The only home Abraham Lincoln ever owned — where Mary Todd Lincoln held her grief after losing two sons, and where staff and visitors still report a presence that hasn't left.
413 South Eighth Street, Springfield, IL 62701
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free admission; timed-entry tickets required and available at the visitor center
Access
Wheelchair OK
Restored 1800s neighborhood block; visitor center and grounds are accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1839 · Only home Abraham Lincoln ever owned · National Historic Site (NPS) · Abraham Lincoln's Springfield political career · Mary Todd Lincoln's grief history
Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln bought the house at Eighth and Jackson Streets in May 1844 from the Reverend Charles Dresser for $1,500 plus a lot — a modest Greek Revival cottage that Lincoln expanded to a full two-story home in 1856. The Lincolns raised four sons here: Robert Todd, Edward Baker (who died here in 1850 at age 3), William Wallace (Willie), and Thomas (Tad). The death of Edward in February 1850 marked the beginning of the family's recurring grief: Mary Todd was already prone to nervous episodes, and Edward's loss deepened a pattern that would not relent.
Lincoln was riding the Illinois Eighth Judicial Circuit for much of the year during the 1840s and 1850s, leaving Mary Todd to manage the household and children in his absence. Neighbors described her as exacting and difficult but also as a devoted mother. Lincoln himself was well-liked in the neighborhood and was known to carry young Tad on his shoulders on summer evenings.
On February 11, 1861, Lincoln delivered his farewell address to Springfield at the Great Western Depot and departed by train for Washington, D.C. He never returned home. After his assassination in April 1865, the family vacated the property. Robert Todd Lincoln deeded the home to the State of Illinois in 1887. The National Park Service took over in 1972 and undertook a comprehensive restoration of the home and the surrounding four-block neighborhood to its 1860 appearance.
Mary Todd Lincoln's psychological history is well-documented: she was tried in probate court in 1875 at the instigation of Robert, found temporarily insane, and committed briefly to Bellevue Place sanatorium in Batavia, Illinois. She died in Springfield in 1882 at the home of her sister.
Sources
The paranormal reports at Lincoln Home are consistent across independent sources. Troy Taylor's documentation, published on Haunted Illinois, compiles multiple witness accounts: the sound of period skirts rustling through rooms confirmed to be empty; the scent of lavender drifting through the parlor, associated with Mary Todd Lincoln's known preference for the fragrance; rocking chairs observed moving with no one seated in them; and disembodied voices in empty upstairs rooms.
The Legends of America account corroborates moving toys, unexplained cold spots, and the rocking chair movement, adding the detail that the presence has at times been seen as an apparition of a woman in 19th-century dress. Some researchers specifically link the presence to Mrs. Lucian A. Tilton, who rented the home from 1861 until Lincoln's death in 1865, and who reportedly had her own difficult experiences in the house.
The National Park Service maintains official silence on the subject, which is consistent with federal agency policy. The home's documented history — a family that lost a child within its walls, a wife who returned to it only once after her husband's murder, a woman who spent much of her widowhood in grief-induced illness — provides the kind of layered emotional weight that paranormal legends typically require.
Notable Entities
Free National Park Service ranger-led tour of the Lincoln home and surrounding restored 1860s neighborhood block, covering Lincoln's years in Springfield and Mary Todd's grief-defined later occupancy.
Walk the restored four-block 1860s neighborhood around the Lincoln home, including the homes of Lincoln's friends and neighbors.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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