Shock Docs (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 9 - Demon in the White House - full transcript

Are you ready to begin?

Are there spirits
present in this home?

We wish to converse
with you tonight.

Do you wish to converse with us?

Please knock once for yes
and twice for no.

We are grateful for your presence
and we ask for your patience.

We desire contact
with someone we've lost.

Jane, this is the f...
Silence!

One for yes, two for no,
are you in Heaven?

One for yes, two for no,
are you in Heaven?

One for yes, two for no.



There have been a lot
of interesting occult things

that have happened
in the White House,

spiritualism and seances.

The property was
a perfect breeding ground

for these demons
to feed off of this chaos.

The White House is truly
a house of secrets.

The White House has to be haunted.

Standing over his shoulder
is this creature

who is obviously Satan.

She is covered in his blood.

Presidents have had
ghostly experiences,

first ladies,
military aides.

When those folks say
they've seen a ghost,

that's the most credible witness
you will ever find.



What frightens me is that we may
have things in the White House

that are practically demonic,

and this can lead
to mass, mass tragedy.

When you see the White House,
you look at it with the same

kind of regality that the British do,
looking at Buckingham Palace.

It's our royalty.

Knowing its place in history
and the fact that it had been

razed before, destroyed
and burned to the ground,

instead of backing off
and going somewhere else,

we rebuilt on those spots,
claiming and showing our enemies

we will not be deterred.
It's a stronghold of power,

it's a stronghold of strength
that shows

who we are and what our country
stands for.

Decisions have been made inside
this building

that have affected everyone
in the United States.

Billions of lives around the world
that started wars,

that dropped nuclear bombs
on countries,

that have just changed
the very fabric of society.

But it's also a home.

When you look at the outside
of the White House,

it's this grand mansion. In fact,
it's called the President's mansion.

And we know about the West Wing,

and we know what the Oval Office
looks like.

We've seen press conferences.
But there are so many rooms

in this building that
we've never had access to.

There's secret tunnels
that can get people in and out

of this building
without ever being seen.

Who knows what else is in there?
Depending on the administration,

and the first family.

If you are a demonic entity
and you want to bring about mischief

on a vast scale, what better place
to do it than the White House?

When you think about that location,

it's an epicentre
of American political power.

Through history, the White House
has been the focal point,

the place that the world
turns to for answers.

With that focus
from the entire world,

I would think that would be
just feeding the battery

that would make
the ultimate haunted house.

Of course, it was
a swamp at one point.

And then they brought in
these magnificent architects,

and they built
around architectural designs

that were somewhat
occult influenced,

so it definitely has
this odd side

that a lot of Americans
may not be aware of.

Ghost stories at the White House
have been happening over 150 years.

And, that haunting appears
to continue today.

Barbara and I, we haven't...
I don't know if we see a ghost,

but we felt something.
You did? Where?

We were at the White House.

Scary!
It's scary.

If we have the President
of the United States

sitting on the
nuclear codes,

the idea that some kind of
a dark, devilish entity

could be coming in there
and making them behave erratically,

that is scary to me.

As a paranormal investigator,
I question is it a spirit?

Is it a ghost? Is it a demon?

And what is their purpose
for still remaining there?

How does this energy,
these spirits of the past,

affect the people
that run this home?

If I got in there to investigate,
the first thing I'd wanna ask is,

when did you first notice something
was off in the building?

What was your first experience
that didn't seem quite right?

The White House hauntings
really start around 1853.

They seem to have started during,
ah, Franklin Pierce's presidency.

He was the president
from 1853 to 1857.

Tragedy followed him
wherever he went.

Franklin Pierce
was born in New Hampshire

and was a pretty quick-rising star
in the political scene.

He was in the State House
of Representatives

in New Hampshire
for three terms.

He was a general
in the Mexican-American War.

So this guy is clearly
on a meteoric path.

He meets Jane Appleton.

And when they say opposites attract,

this really was
the ultimate, ultimate example.

She hated politics with a passion,
hated drinking,

which her husband happened to be
very fond of.

Jane Pierce was born to the
Reverend Doctor Jessie Appleton

and her father is, ah,
this Calvinist preacher.

It's a very strict religion.
It's about learning about your sins.

She has a tendency to be,
as they called it in the day,

melancholy.

She was always just kind of sick.
It's very sad.

Though Pierce's success
is fast-moving,

in his personal life,
there's trouble.

Their first-born child dies
after just a few days.

That threw her into this terrible
depression, to lose a child.

And then the guilt that he,
as a husband has,

he doesn't want that to happen
again, so he leaves Congress.

And then their second child
dies at age four.

And so finally
they're down to one kid, Bennie.

She turns all of her affection
on Bennie, her youngest,

almost, to the point
of obsession.

So, Jane is constantly begging her
husband to get out of politics

and stop drinking, but once again,

the political draw brings him back.

So in 1852, the Democratic
National Convention,

Pierce allowed his name
to kinda quietly circulate.

Somehow he managed
to keep secret from Jane

for a while that he had
become the nominee,

and when she finally found out,
she apparently fainted immediately.

Her son wrote her, "I hope father
doesn't become president.

"I know you would hate it
and I would hate it too."

But he's elected in 1852.

He's elected President,
and it's very exciting.

And the Democrats are thrilled,

but the country's
in this strange time.

The big elephant in the room
is slavery.

The Northern states,
they don't believe in slavery

and the Southern
states that do.

Franklin Pierce
is considered a "doughface,"

which basically means a Northerner
with Southern sympathies.

Wanted to make slavery work
in the south,

keep it out of the north,
and keep everybody happy.

The reality is, on some issues,
there's just no compromise.

Slavery is absolute pure evil.

January 6th, just right
before the inauguration,

the Pierces take a train
up to Massachusetts.

The passenger car that they're
riding in comes unhooked.

The train rolls down an embankment.

Franklin reaches out,
he grabs a hold of Jane,

and he tries to grab
a hold of Bennie.

But Bennie slips out of his reach.
And he's thrown.

Their son Bennie
is lying unconscious

with his cap over his face,
and as they go to shake him

to see if he's OK, they,
they pull the cap from his face

and they see that his face
had been crushed.

Um, uh...
What do you say?

I mean, there's their son.

Before their eyes.
Killed tragically.

I can't even begin to imagine
what kind of impact

that would have on your psyche,
on your soul and in your heart.

She felt that it
was against God's will

Franklin get involved
in politics.

She absolutely did blame him
in part for Bennie's death.

I think she felt like he had gone
back on a promise to her.

Franklin Pierce's inauguration

is one of the saddest,
sobering inaugurations.

Everyone in the country knows that
he's lost his son very tragically.

My countrymen,
it is a relief to feel

that no heart but my own
can know the personal regret

and bitter sorrow over which
I have been born to a position.

You have summoned me in my weakness.

You must sustain me
by your strength.

It was not this joyous occasion

that you would imagine
when a new President moves in.

Franklin Pierce
should be celebrating,

revelling in this moment in history

when he is elected to the
prime element of our country...

..and there's just this black cloud
that hangs over their family.

Here, you've gotta have a leader

who's looking forward
to the future,

to a brighter new way
to lead the country,

but yet being pulled
into this darkness.

The unfortunate nickname
that the press

started calling Mrs. Pierce
was the Phantom of the White House.

She isolated herself,

literally doesn't come out
of the bedroom for weeks...

..and she really did almost seem
like a ghost in her own home.

No, thank you, I think I am
retiring today. Has my wife..?

Upstairs, Sir.
Of course.

That will be all, thank you.

My precious child,
I must write to you,

although you are never
to see it or know it.

How I long to see you
and say something to you,

as if you were near me.

Oh, had you but been within reach
of your dear father.

A moment changed
my dear boy's bright form

into a lifeless one,
insensible to your parents' agony.

As a parent, I don't know
that I wouldn't have gone

to any lengths to have
one more moment with my child,

to have one more conversation,
one more moment to hear their voice.

When she was sequestered away,
she wrote letters to Bennie,

endlessly long letters
that are really sad,

and she seemed to have
a somewhat conflicted faith.

On the one hand,
she came to believe that God

may have taken Bennie to try
and send a message

to Franklin about
being president.

But on the other hand, she was also
willing to put aside her religion

in attempts to contact Bennie,
and that was probably due

to the influence
of what was going on

at the time in both the US
and the UK.

And now this Sabbath evening,
you will come in fancy before me

and I sit close by you,
with your hand in mine perhaps?

Spiritualism was a belief
that the spirits of the departed

could be contacted.

Spiritualism began
in a little farmhouse

in Hydesville, New York
back in 1848.

The Fox family would hear
strange knocks on the wall.

And the Fox Sisters begin to
realise that they can communicate

with whatever is making
these rappings...

..in a circle around a table,
that's where we get the form

of the seance,
which did not exist before that.

What began back in 1848,
the Ouija board is a by-product,

ghost hunting,
paranormal investigation.

Astrology, spirit photography.

Spirit photography was the idea
that you would take a photo

of someone, and there would be
a spirit

that would appear behind them.

OK, if the dead can stick around,

we should be able
to investigate that.

And you can tie it all back
to the Fox family.

By 1853, when Jane Pierce
came to live

in the White House,
the Fox Sisters were world-renowned.

Everybody knew who they were.

It does seem that Jane
called on the Fox Sisters,

brought them to the White House
for a seance,

trying to contact Bennie.

When you decide you're going
to mentally open a window,

you can't necessarily control
who is going to come through.

The old occult grimoires
and the texts

are full of terrible things
that can happen.

If the White House
were using these practices,

could demons or bad spirits
actually decide to come through

during one of these seances?

Mother?

May we speak with the spirit
of young Benjamin Pierce,

son of Jane and Franklin?

One for yes, and two...

Is it my boy?

Is Benjamin with us?

Spirit, wrap the number of years
you lived on this earth.

Jane Pierce was desperate
to reconnect

with their 11-year-old son.

But when they start
pursuing these methods,

and they don't know exactly
what they're doing,

I believe they can let
terrible things

into the White House.

Mother?

This seance,
it's one of those things

that's a little bit shrouded
in the mist of history

that we would love
to know more about.

There is evidence that Mrs. Pierce
met with Maggie Fox.

There is a letter from her husband,
Arctic Explorer Elisha Kane.

He said, "You have to stop
meeting with Mrs. Pierce.

"I know you've done it
and more than once."

He just didn't want her to be
involved in this stuff anymore.

I missed you.

After these seances
happened at the White House,

Jane Pierce seems to believe
that it actually worked.

She reports that
she's actually seen her son.

For Jane, to finally
make that connection,

it had to be such a relief to get
that sense that her son was OK.

My precious child,
you spirit yourself, my dear one.

Was not your redeeming Saviour
ready to receive you?

So, essentially,
Jane Pierce seeing her own son

was the first reported
ghost sighting at the White House.

There were sightings and reports

in almost every administration
from 1852 on.

Truman. Carter. And Reagan.

The Bushs. Even the Obamas.

These stories just keep
coming up, again and again.

When you consider
this veil of secrecy

that's over the whole building,
it's no surprise at all

that the White House is so haunted.

So you have to question,
why would the spirit be here?

Why would it continue
to stay in this location?

Jane claimed that Bennie
visited her in her dreams

for several nights, and that was
a tremendous beacon of hope,

but obviously may have led
to some darker things as well.

We don't know
who we're reaching out to.

We don't have the ability
to see that spirit

communicating
back-and-forth, right?

Are we getting advice
from the real spirit world,

or are we getting advice
from something far darker?

We don't know.

In 1853, a Seventh-day
Adventist preacher

wrote a book
and brought up the fact

that the Pierces had buried
their son under a granite tombstone

that quoted scripture
and this scripture said,

"Go thy way, thy son liveth."

He writes in his book,

"Does President Pierce believe
what is stated in the last clause

"of the above...?"

"That his son liveth?

"If he does, then why may
he not expect a visit

"now and then
from his only son?

"But suppose
some accomplished demon

"should visit the abode of the chief
magistrate of this nation.

"Would those parents be likely
to resist that visitor?"

Demons have a long history
in terms of what are they exactly.

Sometimes it was believed that
the demon was an actual creature

that had been created
apparently to serve Lucifer

and Satan down in hell.

The demon is basically
a spiritual parasite.

They will start working
on that person's psyche.

Now, if we have the president
of the United States,

then the idea that something
could be coming in there

and making them behave erratically
or irrationally

is a big, big problem for all of us.

I'm sorry. I need a moment.

Leave this with me. The Secretary
will have my signature.

You can assure him.

About a year
into his administration,

this bill comes to his desk
that will help expand

American territories, but it's
going to also expand slavery.

Northern states hate it.
They think it's, it's wrong.

It's evil.

It should be completely abolished.

Southern states need it in order
for their economy to survive.

Hello?!

The parasite can begin
to physically manifest,

and that's why you start
having the raps on the walls...

..the dark forms looming
in the corner,

they're creeping up behind you,

and it becomes
more and more physical.

The person starts to become
self-destructive and depressed,

until finally it sucks
everything out of that person.

This can lead, for a politician,
to mass, mass tragedy.

When the Kansas Nebraska Act
was first proposed, he opposed it.

He was not in favour of it.

And then all of a sudden,
his opinion was turned around.

The Kansas Nebraska Act
suddenly takes our country,

which is already kind of
on this friction tipping point,

and breaks it.

If you are a demonic entity,
and you want to bring about mischief

on a vast scale, what better place
to do it than the White House?

When dealing with darker forces,
their energy can override yours

if you're in a weak
or vulnerable position.

I've read newspaper articles

that some of the staff
in the White House,

they'd pass her door and they could
hear her saying her son's name,

giggling and laughing,
almost as if she was playing

on the floor with a child.

He was distraught.

He clearly worried about his wife's
physical and mental health.

It was just definitely
a gloomy period,

and the politics of the time,
also, were difficult.

The, the big thing
for the Pierce administration

really was the passage
of the Kansas-Nebraska Act...

..and this was gonna end
around of the Compromise of 1850,

which had settled
the question of slave states

and free states
and the balance of power,

by saying,
"That doesn't matter anymore,

"we're gonna let the people decide."

It's a broken promise,
and this is the earliest action

that will lead to
the bloodiest conflict on our soil.

Pierce's effort to settle
the slavery issue

did exactly the opposite.

It incited rebellion,
fake voters, riots, murders.

And it turns into what they now
refer to as Bleeding Kansas.

Riots all across the country.

Many historians believe
that was the greatest failure

of his presidency.

And one of the greatest failures
of any president, quite frankly.

There have been
countless events

in almost every single presidency

that changed the world forever.

President Truman
and his decision

to drop the atom bomb.

JFK and the Cuban missile crisis.

Vietnam.

President Reagan
and the Cold War.

9/11.

There's so much that took place
inside of that building,

we can only scratch the surface.

Within paranormal research,
there's a theory

called "Stone Tape Theory,"

which is that certain
powerful places or things

may record traumatic or dramatic
events that happen around them.

Stone Tape Theory comes, amazingly,
from a British TV movie.

The idea can explain both
the existence of a haunted house

and a haunted, for example, doll,
like Annabelle.

Certainly, a house can be that.

This is similar to the idea
of a residual haunting.

This is a haunting that keeps
replaying the same things

over and over, and that
certainly ties in

to if these things
were recorded by a building.

Or by an object. It makes sense
that they would just

play the same scenes over and over.

Is the White House a Stone Tape
Theory recorder? It's possible.

If you think about
the fact that the White House

is the focal point
of the world.

And that anytime there's conflict,

a lot of negativity
is channelled there.

That alone helps you to understand
why there may be dark forces

that have been
unleashed there.

Bennie. Is that you, Bennie?

My boy!

Bennie!

Franklin, I have something
wonderful to show you.

What ungodly..!

It's our son, Franklin.

It's Bennie.

Jane, who's so desperate,
she didn't know if her son Bennie

actually came back
or if it was just something

that appeared to be Bennie.

It's pretty obvious to you
when you have something

like a demonic spirit because
it's always, always negative.

It's biologically,
it's physiologically,

mentally, it's wearing
that person down.

The demon is very powerful
and probably very dangerous.

It's here to create mischief.

It's here to lure people into acts

that they probably
would not commit otherwise.

Mother?

It could be as subtle
as giving you dreams

of that dead
loved one that you lost.

That you are desperate
to connect with.

Mother!

So, Jane started having seances
in the White House.

There was a fear that
if the White House

were using these practices,
could demons or bad spirits

actually imitate
the President's dead child?

As a parent, would be able
to resist that influence?

That is when it's time
to bring in an expert.

There are people out there
trying to rid people

of these dark spirits
and energies.

Getting to the root cause,
and then helping them

to purge that cause
out of them.

It's, it's basically a battle
between good and evil.

You, you have to wonder if Jane
decided it was time to live again,

maybe she had done all the
mourning she could do for Bennie.

You exorcise a demon that's
attached itself to a human being.

With a building,
you could say a blessing.

I can't imagine that blessings
have not been done

on the White House, repeatedly.

It's just not something that
has been publicly talked about.

It's certainly possible they could
have had an exorcism at the House.

But then again,
that is the sort of event

that they would probably have done
their best to keep hidden.

I'm wondering what they would have
done for an exorcism at the time.

Nowadays, it seems like we have
such a plethora of exorcism rituals.

Everything from calling
a priest or a shaman,

or a Wiccan, to burning white sage
throughout the house

and reciting prayers.

I'm not sure what
they would have had access to.

They wouldn't have had the immense
culture of pagans that we have now.

They would probably have had
to resort to calling a priest.

I know many religious families that,
when they move into a new home,

they ask their minister or priest
to come to the house

and bless it, for no other reason
other than give it some good energy.

I'm certain that different
first families

have brought in clergy to say
blessings in the White House.

And maybe some of those families are
a little more devout in their faith

and keep those darker forces at bay,
and maybe other first families

give into a little more
of those darker impulses.

You have made the right decision
for your family.

Let us hope.

No, let us pray.

We call forth to the one
that demonises this family!

We call forth to the one

that terrorises this home,
this home under God!

Join us now.

You don't have the courage
to address those that you torment!

Perhaps, you fear a servant of God?

Our Father, who art in Heaven,
hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done.

Mother!

On earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day, our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those
who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

Save this house, O God!

Full on demonic possession,
it's like a bad relationship,

it's to get you alone,
to break you down, psychologically.

But then you're getting this
attention from this force

that may promise you things
and offer you things

and make things seem better,

but then it's like with every wish,
there comes a curse.

Take your almighty hand

and sweep this devil
into the flames of hell.

In the name of the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

Lord, hear my prayer!

Amen.

He's gone, he's gone.

Exorcism is always
somewhat questionable.

If these demons get into people,
it's gonna be very difficult

to get it out of them, especially if
they don't want it out of them.

Franklin Pierce,
his career is basically over

and now he's a lame duck.

Ultimately, he will
become a one-term president

because they're not going
to nominate him for a second term,

which at that time
had never happened before.

The Kansas—Nebraska Act,
it was the final nail in the coffin.

He and Jane finish out his
presidency, the nation is a mess.

He was, by many accounts,
considered to be the worst president

in US history, and he just sort
of fades into obscurity after that.

When you think of our presidents,
it's no secret

that the First Lady probably has
a lot of influence on their husband.

That was not the case
during Pierce's presidency.

We have a very absent First Lady.

She loved piano.
Had she pursued piano,

when she was an older woman,

it would have brought
some of her sorrow out.

I imagine she was just so relieved,

she was finally going
to be able to go home now.

Even though it was under
very sad circumstances.

Within 10 years after Bennie
died in 1853, Jane dies.

After she dies, now he's lost
his entire family.

He's been a terrible president.

He had all this promise, and he
doesn't really have too much glory.

And so he drinks himself to death.

It was a perfect storm
of terrible events,

both personal and national,
for the Pierces.

That is why I believe that their
darkness, whatever they brought in,

is still also inside
the White House, very much so.

The White House
has to be haunted, right?

Now maybe again, that's us thinking
it has to be haunted.

But so many...yes.

But wait, but wait, my phone rang,
it woke us up

in the middle of the night,
we had a fireplace in our room,

and all of a sudden,
we started hearing

1920's piano music,
as clear as day.

Coming out of the fire place.

I said, "Buddy, you wouldn't believe
what we heard last night."

and he goes, "Oh, Jenna,

"you wouldn't believe
what I've heard."

There are employees
that have been there

and have seen these things
since the White House was built.

That tells you that
there's something there,

that there's some kind of energy

that brings something
supernatural to that place.

The next President to move into
the White House was James Buchanan.

He had an opportunity
to try to change course,

but instead he illegally influenced
The Supreme Court

to get them to rule on
a decision regarding slavery

to make it the law of the land.

It just brought things to a head
and lit the fuse on the Civil War,

which would become
the next president's problem.

President Lincoln is the single,
most revered president

in US history.

There's not even a close second.

This is a guy
with humble beginnings.

We all know the story of being
raised in a log cabin.

He was self-taught. He had less
than a year of formal schooling.

He taught himself the law.

A lot of people don't know that
Lincoln was a corporate lawyer,

he worked for railroads.

And being a brilliant speaker,
who can just move audiences.

And using that gift, to make
his way up through the ranks,

in this new party
called the Republican Party.

He's inaugurated
right before the Civil War.

The stress on him
must have been tremendous.

The fate of the country
is riding on his back.

Shortly after Abe
enters the White House,

he tells his friend that he's had
a vision, he's seen a ghost.

He noticed that one of the
reflections looked pale and gaunt.

His wife interpreted
this experience to mean

that he would serve out
his first term

but would not survive his second.

I think he was very open in talking
about his dreams, his visions.

And it's only later that we're able
to more clearly interpret them,

given the benefit of history.

The interesting thing
about Lincoln,

I don't think you could pin his
religious belief system down.

In fact he once said;
"When I do good, I feel good.

"I do bad, I feel bad.
That is my religion."

While Abe Lincoln has very humble
beginnings, Mary Todd does not.

Mary Todd comes from money.

She grew up in a very nice,
beautiful home.

Her father was very well to-do.

And so she got a lot of education,
especially for those times.

They get married
and they start their family.

Abe and Mary would go on
to have four children.

As parents we don't have favourites,
but you know, we do,

and Willy was
the Lincolns' favourite.

A lovable, loving, caring boy,

incredibly smart,
very much like his father.

Well, when the Lincolns
moved into the White House,

Mary thought the White House
should impress people.

And so, she believed it
was her duty, as First Lady,

to make it the magnificent home
and office that it should be.

And so, she takes
the Congress' funds

and she spends it to make
the mansion look elegant again.

As paranormal investigators,
we see this a lot of times

when people are restoring homes
or renovating,

that paranormal activity
tends to really pick up.

Perhaps the spirits
don't want things changed?

Perhaps there are parts
of the building

that are important to them
in some way?

But it is a very common occurrence.

So, in 1911,
during the Taft administration,

he really did
a lot of renovation.

This presence began to appear
in the White House

that they called
"The Thing."

People would suddenly
feel this cold, frigid air.

And they got the sense
that something

was looking over
their shoulder.

And then the staff
would feel a pressure.

And sometimes even a tap.

And when they would turn,
they would either see nothing there

or a big, black,
amorphous mass.

We do have one reported sighting
of "the thing" by a personal maid.

She, reported a young boy
with light dishevelled hair,

with very sad-looking
blue eyes.

President Taft had a military aide,
Archibald Butt,

that he put in charge of
investigating what this thing was.

And Butt wrote at some length
about the reality of this.

This is a military man.

And he writes to his sister-in-law,

telling her about
the spooky happenings

that are scaring the staff
at the White House.

The letter only mentions
that it's a boy,

haunting the White House.

For more than 200 years now,

there's only one boy
who ever died in the White House.

Ironically enough,
anything that Archibald Butt

may have found out about
who this spectre could have been,

died with him when
he went down with the Titanic.

It's Fort Sumtner, Sir.

Thank you.

When Lincoln moved
into the White House,

the country
was really in chaos.

The people of the north were
outraged by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

States are seceding,

they're breaking away
from the union,

and in just a few weeks,

the first shots are fired
in the Civil War.

The nation is now at war with itself
and it's being torn apart.

Can you imagine
the psychological toll

that it took on Lincoln, right?

It wasn't like 9/11
where he took office,

and then all hell broke loose.

He knew that there
was something brewing.

You had families pitted
against one another...

..losing sons on both sides
of this war.

There was no honour
in a lot of these deaths.

They were just left,
they were buried

in, in shallow graves
with countless others.

That was a huge chasm and a scar,

psychic and physical,
that affected our entire country.

Through history, the White House
has been the focal point.

The place the country,
and often times, the world,

turns to.

You're going to have people
that are angry and hateful

towards the new directions
that our country goes.

With that anxiety, that energy,

that focus, and if there are
transient spirits,

I would think the White House
would be a beacon,

like, a flame to a moth.

If there were a demon
in the White House

during Lincoln's time,
perhaps the demon is looking

at this chaos in our country
as the ultimate success.

By the time 1862 came around,

in his first annual message,
Lincoln was trying

to convince the south
he would not disturb slavery

where it already existed.

Lincoln's goal was always
to preserve the Union;

it was not to free the slaves.

Lincoln was trying
to salvage the country.

In the winter of 1862,
young Willie Lincoln

comes down with an illness.

At first, the hope is it's just
a cold or something like that,

but as days turn into weeks,
it just gets worse and worse,

and then it's clear
that he's got typhoid.

Which everyone understands
can be deadly.

As Willy
gets sicker and sicker,

they are nursing him,
they are praying,

they are doing everything possible.

They do not want to lose
their very precious son.

With typhoid,
it can start as just a fever,

but it can get worse and worse
with hallucinations.

Oh. No...
Shh.

There's nothing worse
than when your kid is sick,

and you feel helpless
trying to tend to him,

trying to do anything they can,
but there's only so much you can do.

This just devastates Mary.

She's lost her child,
she is just plunged into severe,

severe, um, depression.

So the entire presidency was one
of trial and trouble for him.

Not just politically,
militarily, but domestically.

The similarities between many
of these presidents is eerie.

Franklin Pierce and his wife Jane

had to witness their 11-year-old son
horribly killed.

Fast forward
to Abraham Lincoln,

Willie was also 11 years old,
and he died.

And guess what?

In both cases,
the wives decided they wanted

to summon
the spirits of these boys.

As you can imagine, the Lincolns
were just absolutely devastated.

Willie's death was really
a major turning point

for both of the Lincolns personally,
on many levels.

All presidencies were difficult
in their own way,

but Lincoln's, I think it has to
have been the most difficult, ever.

He was trying to save
the country from splitting apart.

Mr. President.

Thank you.

My Dear Sir,
the impulse to write you

the moment I heard of your
great domestic affliction

was very strong, but it
brought back the crushing sorrow

that befell me just before
I went to Washington in 1853.

Even in this hour,
your thoughts will be

of your cherished boy
until you meet him in that new life,

when tears and toils
and conflict will be unknown.

With Mrs. Pierce's
and my own best wishes,

and truest sympathy
for Mrs. Lincoln and yourself,

I am very truly, your friend,
Franklin Pierce.

President Pierce
writes a very heartfelt note

offering his deepest condolences
and his understanding

what the President must be
going through right now.

It becomes a real moment
of bright humanity

for the former President.
Mary Todd Lincoln is a wreck.

She just can't accept this,

and she very quickly reaches
out to spiritualist mediums.

I think the death of Willie
really converted her fully,

and she began developing

a very intense relationship
with spiritualism at that time.

Charles Colchester
was one of five mediums

that were visitors
to the White House.

It's said that Abraham
was suspicious of his motives.

He asked Noah Brooks,
who was a friend of the Lincolns,

to investigate Colchester

and see if he could figure out,
you know,

if this guy was real or not.

We use memories
to create the connection,

to open the door
so to speak.

Relax, Ms. Lincoln.

Often, the dispossessed match
our disposition.

Shall we begin?

Mary, I want you
to close your eyes.

There is a place beyond your fears,

doubts, regrets, pain,
all that pain,

there is a place beyond all of it,

and that is where your son resides.

We will travel there together, OK?

I want you to go to the last place
you saw your son happy.

I want you to pull him
into your mind.

Can you see him?

I can.

Can he see you?

Yes.

He loves you, doesn't he?

He does.

He's happy, isn't he?
He's...

There's something wrong.

There's...something else!

Mary believed deeply
in spiritualism.

Her half-sister, Emily Helm,

wrote in her diary
that one night,

Mary knocked on her door
and came into her room

and she said, "He lives, Emily.
Willie lives.

"I see him at night
standing at the foot of my bed".

And Emily Helm said
Mary had a very strange look

in her eye as she talked about
these supernatural things,

and she wrote, "It is unnatural
and it frightens me."

Spiritualism exploded in popularity
around the time of the Civil War.

People were going to mediums
because they were desperate

to get any sign or message

from all of these loved ones
who they either knew were dead

or just didn't know
what their whereabout was.

The scope of the carnage
is just kind of,

really kind
of unfathomable.

Just the battle of Gettysburg.
Three-day battle.

There were over 50,000 casualties.

50,000 in just three days
in one battle.

To have suffered
the losses he suffered,

there's good understanding
that Lincoln himself

fought anxiety and depression

I think you can see,
throughout his presidency,

that he was struggling with
why this calamity had happened.

But he sensed that it was reparation

for this sin born at the beginning
of the country.

It was something that had to be
paid for with blood.

Lincoln is getting the pressure
from all sides during the Civil War.

People are dying
every single day.

There was a lot of pressure
being given to him,

by people who were
avowed spiritualists.

Telling him,
"You have to do this.

"This is the time
to issue the emancipation."

There's evidence that,
in the Lincoln papers,

messages from John Conklin,

one of the mediums who had private
seances with the President.

Conklin claimed that he channelled

the first draft of
The Emancipation Proclamation.

That the spirits
were giving it to him

and that channelled it
and that he he gave it to Lincoln.

If you were a medium
who had had interaction

with the president
who goes on to create

one of the most famous documents
in history,

you're probably gonna think
it would be a good idea

to lay claim to
having a part in that.

Lincoln finally recognised
that the only way to end the war

would have to be
an executive act.

This is the point
where President Lincoln

drafts the Emancipation
Proclamation.

And this is one of
the most important documents

to ever come across
a Presidential desk.

The point is to announce
that all men should be free.

And Lincoln's got a target
on his back now.

It garners him great enemies.
He's already a marked man.

It's gonna create
tremendous stresses

on any human being to go through
what he was going through.

He may have sought solace
and comfort from spiritualism,

but was Lincoln
actually a Spiritualist?

To this day, it's still a huge
arguing point amongst scholars.

I think a lot of presidents
were somewhat embarrassed

by the possibility
of being connected

to the realm of the supernatural.

Good evening. This is the President
of the United States.

Looking at all the people
that have resided in the White House,

there's been a lot
of tragedy and a lot of loss.

A lot of heartbreak and stresses.

And they want to understand
why these things are happening.

They began branching out into
different religious understanding.

Everybody from Mary Todd Lincoln
to Nancy Reagan,

she, you know, worked in,
in the field of Astrology.

It's very well known
that Nancy Reagan

would regularly bring astrologers
to the White House.

This became known back in the 1980s,

and it was controversial even then.

I agree with everything he said.

Nancy Reagan,
reached out to astrologers

when Ronald Reagan was president,

particularly after
the assassination attempt on him.

Shots fired...

There were actually times
when he would not leave

the White House because
it was not a good day,

according to the astrologer,
for him to leave the White House.

The situation between
Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan,

may be very similar
to the relationship

between Abraham Lincoln
and Mary Todd Lincoln,

where the wife is more interested
in metaphysics

and the spiritual side of life,

but the husband is not sure
who they can trust.

Mr President, will you continue
to allow astrology

to play a part in your daily...

You asked for it.
I can't because I never did.

Supposedly, Abraham Lincoln

had heard things
about Lord Colchester

that made him suspicious.

He had a general reputation
of being a shyster

and just wanting to work his way
into the halls of power.

Mr. President.

Mr. Colchester.

As I'm sure your wife has told you
from our previous sessions,

the way to the spiritual plane
is through memories of the past.

It's simply a doorway.

In time, we end up knowing
much darker details

about Colchester,
who will end up having

a very interesting relationship
to the Lincolns.

In 1865, not long before
President Lincoln is assassinated,

he said he had been up late,

and he fell into kind of
a fitful sleep.

When he woke up, he hears sobbing,
crying, all around.

He went from room to room,

from hallway to hallway,
looking everywhere.

And it was empty.

He asks a nearby soldier,
"Who's dead in the White House?"

And the soldier answers,

"The President,
he was killed by an assassin."

By mid-April of 1865...

..President Lincoln
is coming around,

right, the war is over.

And so, he is going
to Ford Theatre to see a play.

They're watching the play
and he falls over on to Mary.

So she is covered in his blood.

And he is, of course, been shot.

The parallels between
what she went through

and what Jackie Kennedy
went through.

If the TV cameras would have been
running at those times,

her ball gown would have been
the pink suit

that is so vividly pictured uh,
with Jackie Kennedy.

From the time President Lincoln
dies, in 1865,

his spirit becomes
the most prominent ghost

in the White House to this day.

President Coolidge's wife,
Grace Coolidge,

claims to have seen Lincoln's ghost
in the White House.

Reagan's dog refused to go into
what's known as Lincoln's bedroom.

Queen Wilameena, Winston Churchill,

Abraham Lincoln has been sighted
by over a dozen individuals,

and people of major note
throughout history.

Why do ghosts stick around?

It's entirely possible that,
since Lincoln was assassinated,

that he feels that he has
unfinished business,

that he is still
hanging out there, thinking perhaps

that there is something
that he still needs to complete.

There's an engraving
in the Library at Congress

that shows
John Wilkes Booth.

He's got a pistol in his hand.

Standing over his shoulder
is this creature

who is obviously Satan,

and Satan is of course
tempting him to the deed.

It was widely believed
that John Wilkes Booth

was under the influence
of either demonic or satanic power.

Colchester warned Lincoln
of his impending assassination.

Now was this truly
a psychic premonition,

or do we need to take a step back
and look at the bigger picture?

Colchester was also a
drinking buddy of John Wilkes Booth.

It turns out that John Wilkes Booth,

who has come to Washington
initially to kidnap Lincoln...

..he's staying at a hotel
that's about six blocks

from the Capitol,
and Colchester is staying

at the same hotel,

and becomes friends
with John Wilkes Booth.

When federal agents
try to track down Colchester,

they go to this hotel.

And by that point he's vanished.
He's skipped town.

There is a moment
in spiritual seance

where, in order to get results,

you had to let yourself be open.

That's why a lot of mediums
are very cautious

allowing a spirit
fully through them.

And without knowing who it is
you're coming into contact with,

you very well could be dealing
with something quite dangerous.

Colchester was also very good
friends with John Wilkes Booth.

It's kind of the mystery
among historians

exactly why that
those two connected.

There's been evidence,
recently, that Booth

was not only a spiritualist,
but also that Colchester

was an actor at times,

and was on the program
at Ford's Theater more than once.

Colchester was also
visiting the White House

to assist Mary Todd with contacting
the Lincoln's dead child.

On occasions, Colchester
would say to President Lincoln,

"I have a warning for you,

"I'm afraid you are going
to be assassinated."

And Abraham Lincoln was suspicious.
Then enters Noah Brooks.

He decided that
he would prove Colchester

was a phoney, and this was
personally embarrassing.

It leaked out to the public.

Colchester responded
by writing Mary a letter,

demanding a military pass so that
he could go wherever he wanted.

He tried to blackmail Mrs. Lincoln,

and Noah Brooks threatened
to basically beat him

to within an inch of his life
if he didn't leave DC immediately.

The irony is that Colchester
may have been the one psychic

that Lincoln
should have been listening to.

Is it just drunk buddies
shooting their mouth off,

or is it truly a conspiratorial plot
to assassinate our president?

I think there's all sorts
of possible explanations.

Even if Colchester
gained some sort of inkling

that an attempt would be
made on Lincoln's life...

..I don't know.

There's a lot of people actually
working on this right now,

tracking both Booth and Colchester
before and after the Civil War.

There's dark stuff in there.
We don't know the answer yet.

We know that there was
a lot of controversy

surrounding Colchester
and the Fox Sisters.

Just as there's been with every
medium and psychic since.

The problem is that when you become
that famous and that popular,

do you start to feel
the need to perform...

..that you don't let people down?

I can honestly tell you
I've seen really amazing mediums

and I've seen some
really bad mediums,

but I've seen
the same results from both.

If it's somebody doing
a cold reading,

but at the end of that 15 minutes,
you feel better,

I have a hard time
being pressed against that

when you could spend years
on a counsellor's couch

and not get that same healing.

As controversial
as the Fox sisters were,

their results were pretty amazing.

And it left a lot
of people feeling good.

Feeling as though they had connected.

Do I think there were times,
especially under scrutiny,

when everybody's watching,
that they may have

done something to help? Sure.

Many of the major mediums
were repeatedly debunked.

But some were not
repeatedly debunked.

And some were engaged
in some very famous occurrences

that, to this day,
are argued about.

It's tough because
how do we draw that line

of what's real
and what's not?

What frightens me, is that we may
have things in the White House

that are practically demonic.

I've been inside
the White House,

but they won't let me go
to the Lincoln bedroom

and do any research there.

You can only get
so close to the truth,

and then, they lock
down all the information.

All these years,
we've had a plethora

of stories of
a dark, devilish entity.

And now we have our
first piece of hard evidence.

It wasn't until 2008, amazingly,

that someone looked
at that photo and said,

"Who's the guy standing
in the corner to the right

"who looks like transparent?"

Over 150 years,
there's been so many reports

of activity
at the White House.

One of the most vocal presidents

about the paranormal activity
was Truman.

Second sticks, 301. Take One.

He writes several letters to family
members explaining the disturbances.

I believe it was
nine separate occasions

that he wrote about
the ghost of the White House.

That's just in writing,
I can't imagine

how many times
he talked about them.

And to quote the President,

"Sure as shooting,
the place is haunted."

Harry Truman played
a pivotal role in the history

of our country. Harry Truman decided
to drop the first atomic bomb.

In the history of the world,
this was a new chapter for humanity.

We had the ability to create,
but worse,

destroy on a level
never before even imagined.

And so everything surrounding
his position in history

has a spiritual context.

Truman's White House was literally
falling apart around him,

and it was
not a safe place to live.

They were telling him,
these, these walls

and these floors are rotting,
they're not doing well,

and he kind of thought, "Oh, well
it's an old house, it creaks."

It wasn't until the piano went
through the, the second floor,

that he went, "Uh-oh,
maybe something is wrong here."

When a building is renovated,

that seems to stir up
ghostly activity.

It's a story that seems to hold true
for a lot of different locations,

and there was no bigger renovation
than the White House.

When the White House
was being gutted,

Harry Truman hired a National Park
Service photographer

named Abbie Rowe
to document this historic process.

He took this one
particular photograph.

Just an ordinary photo,
shows a bulldozer,

shows three guys
standing over in a corner.

And way in the distance
you can see this figure

that's sort of see-through,
and you can say,

"Well, it's an old camera
and that was so long ago

"and the distance was so great,"
but if you look

just to the left of that figure,
you see three men standing

at the same distance
who are obviously solid,

and so, this enigmatic photo's maybe

the first documented ghost photo
inside the White House.

That I believe is the most amazing
ghost photograph ever taken.

Nobody can explain who that was.

I'm talking professional filmmakers,

expert photographers
in Washington DC.

We have a highly credible photograph

in the White House
of a full bodied apparition.

And it just so happens
that that ghost

is seen directly
below the Lincoln bedroom.

I saw that, right there,
we have not only proof

of paranormal activity
in the White House,

but also maybe even
a very interesting connection

between President Truman
and President Lincoln.

And you often find that
the lives of these presidents

sort of resonate
with each other.

In eerie ways.

Every four years,
every eight years,

they're coming in and they're
shifting it, they're changing it.

They're making it their own.

It seems to awaken the soul or
the spirit of the location itself.

The White House, like any building,
has a very rich history.

Many people have lived
and died there.

Huge decisions have happened there.

Tragedy has happened there.

We hear about the,
the friendly ghosts

at the White House pretty often.

They came with all good intentions.

They were friendly ghosts.

Make clear what the benefit...

Have no fear.
The ceiling is not falling.

That I'm aware of. OK.

Maybe it's Former President
Lincoln's ghost. I'll go with that.

But imagine if the White House

were to admit that there are evil
entities in the White House.

That's a matter
of national security.

Imagine. You're the most powerful
leader of the free world.

And you call out to those
that came before you,

seeking guidance and counsel.

But darkness likes
to find our weaknesses.

Likes to find us
at our most vulnerable.

And what may originally come through
as something to help us,

may in fact be aiding us
in our own destruction.

But the question is,
who is the demon here?

Who is the demon in White House,

extending it's darkness
over the county?

Mother?

There is something wrong.

There are a lot of theories
the demon was a malignant spirit

called "the elemental," something
that had never been a human being.

Is Benjamin with us?

It's hard to define specifically

what draws these demons
into the White House.

It's easy to speculate abuse
of power, abuse of ego.

These demons feed off of
this darkness within those walls.

During the Pierce
and Lincoln administrations,

this dark past was slavery.

That institution came into existence

as the country itself
came into existence.

Mother?

And of course the Civil War,

600,000 Americans died
in a period of four years.

I mean, it's just unimaginable
how the people in the 1800s

were dealing
with so much death.

Every presidency has its demons,

you can just turn
on the news to see that.

People performing
unspeakable acts of evil.

Thousands of lives
were suddenly ended by evil.

Good and evil
are always in our world,

and always will be in our world.

When you go to a powerful place,

you connect with the emotional,
the fear, the rage.

And it becomes a powerful location,
a spirit of place.

A haunting,
in its simplest definition,

is the past coming to the present,

and that leaves a stain,

and some stains never wash away.

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