The Ghost of Abraham Lincoln at the White House

Record summary

Reports of Abraham Lincoln’s apparition at the White House developed after his assassination and have been associated with figures including Mary Todd Lincoln, staff, visitors, and later presidents or first families. Common stories describe a spectral Lincoln in hallways, the Blue Room, or other rooms, often alongside séances or wartime spiritualist practices. The lead matters because it shows how a nationally significant death can generate a durable apparition tradition across memoirs, newspapers, biographies, and tourism. The chronology, witnesses, and wording vary considerably, and many versions are late or secondhand.