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Andrew Jackson's Hermitage Mansion

 

During the 90's I think it was (I have been more than once), I and my wife visited Andrew Jackson's Nashville, TN home The Hermitage. Andrew Jackson, if he doesn't immediately ring a bell, is the 7th President of the United States and is featured on the $20 bill. The President and his family are laid to rest only steps from the home.

During this particular visit, the tour guide took us through the various rooms of the home. It was in the Dining Room that an odd thing happened. A piece of the fireplace log cradle, that holds wood that burns in the fireplace, fell over. I commented something to the effect," How did that happen?" and stated matter of factly,"This place must be haunted." The guide said not one word but her facial expression said everything. She looked very flushed and even afraid.

The fireplace was NOT lit and there was NO wind. Even if there had been wind those are forged of very HEAVY Iron and it would likely take a very strong gust of wind, almost a tornado, to move them as I would guess they are most likely original and therefore probably made in the 1800's. Others might say well the floor jarred as you walked by. They evidently don't know about how fireplaces were constructed during the 1800's. They were built to the ground through the basement or crawl space of stone or brick.

I have read elsewhere that others have experienced activity at the home. I had even read stories, related by others, that some employees have experienced things themselves. There are reports of at least one employee, that I think it was said, she would not be in the mansion after dark, nor be alone in the house as well.

If you have a chance to visit, ask the Park Service guides if they know of reports. I bet you will be surprised.

I have noticed before that I am "sensitive" to occurrences and I can relate other happenings in future posts as well. If you have experienced anything at the Hermitage itself or have another similar experience, please share your experience.

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, reality1000, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

reality1000 (1 stories) (3 posts)
+5
4 years ago (2020-04-23)
There are stories that Andrew Jackson encountered "the Bell witch" but oddly NO recorded accounts in his personal notes. Andrew Jackson tended to be very thorough in documenting his affairs and this would most surely have been something he would have recorded if it occurred. This makes those encounters very suspect.
silverthane61 (4 stories) (344 posts)
+2
5 years ago (2020-01-09)
Andrew Jackson is also somewhat remembered as having the misfortune of running into the Bell Witch. Nothing dramatic other than a brief exchange of words between the Witch and Jackson ensued, but it is still a very interesting encounter.
Lealeigh (5 stories) (512 posts)
+3
5 years ago (2020-01-06)
We've probably read some of the same material. I came by some of this information because I am very interested in the lives of the presidents (whether I liked them personally, or not) and interested in whatever happened in any country during the era of "Industrialization".

I have read that Michelle Obama disliked living in The White House mostly because it was built on slave labor.

- Maria
reality1000 (1 stories) (3 posts)
+2
5 years ago (2020-01-06)
Regarding your visit to the White House, there are many reported and well-known ghost stories regarding it. Abraham Lincoln (coincidentally, my 5th cousin 5 times removed per Wikitree) seems most active there.
There is a ghost story supposedly reported by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He was a guest at the White House on many occasions and even for extended periods of time. After a bath, cigar in mouth, he walked into an adjoining bedroom - and saw Lincoln at the fireplace. Churchill said, "Good evening, Mr. President. You seem to have me at a disadvantage." He reported that Lincoln smiled softly and then vanished. It is said that Mr. Churchill refused to sleep in those particular rooms (It is said that the encounter was in the Rose Suite) after that.
In 1942, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands answered a knock at her bedroom door of while staying at the White House. She reportedly found Lincoln standing there in his coat and top hat, and she fainted dead away.
Others too are said to have seen Lincoln while at the White House including Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt, and Herbert Hoover.
Supposedly, First Ladies Jacqueline Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson had encounters. Presidential children Susan Ford and Maureen Reagan as well. Maureen Reagan and her husband too saw Lincoln at the fireplace in the Lincoln Bedroom, which was actually NEVER Lincoln's Bedroom but even much more importantly used by him as a personal office (think Oval Office importance) and therefore even more so a place of many of his major decisions of tantamount importance in American History and including those of life or death for thousands. It's where he signed the, very historic, Emancipation Proclamation January 1, 1863.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration's staff claimed they saw him. His personal valet, who was terrified, is said to have ran screaming from the White House.
Even more recently, the Obamas are reported to have heard strange, unexplained, noises (that said, all homes tend to settle, and make odd noises, not to mention those hundreds of years old).
reality1000 (1 stories) (3 posts)
+2
5 years ago (2020-01-04)
Lealeigh,
Thanks for your comment. As to whom or which ghost haunts it I don't know. Maybe more than one spirit. I too had heard the White House is very "active." See my new post.
Best Wishes for the New Year.
Lealeigh (5 stories) (512 posts)
+2
5 years ago (2020-01-04)
Sorry, I meant to say that I visited The Hermitage separately during the fifth grade. It was a family trip to Tennessee.

I went to Washington with a bunch of kids on a separate trip.

- Maria
Lealeigh (5 stories) (512 posts)
+3
5 years ago (2020-01-04)
Hello reality1000 and welcome to YGS,

I feel similar feelings about the ghosts of slaves as I do about the ghosts of native americans. In the last several hundred years we, in America, have done wrong to these people and I would imagine that what ghost remain are not content; at least not content with us, if it's possible to have a preference when you're a ghost.

Maybe, it was one of Ol' Hickory's slaves that startled you or maybe, his wife tending to the fireplace.

I've always heard that Andrew Jackson haunts The White House and he, supposedly, has company with a few others. They say his ghost swears...

I visited The White House, The Hermitage, Monticello, Arlington and a bunch of other places when I was in the fifth grade. It was during George Bush Sr.'s administration in the early 90's.

- Maria

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