11 U.S. Presidents, Their Paranormal Connections and the Dreamland Wax Museum in Boston

Updated: April 6, 2021

These 11 12 presidents have paranormal connections that include not only ghosts, but even UFO encounters and a semi-brush with Bigfoot.

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Do wax museums intrigue you, but also creep you out a little too? I’m a sucker for them, which is how I found myself exploring the Dreamland Wax Museum on a jaunt to Boston last summer.

Hey, the entry was included as part of our Boston Hop-on Hop-off Trolley Tour, so why not? Plus, it was melt-your-face-off hot. I was desperate to take a break from sightseeing and get into some air conditioning!

Boston Hop-on Hop-off Trolley Tour
from: ViatorAmong other displays in the museum, they had a wax figure for every U.S. president. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, that was the first exhibit you passed through –one about American history and how our country came to be with the men its people have elected as leader since its start.

I found myself snapping photos of some of the presidents for one reason or another. Some were creepier than others –that goes for how they were in real life as well as how their wax figure turned out!

It felt like I was nearly taking photos of all of them. Nearly. Turns out I wasn’t. There were 45 presidents on display. I only took photos of 18 of them.

However, out of that 18 I was most drawn to, 11 had some sort of paranormal connection. Which tripped me out a little.

And how did I even discover any of this?

The Facebook Album

I’ve been wanting to share the presidential wax figures for a while, but there really hadn’t been a good reason –until today. Since it’s an election year and all, what better day than President’s Day, right?

As I created a photo album for them on HJ’s Facebook page, I wanted to put a little something more in the caption than just the president’s name.

I knew Andrew Jackson had a paranormal connection, but it made me wonder about the others. I Googled each of their names with the words “ghost” or “paranormal” to see what came up.

Turns out, lots of interesting info!

The Mystery

Did I know about some of the paranormal connections beforehand, though? Is that why I was drawn to the presidents I took photos of? (Except for Van Buren. That was all about the hair!)

But was I subconsciously drawn to the others because of ghost stories I’d heard once upon a time in connection with them?

Perhaps.

But I’m sure there must be stories with at least a couple more of the 27 presidents I didn’t take photos of too. Maybe I just lucked out and snapped pics of those with some fun paranormal connections?

Side Note: The Challenge

If you know of any ghost or paranormal story for any of the other presidents, leave a comment. I will mail you some Haunt Jaunts swag of your choice. (Which means a pen, hat, notebook, or one of the three T-shirt designs I’ve got.)

This isn’t a contest, so there are no “enter by” deadlines. This is a standing offer. It also extends to anyone, U.S citizen or not.

Also note: sometimes my system closes comments on posts when I don’t mean them to. If that happens, just use the Contact Us page to get in touch.

The Presidents

I don’t really know what happened, but it was fun to find paranormal connections with the following presidents in one form or another. Check them out.

1. George Washington – 1st President of the United States

Does his ghost haunt Mount Vernon? Washington died at home in his bedroom. MountVernon.org has a wonderful page on their site dedicated to the Ghost Stories and sightings that have been reported there.

Among the stories is a newspaper article from 1890 about two women who stayed as visitors at Mount Vernon. They requested to sleep in Washington’s bedroom, but had an experience with a candle during the night that alarmed them both.

It also prompted each to tell the other they were sleeping on the side of the bed George Washington died on. You can totally picture these ladies freaking out –and freaking each other out! Funny stuff.

2. James Madison – 4th President of the United States

As evidenced by the caption on the picture above, I may not have the right wax figure, but I do have a ghost story for James Madison.

I found a great post on Amy’s Crypt about Dead Presidents Still Haunting Their Homes in Virginia. Allegedly the spirit of Madison’s wife, Dolley, has been seen both at Montpellier, their home in Virginia, and at the White House.

3. Andrew Jackson – 7th President of the United States

I would LOVE to ask “Old Hickory” about his experience with the Bell Witch haunting! He went to the Bell farm during the time it was happening.

In fact, his Tennessee home, the Hermitage, has a POTUS7 podcast episode on it’s site about Andrew Jackson and the Bell Witch that you can listen to about his connection.

*4. Franklin Pierce – 14th President of the United States

This info was added on April 6, 2021, months after Troy Taylor from American Hauntings tweeted me to let me know I’d left a president off the list:

You left off Pierce. After his son was killed, his wife Jane desperately tried to reach his spirit. They invited the Fox sisters to hold the first seance in the White House. ?

— ???? ?????? ? (@troytaylor13) July 4, 2020

So there you have it. You now know who the first president to conduct a seance in the White House was!

5. Abraham Lincoln – 16th President of the United States

According to History.com, Honest Abe’s ghost is “By far the most frequently reported sighting in the White House…”

His wife, Mary Todd, hosted many seances. He only attended two. (BUT that he attended any! Can you imagine any of today’s president’s on a paranormal investigation?) He’s also reputed to have foreseen his death…assassination and all.

6. Andrew Johnson – 17th President of the United States

He’s probably most notably known as the first U.S. President to be impeached. However, his ghostly connection is with a building in Knoxville that shares his name, the Andrew Johnson Building.

It used to be a hotel. Country star Hank Williams stayed in it only hours before his death, and its his ghost many have reported seeing.

But there’s more to Hank’s death than meets the eye. As is often the case when a beloved star dies suddenly, some –including his daughter– think he didn’t just die of heart failure from alcoholism. He may have been murdered. (To read more, I strongly recommend reading the entry about Hank’s Restless Spirit on Haunted Knoxville Ghost Tours’ site.)

7. Ulysses S. Grant – 18th President of the United States

Did you know that once upon a time Ulysses S. Grant’s tomb was the most visited site in America after Niagara Falls? That was a fun fact I learned from Ghosts of New York’s “Is Grant’s Tomb Haunted?”

Another was that he developed a liking for cigars during the Civil War. (And also developed cancer from it, which contributed to his death.)

At one point his tomb was also neglected. That’s when people reported cigar smoke in the air, even though smoking wasn’t allowed in his tomb.

Ghosts of New York wondered, “When more people began to give respect to the great union hero, the unwanted smell disappeared. Did the building need a good airing or did the general need some attention?”

Or was it that Grant could smoke at will because people weren’t around?

8. Theodore Roosevelt – 26th President of the United States

His ghost might also haunt the White House, but does he also have a Bigfoot connection? Perhaps, according to a story on Mental Floss, “The Bauman Incident: When Theodore Roosevelt Might Have Written About Bigfoot.”

During a hunting expedition to western Montana and northwestern Wyoming, Teddy was told a story that he then recounted in his memoir. It involved a pair of trappers, one who survived and one who didn’t, after encountering a bear-like creature with a fetid stench that walked on two legs.

If you read the full account on Mental Floss, it may give you chills because it so closely resembles many of the Bigfoot sighting stories that other campers and forest-wanderers have shared. Teddy never used the words “Bigfoot” or “Sasquatch” in his retelling of the tale, but it makes me wonder if he was alive today would he be a Bigfoot hunter?

9. William Howard Taft –  27th President of the United States

The Vintage News shared a marvelous article about a ghost report during Taft’s presidency: “The Ghost Reported in the White House a Century ago Simply Called ‘The Thing’.”

One of Taft’s aides, Major Archie Butt (that’s an unfortunate name) wrote a letter to his sister about a ghost haunting the White House. First Lady Helen Taft’s maid claimed to have seen “The Thing,” which apparently outraged President Taft.

Understandably. Presidents have pressing matters to deal with, ones they have a hard enough time handling. They can’t be bothered with superstitions and conjecture!

10. Franklin D. Roosevelt – 32nd President of the United States

I’ve heard of some past presidential pets perhaps haunting the White House, but had you ever heard that FDR’s beloved dog is said to haunt Grand Central Terminal’s secret train track? That was a fun find on 6sqft.com.

His dog’s name was Fala, a Scottish Terrier. Track 61 was how the president (and other dignitaries) could transverse undisturbed and undetected between Grand Central Station and the Waldorf Astoria.

Fala sounds like he was a comfort pet ahead of his time, as he traveled everywhere with FDR. Fala died after FDR, and it doesn’t appear it was on the train tracks, so I’m not sure why people would sense his spirit there. Maybe he just really liked riding that secret line?

11. Jimmy Carter – 39th President of the United States

I was stunned to learn that Jimmy Carter admitted to perhaps seeing a UFO. Not only that, according to History.com he filed a report about it!

The report was filed on September 18, 1973 with the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP). However, the sighting happened in October 1969. Carter was in Leary, Georgia, at the time and wasn’t the only one to see it. It was also witnessed by 10 to 12 other people.

12. Ronald Reagan – 40th President of the United States

I found a very interesting Huff Post article written by a woman who had attended a state dinner hosted by President Reagan. She recounted a White House ghost story he told about his son-in-law and daughter’s experiences seeing Abe Lincoln while staying in the Lincoln bedroom.

The only thing cooler than getting a mini ghost tour of the White House would be being able to have an overnight investigation there. Which would have to include the Lincoln bedroom, seeing as how it’s the most storied room of the house.

Check-In

Were there any surprising paranormal presidential connections for you? FDR’s ghost dog and Jimmy Carter’s UFO sighting were fun discoveries for me.