Demon in the White House: Is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue haunted?

Updated November 5, 2021: I mistakenly said the demon cat lives in the basement of the White House when it’s rumored he really dwells in the basement of the Capitol Building. The text has been changed to reflect the correction.

Some say a demon cat that foretells disaster lives in the basement of the Capitol Building. However, D.C., as the cat is known, may not be the only demon stalking the capital of the United States. Demon in the White House, a new Shock Docs premiering on discovery+ on Friday, November 26, explores whether two grieving first ladies who held seances in the presidential home to contact their dead sons may instead have conjured up something more sinister.

Which, considering the growing division and contentiousness between political parties, especially in the last few elections, would explain a lot.

So which first ladies were they? Let’s find that out as well as take a look at what we can expect from this newest Shock Docs.

Demon in the White House Synopsis

First, President Franklin Pierce and First Lady Jane Pierce lost their son Benjamin at age 11 in a train accident in 1853. Then, just over nine years laters, President Abraham Lincoln and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln’s son, William, died of typhoid fever at the same age in 1862.

Both boys perished during their fathers’ administrations. (Well, technically Pierce had won the presidential election and was President-elect but hadn’t been sworn in yet.)

As you might imagine, though, it was heartwrenching times for both families.

In an effort to cope with their losses, both first ladies turned to Spiritualism and held seances in their homes at the time, the White House, to try and contact their children. But did they unwittingly invite an evil presence with a malevolent agenda that may still torment America’s presidents, as well as their families, visitors, and closest advisors to this day?

Demon in the White House opens archival papers, correspondence, and diaries to document a timeline of supernatural events that unfolded after these grieving families sought solace in the fashionable new spiritualism and seance movement – and the potentially catastrophic consequences that followed.

The White House and the Supernatural

As new presidential families have moved into the White House over the past 150 years, reports of supernatural activity and strange happenings have continued. One of the presidents who was the most vocal about paranormal activity was Harry Truman. He wrote several letters to family members explaining the disturbances. Historians count nine separate occasions where he wrote about the ghost of the White House, and once said, “sure as shooting the place is haunted.”

It is believed that renovating a building can stir up ghostly activity. When the White House was being gutted, Truman hired National Park Service photographer Abbie Rowe to document this historic process.

One ordinary photo shows a bulldozer and three men standing in a corner. On the other side of the frame is a figure that appears transparent. The three men standing at the same distance are obviously solid. Their shirts and ties are identifiable. But the other figure has no discernible articles of clothing. This enigmatic photo may be the first documented photo of a ghost in the White House.

There was nothing in the show’s description to explain why it’s believed a demon may haunt 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, but Demon in the White House wants to uncover if the presidential home is haunted by something demonic. And, if so, what could it possibly want?

Besides what all demons want, that is. Total chaos and destruction. (And that might be the one thing both parties can agree on: it seems like that’s already happening.)

For More Info

Stream Demon in the White House on discovery+ starting Friday, November 26.

Follow @TravelChannel and #DemonIntheWhiteHouse on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for additional content and updates.

Plus, check out @discoveryplus on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Check-In

It’s almost hard to believe that once upon a time seances took place in the White House, isn’t it?

Or is it harder to believe that no celebrity paranormal investigators have finagled a televised ghost hunt in the White House yet?

But if one finally does, who do you think it would be? Zak Bagans and Ghost Adventures? Jason Hawes, Steve Gonsalves, and Dave Tango from Ghost Hunters? Dakota Laden and team from Destination Fear? Someone else? Who would you like to see do it?