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?
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, as well as obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of healing, to learn how she channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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The cat haunts the Capitol building. It is said to presage dire events for the country if it is heard/appears.
Andrew Pyper write a book about the Pierce seances and hauntings. I actually learned a lot about life in the 1850s and about Pierce’s presidency.
Oh dang it! I knew it was the Capitol Building and yet I wrote White House. Maria, THANK YOU for pointing it out. I’ll make an editor’s note about it and correct it in the post.
Was it called The Residence? I had to go check that out and that’s the one that sounds like it’s about Pierce and the 1850s. I’ve added it to my books wish list. THANKS for the heads up! I have a little crush on Pierce. But it only started after we visited a wax museum in 2018 of all things. This may end up leading to a post of some sort. lol (There you go again. Sparking my muse! lol)
Yes, Courtney, Pyper’s book is called The Residence. It’s a slow burn, spooky story. I really enjoyed it.
Oh thank goodness! Because that’s what I wrote about in another post you once again inspired! lol