Back in early 2023, an article on the Ten Most Unbelievable Stories surrounding American Presidents was published on this site and the feedback was well received.

So after much time gathering information for another article and narrowing it down to the most outrageous and fascinating tales I could find, I’m now back with the sequel…Here are Another 10 Unbelievable U.S. Presidential stories.

#10. The Story of Lincoln’s Dog

The name ‘Fido’ has become a generic name to call a dog with it’s origins going all the way back to Abraham Lincoln who in 1855 adopted a mixed breed dog and gave him the name his become associated with today.

After Lincoln won the presidency in 1860, the decision was made to leave Fido under the care of Lincoln’s trusted friends as dogs can be easily spooked from loud noises. Unfortunately for Fido, he would (much like his presidential owner) succumb to his injuries in 1865 when a 24 year old former soldier in the Civil War stabbed him in an alleged drunken filled rage; The dog would escape and survive the encounter but only for a month before he was found dead near a church.

That man was Charles Planck (or Charlie Planck) who according to the Illinois State Journal in 1931 was sharpening a piece of wood when Fido approached him and soon was stabbed to death.

However another article from the State Journal in 1893 claims that Planck had accidentially wounded the dog after being surprised by Fido’s presence and it’s unclear if he was drunk or not. Nevertheless, Planck’s infamous moment in the spotlight soon faded from the public consciousness and he lived a private life before passing away in 1917.

#9. The July 4th Death Curse

Founding Fathers John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe all served as president throughout the early 19th century although their times in office have been met with various degrees of success.

Despite their differences, all three do have something in common with each other and that’s the fact they’ve all died on July 4th which is both chilling and ironic at the same time.

While James Monroe passed away at age 73 in 1831, both Adams and Jefferson died on the same day in 1826 with Adams final words being: “Thomas Jefferson Survives” before passing away at 90 years old; Interestingly, it was Jefferson who passed away first at age 83 unbeknownst to his friend/enemy.

It’s also worth mentioning that James Madison (the Fourth U.S. President) nearly could’ve met the same fate had as his health was failing him by the 1830’s; By the time he did die from heart failure at age 85, it was on June 28th 1836, just six days before Independence Day.

#8. The Portrait of a Bull Moose

Many of us tend to be self conscious about our image especially when taking photos, Theodore Roosevelt felt the same way when it came to his presidential portrait, so in 1903 he decided to have a french artist by the name of Théobald Chartran paint his portrait, after he successfully did so for First Lady Edith Roosevelt.

Regrettably, the painting referred to as “The Mewing Cat” by the President and his family was not used as the official portrait because it portrayed Roosevelt in a less than manly fashion. As such the painting was sent to France to be put on display, but it eventually came back which led to Roosevelt hanging it in the darkest area of the White House before eventually getting it destroyed.

Roosevelt instead chose artist in John Singer Sargent to paint his portrait and after arguing over things like the location and the president’s struggle to pose properly, the painting was finally completed on February 19th 1903 where it shows off Roosevelt in a position of power and authority.

#7. It’s Not a Tumor!!!

For over 132 years, Grover Cleveland was known as the only American President to serve two nonconsecutive terms until 2024 when Donald Trump became the most recent person to achieve this accolade. Much like Trump, Cleveland was known for his rather portly demeanor and unsurprisingly Grover’s habit of smoking cigars led to what was believed to be a benign or malignant tumor on the left side of his mouth which required surgery to remove it.

This was a serious problem not just because the president’s health was at stake but do to the economic crisis that was happening at the time; Had Cleveland’s health problems been made public, then it would only make things worse during the Panic of 1893.

In order to remove the supposed tumor from his mouth, Cleveland and a bunch of doctors borrowed a yacht that belonged to one of Grover’s friends and on July 1st 1893 the surgery was done in secret even from members of his adminisration and by all accounts, the operation was a success.

Despite a member of the press attempting to leak news of the surgery, It wouldn’t be revealed to the public until 1917 and in 1980 it was discovered that the growth inside Cleveland’s mouth was carcinoma which is a form of cancer but this kind wasn’t life threatening.

#6. Presidential Firefighter

Millard Fillmore often ends up in the same league as Rutherford Hayes and Martin Van Buren when it comes to America’s most forgettable leaders and that’s in spite of a badass moment that saw the 13th U.S. President save the Library of Congress from a raging fire.

On Christmas Eve 1851, President Fillmore was informed that a fire occurred inside the U.S. Library of Congress and the president along with members of his administration and some U.S. marines decided to help the on duty firefighters put out the flames.

By the time the fire was extinguished on Christmas Day thousands of books were lost, which spurred Fillmore to ask Congress for the appropriate amount of funds to repair the library which they did and the Library was back in operation not long after.

#5. Rabbit vs. Peanut Farmer

As the first POTUS to reach 100 years old, Jimmy Carter has experienced everything from serving in the navy to becoming a politician to winning a Nobel Peace Prize to his humanitarian efforts post presidency, but one thing he also faced during his lifetime was an “attack” by a rabbit.

On April 20th 1979, President Carter went out on a fishing trip in Georgia when out of nowhere a rabbit leaped into the water and began swimming its way toward the president; Carter reportedly took one of his paddles and hit the water thus causing it the splash right into the rabbit’s direction in order scary it off.

The story sounded too farfetch for some, until photos soon emerge which showed a white rabbit swimming away from Carter during the aforementioned fishing trip and it soon became used as a subject of ridicule for Carter by many of his enemies.

#4. Thomas Jefferson’s Mammoth Obsession

In late 1700’s, Thomas Jefferson found out that the Count of Buffon and nature historian Georges-Louis Leclerc wasn’t a big fan of the new world known as America as he wrote a theory saying that the United States is worst than any third world country due to our animals not being in the same league as those in the Old World.

Not content with the idea of Europeans seeing America as a backwards country, Jefferson began looking for the remains of an animal that could be sent to Leclerc to disprove his theory and his findings included the tusks and large bones of a creature that the future president believed were a mammoth.

The only problem is: there weren’t any mammoth bones in America and the remains Jefferson found were actually from another creature called the Mastodon. Still, Jefferson continued his infatuation for mammoths until he decided to send a stuffed Moose to Leclerc with the remains making it’s way to France.

According to Jefferson, Leclerc promised to write a new book denouncing his previous statements about how animals lived in the new world, sadly that didn’t end up happening because the Count died not long after his research on April 18th 1788.

#3. Old Hickory’s Cheese Problem

Near the end of Andrew Jackson’s second term, he and his Vice President Martin Van Buren were given the most unusual of gift any politicians has ever received: A 1,400 pound block of cheddar cheese and a 750 pound of cheddar cheese respectively.

The origins of the cheese can be traced to Sandy Creek New York where a dairy farmer by the name of Colonel Thomas Meacham sent the cheeses out of national pride with the cheese even coming with a message reading: ‘The Union, it must be Preserved.’

Jackson had no idea on what to do with his massive cheese as he didn’t want to throw it away as it would look disrespectful to discard a gift given to him by the people. After trying some of the cheese and giving it away to friends and family, there was still a big block of cheese left over in the White House hallway for over a year….and you can only imagine how rancid the smell must’ve been.

In the end, Jackson hosted a big party towards the end of his term where he gave away the rest of the cheese to the 10,000 attendees; Van Buren on the other hand, was able to donate pieces of his cheese away to charities until there was nothing left and thus didn’t have the same problems as his boss when it came to getting rid of this robust dairy product.

#2. The League of Mediocre Presidents

When the American Civil War began on April 12th 1861, former president Franklin Pierce decided a few days afterwards to meet with the remaining former commander-in-chiefs in Philadelphia Pennyslvania to discuss a way to end the conflict before it gets worse.

The reasoning for this meeting taking place in Philadelphia was pretty much symbolic as the founding fathers met to pass the U.S. Constitution in the City of Brotherly Love and Pierce presumably felt this was the perfect place to find a solution to the war.

The meeting, much to Pierce’s dismay never took place as many of the presidents like Martin Van Buren and Millard Fillmore saw this as nothing more than an attempt to undermine Abraham Lincoln (someone Pierce was not a fan of). James Buchanan wished to retire from politics after his term in office ended in disaster and John Tyler supported the Confederacy and it’s right to secede from the United States.

While it’s unlikely the meeting would’ve accomplished anything, the fact it could’ve happened is all the more fascinating considering their political views and the state of the country at the time.

#1. Zombie George Washington

Our last entry is so insane you almost can’t believe anyone thought it would be a good idea.

Following the death of America’s first president George Washington a physician and straight up crazy person, Dr. William Thornton concocted a plan to bring Washington back from the dead; This plan involved Thornton using blankets and cold water to warm up Washington’s blood vessels via friction and degrees before attempting to open up the president’s trachea to bring some air into his lifeless lungs.

The final part of this procedure would see Washington’s body being given a blood transfusion with the donor being an unwilling sheep which Thornton believed would help to bring life back into the president.

Understandably, Washington’s family absolutely did not support this idea and felt that America’s first Commander-in-Chief should be laid to rest after some many years of service both on the battlefield and as a President of the United States.

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