Final Days of Abraham Lincoln

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

History Hit

Myths, Folklore, Mystery, History, Ghosts, Society & Culture, Murder, Ufos, True Crime, Paranormal, Supernatural, Serial Killers

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One split second - and one individual - can upturn an entire nation.

This was definitely the case when John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre on the night of 14th April 1865.

What were the final days leading up to this huge moment like? How did the nation, and the future of enslaved African Americans, hang in the balance? And how did that long night after the gun was fired unfold?

You can now watch After Dark on Youtube: www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhit

Produced by Stuart Beckwith. Edited by Tim Arstall. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, we're your host's Anthony Delaney and Maddie Pelling.
0:03.7	And if you would like After Dark myths, misdeeds and the paranormal, ad free and get early access, sign up to History Hit.
0:11.1	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries with top history presenters and enjoy a new release every week.
0:20.7	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. top history presenters and enjoy a new release every week.
0:24.8	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:27.0	Hello and welcome to After Dark. I'm Maddie.
0:27.8	And I'm Anthony.
0:34.2	And in today's episode, we are talking about the assassination of the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.
0:40.8	His presidency happened at a time of huge change in America. And take us to this story.
0:41.6	Here's Anthony.
1:00.7	It's April 14, 1865. Not long after 10pm on a spring evening in Washington, D.C. Just across the road in Ford's Theatre, the play Our American Cousin has been interrupted by a gunshot.
1:07.8	It quickly emerges that in the presidential box, Abraham Lincoln has been shot at point-blank range.
1:14.2	He sits slumped, unconscious, paralysed. His wife, Mary, pleading for help.
1:20.6	Guards clear the crowds as he's urgently carried across the street, here to William Peterson's house. The first doctor on the scene, Charles A. Leal, recounts his experience.
1:40.1	As soon as we arrived in the room offered to us, we placed the president in bed in a diagonal position, as the bed was too short. A part of the foot was removed to enable us to place him in a comfortable position.
1:46.0	As soon as we placed him in bed, we removed his clothes and covered him with blankets. While covering him, I found his lower extremities very cold from his feet to a distance
1:52.0	several inches above his knees.
1:54.0	At 1am, his pulse suddenly increased in frequency to 100 per minute, but soon diminished
2:00.0	gradually becoming less feeble until 254 a.m.
2:04.5	When it was 48 and hardly perceptible, at 6.40 a.m., his pulse could not be counted.
2:12.8	The inspirations now became very short, and the expirations very prolonged and laboured, accompanied
2:18.9	by a guttural sound.
	...

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