Lincoln Tomb
A site in Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln Tomb is filed here for what the record attaches to it. The 1874 tomb—where the president rests with his family. Its signature presence is Abraham Lincoln — the figure the file’s accounts keep returning to. The dossier holds 2 reported claims, 1 legend and 1 documented fact, with the verified spine filed separately from the lore. The site is open to visitors.
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Is Lincoln Tomb haunted?
The record holds 2 claims, 1 legend, 1 named entity — filed as reported, not verified. The heaviest filing is classed documented legend. The archive documents the claim; it takes no position on the ghost.
The record — long form
Eleven years after the assassination, a gang of counterfeiters tried to steal Abraham Lincoln's body and hold it for ransom. The plot was Big Jim Kinealy's — an Irish crime boss whose best engraver, Benjamin Boyd, was in Joliet prison. The plan: snatch the President's corpse from Oak Ridge Cemetery, bury it in the Indiana dunes where the shifting sand would cover the tracks, and trade it for Boyd's pardon and two hundred thousand dollars.
The Secret Service knew everything. A third member of the gang, Lewis Swegles, was an informant, and on the night of November 7, 1876, agents and Pinkerton detectives waited in the dark outside the tomb while Terrence Mullen and Jack Hughes pried up the stone covering the casket. A detective's pistol went off by accident; in the confusion the robbers got out of the tomb but were caught ten days later. The law they were charged under didn't cover attempted grave-robbing — the crime was so unthinkable there was no statute for it — so they served one year for attempted theft of the coffin.
The custodian that night, John Carroll Power, had given the thieves a guided tour of the tomb that afternoon. His gravestone in the same cemetery says he 'was on duty the night of Nov. 7, 1876, when ghouls attempted to steal the body of President Lincoln.' Lincoln's coffin was buried under concrete in 1887 and reinterred in 1901, ten feet below the floor of the tomb — the only presidential body ever to need protecting from theft, defended by a private guard of honor for fifty years.
Why this file matters
Lincoln Tomb is the archive's body-snatch file — the most audacious crime ever attempted against a dead president, foiled by the Secret Service eleven years after the assassination, in a monument that had to be rebuilt around the threat.
A tomb that was nearly robbed keeps its guard — the file's suggestion being that Lincoln needed protection more in death than in life, and the Guard of Honor stood watch longer than the Civil War lasted.
The Lincoln Tomb is the final resting place of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States; his wife Mary Todd Lincoln; and three of their four sons: Edward, William, and Thomas. It is located in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. Constructed of granite, the tomb has a tall, story-and-a-half base in trapezoidal form, surmounted by an obelisk, with a semicircular receiving room entranceway on one end and a semicircular crypt or burial room opposite. On the exterior, four flights of balustraded stairs lead to a level terrace. The balustrade extends around the terrace to form a parapet, and there are several bronze statues, reliefs, and stone carvings located at the base
Lincoln TombThe record of claims
Lincoln is reportedly seen. Witnesses name it Abraham Lincoln; the name travels further than the proof. Lincoln Tomb in Springfield, Illinois carries the report the way old places do — as part of its identity. The story is documented as legend — recorded and retold, never verified as fact. 'Lincoln Tomb' carries the account. The name gives the haunting a face, and the sightings give the name a job.
Reported figures at the tomb. Lincoln Tomb in Springfield, Illinois carries the report the way old places do — as part of its identity. It's an investigation claim — the kind that convinces the people who were in the room. The account appears in 'Lincoln Tomb'. The apparition is the file's anchor — every other report orbits it.
Lincoln is reportedly seen. Lincoln Tomb in Springfield, Illinois carries the report the way old places do — as part of its identity. It's a documented legend: the telling is real, the contents remain folklore. The report is preserved in sources like 'Lincoln Tomb'. It's the version the place will be remembered by, whether or not it's the true one.
Alleged entities
Lincoln is reportedly seen. Abraham Lincoln is what the reports name it. Lincoln Tomb in Springfield, Illinois carries the report the way old places do — as part of its identity. 'Lincoln Tomb' carries the account. The name travels further than the proof; the sightings keep renewing the lease. The reports keep the address on the map.
Documented history
The 1874 tomb is documented. The site's documented history is the record the rest of the file stands on. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. 'Lincoln Tomb' documents the entry. It's the sort of fact that gives the haunting reports their context. The file stays open on it.
Sources on file
- 01Lincoln TombWikipedia · encyclopedia · A4
Field notes & open questions
CHI batch; VERIFY task auto-queued.