THE GHOST OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

THE GHOST OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Possibly one of the most famous ghosts in modern history, is that of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, who was assassinated in 1865.

For years, presidents, first ladies, guests, and members of the White House staff, have claimed to have either seen Lincoln, or felt his presence.

Grace Coolidge, wife of Calvin Coolidge, the thirtieth president, was the first person to report having actually seen the ghost of Abraham Lincoln.

She said Lincoln stood at a window of the Oval Office, hands clasped behind his back, gazing out over the Potomac – perhaps still seeing the bloody battlefields beyond.

When Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was a guest at the White House, she was awakened one night by a knock on her bedroom door.

Thinking it might be an important message, she got up and opened the door.
The top-hatted figure of President Lincoln stood in the hallway.
The queen fainted.
When she came to, she was lying on the floor, and the apparition had vanished.

Eleanor Roosevelt used Lincoln’s bedroom as her study.
Although she never saw the former president’s ghost, she admitted to feeling his presence whenever she worked late at night.

She often felt he was standing behind her, peering over her shoulder.

Winston Churchill, was a frequent guest at the White House.
He claimed that he once climbed out of his bath in the iconic mansion, and ambled naked into the bedroom.

The British wartime leader was startled to see Lincoln standing by the fireplace.
Churchill greeted him with his usual wit, and then Lincoln smiled and disappeared….

Stories of a ghostly President Lincoln wandering the corridors and rooms of the White House still persist.

The gangly Lincoln with the black stovepipe hat, and the long, sad face, was the kind of man around whom legends naturally surround.

If one were to believe in ghosts, one would have to believe that the benevolent spirit of Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest American presidents, still watches over the nation he fought so gallantly to preserve.

? Lincoln in February 1865, two months before his death
Alexander Gardner – Library of Congress