October 14, 2021 • 18 mins
"Did you ever hear of the phantom train?"
On Saturday September 6th 1879, readers of The Wichita Kansas Herald were treated to a good ol' fashioned ghost story. What set it apart (aside from it being published and republished nationwide) was the type of ghost, the central character to an old railroad switchman's tale - a phantom train. Not just any train, the funerary train of arguably the most important person in United States History...President Abraham Lincoln.
As mentioned in the introduction, there is an amazing book by author Peter Manseau entitled; The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln’s Ghost. The book explores the influence (and importance) of photography in this particular era - and while unrelated to this particular story, it illuminates a confluence of cultural, technological and sociological factors that might help explain it...
@fascinationpod
On Saturday September 6th 1879, readers of The Wichita Kansas Herald were treated to a good ol' fashioned ghost story. What set it apart (aside from it being published and republished nationwide) was the type of ghost, the central character to an old railroad switchman's tale - a phantom train. Not just any train, the funerary train of arguably the most important person in United States History...President Abraham Lincoln.
As mentioned in the introduction, there is an amazing book by author Peter Manseau entitled; The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln’s Ghost. The book explores the influence (and importance) of photography in this particular era - and while unrelated to this particular story, it illuminates a confluence of cultural, technological and sociological factors that might help explain it...
@fascinationpod
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