Oval Office Occult: True Stories of White House Weirdness [Paperback]

Brian M. Thomsen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

An entertaining and informative look at our paranormal presidencies." --Bill Fawcett, author of Oval Office Oddities

The Discovery Channel's A Haunting meets the History Channel's The Presidents inside this collection of strange-but-true tales of White House weirdness.

Brian M. Thomsen offers a series of nonpartisan accounts of spirits, specters, and supernatural beliefs by and about those who have inhabited the White House. Readers will learn which U.S. presidents have claimed to encounter UFOs, and which have been connected to ghosts, as well as which of our nation's leaders have consulted with fortune-tellers or otherwise been associated with other aspects of the occult.

Famous subjects include Warren G. Harding and the curse of the Hope Diamond, the uncanny similarities between the lives and deaths of John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln, George Washington's visions, Ronald and Nancy Reagan's reliance on psychics, the haunted homes of Dolly Madison and Rosalyn Carter, Jimmy Carter's UFO sighting, Hillary Clinton's experience with channeling, the mysterious curse of Tecumseh, the secret societies of presidents, and much more.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Brian M. Thomsen is the author of more than 12 books and has edited more than 15 anthologies and collections. He resides in Brooklyn, NY.

www.o-love.net/realms/auth_tho.html

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing; Original edition (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0740773860
• ISBN-13: 978-0740773860
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #398,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Weird Washington, October 11, 2008

By 

C. Thilmany "Books and Chat" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oval Office Occult: True Stories of White House Weirdness (Paperback)

This book is a collection of stories, accompanied by correspondence or articles, of different paranormal and occult encounters experienced by those who've been associated with the White House. It runs the gambit from visions, to sightings, to mediums and seers, UFOs, curses, a vampire and the Lincoln-Kennedy connection. The author does a good job of providing the history of the story as well as providing the supporting documentation.

While the book contains a lot of interesting tidbits--the visions that George Washington had and that others had about him are pretty cool--often the supporting documentation has a great deal more in it than relates to the topic it was inserted for. I found the older writings especially difficult to stay focused on with the different language pattern that took place at the time.

It seemed like a good chunk of the book was devoted to President Lincoln, either directly regarding his dreams of his death or the use of mediums, or indirectly after his death in regards to a plan by counterfeiters to snatch his embalmed body for ransom. This story alone goes off in different tangents.

While I enjoyed some of the information I learned, for the most part, the book didn't flow well for me. The supporting documentation, which often told the story, could get long and dragged out. Those who enjoy reading original writings/wordings relating to history will get more pleasure from the book than I did.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars White House Book, January 6, 2009

By 

Ronald Hubbard - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oval Office Occult: True Stories of White House Weirdness (Paperback)

It was pretty good. There was not much in there that I didn't already know though. Overall, it's a pretty decent book.