and visitors sometimes report the smell of wet linen

7:23 Speaker 1: and lavender wafting through the east room, especially on humid days.

7:27 Speaker 1: Others claimed to see a petite woman in colonial dress,

7:30 Speaker 1: arms outstretched as if carrying laundry. President Taft once joked

7:35 Speaker 1: that the east room was well aired for ghosts, though

7:38 Speaker 1: he refused to sleep there. I like to think Abigail's

7:42 Speaker 1: not haunting the place out of regret, just commitment to

7:45 Speaker 1: her chores. The woman ran a household, raised a future president,

7:50 Speaker 1: and helped her husband shape a nation. If she wants

7:53 Speaker 1: to come back and fold a few towels, she's earned it. Besides,

7:58 Speaker 1: if you've ever done laundry for a family, know it

8:01 Speaker 1: 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

8:12 Speaker 1: to wander the Yellow Oval room softly playing his violin.

8:17 Speaker 1: Jefferson loved music. It was his solace and his pride.

8:21 Speaker 1: He owned several violins, and letters from his friends describe

8:24 Speaker 1: him playing for hours after dinner. Guards through the nineteenth

8:28 Speaker 1: and early twentieth centuries claimed they sometimes heard a faint

8:32 Speaker 1: string melody at night drifting down from the Yellow Oval room,

8:37 Speaker 1: no one could ever locate the source. Once a watchman

8:41 Speaker 1: followed the sound all the way to the door. When

8:44 Speaker 1: he opened it, silence, Another decades later said he heard

8:48 Speaker 1: a full melody and even wrote it down. It matched

8:52 Speaker 1: a known minuet Jefferson had once performed in Monticello. It's

8:56 Speaker 1: almost comforting, isn't it. Jefferson's ghost doesn't see lamb doors

9:00 Speaker 1: or rearranged furniture. He just practices. The idea that even

9:05 Speaker 1: in the afterlife, some presidents can't stop multitasking feels very

9:10 Speaker 1: 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

9:19 Speaker 1: in Washington. She saved George Washington's portrait from the British

9:24 Speaker 1: Fire of eighteen fourteen, turned political receptions into elegant affairs,

9:29 Speaker 1: and basically invented the concept of first Lady glamour. After

9:33 Speaker 1: her death, gardeners in the early nineteen hundreds were ordered

9:36 Speaker 1: to remove the rose garden she had designed, But as

9:39 Speaker 1: the story goes, several workers saw a woman in a

9:42 Speaker 1: turban and flowing gown appear among the roses. She smiled pleasantly,

9:48 Speaker 1: 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

9:57 Speaker 1: reportedly been seen wandering the garden, especially at dusk, checking

10:01 Speaker 1: on her beloved roses. Staffers have heard the rustle of

10:05 Speaker 1: her skirts or caught the scent of her perfume when

10:08 Speaker 1: walking alone near the hedges. Dolly Madison the only first

10:13 Speaker 1: Lady who could host a tea party and stop a

10:15 Speaker 1: construction project from beyond the grave. Honestly, every ha needs

10:21 Speaker 1: a ghost like her. If you ever visit the White

10:24 Speaker 1: 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.

10:35 Speaker 3: The candle line inspired by America's most aromatic hauntings, light

10:40 Speaker 3: Up Abigail's East Room, Linen, Lincoln's Midnight Resolve, or my favorite,

10:45 Speaker 3: 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

10:56 Speaker 1: Go Bump At sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. I've met the

11:00 Speaker 1: presidents and first ladies who never truly left, each with

11:04 Speaker 1: a reason to stay, unfinished business, eternal loyalty, or just

11:08 Speaker 1: an unbreakable lease on American history. But our tour isn't

11:12 Speaker 1: over yet. Next time we'll descend deeper into the West

11:16 Speaker 1: Wings shadows, where knocks echo at midnight, a British soldier

11:20 Speaker 1: patrols the lawn, and an entire staff once lived in

11:24 Speaker 1: terror of something known only as the Thing. Until then,

11:28 Speaker 1: keep your lights low, your mind open, and your laundry

11:31 Speaker 1: hung responsibly. I'm Amy, and this is the Strange History Podcast.

11:38 Speaker 1: Sleep Tight. And if you hear violin music drifting through

11:41 Speaker 1: your walls tonight, don't be alarmed. It's just Thomas Jefferson

11:45 Speaker 1: practicing again.