1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:03,280 Speaker 1: Okay, when you think of a really old house that's 2 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: connected to a whole lot of interesting American history, the 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: White House has to be in the top ten, now, 4 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 1: maybe top five. So if those events and the people 5 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:17,000 Speaker 1: associated with them leave some of their energy behind, you 6 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: can probably feel it. Before you write that off as 7 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:23,759 Speaker 1: new agy or just plain wacky, know that some of 8 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: the folks who have claimed to have had close encounters 9 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 1: of that sort while in the White House include presidents, 10 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:34,440 Speaker 1: first ladies, and visiting dignitaries including royalty, as well as 11 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: longtime loyal White House workers. I'm Patty Steele. Hey, what 12 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:46,560 Speaker 1: was that noise? That's next on the backstory. We're back 13 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: with the backstory. Ghost Stories are always intriguing, but when 14 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: they're based in fact, they can be pretty chilling. Okay, 15 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: it's late at night. You're in the White House, the 16 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: official residence of the President of the United States of America. 17 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 1: Maybe you work there, or you're a guest, or by 18 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: some bit of fate, you're living there. Now imagine this scenario. 19 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,880 Speaker 1: You've just gotten out of the shower, you're toweling off. 20 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 1: When you walk out into your bedroom, as is your 21 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: rather bizarre custom, you decide to sit by the fire 22 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:24,479 Speaker 1: completely naked to enjoy a late night cigar. But who's 23 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 1: already sitting by the fireplace. It's Abraham Lincoln. This story 24 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 1: actually happened, and not to any old whack job, but 25 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: to the whack job Winston Churchill, who was staying in 26 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 1: the Lincoln bedroom during World War II. Where it is. 27 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: Churchill said to Abe's ghost, good evening, mister President, you 28 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: seem to have me at a disadvantage. Apparently an unnerved 29 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: Churchill enough that on subsequent visits he asked not to 30 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: be put in the Lincoln bedroom but in the Queen's bedroom. 31 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: By the way, the Lincoln bedroom wasn't actually Lincoln's bedroom 32 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: during his time in all Office, but that room was 33 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 1: Lincoln's office and cabinet room during the Civil War. Other 34 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: sightings of Lincoln included President Calvin Coolidge's wife Grace, who 35 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: in the nineteen twenties said she actually saw Lincoln's ghost. 36 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,280 Speaker 1: She said he was standing looking out of a window 37 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: in the Oval Office, gazing across the Potomac at the 38 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: former Civil War battlefields in the distance. FDR's wife Eleanor Roosevelt, 39 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: who frequently used the Lincoln bedroom as a study, said 40 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: she felt his presence numerous times when she worked there 41 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: late at night, and Lady Bird Johnson, President Lyndon Johnson's wife, 42 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 1: said she didn't see Lincoln but felt overwhelmed by his 43 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 1: presence one night while watching a TV show about his 44 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: assassination there now On a humorous note, although apparently not 45 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 1: for her, During her visit to the White House, Queen 46 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,520 Speaker 1: Wilhelmina of the Netherlands said she heard a knock on 47 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,799 Speaker 1: her bedroom door during the night. When she answered it, 48 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: she says she saw Lincoln's ghost wearing his top hat. 49 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: She says she then fainted dead away. Other Lincoln sightings 50 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,360 Speaker 1: have been reported by a bunch of White House employees. 51 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 1: They claim to have seen both the late president and 52 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:16,360 Speaker 1: also his little boy, Willie Lincoln, who died in the 53 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 1: White House when he was just eleven years old. Longtime 54 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: White House employee Jeremiah Smith said he experienced numerous sightings 55 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:27,079 Speaker 1: of Lincoln in the room, and described one of them 56 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,679 Speaker 1: in a nineteen oh three newspaper article. Smith worked for 57 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: the White House for thirty five years, serving under eight presidents, 58 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 1: including US Grant Rutherford B. Hayes and Teddy Roosevelt. And 59 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:43,040 Speaker 1: animals seemed to be super sensitive to that ghostly energy 60 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: as well first dogs. In particular, when wandering past the 61 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: Lincoln bedroom, the Reagan's dog Rex would stand outside the 62 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: room and bark his head off, but refused to go 63 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: into the room. While Lincoln seems to be the most 64 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 1: common ghost reported in the White House, he's not the 65 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: only one. John Adams was the second President of the 66 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: United States and the first one to live in the 67 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:11,520 Speaker 1: White House, which was briefly called the President's Palace back 68 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: in those days. At the time, Washington, d c. Was 69 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: still mostly a swamp on the banks of the Potomac River. 70 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:21,400 Speaker 1: The East Room was one of the first rooms finished 71 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 1: in the brand new house, and so it was the 72 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 1: warmest and the driest, so First Lady Abigail Adams used 73 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 1: it as a place to hang the laundry to dry 74 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 1: it out in nasty weather. Didn't know first ladies did 75 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 1: their own laundry. On that note, there have been multiple 76 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: sightings of Abigail's ghost wearing a cap and lais shawl, 77 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: carrying damp laundry with the distinct scent of lavender into 78 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:49,359 Speaker 1: the East room. Other rooms that are haunted include the 79 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: Red Room, where Mary Todd Lincoln held seances after the 80 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: death of Little Willie Lincoln, as well as the Yellow Room, 81 00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: where folks claimed to have seen and or heard Thomas 82 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: Jefferson playing his violin. And then there's the Rose Room 83 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: that was where the old grouch President Andrew Jackson slept 84 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: when he was president. Some say it's one of the 85 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: most haunted rooms in the White House. Mary Todd Lincoln 86 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: swore she heard Jackson stomping around that room swearing up 87 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 1: a storm, and just two months into his first term, 88 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,599 Speaker 1: President Harry Truman said in June of nineteen forty five 89 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 1: that while working late at night, I sit here in 90 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:33,040 Speaker 1: this old house and I work on foreign affairs, read reports, 91 00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:37,039 Speaker 1: and work on speeches, all the while listening to the 92 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:40,560 Speaker 1: ghosts walk up and down the hallways, and even right 93 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 1: here in this study, the floors pop and the drapes 94 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: move back and forth. I hope you're enjoying the backstory 95 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:52,359 Speaker 1: with Patty's deal, Please leave a review and follow or 96 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:56,919 Speaker 1: subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically. Also 97 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:58,799 Speaker 1: feel free to DM me if you have a story 98 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:02,039 Speaker 1: you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele 99 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The 100 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:14,039 Speaker 1: Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, 101 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:17,880 Speaker 1: and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our 102 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:22,040 Speaker 1: writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. 103 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:24,640 Speaker 1: Feel free to reach out to me with comments and 104 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and 105 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:31,719 Speaker 1: on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the 106 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:35,480 Speaker 1: Backstory with Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't 107 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:36,640 Speaker 1: know you needed to know.