white house

WTF Fun Fact 13721 – White House Seances

The White House has witnessed countless events, but few are as intriguing as the séances conducted by Mary Todd Lincoln. These sessions, aimed at contacting the dead, highlight a unique aspect of the Lincoln family’s time in the presidential residence during the tumultuous Civil War era.

Mary Todd Lincoln, deeply affected by the loss of her son Willie in 1862, turned to spiritualism. This movement, wildly popular in the mid-19th century, claimed that the living could communicate with the dead. Spiritualism offered solace to Mary, grappling with grief while her husband led a nation at war.

Séances in the White House

Abraham Lincoln, known for his rationality, seemingly participated in these séances. While some historians suggest he attended out of curiosity, others believe he supported his wife in her grieving process. The presence of mediums in the White House, like Charles Colchester, who Mary believed could channel Willie, stirred both interest and controversy.

Critics and skeptics viewed these practices with suspicion. Yet, for Mary Todd Lincoln, the séances provided a critical coping mechanism. She arranged multiple sessions, often inviting friends and advisors to join. These gatherings took place in the Red Room of the White House, a setting that added to the sessions’ solemn and eerie nature.

Public Reaction and Historical Significance

The public reaction to the First Lady’s involvement with spiritualism was mixed. While it attracted ridicule in some quarters, it also reflected the era’s widespread fascination with the afterlife—a fascination fueled by the high mortality rates of the Civil War and the general preoccupation with death and the beyond.

Historians view these séances as more than mere footnotes in presidential history. They provide insight into the personal struggles faced by the Lincolns and underscore the era’s cultural dynamics. The fact that such practices occurred in the heart of the nation’s capital speaks volumes about the period’s complexities.

Historically, the séances reflect the broader Victorian fascination with death and the afterlife, heightened by the Civil War’s unprecedented death toll. This period saw a surge in spiritualism as Americans sought to find comfort in the possibility of reconnecting with lost loved ones.

The fact that these séances occurred in the White House, with the involvement of a sitting president and his family, highlights the widespread acceptance and intrigue of spiritualism during this time.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Seances in the Red Room” — The White House Historical Association

WTF Fun Fact 13517 – Ina Garten’s White House Job

TV chef Ina Garten’s White House job came as a huge surprise to us. She was an engineer. A nuclear analyst, to be exact.

Garten’s Early Years

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Ina Garten did not initially tread a path leading to culinary mastery. After completing her MBA from George Washington University, she entered the corridors of power and policy, dedicating her analytical mind to deciphering the intricacies of nuclear policy under the tenures of Presidents Ford and Carter.

Nuclear policies, especially during the Cold War, were a tangled web of political posturing, strategic interests, and global safety concerns. Therefore, Ina Garten’s White House job was no small feat. It involved navigating through these delicate matrices and contributing to decisions of profound national importance.

Becoming the Barefoot Contessa

In 1978, a modest ad in a newspaper altered the course of Ina’s life. A small specialty food store, named ‘”he Barefoot Contessa,” was up for sale in Westhampton Beach, New York. Despite having zero culinary training, Garten saw an opportunity. Or perhaps she saw an escape from the high-stakes world of nuclear policies.

Acquiring the store, she embarked on a gourmet adventure, slowly transforming it into a haven for food lovers.

Her undeniable passion and dedication turned The Barefoot Contessa into a roaring success. Capitalizing on this momentum, Ina Garten ventured into the realm of cookbooks. Her debut, in 1999, was a hit, acting as a launchpad for her widely-loved Food Network show in 2002. On screen, she brought warmth, authenticity, and a touch of classic European culinary techniques, quickly making her a household name.

A Sprawling Journey

The magnitude of Ina Garten’s career transition cannot be understated. One day, she was immersed in policy documents, analyzing global nuclear strategies. The next, she was selecting the finest ingredients, crafting exquisite dishes, and teaching millions to find joy in cooking.

While many know Ina Garten as the charismatic “Barefoot Contessa” who sprinkles culinary magic on television, her journey from deciphering nuclear policies in the White House to whisking eggs in a sunlit kitchen is quite an interesting and unexpected journey.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Ina Garten, explained: How a nuclear budget analyst became the Barefoot Contessa” — VOX

WTF Fun Fact 12444 – Roosevelt’s Pet Hyena

There’s an official Presidential Pet Museum dedicated to all the furry and feathered friends that have roamed the White House halls (and lawns).

Theodore Roosevelt has quite a few pets, and he and his family were animal lovers. However, he wasn’t terribly fond of hyenas. And that turned out to be a bit of a problem at first when Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia gifted him a male hyena in 1904.

It was reported by the captain of the ship that brought him to America that the hyena, plainly named “Bill,” “laughed all the time.” Apparently, this grew on Roosevelt, who became fond of the creature. In fact, he even let it into the White House and gave it scraps from the dinner table!

It has always been common for world leaders to give exotic pets as animals, but a hyena seems like a bit of an odd choice. Then again, what do you get the man who has everything?

Roosevelt reportedly was able to teach Bill a few tricks before he was sent along with his White House pal Joe the Lion to the National Zoo to live out his life. After all, Roosevelt was a busy man. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Theodore Roosevelt’s Hyena” — The Presidential Pet Museum

WTF Fun Fact #12394

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt became friends with “First Lady of the Air” Amelia Earhart 1932. That was the same year of Earhart’s famous nonstop trans-Atlantic flight.

On April 20, 1933, they attended a formal dinner at the White House when Earhart got a little restless and suggested they go on an adventure. The feminist trailblazers grabbed some friends and slipped out of the event in their ballgowns. Then they hopped on a plane to spice up the evening at Earhart’s suggestion.

The plan was to travel to Baltimore and back before dessert, and they headed to the air hangar at Hoover Field and hopped aboard one of Eastern Air Transport’s twin-engine Curtiss Condor planes.

Two of the airplane company’s pilots had to operate the plane, but the women managed to nudge them aside at some point and took over the cockpit, acting as pilot and co-pilot for at least part of the flight.

After the short trip, the Secret Service ushered everyone back to the dinner.

Of course, Earhart would eventually go on her ill-fated trip around the world in 1937, from which she never returned. Roosevelt continued her humanitarian deeds until her death in 1962.

When speaking about their adventurous evening, Roosevelt told The Baltimore Sun: “It does mark an epoch, doesn’t it, when a girl in an evening dress and slippers can pilot a plane at night.” – WTF Fun Facts

Source: Pilots in Evening Gowns: When Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt Took to the Skies — A Mighty Girl