Reports of people seeing, hearing, or sensing the presence of President Lincoln throughout the years have been numerous. Psychics believe that President Lincoln has never left the White House, that his spirit remains to complete the business of his abbreviated second term, and to be available in times of crisis. For seventy years, presidents, first ladies, guests, and members of the White House staff have claimed to have either seen Lincoln or felt his presence.

Most historians believe that President Lincoln's interest in Spiritualism is from Mary Todd, Lincoln's wife. Yet there is evidence that his interest was independant and deeply rooted in his own sense of purpose and destiny. In 1842, Lincoln confided to a friend that he had "always had a strong tendency to mysticism" and had often felt controlled "by some other power than my own will" which he felt came "from above".

On election day 1860, the city of Springfield, Illinois dawned with rousing blasts from a cannon, music and contagious excitement. Lincoln spent the day and evening with friends at a telegraph office. By midnight, it was clear that he had been elected 16th President of the United States. A late night dinner was held in his honor and then he returned to the office for more news. Guns fired in celebration throughout the night.

Lincoln finally managed to return home in the early morning hours, although news of victory, and telegrams of congratulations were still being wired to his office. He went into his bedroom for some much needed rest and collapsed onto a settee. Near the couch was a large bureau with a mirror on it and Lincoln stared for a moment at his reflection in the glass. He then experienced what many would term a "vision"... an odd vision that Lincoln would later believe had prophetic meaning.

"It was just after my election in 1860. . . . I was well tired out, and went home to rest, throwing myself down on a lounge in my chamber. Opposite where I lay was a bureau, with a swinging-glass upon it-[and here he got up and placed furniture to illustrate the position]-and, looking in that glass, I saw myself reflected, nearly at full length; but my face, I noticed, had two separate and distinct images, the tip of the nose of one being about three inches from the tip of the other. I was a little bothered, perhaps startled, and got up and looked in the glass, but the illusion vanished. On lying down again I saw it a second time-plainer, if possible, than before; and then I noticed that one of the faces was a little paler, say five shades, than the other. I got up and the thing melted away, and I went off and, in the excitement of the hour, forgot all about it-nearly, but not quite, for the thing would once in a while come up, and give me a little pang, as though something uncomfortable had happened. When I went home I told my wife about it, and a few days after I tried the experiment again, when [with a laugh], sure enough, the thing came again; but I never succeeded in bringing the ghost back after that, though I once tried very industriously to show it to my wife, who was worried about it somewhat. She thought it was "a sign" that I was to be elected to a second term of office, and that the paleness of one of the faces was an omen that I should not see life through the last term."

When President Lincoln reached Philadelphia for his first inauguration, there was a plot discovered, and disclosed to General John Hancock in Washington to assassinate Mr. Lincoln at Baltimore, where he was to have stopped to address the citizens on his way to the Capitol. The full details had been planned. An Italian barber, well known in Baltimore, was to have stabbed him while seated in his carriage, as he started from the depot.

The son of William H. Seward, who was at that time Senator, and later Lincoln's Secretary of State, was sent post-haste to Philadelphia to warn Mr. Lincoln of his danger. It was a difficult matter at first to convince him of the seriousness of it. He flatly refused to go immediately, as was suggested by his friends, but promised that after he had raised the flag on Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and delivered an address to the members of the Legislature at Harrisburg, he would take an earlier train to Washington, which he did, accompanied by only one friend, Wade C. Lammon, a law partner, and William H. Pinkerton, head of the Detective Agency in Chicago. The party quietly took the six o'clock train out of Philadelphia without attracting any publicity. As President Lincoln was slept soundly, the train whizzed through Baltimore. He arrived in Washington early in the morning, where he was taken in protection by the largest military and Secret Service escort a president ever had. Thus was the first assassination plot thwarted.

The war took a terrible toll on President Lincoln, but there is no doubt that the most crippling blow he suffered in the White House was the death of his son, Willie, in 1862. Lincoln and Mary grieved deeply over Willie’s death. Some historians have even called it the greatest blow he ever suffered. Even Confederate President Jefferson Davis expressed condolences over the boy’s death.

After the funeral, Lincoln tried to go on about his work, but his spirit had been crushed by Willie’s death. One week after the funeral, he closed himself in his office all day and wept. It has often been said that Lincoln was on the verge of suicide at this point, but no one can say for sure. Doctors Brown and Alexander, the embalmers or injectors, prepared Willie's body so handsomely that the President had it twice disinterred just to look upon it. Lincoln withdrew even further into himself, though, and he began to look more closely at the spiritual matters which had interested him for so long. Lincoln also began to speak of how Willie’s spirit remained with him and how his presence was often felt in his home and office. Some mediums theorized that Lincoln’s obsession with the boy’s death may have caused Willie’s spirit to linger behind, refusing, for his father’s sake, to pass on to the other side.

Lincoln began to attend séances in hopes that he would be able to contact his son. Lincoln met with several different mediums, some of which claim to have influenced him to issue the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. One such spiritualist medium was Henrietta "Nettie" Colburn (1841-1892). Mary Todd Lincoln met her at a "circle" or séance at the Georgetown home of Cranstoun Laurie, chief clerk of the post office in Washington. On one occasion, a séance with Nettie was being held in the White House's Red Parlor when the president stumbled upon the group and watched with curiosity. Another time he accompanied Mary to a seance at the Lauries' home.

Many are familiar with a tale told about a séance held by Nettie Maynard in 1863 where a grand piano levitated. The medium was playing the instrument when it began to rise off the floor. Lincoln and Colonel Simon Kase were both present and it is said that both men climbed onto the piano, only to have it jump and shake so hard that they climbed down. It is recorded that Lincoln would later refer to the levitation as proof of an "invisible power."

Rumors spread that Lincoln had an interest in the spirit world. In England, a piece of sheet music was published which portrayed him holding a candle while violins and tambourines flew about his head. The piece of music was called "The Dark Seance Polka" and the caption below the illustration of the president read "Abraham Lincoln and the Spiritualists".

On April 5th 1865, encouraging news came from the battle lines to President Lincoln. Grant and his army were on the verge of complete victory. This news came as a welcome reprieve for the worried President, who had slept little and often paced the deck of the River Queen as he awaited word. When President Lincoln was actually able to sleep during this stressful time, he experienced a most dramatic and prophetic dream of his own death 10 days before the assassination. He wrote in his journal :

"After I retired I soon began to dream. There seemed to be a deathlike, stillness about me. Then I heard subdubed sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs. There the silence was broken by the same pitaful sobs, but the mouners were invisible. I wen from room to room; no living persons was in sights, but the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I passed along.

Determined to find the cause of the state of things so mysterious and so shocking, I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered. Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards, and there were a throng of people, some gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others were weeping pitifully. "Who is dead in the White House?" I demanded of one of the soldiers. "The President," was his answer. "he was killed by an assassin." Then came a load burst of grief from the crowd, which awoke me from my dream. I slept no more that night; and although it was only a dream, I have been strangely annoyed by it ever since."

It is often said that we can foretell major events in our lives in the dream state. Prophetic dreams have long been recorded throughout the ages, and perhaps because unfortunate events, those of trauma, seem to be the one's most remembered, they are therefore the most recorded of dreams.

On April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate forces to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Although the last Rebel troops would not surrender until May, the Civil War was effectively over. The Union had held, but a weary President Abraham Lincoln would not live to see the triumphant march of the Army of the Potomac through the streets of Washington.

On April 14th 1865, Abraham Lincoln ate breakfast. Normally he had one egg and one cup of coffee. This morning, Mary Todd, 46, sat at the opposite end of the table with sons, Robert, 21, and Tad, 12, at their sides. President Lincoln listened as Captain Robert Lincoln discussed his brief tour of duty in the Union Army. Robert had been present at the Mclean House in Appomattox when General Robert E. Lee surrendered.

After breakfast President Lincoln called a meeting of his Cabinet. After the meeting Attorney General James Speed told Secretary of War Edwin M Stanton what had transpired at the beginning of the meeting which the Secretary of War had missed. Speed informed Stanton that upon entering the Council Chamber the President was seated at the head of the table with his face in his hands. When he raised his head, his face was grave and worn. Lincoln addressed the Cabinet by saying he would have important news for them. He would only tell them that he had had a dream, which he had experienced three times before. In this dream he said:

"Gentleman," he began "before long you will have important news."

The Cabinet members pressed him to reveal what information he had, but Lincoln demurred.

"I...I have no news, but you will hear tomorrow." He hesitated, his chin cupped in his bony hands. "I have had a dream, the same dream that I have had three times before. I am in a boat, alone on an ocean. I have no oars, no rudder. I am in helpless. Adrift."

The president seemed to be speaking as out of reverie. He scanned the questioning faces before him, then stood up and shambled out of the room. It was possibly the strangest Cabinet meeting ever called by a president of the United States.

Later, President Lincoln told William Crook, his body guard about his dream.

"Crook, do you know I believe there are men who want to take my life? And I have no doubt they will do it...I know no one could do it and escape alive. But if it is to be done, it is impossible to prevent it."

Crook beseeched him not to go to Ford's theater that night, but Lincoln demurred saying he had promised his wife they would go. Perhaps he knew he would be killed that night for when they departed for Ford's, Lincoln said "goodbye" to Crook instead of "goodnight".

At 9:30 the Presidential party arrived at Ford's Theatre. When the tall, gaunt figure of the tired-eyed President made his appearance in the flag-draped box, the house went wild with delight, and the orchestra struck up "Hail to the Chief." The house arose as one body, enthusiasm was inspiring. For several minutes the cheering continued and the President and bowed his acknowledgments.

Strangely enough, on November 9th 1863, 2 years before the assisination, Lincoln had been seated in the very same stage box at Ford's Theatre. Lincoln had watched John Wilkes Booth perform in the popular play, THE MARBLE HEART. An avid theatre-goer, Lincoln was impressed with the young tragedian's energy and passed along a message backstage asking if he could meet the actor. Booth, an outspoken supporter of the South, declined the offer.

At 10:07 pm April 14th 1865, before the last call for the third act of "Our American Cousin", John Wilkes Booth stepped out of the barroom attached to the Ford's Theatre on 10th Street, where he had consumed several brandies, walked rapidly into the front lobby, passed the doorman at the center aisle with a genial nod, calling him familiarly by name, which was answered in the positive spirit which John Booth's greetings generally were.

He passed over to the side aisle and started down when his passage was barred by the arm of the head usher, who happened to be talking with friends in the aisle. Booth put his arm across the shoulder of the man who had his back to him and peering into his face said, "Why you don't want to keep me out, do you, old boy?" This was in the melodious Booth voice, once heard, never to be forgotten. The usher, swinging around said, "No, indeed, Mr. Booth. Allow me to present you to my friends." Booth acknowledged the introduction graciously and turning, sauntered down the aisle toward the box occupied by the Presidential party, intent on the most cruel, cowardly murder in all the world's history.

Booth passed the man on guard, who for the moment left the door of the box and was watching the play from a seat nearby.

Booth entered the box, stealthily placing the board in the socket on the inside which had been made ready that day, by Spangler, the stage carpenter. Booth's entrance was so quiet that it attracted no attention from any of the party, all of whom had their eyes fixed upon the stage where only two people were—Laura Keene and Harry Hawks as Asa Trenchard. The lines and situation were exceedingly funny and the house was uproariously enjoying the comedy.

Mary sat very close to her husband Abraham, her hand in his. She whispered to him, "What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so?" The President replied, "She won't think anything about it." It was about 10:15 P.M. On stage actor Harry Hawk was saying, "Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal - you sockdologizing old mantrap!"

Booth, after securing the door from any interference from the outside, crept panther-like close to the back of the President's chair.

With his derringer in hand, John Wilkes Booth came up behind Mr. Lincoln and shot him in the back of the head near point blank range. The bullet entered the head about 3 inches behind the left ear and traveled about 7 1/2 inches into Lincoln's brain. There was a muffled report of a whiff of smoke, and Lincoln's head inclined toward his chest, and Mrs. Lincoln screamed.

Major Rathbone thought Booth shouted a word that sounded like "Freedom!" (Many accounts have Booth yelling "Sic Semper Tyrannis" in the box, or when he landed on the stage). Booth struggled briefly with Rathbone, stabbed him with a knife, leaped 11 feet to the stage, broke the fibula bone in his left leg, and escaped from the theatre.

Since the assassination, it is believed that Ford's Theatre has been haunted on occassion. People hear voices, laughter, a gun shot, a scream—the cry of murder—the ghost of Mrs. Lincoln is said to be leaning out of the box, with ashy cheeks and lips, with an involuntary cry, pointing to the retreating figure, "He has kill’d the President." Lights turn off and on, and there are icy sensations at center stage.

After being critically wounded President Lincoln was immediately rushed across the street to the Peterson House where doctors worked to save his life. His lonely apparition still makes an occasional appearance at the Peterson House with hysterical sobs of Mrs. Lincoln's ghost and her constant cry of "Oh, why did they not take me. Why did they take him?"

April 15th, 1865 was the anniversary of the South's assault on Fort Sumter and the beginning of the Civil War. At 7:22 am President Abraham Lincoln labored his last breath, closed his eyes, and was pronounced dead. The President's body was removed from the Peterson House opposite Ford's Theatre to the executive mansion that morning at 9:30 am in a hearse, and wrapped in the American flag.

Lincoln's corpse was place in a mahogany coffin, covered with black cloth, and lined with lead, the latter also being covered with white satin. A silver plate upon the coffin over the breast bears the following inscription:

ABRAHAM LINCOLN,
SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
Born July 12, 1809,
Died April 15, 1865.

On Tuesday morning, April 18 1865, the White House was thrown open to the tens of thousands anxious to behold once more the face of their beloved ruler. All day, until far into the evening, a steady stream of visitors, of all ages and classes, passed into the presence of the dead president.

When the hour of the funeral arrived on Wednesday, April 19, 1865, the federal city of Washington, with all its public buildings, was elaborately draped in black. The symbols of mourning were of the most varied and expensive character. Decorative art was taxed to its utmost to express the sentiment of grief that pervaded the city. A public man, looking at the sable drapery, remarked:

“As it should be. The nation would have it so. It tells the real sorrow of the people.”

The funeral services were conducted in the East Room, where the family and relatives of the President, with many distinguished men, were seated. Mrs. Lincoln was too much prostrated to attend the funeral service. Many governors, senators, judges, representatives, and other men of note were present from different parts of the Union. Governors Fenton of New York, Andrew of Massachusetts, Brough of Ohio, Parker of New Jersey, Oglesby of Illinois, and Buckingham of Connecticut, were there. The ceremonies were simple and touching, very appropriate for the truly Republican statesman for whom the nation mourned

A funeral train with Lincoln's corpse left Washington on April 21, 1865, retracing the same route Lincoln took when he made the 1654 mile journey from Springfield to Washington to accept the Presidency of the United States back in February of 1861. The funeral train had eight coaches--six to carry the invited mourners, one for the military honor guard, and one with the Lincoln's body. Willie Lincoln’s coffin was also on board. Willie, who had died in the White House in 1862, had been disinterred for the 3rd time and was to be buried with his father in Springfield. After stopping in Baltimore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Chicago and finally Springfield, Illinois. Twenty days passed from his ill-fated visit to Ford's Theater to his interment in his home state of Illinois. The train carrying his body was seen by millions as it moved slowly through over 180 small cities and towns along its route. Since then, every April at the anniversary of the assassination, a phantom funeral train is reported traveling the tracks along the route taken by the official funeral train from Washinton through New York State and west to Illinois. Regularly in the month of April Lincoln's funeral train appears on the tracks in Urbana, Illinois draped in black, with a crew of grinning skeletons. Halfway down the train is Lincoln's coffin, surrounded by blue-coated skeletons. It passes silently, and clocks in the area stop while it passes, later appearing five to ten minutes behind. People have reported seeing Abraham and Willie walking off the train hand-in-hand.

Mary Todd Lincoln, who had already lost two of the four sons she bore, became even more distressed following her husband's death. Throughout much of Lincoln's presidency, she had feared for his life; now, her worst fears had come to pass. Too distraught to leave the White House, Mary Todd Lincoln did not accompany Lincoln's body to Illinois, but she did communicate with officials and old friends in Springfield concerning Abraham Lincoln's burial place.

Mary attempted to stay in contact with her husband through private readings and seances. while living in Chicago, Mary went to seances under an assumed name. She liked to 'test' the mediums' skills. Once, on a trip to Boston, she attended a seance using the name "Mrs. Tundall" to avoid recognition. Mary Lincoln believed that she had made contact with her dead husband, sensing him laying his hands on her shoulders. Mary also visited the studio of William Mumler, a Boston engraver who claimed to photograph the dead. This photo (right) of Mary with the ghostly Lincoln was the result of her sitting with Mumler. This photograph gave Mary great comfort that Abraham was hovering over her. Mary Todd Lincoln remained in mourning for her husband and three of her sons until her death in 1882.

Lincoln's ghost reportedly continues to haunt the White House. Ghostly footsteps attributed to him were reported first in the second floor corridors by staff.

Lincoln's spirit continued worrying long after his death. Grace Coolidge (wife of Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the US), who observed on several occassions Lincoln's ghost standing with his hands clasped behind his back, at a window in the Oval Office, staring out in deep contemplation toward the bloody battlefields across the Pototmac. Since that time his ghost has been seen or sensed in this pose.

Lincoln's bedroom, called the Lincoln room, also is the site of hauntings. It is the quarters of visiting heads of state, many of whom reported strange phenomena, from footsteps to visual hallucinations. Some people have reported hearing a knock at the door and when they answer it they come face to face with Lincoln, dressed out in frock and top hat. At least one guest saw Lincoln sitting on the bed putting on his boots.

Lincoln's ghost seems to have been most active during the administration of Franklin Roosevelt, perhaps because they were both in power at times of great war for the United States. During their 13-year occupancy of the White House, the Roosevelts used the former Lincoln bedroom as a study for Eleanor, the first lady. Although she never claimed to have seen Lincoln's spirit, Eleanor spoke of the sense of someone watching her as she worked in the room.

"Sometimes when I worked at my desk late at night I'd get a feeling that someone was standing behind me. I'd have to turn around and look."

She believed Lincoln was there with her. Sometimes Fala, Roosevelt's dog, would bark excitedly for no apparent reason.

Seamstress Lillian Rogers Parks detailed in her autobiography a mystifying experience that she had one summer day in that same northwest room. It had just been freshly painted and she was putting it back in order. The White House was almost empty because the Roosevelts had gone to Hyde Park, taking most of the maids with them. As Mrs. Parks worked, she kept hearing someone coming to the door, but she never saw anyone. In fact, the second floor was deserted.

After an hour of listening to the tromping, Mrs. Parks went searching for the source. On the third floor she found a houseman. She asked him why he kept pacing the second floor. He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said. "I haven't been on that floor. I just came on duty. That was Abe you heard."

Among subsequent Lincoln sightings was one by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (who had a prior interest in spiritualism). She was a guest of President Franklin D. Roosevelt when she heard a knock during the night at her bedroom door. Opening it, the drowsy queen saw the figure of Abraham Lincoln looking down at her from the hallway, causing her to swoon.

Rumors were that Winston Churchill had a Lincoln sighting in the room.

A young clerk in the Roosevelt White House claimed to have actually seen the ghost of Lincoln sitting on a bed and pulling off his boots.

Ever the gentleman, it seems, Lincoln knocked often. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman all reported hearing unexplained rappings on their bedroom doors.

During Harry S. Truman's administration, his daughter, Margaret, slept in that area of the White House and often heard rappings on her bedroom door late at night. Whenever she checked, no one was there. She complained to her father and he said the "noises" must be due to dangerous settling of the floors. He ordered the White House completely rebuilt. It was a propitious decision. The chief architect, Major Gen. E. Edgerton, told President Truman that the building had been in danger of imminent collapse! Had the ghost of Lincoln tried to warn the Trumans that the president's home was ready to fall down?

President Harry Truman said the place was haunted "sure as shooting."

Susan Ford, daughter of President Gerald Ford, said publicly that she believes in ghosts and ruing her stay in the White House she had no intention of ever sleeping in that room.

Amy Carter, during sleepovers with her friends, waited up at night for the ghost of Mr. Lincoln to appear. Once the girls tried to get in touch with him with a Ouija board to no avail. When a reporter asked Roslyn Carter about the Lincoln ghost, she refused to comment.

During the Ronald Reagan administration the President's daughter Maureen and her husband Dennis Revell reported seeing Lincoln's ghost-"an aura, sometimes red, sometimes orange"-during the night t in the Lincoln Room.

Ronald Reagan's dog would bark outside the room but never enter.

Actor Richard Dreyfess reported having scary dreams about a portrait of Mr. Lincoln that hangs in the room.

"A high percentage of people who work here won't go in the Lincoln Bedroom," said President Clinton's White House social secretary, Capricia Marshall. White House maids and butlers have sworn they had seen Lincoln’s ghost.

Hillary Clinton called the place creepy at times. "There is something about the house at night that you just feel like you are summoning up the spirits of all the people who have lived there and worked there and walked through the halls there. It's neat. It can be a little creepy. You know, they think there's a ghost there."

In additon to being heard at the White House, Lincoln's ghostly footsteps are reported near his gravesite in Springfield, Illinois. Popular legend has it that the grave is empty.