10 Spooky Locations Reputedly Haunted by U.S. Presidents

Have you ever wondered where the world leaders go in the afterlife? American presidents, for example? Those who believe in ghosts can tell you they know where. Various parts of the nation are said to be haunted by presidential specters. The White House, for example, is said to house the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. George Washington reportedly shows up at his home on the Mt. Vernon plantation. Let’s take a spooky tour of ten more places that dead presidents had made their hangouts in the afterlife.

Related: 10 Celebrities Who Had A Terrifying Ghostly Experience

10 Monticello

The third president, Thomas Jefferson, was an architect who designed his own house in Virginia. Called Monticello (Italian for “little mountain”), it was where he spent his remaining years after his presidency and where he died on July 4, 1826. Some say he never left.

Visitors to Monticello have reportedly heard Jefferson’s signature whistle as he walked through the house. His serene, patriarchal apparition has been seen at his desk, in the hall, or next to his wife, Martha, in the dining room. A paranormal psychic enthusiast brought to the house by Hans Holzer sensed Jefferson’s presence in his bedroom, his dining room, and the South Pavilion, areas of Monticello where Jefferson spent most of his time.

Interestingly though, there have never been any ghost sightings of any of the slaves Jefferson kept at Monticello, not even his mistress, Sally Hemmings. This is remarkable, considering that the graveyard for him was recently unearthed just 2,000 feet (610 meters) from the main house.^[1]

9 hollywood cemetery

The Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia is haunted by numerous specters. Eerie whispers and moans of dead Confederates, a ghost dog, and even a vampire are said to haunt the place.

Two United States presidents are buried in the cemetery: James Monroe and John Tyler, as well as the president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis. Monroe’s remains were moved to Richmond from their original resting place in the family crypt in New York. Apparently, Monroe’s spirit was confused by the move. His ghost was seen lingering in the crypt for a while before disappearing and reappearing in Richmond. Since then, she has been seen at his graveside, sitting quietly in contemplation, stroking his shoulder where a Revolutionary War musket ball was embedded. Otherwise, he could be seen standing, tall and muscular as he had been in life, inside his gothic-style tomb.^[2]

8 united states capitol

Numerous spooky legends surround the Capitol, as the building itself has a creepy aura, especially with a crypt meant for George Washington within its walls. Tales often told include that of a demon cat that brings omens of tragic events and the ghosts of a Civil War soldier who haunt Statuary Hall and William Taulbee, a former congressman, shot on a stairwell.

But Taulbee was not the only one who met his end in the Capitol. Former President John Quincy Adams was a representative who opposed the Mexican War as an unjust war of conquest that would encourage the expansion of slavery. When the House came to vote to honor the officers who served, Adams yelled “No!” and promptly collapsed from a stroke, dying two days later. Since then, people have reported hearing the “No!” Adams’s incorporeal echoing through the halls.^[3]

7 Hermitage

Twenty miles east of Nashville, Tennessee, we find Andrew Jackson’s palatial Hermitage, built for his loving wife Rachel, on a secluded meadow of her choosing. In 1819, Jackson had an English gardener create a perfect garden where Rachel could relax. She found her favorite place of pleasure among her blooming flowers, and when she died in 1828, the grieving Jackson buried her there. After that, every evening he would visit her grave, smoke a cigar and talk to her. “Heaven won’t be heaven to me if I don’t find my wife there,” Jackson had said, and when he died, he was buried near Rachel.

Since then, there have been accounts of footsteps in the garden, accompanied by the smell of cigarette smoke near the grave. The garden gate would open by itself and visitors would feel Jackson’s presence. In addition, a loud sound of a horse running through the house and mysterious whispers have been heard. Was this Jackson hanging around like his military days?^[4]

6 lindenwald

Before it was Lindenwald, the two-story Federal-style mansion in Kinderhook, New York, welcomed visitors like author Washington Irving and Vice President Aaron Burr. Irving drew much inspiration from the surrounding area, with its legend of a Headless Horseman, for his classic tale “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

The house was named Lindenwald for Martin van Buren, who bought the property in 1839 and moved in the following year after his time in the White House. He remodeled the place into an Italian Gothic mansion where his son John and his wife also moved in. Unfortunately, it was there that Van Buren died in 1862. Unfortunately, John gambled away his house and lost it to Winston Churchill’s grandfather, Leonard Jerome.

Many ghosts are reported in Lindenwald. Burr has been seen wandering in the orchard, and what may be his footsteps are heard in the upper rooms. The orchard is also haunted by Van Buren’s butler, who hanged himself there, and the spirit of a murdered woman walks among the apple trees.

Van Buren’s ghost frequently appears in the dining room with John. They can be glimpsed as enjoying the food and the company of the guests. On occasion, the former president could be seen loosening his corset under his vest, worn to hide his tummy, just as he did in his later life.^[5]

5 The Willard Hotel

Built in 1818, the Willard Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, has a storied history. His guest list includes Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, and Harry Houdini. Even her ghosts are notable: One is First Lady Jane Pierce, who retreated to the Willard to deal with the tragic death of her 11-year-old son in a train accident. It was rumored that she had died of melancholy at the hotel (she actually died in Andover, Massachusetts). It is said that her spirit still roams the halls.

President Ulysses S. Grant used to walk in the evenings from the White House to the Willard, two blocks away. There, he would sit in the lobby, drink and smoke his favorite Cuban cigars. He became such a regular customer that people seeking favors came up to him there, and as a result, Grant was the first to call them “lobbyists.”

And it seems Grant never left. He has been seen walking down a hallway called Peacock Alley. Employees and guests can still smell the smell of cigars in the lobby and certain areas, especially late at night. Since the hotel is a 100% smoke-free zone, the smell has no known origin, at least not physically.^[6]

4 The Menger Hotel

The historic Menger Hotel near the Alamo in San Antonio is a hotbed of paranormal activity, and its bar is particularly so. His troupe of ghostly denizens includes a lady in white, little boys, cowboys, and even a ghostly playboy lurking around to pick up a (alive) date at the bar. They could be behind the numerous poltergeist phenomena, electrical anomalies, strange shadows, EVPs, and spectral photobombs at the facility.

However, Menger’s most famous ghost is Theodore Roosevelt. During the Spanish–American War, Roosevelt used the bar as his makeshift recruiting office, attracting cowboys who came to join his Rough Riders. Once, Teddy rode his horse to the bar to cheer on his prospects.

Staff and guests have seen Teddy’s ghost sitting at the bar, wearing his old military uniform and having a drink, just as he did during his recruiting days. He terrorized a new janitor by materializing late one night, causing the terrified young man to quit his job. An EVP caught a voice saying, “Get your horses,” recalling Teddy’s stunt with his steed.^[7]

3 wilson house

On Embassy Row in Washington, DC, stands the Georgian Revival house where Woodrow Wilson settled after his presidency in 1921, hoping to recover from the stroke that crippled him in his later years. Wilson had planned to establish a law firm and do academic work, but it never worked out, and the disabled patient died in his room in 1924.

Since then, Wilson House has earned a reputation as possibly the most haunted house in the capital. Wilson’s dejected ghost still walks its halls, and the click of his cane has been heard as he walks up the stairs. The sobs of a man are audible from the bedroom. A transparent figure in a dress shirt, tie, and jacket is seated behind the desk. His lower body is covered by a robe or lap blanket, and his face reveals a disfigurement from a blow, a sad and faraway look in his eyes.

A caretaker quit in 1969, unable to take the strain. An employee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a group that does not acknowledge the paranormal, reported that Wilson’s Steinway piano played clearly in the drawing room when no one was there.^[8]

2 Hotel Driskill

Jesse Driskill was a cattle magnate who became rich supplying the Confederate army with beef. With his war proceeds, he built a Romanesque Revival hotel in Austin, Texas, in 1886. Perhaps because it was built with blood money, ghosts and ghosts were drawn to it, making the Driskill one of the America’s most haunted hotels.

Chief among these restless spirits is Jesse Driskill himself. In one sighting, a hotel guest woke up at 3 am to find Driskill standing in his room, looking out the window as he smoked a cigar. The hotel has the usual jaunty girlfriend who committed suicide, the laughs of a boy who fell down the stairs to his death, and even a haunted painting.

The most prominent Driskill ghost is President Lyndon Johnson, who first dated his wife, Lady Bird, at the hotel. Johnson also hosted post-election parties and strategy sessions in Driskill. He may still be seen sitting in a chair around the area where he used to view the election results. Or, the guests could see the reflection of him and his wife in the ballroom mirrors. It seems that LBJ is reluctant to leave one of his favorite Austin hangouts.^[9]

1 Nixon Library

The Nixon Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, houses archives and exhibits documenting the life and presidential legacy of Richard Nixon. Of course, it’s also where you can visit Nixon’s birthplace and his grave. But it seems that visitors can not only meet the president through his memorabilia, films and documents about him. There is also his ghost.

A night watchman has reported a ghostly figure coming through the locked door of the birthplace. A green mist hangs over Nixon’s grave. In the Watergate exhibit area, machines break down frequently and banging is heard. A psychic said that this was Nixon’s way of distracting people from reading the Watergate materials. Ghost tour participants reported unexplained cold sensations in the dimly lit exhibit hall. Foul odors and buzzing were detected in several places. This is apparently an area that stirs the spirit of Nixon.

A medium revealed that the only exhibits Nixon enjoys are memorabilia from his early life: school essays, old photos, love letters to Pat, and his naval service records. Nixon’s spirit also told him that he visits his birthplace every night.^[10]