Following Abe Lincoln's Ghost

Abraham Lincoln was certainly one of our country's greatest presidents. Now, some one hundred and thirty five years after being felled by an assassin's bullet, old Abe seems to be one of our most restless spirits as well. Although several people have seen his apparition in and around the Springfield Illinois area where he lived and worked as a young lawyer, Abe appears to have chosen the White House as his favorite place to haunt. No doubt there are many other ghosts in the White House, but Mr. Lincoln is the most visible of them.

The list of those who've actually seen old Abe's ghost includes a former president, visiting royalty and of course, numerous members of the White House's housekeeping staff. One woman claimed to have opened the door on his ghost more than once. Another person reported seeing Mr. Lincoln sit on the edge of the bed and calmly remove his shoes. That his ghost is sometimes seen in the Lincoln Bedroom or moping in the hallway shouldn't be too surprising. After all, he did dabble in the occult occasionally, and may have even possessed a certain amount of psychic abilities.

It is a well-known fact that shortly before his assassination, Mr. Lincoln had a premonition of his own impending death. One night, he dreamt that he woke to the sound of loud sobbing. Puzzled, he got up and walked downstairs where the sounds of pitiful wailing echoed all around him. He looked around for the source of all this commotion but could find no one.

Eventually he wandered into the East Room where he saw a corpse resting on a catafalque. Looking around him, he noticed that all the furniture was draped in black mourning crepe, common to that era. No one paid Lincoln the slightest bit of attention as he watched several people stand over the corpse and weep. Finally he grabbed the sleeve of a passing soldier and asked, "Who is dead in the White House?" "The President is dead," replied the soldier sadly.

Lincoln was bothered by the dream. When he recounted it to his wife and close friends, he admitted to being apprehensive of t its significance. A few weeks later, the terrible events of his dream came to pass.

There is a common belief that the spirit of someone who dies suddenly and unexpectedly can become confused and may not realize that they are no longer alive. This could be why Lincoln remains in his "home" going about his daily routine. Then again, he may feel that he was somehow cheated out of his second term in office and wants to stay on a little while longer. He surely wouldn't be the first politician who hated leaving the White House behind.

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