By Anna Di Domenico, Staff Writer
As the leaves start to fall, it brings the spooky air of Halloween, and this year it comes along with the election season. History has shown the two often go hand in hand.
Beginning with William Henrey Harrison in 1840, a remarkable succession of presidents elected every 20 years died in office, giving rise to what became known as the Curse of Tippecanoe.
Other spooky stories such as ghosts in the White House like stories are about Lincoln’s presence, or an odd lavender smell from wet laundry where the first lady, Abigail Adams, used to hang clothes haunt American politics. Still, the darkness and magnitude of the Curse of Tippecanoe overshadow all the others and even has an impact today.
In short, the Curse of Tippecanoe was a purported cycle that said that a U.S. president elected in a year ending with a zero would die while in office. For almost 100 years, the sequence of the 20-year span of events was extremely scary and accurate. Professor Francis “Frank” Orlando, a political science instructor II noted, the unfortunate events happened in this order:
1840: William Henry Harrison died in office
1860: Abraham Lincoln was assassinated
1880: James A. Garfield was assassinated
1900: William McKinley was assassinated
1920: Warren G. Harding died in office
1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office
1960: John F. Kennedy was assassinated
“Even back when they were running in 1980, people were like, ‘Are you sure you want to win?’” said Orlando. Despite everything, in the 1980 election, Ronald Reagan brought an end to the unchanging death cycle of American presidents. Despite Reagan getting shot during an assassination attempt, modern medicine ensured his survival, which couldn’t have been possible before. In addition, the two presidents elected in 2000 and 2020 have also been lucky enough to survive, finally breaking an awful spell.
Nevertheless, close calls have occurred that maintained the superstition in the minds of the public. Like the near accident of George W. Bush (elected in 2000) in 2005. Vladimir Arutyunian threw a live hand grenade at Bush. It landed 100 feet away from the president and did not explode. For some it was considered luck, but for others, it was a scary sign that the curse might still be alive.
This political legend started with the story of William Henry Harrison, the first president to die in office. At that moment, he was not only a politician, but Harrison himself was a famous
wartime hero, with his leadership being credited with the U.S. Army’s successful defeat of the Native American confederacy in the Battle of Tippecanoe.
The legend, as Orlando puts it, is that Harrison and the tribes he defeated were enemies after Tippecanoe, and thus, the tribe put a terrible curse upon Harrison in retaliation. As if to confirm this, the spell started upon Harrison right in the early period of his presidency. On inauguration day in 1841, Harrison gave his speech outside without a coat or hat, when it was freezing, and rain was pouring. He got sick, which became the reason for his passing.
“He was outside, and it was cold and raining, and people said he got pneumonia from giving the speech, and he died within a month,” Orlando explained.
It was a death of which a newly independent nation still trembled, as not only did Harrison’s demise created a shocking impact, but the idea of the Tippecanoe curse began to take shape. The jinx passed from one generation to the other lasting more than 150 years, but is it actually gone?
“William Henry Harrison, his ghost, apparently, still haunts the attic of the White House,” said Orlando.
In a way it might be seen either as a mere chance, a sad accident, or a real supernatural story. The legend of Tippecanoe’s Curse makes us realize that the White House is something more than the center of American governmental power: It is an archive alive, one where the past, mysteries, and the nation’s folklore meet each other.
