# So ... the White House was an empty shell of a building **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 8, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-white-house-was-an-empty-shell-of-a-building/471838 "2008-11-08T20:40:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-white-house-was-an-empty-shell-of-a-building/471838/21 "2008-11-09T18:46:54Z")
Since the GQ answer has been given in the first reply, I am moving this to MPSIMS. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-white-house-was-an-empty-shell-of-a-building/471838/22 "2008-11-09T22:57:21Z")
> [@](#): > > So … the White House was an empty shell… Much like many of the men who lived there. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-white-house-was-an-empty-shell-of-a-building/471838/23 "2008-11-09T23:51:12Z")
> [@Punintentional](#): > > If i answered “Well, i believe Capricorn runs from March to December, so you’re a Capricorn” would that answer be accepted? It would have to be well accepted because of the “I believe” part. The person asking would probably want to know not what YOU believe but what is normally believed by the consensus, or at least majority, of the people who believe in astrology. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-white-house-was-an-empty-shell-of-a-building/471838/24 "2008-11-09T23:58:23Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > [Pick a ghost story](http://www.haunted-places.com/WhiteHouseGhosts.htm) > > So if you look at the picture of the white house as a hollow shell [you cant get more hollow than a bulldozer runing around inside in what will become the basement] and agree that they rebuilt the inside totally… Why is Lincoln stomping around still? If the rooms and doors interior are all different, why would a ghost open a door that wasnt there when they were? Why would Abigail Adams be doing the laundry when the place didnt have plumbing originally … in a basement that was turfed down to raw dirt. Is she using a plumbed in sink [that hadnt been invented in her day] … It seems from tomndeb’s answer that although the house was pretty much torn down and the structure redone, the rooms were then reassembled back to where they were. The project would have been terribly inconvenient to the ghosts who had to haunt open air for a while, but then they just got back to their usual haunts, so to speak. As for the rest, I guess you would have to ask someone who knows the stories and believes in ghosts. I am neither. I tried to defend your OP, but if it is meant only to lure ghost defenders out for you to chew, then I got nothing. As for the lady doing laundry where there had been no plumbing, I guess they also feel the need to follow trends. If new monofilament ties are developed after my death, I sure won’t want to drag heavy chains forever when there is such new better things for the same function. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-white-house-was-an-empty-shell-of-a-building/471838/25 "2008-11-10T00:11:42Z")
I stumbled across [this](http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/residence.htm) the other day and spent a couple of hours clicking around the incredibly detailed website, which includes floor plans of the entire complex (including the residence) starting from when the building was built to present. I thought it was pretty interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-white-house-was-an-empty-shell-of-a-building/471838/26 "2008-11-10T00:17:38Z")
If they’re ghooooosts, why do they care where the buildings structural features are. Perhaps they haunted it during its renovations, wandering along where the floors used to be, walking in and out spaces 20 feet in the air where doors that previously existed. It’s not like they’re gonna fall down, are they? \* - presuming for the purposes of the argument that they exist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-white-house-was-an-empty-shell-of-a-building/471838.md?page=1)