Wow

Wow that is wild just to think about. It must have literally felt surreal.

@@earlusmcdivett We were caught up with everyone at the time in the shock of the news. But yes absolutely surreal now and thinking back at it through the many years. .

I was born in 1969, but I heard many times my parents and Godparents talking about remembering EXACTLY where they were when the news broke about JFK! Thank you for sharing that! Patricia Gambino Harrington(I post on my husband Frank's KZfaq acct)

​@@frankharrington4881I can relate to everything you said

Those are some wonderful memories. My parents took us kids on sightseeing expeditions, too. Both of them are gone now and all we have are beautiful memories along with photos. I'm 58 and regret not listening, as a kid, when my parents would say things like "someday you'll wish you'd not taken things for granted"...

He does seem very knowledgeable and enthusiastic person. This is the type of guide you want when taking a tour!

You gonna tell us the secrets or what?

Once you start with this stuff, you can’t stop. There's a tour guide who takes a group to the alleys and theatres…he’s fascinating, his book is fascinating…. They Killed Poppa Dead. Peterson of Peterson House met an untimely death. Rathbone too. All of it went on for years because it was such a tragic and chaotic event. There are ghost stories aplenty. People who work at what is now Ft. McNair, claim to hear whispers of Mary Surratt and her daughter who was trying to comfort her mother where she was being held….there is wailing and sobbing. Mary Surratt was re-buried at Mt. Olivet. The man…is it Louis? He testified against her. His grave is a short distance from hers. Don’t mention to Merrick Garland….it was 84 days from April 14th to the conspirators execution by hanging. Eighty-four.

Yes, sounds like the boarding house one block up. It was there they got replacement pillows for the dying President's bed. Peterson had five or six kids. The neighbors were on the scene all through the night and following day. There were armed guards, but still souvenir hunters managed. Taken to another level…esteemed collections have memorabilia. Bought it, didn’t pick it up. It isn’t all in one place. No need to bring it all to one place. There's enough as it is, to include Lincoln’s coat pocket contents. Cool to find fragments that have spawned mini museums.

This particular NPS Interpretive Ranger appears passionate about his work. I'll bet he loves history too. ❤

#2 How so?

@@cindyknudson2715 From Wikipedia Although Rathbone's physical wounds healed, his mental state deteriorated in the years following Lincoln's death as he anguished over his perceived inability to thwart the assassination. After his resignation from the military in 1870, Rathbone struggled to find and keep a job due to his mental instability. He became convinced that his wife was unfaithful and resented the attention she paid their children. He reportedly threatened her on several occasions after suspecting that she was going to divorce him and take the children. Rathbone and his family relocated to Germany, where his mental health continued to decline. On December 23, 1883, he attacked his children in a fit of madness. He fatally shot and stabbed his wife, who was attempting to protect the children. He stabbed himself five times in the chest in an attempted suicide. He was charged with murder, but was declared insane by doctors after he blamed the murder on an intruder. He was convicted and committed to an asylum for the criminally insane in Hildesheim, Germany. The couple's children were sent to live with their uncle, William Harris, in the United States. Rathbone spent the rest of his life in the asylum. He died on August 14, 1911, and was buried next to his wife at the Stadtfriedhof Engesohde cemetery in Hanover, Germany.

I remember that also. I went in the mid 80s.

Yes….you owe it to yourself and others to find out. Ancestry is wonderfully addicting….you can find out a lot in a short session. It’s great fun, an instant hobby if you’re so inclined. Everyone knew Booth. With his chiseled good looks, he was a head turner.

I went there in about 1983 as a kid and i totally remember that pillow! I was hoping to see it in the video. Guess it didn't make it.

I saw it in the mid 80s and it had the blood on it.

People were smaller physically back then. Lincoln's height was unusual.

This from NPS site : John T. Ford claimed his new theatre would hold 2500 spectators. The real capacity was probably closer to 1700. From eyewitnesses, we know that several attendees moved around the theatre for better seats, suggesting that it was not a completely full house. So, the number is likely to be around 1500, though we will never know very precisely. Through the years, many would later claim to have been present, and those claims can be difficult to substantiate because no list of attendees was taken or kept at the time.

I thought the same thing. I was amazed by how small it seemed.

Like the Ship of Theseus.

Just like the interior of the White House, or Dunker Church at Antietam, etc.....

What does this have to do with Abraham Lincoln’s place of death??

@@tiko4621 You’re right! Just like to inspire people! Just like President Lincoln did! 👍

Absolutely. Remember, this was a crime scene and photography was becoming widely used. The theater's interior was throughly photographed by the War Department to document the crime. So there were many photos on which to base a reconstruction. Also, in the 19th century, souvenir hunting was a huge thing. Many people ripped wallpaper samples, curtains, carpet, etc out of the theater and many of those samples were used as reference in the reconstruction.

Yes , I was there several times over six weeks in June and July of 1986.the blood stained pillow cases were there and there was no railing keeping you from walking to the far end of the room.

The bed displayed inside the Peterson house is a good reproduction. The original bed is on display at the Chicago Historical Society.

I believe the bloody pillow is located in the Lincoln Museum in Ford's Theater.

@@kevinbradley3356 I was there in 1987-88 and back then there wasn't a glass, or plexiglass, enclosure around the bed either.

I was there in November of 1992. I remember the blood stained pillow as well.

Yes!

Won’t spoil your next visit, but the websites are good until then. National Park Service has a dedicated page. I think his frock coat and the contents of his pockets are on display in the museum under Fords. Steve Spielberg borrowed things for his epic film, Lincoln.

Maybe it was different at the time. Killing a president wasn’t a federal crime at that time, I don’t believe it was until after JFK was killed. I do agree that he should have had at least a side arm. Lincoln could just ride his horse down the street then, no one would have ever thought someone would kill the President of the United States back then.

My son was born on the 15th of April. He is amazed at how many tragedies happen on or around his birthday.

@@deniseroe5891 Fortunately, your son is a blessing not 🚫 a tragedy! My Mom complains that, historically, 🚫 nothing & nobody significant was born vs my dad and I have countless famous events & 🎈🎂🕯️🕊️ famous birthdays & death8 days on our birthdays.

The pic of Washington is about it..... still an eerily awesome air space on our planet. 😔 🎩 📜 ⛓️ 🗽 ⚖️ 🇺🇸

It was all rebuilt. It is just to give you a feel of what it looked like back then.

No. The interior was completely gutted after the interior suffered a collapse which killed 22 people in 1893.

@@davidgreene8914 i get that i saw the video i just thought they would have saved it due to historical significance

His father stabbed his mother to death.