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believed they saw Lincoln’s ghost while staying in the White House
during the Reagan administration in the 1980s. First Lady Nancy
Reagan relates in her memoirs what Maureen and Dennis told her:
One night Dennis woke up and saw a shadowy figure by
the fireplace. Maureen just laughed at him when he told
her about it—until
she
woke up one night and saw a man
who seemed to be wearing a red coat. At first she thought
it was [President Reagan] in his bathrobe, but when she
looked again she noticed that the figure was transparent!
Maureen says he was staring out the window and then
turned around to look at her before he vanished.
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Nancy Reagan says she never saw Lincoln’s ghost, but on one
occasion while inspecting the Lincoln Bedroom she noticed the
portrait of Lincoln was crooked. When the First Lady told a maid
that the portrait needed straightening, the maid responded, “Oh,
he’s been here again”
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—meaning that Lincoln’s ghost was apt to
play tricks on the White House staff and had purposely tilted the
portrait.
Cold Spots, Spirals, and Orbs
According to Maureen Reagan, Lincoln’s apparition was trans-
parent, and therefore she could easily tell she had seen a ghost.
Sometimes, though, apparitions are said
to look and act like a living person and are
therefore not easily identifiable as ghosts. In
fact, sometimes the ghosts themselves do
not even know they are ghosts. They inter-
act with the living and go about their busi-
ness oblivious to the fact that they are dead.
Says paranormal investigator Dave Juliano,
“Some spirits remain at or near the site of
their death, especially if it was sudden and
unexpected. They remain confused and don’t know or accept
that they have died. These spirits remain in the area and try
“Maureen says he
was staring out the
window and then
turned around to
look at her before he
vanished.”
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—Nancy Reagan, former
First Lady.
