History Channel: Was the Atheistic Lincoln Suicidally Insane?

The web site of the History Channel is advertising a Monday, Jan. 16, 8 PM EST show on Lincoln that will purportedly inform the public of some of the Dark Secrets about Abe that the self-proclaimed Gatekeepers of history have swept under the rug. It’s a sure bet that some of these facts will be quickly recited, followed by a gaggle of Gatekeepers armed with a variety of knee-slapping excuses and rationales. That’s what it means to be a “Lincoln scholar,” after all.

In any event, here are some of the little-known facts about the dictator that the History Channel claims to be exploring:

“Lincoln refused his [dying father’s] request for a deathbed visit.”

“Lincoln suffered two nervous breakdowns — so severe that both times his friends mounted suicide watches.”

“As a young man . . . Lincoln stopped carrying a knife because he feared he might use it to commit suicide.”

“In his adult years he wrote a poem contemplating his own suicide . . .”

“Even in the White House, Lincoln frequently spoke of his fear that he might commit suicide.”

“As a teenager, Lincoln watched one of his friends suddenly go mad and try to kill his mother, and for years afterwards Lincoln was plagued by fears that he might too suddenly lose his reason.”

“Lincoln’s second nervous breakdown came after he had abruptly broken his engagement with Mary Todd . . . . Historians are divided about he reasons for breaking the engagement, citing homosexuality, another woman and syphillis.”

“New evidence has recently emerged in the form of eyewitness accounts that suggest Lincoln, during his presidency, had a continuing homosexual relationship with a Captain of the Guard.”

“Lincoln had a history of visiting prostitutes before his marriage, and he was convinced throughout his life that he caught syphillis from one in 1832.”

“As a rising politician in Illinois, Lincoln developed a reputation for dirty tricks, and for writing libelous, anonymous letters (he was even challenged to a duel for one) . . .”

“In the White House, Mary Lincoln would hold seances to try to speak with her dead son Willie and Lincoln attended them.”

“Lincoln was not a practicing Christian in any way, and as a young man he published a book about his reluctance to accept the Jesus story.”

Share

6:13 pm on December 30, 2005