Revealing a series of secrets about the White House

A series of secrets about America's iconic house are gradually being revealed. That is the story of Abraham Lincoln's ghost, bulletproof windows and panic buttons in the bedrooms...

The race to the White House has reached a fever pitch as the two US presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are neck and neck. Whoever wins the November 8 vote will move into the most famous house in America.

Here are some fascinating secrets about America's iconic building... like the night Winston Churchill stepped out of the bath and met the ghost of Abraham Lincoln.

- The first US President George Washington was the only person who did not live in the White House. He stayed in Philadelphia while the US built a new capital, named after him. George Washington died in 1799 before his new home was completed.

- Irish architect James Hoban won the design competition for the building, which was modeled after Leinster House in Dublin. The first brick of the building was laid on October 13, 1792.

- Originally, the current residence of the US Presidents consisted of two parts, taking 8 years to build at a cost of 232,372 USD. Most of the people who built the building were African slaves.

- The name White House comes from the liquid used to paint the sandstone walls. In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt officially named this building the White House.

- The first residents of the White House were President John Adams and his wife Abigail. The next president, Thomas Jefferson, complained that the place was too big, but he was the one who installed the first indoor toilet in the White House.

- For more than 60 years, the White House was the largest house in America.

- The famous West Wing of the White House was created by President Roosevelt in 1901 to separate the work area and living quarters. The Oval Office - the President's private working space - was built in 1909 and the famous Rose Garden began to appear in 1913.

- An indoor pool was built at the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, and an outdoor pool was built at the order of President Gerald Ford in 1975.

- The White House is home to 43 US Presidents and thousands of other guests.

- British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is one of many guests who have encountered the ghost of former President Abraham Lincoln. Staying at the White House in the 1940s, when Mr. Churchill stepped out of the bathtub, he saw Lincoln's ghost standing next to the fireplace in the room.

Churchill is said to have greeted Lincoln, but the US President just smiled and disappeared. President Obama's family said they heard strange noises and Hillary Clinton, the former US First Lady, once said she felt goosebumps.

- President Woodrow Wilson once kept 48 sheep on the White House lawn, President Lincoln kept a pair of goats, and John F. Kennedy kept a pony.

- President Truman described the White House as a "glamorous prison", while Ronald Reagan called it an "eight-star hotel".

- The White House is constantly guarded by hundreds of Secret Service agents. The building has bulletproof windows and "panic" buttons in bedrooms.

- In the 19th century, visitors could be invited to have tea with the President or allowed to picnic on the White House lawn. Today, the White House welcomes 11,000 visitors a week.

- The President's family lives on the second and third floors of the White House, paying no rent but paying all other bills, from food to laundry.

- The White House has five full-time chefs. The White House kitchen can serve meals for 140 guests and serve cold appetizers for thousands of guests.

- The White House has 132 rooms, including 16 bedrooms, 35 bathrooms on 6 floors. There are 412 doors, 147 windows, 28 fireplaces, 8 staircases and 3 elevators.

According to VNN