Oval Office Occult

Oval Office Occult: True Stories of White House Weirdness by Brian M. Thomsen            Paperback Book: 174 pages                       

Interesting book detailing ghostly encounters experienced by various United States Presidents over the years during their tenures in office and in their private lives.     Many presidents have cited incidents that occurred while they were living in the White House – lots of visitations by Abe Lincoln.   Poor man seems to be a fixture walking the corridors there.   He even surprised Winston Churchill during one of his stays at the White House as Sir Winston was coming out of the shower returning to his quarters – when the English diplomat in his bathrobe encountered Mr.  Lincoln he gave that famous quote, “Mr. President, you have me at a severe disadvantage.”   To which Mr. Lincoln is said to have smiled and politely disappeared.      The book also discusses the death dreams Lincoln had while living in the White House.    I had read about them previously but it is still chilling to reread about them and think that poor man knew.   So many paranormal occurrences happened during Lincoln’s life that it is pretty certain he had a psychic gift whether he acknowledged it or not.   The book goes into séances, channeling sessions and divining seers,  Jeanne Dixon,  Astrologist Joan Quigley, Edgar Cayce  and 19^th Century Spiritualists, Charles Shockle, Nettie Colburn Maynard that were brought in as consultants under various presidential administrations some hanging on every word uttered by their diviner and even divulging pertinent information regarding meetings to have them divine the best dates for such things to transpire and when to cancel or reschedule so as not to tempt fate in the wrong direction depending on the outcome they were looking for.    There have been a number of presidents who have seen UFOs or been involved with clandestine operatives regarding allegeded weather balloon sightings.    There is information on Native American prophecies regarding General George Washington that proved accurate,  comparisons of the striking details that surround both Kennedy and Lincoln’s assassinations, the link between President Lincoln’s oldest son and the deaths of several presidents after his father’s death.   There is mention of a vampire, body snatchers trying to steal a presidential corpse, lots of great info here for those seeking the macabre or trivial buffs looking for the unusual.     Very intriguing look into some little known historical facts about the men elected to the highest office in the U.S.