On a day when America got to know about its 47th President, it's time to know about some stories connected to the iconic White House - the official residence of the "world's most powerful person". Over the decades, several US outlets have carried stories about ghostly sightings and mysterious night-time noises plaguing the 18th-century building. On the big result day, these stories are circulating again on the internet, and here's what we know about them.
According to a report in the Washington Post, there are numerous accounts of encounters with former residents, including the founding father and third president, Thomas Jefferson. However, the most famous spirit believed to haunt the White House is that of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president.
In 1946, President Harry S Truman wrote to his wife in a letter that is archived in his presidential library and museum.
"I jumped up and put on my bathrobe, opened the door, and no one there," he wrote. "Went out and looked up and down the hall, looked in your room and Margie's. Still no one. Went back to bed after locking the doors and there were footsteps in your room whose door I'd left open. Jumped and looked and no one there! The damned place is haunted sure as shootin'. Secret Service said not even a watchman was up here at that hour."
"You and Margie had better come back and protect me before some of these ghosts carry me off."
According to USA Today, the most famous ghost haunting the White House is undoubtedly that of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president. After his assassination in 1865, Lincoln's ghost reportedly appeared in both the Yellow Oval Room and the Lincoln Bedroom. He is said to have materialised to notable figures, including First Lady Grace Coolidge (wife of President Calvin Coolidge), British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, making him the most frequently sighted spirit in the White House.
The news outlet also reported that residents and staff members have, on various occasions, witnessed the ghost of Abigail Adams, America's second First Lady, hanging laundry or noticed a scent of lavender and damp clothing in the East Room.
In a 2018 interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Jenna Bush Hager shared that she heard 1920s piano music emanating from her room's fireplace. Jenna and her sister Barbara, daughters of President George W. Bush, heard music from the fireplace in the Lincoln Room on two separate occasions: first, 1920s piano music one week, and then opera music the following week, as Jenna later recounted to Hoda Kotb on the Today show.
"Our phone rang, and I woke up, and all of a sudden we heard like 1920s piano music coming out of our fireplace ... It was like the middle of the night, and you can feel the music out of the fireplace," Jenna said on "The Kelly Clarkson Show".
