Posted on 05/10/2005 8:21:58 AM PDT by GodfearingTexan
A couple of Sundays ago our preacher was talking about the bad things that can come from telling and spreading rumors, and how the tongue can be hurtful, etc. As part of his sermon, he stated that sometime after Lincoln's death a rumor began to spread that his body was not inside the coffin. So, it was exhumed and viewed to verify it was there. Then again in 1901, he said, it was dug up again. Why? Same rumor. I thought this was exceptionally odd but possible and so I got online and found this quote from the above site: "Abraham Lincoln's coffin has been moved 17 times, mostly due to numerous reconstructions of the Lincoln Tomb and fears for the safety of the President’s remains. The coffin itself has been opened 5 times: December 21, 1865, September 19, 1871, October 9, 1874, April 14, 1887, and September 26, 1901. (SOURCE: p. 61 of the Abraham Lincoln Fact Book and Teacher’s Guide by Gerald Sanders)."
I'm sure it will be opened again to grab some DNA.
I visited Lincoln's tomb several years ago, but they didn't let me open it.
He was reburied in 1876 under tons of concrete after thieves were caught opening the tomb to steal the body. They actually got the casket out but the authorities had been alerted and the robbery was foiled.
yeah and thank God for the rumors that were floating around town that a robbery of Lincoln's tomb was afoot
It was finally re-buried in a 500lb block of cement to discourage grave robbers.
An attempt had been made earlier to steal the body and hold it for ransom.
I believe that some tissue was saved from his autopsy in 1865 as well as some hair that could be used for DNA sampling.
His only surviving son Robert died about 1921. He only had daughters and I'm not sure if there are any descendants beyond that.
It is an interesting story though...
Should have read, "when exhumed decades later."
Thanks for the info. Interesting.
No Googling, no research of any kind has uncovered any suggestion Lincoln had been disinterred forty years ago.
Must have been the hot dogs I ate back then??...
Sheesh! No wonder his ghost is said to haunt the WH! That is, if one believes in such things! No wonder the poor man can't rest!
:') There's only one known photo of Lincoln in the coffin, taken at one of the funeral train stops, where his body was out for public viewing, a pause on the way back to Illinois.
I recall seeing a photo of the coffin about to be covered with concrete though. ;')
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LOL! I whine about not finding the photos of Lincoln's corpse on Google and elsewhere...Murphy's law jumped right in.
Life had those photos in Feb or Mar '63.
:') Maybe this is it?
http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton/Lincoln13.html
"The information on this page was taken mostly from an article by Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt in the February 15, 1963, edition of Life magazine."
The only known photo (for those who must see it):
http://www.celebritymorgue.com/abraham-lincoln/abraham-lincoln.jpg
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