Lincoln’s assassination: A Confederate conspiracy?
Historians and the general public are in agreement that Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot by the actor John Wilkes Booth, who was embroiled in a conspiracy with a small handful of anarchists to murder the 16th president. But since that fateful night, people have questioned whether Booth was capable of orchestrating such an enormous crime. Given the Union’s recent victory over the Confederacy, suspicions turned to Confederate leaders including Jefferson Davis as well as the pro-slavery secret society, the Knights of the Golden Circle. Could Booth have been the original “patsy”? It appears we may never know.
Here are the 14 craziest pop culture conspiracy theories of all time.
William Henry Harrison: Talked himself to death?
Poor William Henry Harrison. Fate was unkind to the USA’s ninth president, who only spent a mere 31 days in office before he died on April 4, 1841. But history’s been even more unkind, blaming Harrison’s death on pneumonia he’s thought to have contracted while delivering his two-hour inauguration speech – the longest in history – outside in the freezing rain. While “catching a chill” actually can lead to pneumonia, new evidence points to typhus, which is spread through sewage-contaminated water, and which he likely contracted by drinking the water at the White House.
Check out these 10 strange urban legends that turned out to be true.
Did Thomas Jefferson father children with one of his slaves?
Although Thomas Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence, whose “all men are created equal” language catalysed the anti-slavery movement, it’s no secret Jefferson owned slaves. What became an enduring mystery – starting as soon as Jefferson took office in 1801 – is whether Jefferson fathered as many as six children with his slave, Sally Hemings, beginning in 1787 (five years after the death of Jefferson’s wife, Martha). In the late 20th century, DNA testing revealed a “high probability” that Jefferson fathered all of Heming’s children, as acknowledged by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, although some think the children were fathered by Jefferson’s younger brother Randolph.
Here are 16 of the strangest unsolved mysteries of all time.