Is Abraham Lincoln Haunting The White House?

 

You’re staying at the White House. Nice room. Good sheets. Then somebody knocks.

 

Outside stands Abraham Lincoln. Now what? Shake hands? Ask about Gettysburg? Call downstairs and complain that the former president is interrupting your sleep?

 

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands got that room-service surprise during a 1942 visit. Legend says she opened her door, found Lincoln standing there in his top hat, and fainted.

 

Did it happen? That’s where things get slippery. The story’s famous, but famous isn’t the same as proven.

Winston Churchill had just climbed out of the bathtub and was enjoying a cigar when he spotted Lincoln by the fireplace. Churchill greeted him, saying that the president had caught him at a disadvantage. 

Abe Lincoln sneaking up on Queen Wlhelmina

Lincoln smiled and disappeared.

You can see why that one stuck. A naked Churchill, a dead Lincoln, and a perfectly timed wisecrack? 

 

Try getting people to stop telling it.

 

The trouble is, Churchill scholar Richard Langworth couldn’t find evidence that Churchill ever mentioned the encounter. The punch line has traveled a lot farther than the paperwork.

 

Other accounts are quieter. Grace Coolidge saw Lincoln standing at a window, looking outside. The Reagans’ dog, Rex, barked outside the Lincoln Bedroom, and sometimes refused to enter. Ghost hunters might call that evidence. Anybody whose dog has ever barked at a laundry basket might want a second opinion.

 

And here’s a wrinkle: the Lincoln Bedroom wasn’t Lincoln’s bedroom. He used it as an office and meeting room. If he’s hanging around there, perhaps the poor fellow’s still trying to finish work.

Winston Churchill telling Lincoln he had him at a disadvantage

So where’d all this start? With grief, mostly. And eventually, somebody who knew how to keep reporters entertained.

 

Eleven-year-old Willie Lincoln died in the White House in 1862. Mary Lincoln turned to seances, hoping to hear from him again. Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer went a little further and said the vampire offered to bring him back to life. Do with that what you will. It’s just another odd piece of Lincoln trivia.

 

Then Lincoln was murdered. And his body brought to the White House.

 

That doesn’t prove a haunting. It helps explain why people might welcome a story about Lincoln coming back.

 

White House employee Jeremiah “Jerry” Smith worked there for decades and believed the place housed departed presidents. Reporters looking for an offbeat story knew where to find him.

 

The White House Historical Association suggests some Lincoln ghost stories may have grown from Smith’s accounts. A creak became footsteps. A footstep turned into Abe. Put it in the newspaper, pass it around, and pretty soon the ghost has regular visiting hours.

 

There’s still no verified evidence that Lincoln is roaming the halls. Maybe we just like imagining somebody experienced is keeping an eye on the place.

 

Would you open the door if he knocked? Or would you stay under the covers and let the next president handle it?