White House Sketches
White House is a Notorious Haunt for Ghosts
October 31, 2011
A skeleton and candles decorate the Blue Room of the White House in preparation for a Halloween reception for military families and children of White House staff, Oct. 31, 2009. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.
Americans love ghost stories and the White House, a large and imposing mansion where things go bump in the night, has been considered a prime spot for the paranormal for many years. The ghosts of Abigail Adams hanging her laundry in the East Room and the spirit of Dolley Madison overlooking the Rose Garden adds to the White House legend. Of course, Abraham Lincoln’s ghost is the most famous of them all and the subject of many Halloween pranks over the years. There are also little known spirits like the unidentified 15-year old boy called the “Thing” that greatly frightened the Taft domestic staff in 1911.