The seat of power at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue may be the most haunted site in the world. New Shock Doc, DEMON IN THE WHITE HOUSE, launching Friday, November 26 on discovery+, uncloaks the historic origins of the horror of two grieving First Ladies. 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?
President Franklin Pierce and First Lady Jane Pierce lost their son Benjamin at age 11. President Abraham Lincoln and First Lady Mary Todd’s son, William, died at the same age. Both children perished during their father’s administration. The Shock Doc thriller 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 science movement – and the potentially catastrophic consequences that followed.
As new presidential families moved into the White House over the past 150 years, there continued to be supernatural activity and strange happenings within the walls of this famous residence. One of the presidents most vocal about paranormal activity was Harry Truman who wrote several letters to family members explaining the disturbances. Historians count nine separate occasions that 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, and the other figure has no discernible articles of clothing. This enigmatic photo may be the first documented ghost photo at the White House.
For centuries, spirits have been reported in the White House. DEMON IN THE WHITE HOUSE aims to uncover if the presidential home is haunted by something demonic, and if so, what it could possibly want.
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DEMON IN THE WHITE HOUSE is produced by RadicalMedia in association with Skybound Entertainment for discovery+. For RadicalMedia, the executive producers are Frank Scherma and Jonathan Meyers. For Skybound Entertainment, the executive producers are Robert Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst, and Sean Furst. For discovery+, the executive producer is Christine Shuler. Brook Linder serves as the director, and Chris Bray as executive producer, for the project.
