The Ghost Train of President Abraham Lincoln

From the “Headless Horseman” to the Bell Witch, the United States has never been short on ghost stories. Passed down from generation to generation, hauntings are woven into the fabric of American folklore.  One of the most famous legends is the story of President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train.

Lincoln’s Assassination

On April 14, 1865, the 16th president, along with his wife, First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, attended a performance of the comedic play Our American Cousin. Sitting in the presidential box at Ford’s Theatre, the Lincolns were enjoying the show when actor John Wilkes Booth quietly approached them from behind and shot “Honest Abe” in the back of the head.

While fleeing, Booth was confronted by one of Lincoln’s guests, who tried to stop the actor from getting away. In response, Booth slashed the guest with a dagger, and, leaping from the presidential box’s balcony, he landed on the stage, likely breaking his leg.

There, Booth raised his bloody dagger in the air and shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!” which means “Thus always to tyrants.” He added loudly, “The South is avenged!”

Booth stumbled out the back door and escaped on a horse that awaited him.

Dr. Charles Leale examined Lincoln at the theater and determined the gunshot wound was fatal. Wanting the president to die comfortably, he asked to have the wounded man carried across the street to a boardinghouse. The president was pronounced dead at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1865.

Leale described Lincoln’s final moments:

“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 … As morning dawned it became quite evident that the President was sinking, and at several times his pulse could not be counted … While we were anxiously watching in profound solemn silence, the Rev. Dr. Gurley said: ‘Let us pray,’ and offered a most impressive prayer. After which we witnessed the last struggle between life and death.”

After a 12-day manhunt, federal troops eventually cornered Booth in a barn. He refused to surrender and was shot, dying later that day.

The Ghost Train

Officials determined Lincoln should have a public funeral to allow the nation to mourn his death properly. A train carrying President Lincoln’s body left Washington, DC, on April 21, 1865, bound for Springfield, IL, stopping at major cities along its route. Large crowds gathered to offer condolences.

The train reached its final destination on May 4, and, after briefly lying in the Illinois’ Capitol, Lincoln was laid to rest in a nearby cemetery.

Ten years later, the Rockland County Journal published “A Railroad Ghost Story,” which claimed witnesses had seen the ghost of Lincoln’s funeral train:

“The tale was about a mystic counterpart of the funeral train that bore Abraham Lincoln’s remains from New York City to the West. The actual and substantial train passed over the road on a certain day in April, 1865. The car that contained the President’s remains was heavily draped, I believe. It is said that on that night, every year, all the train men that are on the road at a certain hour (that varies in various subdivisions of the road), hear and see and feel the spectre train rush by them. It sounds hollow and awful. Its lights are yellow, pale and funeral (sic). Its train hands and passengers are sepulchral figures. It looks like the outline of a train, yet every detail is perfect. Those who have seen it say, though they felt that it was only a vision, that a man could walk through it if he dared, or throw a stone through it; yet it seems perfect in everything but substantialness … As it passes another train the shriek of its whistle and clang of its bell strike terror to the hearts of those that hear them.”

The Association of American Railroads also claims Lincoln’s funeral train is still seen traveling the sad 1,654-mile route it took in 1865. “Witnesses have claimed to see the eerie train moving silently along the tracks, drawn by a locomotive draped in black and lit only by dim lanterns. It is said to be accompanied by phantom mourners and the sound of tolling bells,” the organization noted.

1. President Abraham Lincoln died on April 15, 1865, from a fatal gunshot wound.
2. A funeral train carrying President Lincoln to his final resting place traveled from Washington, DC, to Springfield, IL.
3. Witnesses say a phantom train travels the 1,654-mile route every year on the anniversary of Lincoln’s death.