In the conclusion of our White House haunting special, Amy descends into the darker corners of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—where the forgotten still knock, pace, and whisper.
Meet the restless spirit of President William Henry Harrison, the stubborn landowner David Burnes, the grieving Anna Surratt who still begs for her mother’s pardon, and the British soldier eternally patrolling the lawn he once burned.
Then brace yourself for “The Thing”—the strangest haunting in White House history, the mysterious presence President Taft tried to banish by executive order.
With wit, historical depth, and eerie atmosphere, The Strange History Podcast reveals why America’s most powerful house is also its most haunted.
Press play, dear listeners. The Oval Office lights are flickering again.
Like and Subscribe:
Apple
Spotify
IHeart
Audible
This episode of The Strange History Podcast was lovingly crafted with the help of ElevenLabs.io — the magical technology that gives Amy her time to sleep, eat, work and spend time with her dog Jack. While some might say she sounds too good to be true, we assure you, Amy is absolutely a real person… who just happens to have access to studio-grade AI vocal cords and an unnatural ability to pronounce “necromancy” without flinching. Any resemblance to an AI is purely coincidental — and mildly flattering. Dan the announcers name is really Bill and Patrick, the fake ad guy who thinks he is funny? well he is questionable at best. So yes, AI was used but the people are real and the shinanigans are.... well.... shinanigans.
Meet the restless spirit of President William Henry Harrison, the stubborn landowner David Burnes, the grieving Anna Surratt who still begs for her mother’s pardon, and the British soldier eternally patrolling the lawn he once burned.
Then brace yourself for “The Thing”—the strangest haunting in White House history, the mysterious presence President Taft tried to banish by executive order.
With wit, historical depth, and eerie atmosphere, The Strange History Podcast reveals why America’s most powerful house is also its most haunted.
Press play, dear listeners. The Oval Office lights are flickering again.
Like and Subscribe:
Apple
Spotify
IHeart
Audible
This episode of The Strange History Podcast was lovingly crafted with the help of ElevenLabs.io — the magical technology that gives Amy her time to sleep, eat, work and spend time with her dog Jack. While some might say she sounds too good to be true, we assure you, Amy is absolutely a real person… who just happens to have access to studio-grade AI vocal cords and an unnatural ability to pronounce “necromancy” without flinching. Any resemblance to an AI is purely coincidental — and mildly flattering. Dan the announcers name is really Bill and Patrick, the fake ad guy who thinks he is funny? well he is questionable at best. So yes, AI was used but the people are real and the shinanigans are.... well.... shinanigans.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back, dear listeners, to part two of our White
House Haunting series. Last time we met the presidential phantoms, Lincoln,
Abigail Dolly, and the rest of the elite Afterlife Club.
But tonight we're stepping into the other side of the
mansion's history. The forgotten corners, the attic, the garden, the
places the Secret Service doesn't list on the tour. Here's
(00:23):
the truth. The White House isn't just haunted by the famous.
It's haunted by the forgotten, the ones who died too quickly,
were erased from memory, or simply refused to give up
their view of the Rose Garden. So settle in light
another founding Fragrance's candle. This one's called Oath of Office
(00:43):
and Ominous Drafts. Because tonight, dear listeners, the halls are
busier than you think.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
The shortest stay William Henry Harrison.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
In eighteen forty one, William Henry Harrison moved into the
White House full of enthusiasm and without a coat. He
gave the longest inaugural address in US history, standing in
cold March rain for nearly two hours. A month later,
he was dead of pneumonia. The shortest presidency in American history,
(01:14):
just thirty one days, and yet, according to more than
a century of reports, he never left. White House. Staff
say the attic above the second floor sometimes echoes with slow,
deliberate footsteps. One nineteen forties usher claimed he heard drawers
open and shut when no one was there. Another said
(01:34):
he felt someone breathing behind him as he inventoried old furniture,
but when he turned there was only dust, motes and
cold air. Even modern maintenance crews have commented on a
man walking up there no pranksters, no intruders, just a
lonely sound of someone searching through trunks, perhaps still unpacking
for a presidency that never began. Harrison's ghost is less
(01:58):
of a fright and more of a sigh, a reminder
that sometimes the briefest stories echo the loudest. He didn't
get to make history, so he made the guest list instead.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
The land's original owner, David Burns.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Before there was a White House, there was farmland, And
before there was farmland, there was David Burns, the stubborn
Scottish farmer who owned the land that George Washington wanted
for his new capital city. Burns didn't go quietly. He
refused to sell, at first, earning himself the nickname the
obstinate Mister Burns. Eventually, after some heated negotiations and a
(02:37):
bit of presidential persuasion, he relented, but perhaps not happily.
For over a century, guards and staff have reported hearing
a gruff male voice in the Yellow Oval Room or
near the South portico, muttering about my land or what
they've done to it. In nineteen oh three, a night
watchman swore he saw an older man in eighteenth century close,
(03:00):
pacing and gesturing towards the city beyond the gates. When
the watchman approached, the man vanished, leaving behind only the
faint smell of pipe smoke. Some ghosts cling to people,
others cling to property lines, and honestly, in DC, that's
probably the most relatable haunting of all.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
The daughter who kept knocking, Anna Surrett.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Few stories in American history are as tragic as Anna Surret's.
Her mother, Mary Surrett, owned the boarding house where John
Wilkes Booth and his conspirators plotted Lincoln's assassination. When the
government rounded them up, Mary was convicted and sentenced to hang.
Desperate to save her, Anna spent the night before the execution,
(03:45):
pounding on the White House doors, begging President Andrew Johnson
for clemency. The guards refused to wake him. The next morning,
Mary Surrat was hanged, the first woman ever executed by
the US government. Years later, guards began hearing frantic knocking
on the North Portico doors, especially in the humid summer
(04:07):
months when the air felt heavy with memory. Some claimed
they heard a woman's voice crying, let me in. Others
described the doorknobs rattling violently, as if someone were still outside,
still begging. There's something heartbreakingly human about Anna's haunting. She's
not a wandering spirit. She's a memory that refuses to fade.
(04:30):
If you ever stand before the North Portico late at
night and hear a faint tapping, you might be listening
to history still trying to rewrite itself.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Tonight's episode is brought to you by Presidential Poltergeist Tours,
because democracy is fun, but ghosts don't filibuster. Book your
trip today and get our exclusive souvenir mug I survived
the Lincoln Bedroom Barely. Use promo code Spooky spous at
check out for ten percent off your honk.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
The Unfinished War, The British soldier in eighteen fourteen.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
During the War of eighteen twelve, British troops marched into
Washington and set fire to nearly every public building, including
the White House. Legend says that one of those soldiers
never left. Guards have reported seeing a shadowy figure in
a red coat patrolling the north lawn, musket on shoulder,
face obscured. Some call him the smoking Man because witnesses
(05:30):
often see a faint wisp of smoke drifting up from
where his pipe glows in the dark. In nineteen fifty three,
a Marine sentry on duty swore he saw the figure
cross the lawn, salute and vanish. Another decades later chased
what he thought was an intruder, only to find the
footprints ended abruptly in soft grass. Maybe he's a soldier
(05:53):
still on guard duty, protecting the place he once destroyed.
Or maybe he's just very, very lost, like a Britage
tourists trying to find the nearest pub. Either way, I
hope someone's told him the war's over.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
The Romantic Return, John Tyler.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
The Blue Room of the White House is one of
the most elegant chambers, the sight of receptions, holiday photos,
and one ghostly love story. President John Tyler, widowed during
his term, became the first president to marry while in office.
He proposed to his young bride, Julia Gardner, right in
the Blue Room in eighteen forty four. Long after his death,
(06:31):
Musicians performing during holiday events reported feeling a tap on
the shoulder and no one there. One clarinetist said he
felt a cold hand push his elbow just as he
played a wrong note, as though someone disapproved of his tune.
During Christmas tours, visitors have described a sudden hush falling
over the Blue Room, as if a private moment is
(06:53):
being replayed in time. If the White House can be
a battlefield, it can also be a ballroom. And if
anyone deserves a lingering encore, it's a president who found
love again in the middle of his presidency. The original
Oval Office rom com.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
This episode is sponsored by Seance Safe tablecloths, stain resistant,
candle friendly and guaranteed not to burst into flames during
contact with the spirit realm. Sayance safe, because when you're
raising the dead, presentation matters.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
The thing in the White House.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Now, dear listeners, we come to perhaps the strangest haunting
in the entire White House the thing. Between nineteen eleven
and nineteen twelve, staff members began reporting something unseen, a
presence that would press lightly on their shoulders, as if
someone tall were peering over them. They described a feeling
of cold curiosity, and then nothing. Soon rumors spread, maids
(07:54):
refused to go into certain rooms alone, Butler's claimed to
see a boy with messy hair and sad blue eyes
darting through the halls. One maid, Florence Marsh, swore she
saw him standing by the staircase one morning, pale, silent,
watching her, before vanishing. When President William Howard Taft caught
(08:16):
wind of the hysteria, he ordered everyone to stop talking
about it. No ghosts in my administration, he said, firmly,
But privately, he reportedly told his military aid to find
out what in the devil they're seeing. No answer, ever, came.
After nineteen twelve, the sighting stopped, but even now staff
(08:37):
occasionally mention a strange sense of being watched in the
West Wing corridors late at night, a feeling that something
is almost there.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
What was it?
Speaker 1 (08:46):
A trick of light, collective imagination, the ghost of Willie
Lincoln playing hide and seek? Or maybe and this is
my favorite theory. The thing is the White House itself
a living, breathing memory of power and consequence, because after
two centuries of triumph, tragedy, and laundry, maybe the House
(09:07):
doesn't just remember. Maybe it observes every era leaves a
fingerprint on that building, every choice, every laugh, every secret.
The White House isn't haunted because it's old. It's haunted
because it's alive with history. And that history has a
way of walking the halls when the lights go out.
So next time you see a shadow move in a
(09:29):
photo from the Lincoln Bedroom, or you hear music in
an empty hall, or you get the sudden urge to
knock on a locked door, remember you're in good company. Presidents, first, ladies, soldiers, children,
They all left something behind. I'm Amy and this has
been the Strange History podcast Things that Go Bump at
(09:49):
sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. If you enjoyed our little ghost tour, subscribe,
leave a review, and maybe send a candle to the
Lincoln bedroom. He's been working late for one hundred and
sixty years. Good Night, dear listeners, and if you ever
get invited to stay overnight at the White House, keep
your slippers by the bed. You never know who'll be
(10:10):
walking past your door.
Welcome back, dear listeners, to part two of our White
House Haunting series. Last time we met the presidential phantoms, Lincoln,
Abigail Dolly, and the rest of the elite Afterlife Club.
But tonight we're stepping into the other side of the
mansion's history. The forgotten corners, the attic, the garden, the
places the Secret Service doesn't list on the tour. Here's
(00:23):
the truth. The White House isn't just haunted by the famous.
It's haunted by the forgotten, the ones who died too quickly,
were erased from memory, or simply refused to give up
their view of the Rose Garden. So settle in light
another founding Fragrance's candle. This one's called Oath of Office
(00:43):
and Ominous Drafts. Because tonight, dear listeners, the halls are
busier than you think.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
The shortest stay William Henry Harrison.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
In eighteen forty one, William Henry Harrison moved into the
White House full of enthusiasm and without a coat. He
gave the longest inaugural address in US history, standing in
cold March rain for nearly two hours. A month later,
he was dead of pneumonia. The shortest presidency in American history,
(01:14):
just thirty one days, and yet, according to more than
a century of reports, he never left. White House. Staff
say the attic above the second floor sometimes echoes with slow,
deliberate footsteps. One nineteen forties usher claimed he heard drawers
open and shut when no one was there. Another said
(01:34):
he felt someone breathing behind him as he inventoried old furniture,
but when he turned there was only dust, motes and
cold air. Even modern maintenance crews have commented on a
man walking up there no pranksters, no intruders, just a
lonely sound of someone searching through trunks, perhaps still unpacking
for a presidency that never began. Harrison's ghost is less
(01:58):
of a fright and more of a sigh, a reminder
that sometimes the briefest stories echo the loudest. He didn't
get to make history, so he made the guest list instead.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
The land's original owner, David Burns.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Before there was a White House, there was farmland, And
before there was farmland, there was David Burns, the stubborn
Scottish farmer who owned the land that George Washington wanted
for his new capital city. Burns didn't go quietly. He
refused to sell, at first, earning himself the nickname the
obstinate Mister Burns. Eventually, after some heated negotiations and a
(02:37):
bit of presidential persuasion, he relented, but perhaps not happily.
For over a century, guards and staff have reported hearing
a gruff male voice in the Yellow Oval Room or
near the South portico, muttering about my land or what
they've done to it. In nineteen oh three, a night
watchman swore he saw an older man in eighteenth century close,
(03:00):
pacing and gesturing towards the city beyond the gates. When
the watchman approached, the man vanished, leaving behind only the
faint smell of pipe smoke. Some ghosts cling to people,
others cling to property lines, and honestly, in DC, that's
probably the most relatable haunting of all.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
The daughter who kept knocking, Anna Surrett.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Few stories in American history are as tragic as Anna Surret's.
Her mother, Mary Surrett, owned the boarding house where John
Wilkes Booth and his conspirators plotted Lincoln's assassination. When the
government rounded them up, Mary was convicted and sentenced to hang.
Desperate to save her, Anna spent the night before the execution,
(03:45):
pounding on the White House doors, begging President Andrew Johnson
for clemency. The guards refused to wake him. The next morning,
Mary Surrat was hanged, the first woman ever executed by
the US government. Years later, guards began hearing frantic knocking
on the North Portico doors, especially in the humid summer
(04:07):
months when the air felt heavy with memory. Some claimed
they heard a woman's voice crying, let me in. Others
described the doorknobs rattling violently, as if someone were still outside,
still begging. There's something heartbreakingly human about Anna's haunting. She's
not a wandering spirit. She's a memory that refuses to fade.
(04:30):
If you ever stand before the North Portico late at
night and hear a faint tapping, you might be listening
to history still trying to rewrite itself.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Tonight's episode is brought to you by Presidential Poltergeist Tours,
because democracy is fun, but ghosts don't filibuster. Book your
trip today and get our exclusive souvenir mug I survived
the Lincoln Bedroom Barely. Use promo code Spooky spous at
check out for ten percent off your honk.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
The Unfinished War, The British soldier in eighteen fourteen.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
During the War of eighteen twelve, British troops marched into
Washington and set fire to nearly every public building, including
the White House. Legend says that one of those soldiers
never left. Guards have reported seeing a shadowy figure in
a red coat patrolling the north lawn, musket on shoulder,
face obscured. Some call him the smoking Man because witnesses
(05:30):
often see a faint wisp of smoke drifting up from
where his pipe glows in the dark. In nineteen fifty three,
a Marine sentry on duty swore he saw the figure
cross the lawn, salute and vanish. Another decades later chased
what he thought was an intruder, only to find the
footprints ended abruptly in soft grass. Maybe he's a soldier
(05:53):
still on guard duty, protecting the place he once destroyed.
Or maybe he's just very, very lost, like a Britage
tourists trying to find the nearest pub. Either way, I
hope someone's told him the war's over.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
The Romantic Return, John Tyler.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
The Blue Room of the White House is one of
the most elegant chambers, the sight of receptions, holiday photos,
and one ghostly love story. President John Tyler, widowed during
his term, became the first president to marry while in office.
He proposed to his young bride, Julia Gardner, right in
the Blue Room in eighteen forty four. Long after his death,
(06:31):
Musicians performing during holiday events reported feeling a tap on
the shoulder and no one there. One clarinetist said he
felt a cold hand push his elbow just as he
played a wrong note, as though someone disapproved of his tune.
During Christmas tours, visitors have described a sudden hush falling
over the Blue Room, as if a private moment is
(06:53):
being replayed in time. If the White House can be
a battlefield, it can also be a ballroom. And if
anyone deserves a lingering encore, it's a president who found
love again in the middle of his presidency. The original
Oval Office rom com.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
This episode is sponsored by Seance Safe tablecloths, stain resistant,
candle friendly and guaranteed not to burst into flames during
contact with the spirit realm. Sayance safe, because when you're
raising the dead, presentation matters.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
The thing in the White House.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Now, dear listeners, we come to perhaps the strangest haunting
in the entire White House the thing. Between nineteen eleven
and nineteen twelve, staff members began reporting something unseen, a
presence that would press lightly on their shoulders, as if
someone tall were peering over them. They described a feeling
of cold curiosity, and then nothing. Soon rumors spread, maids
(07:54):
refused to go into certain rooms alone, Butler's claimed to
see a boy with messy hair and sad blue eyes
darting through the halls. One maid, Florence Marsh, swore she
saw him standing by the staircase one morning, pale, silent,
watching her, before vanishing. When President William Howard Taft caught
(08:16):
wind of the hysteria, he ordered everyone to stop talking
about it. No ghosts in my administration, he said, firmly,
But privately, he reportedly told his military aid to find
out what in the devil they're seeing. No answer, ever, came.
After nineteen twelve, the sighting stopped, but even now staff
(08:37):
occasionally mention a strange sense of being watched in the
West Wing corridors late at night, a feeling that something
is almost there.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
What was it?
Speaker 1 (08:46):
A trick of light, collective imagination, the ghost of Willie
Lincoln playing hide and seek? Or maybe and this is
my favorite theory. The thing is the White House itself
a living, breathing memory of power and consequence, because after
two centuries of triumph, tragedy, and laundry, maybe the House
(09:07):
doesn't just remember. Maybe it observes every era leaves a
fingerprint on that building, every choice, every laugh, every secret.
The White House isn't haunted because it's old. It's haunted
because it's alive with history. And that history has a
way of walking the halls when the lights go out.
So next time you see a shadow move in a
(09:29):
photo from the Lincoln Bedroom, or you hear music in
an empty hall, or you get the sudden urge to
knock on a locked door, remember you're in good company. Presidents, first, ladies, soldiers, children,
They all left something behind. I'm Amy and this has
been the Strange History podcast Things that Go Bump at
(09:49):
sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. If you enjoyed our little ghost tour, subscribe,
leave a review, and maybe send a candle to the
Lincoln bedroom. He's been working late for one hundred and
sixty years. Good Night, dear listeners, and if you ever
get invited to stay overnight at the White House, keep
your slippers by the bed. You never know who'll be
(10:10):
walking past your door.
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