Vanished Vanished

And now we’ve reached the end. In part 4 I mentioned that we’ve covered this case, in essence, two times. The John Wilkes Booth story represents, for me, a very big struggle for the show because we had to change the structure midway through research, and just before we were set to launch an entire season based on the case you just heard. And now, it’s reflection time.  As we exit our journey into 1865 and John Wilkes Booth I found it only fitting to end with the first round table discussion we’ve ever done on this show. And it features the creators and writers of the hit podcast "1865" Erik Archilla and Steven Walters along with myself and Jen and a returning Dave Taylor as we discuss our coverage of this case, the assassination of Lincoln, the radicalization of John Wilkes Booth, and how the events of 1865 service as a striking parallel to what we’re all living through right now, in modern times. LINKS


Our Website

Vanished on Twitter 
Vanished on Instagram 
Vanished on Facebook 
Vanished Facebook Discussion Group 
Jennifer Taylor on Twitter 
Chris Williamson on Twitter 
Smith & Vinson Law Firm Official Website

Jennifer Taylor Attorney Profile @ Smith & Vinson's Official Website

Smith & Vinson on Twitter

Music by Dane Gerous Schmidt 

"Satisfied" performed by Amber Farndon
Album Art Illustration courtesy of Desdymona 
Vanished is a ChrisEvan Films Production
Vanished is part of the Straight Up Strange Podcast Network 
Vanished stars Jennifer Taylor and Chris Williamson with special appearances by Erik Archilla and Steven Walters
Erik Archilla on Twitter

Steven Walters on Twitter

Dave Taylor's site of record Lincoln Conspirators 
Dave Taylor on Twitter


SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING 


Dave Taylor's "John Wilkes Booth: In the Woods" Series Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7

The Podcast of Record 1865


"Donald Trump's presidency is ending a lot like Andrew Johnson's" @ The Hill

It's easy to make extraordinary claims when they're unchallenged. But that's about to change. A few episodes back, I encouraged you to jump down this rabbit hole. And now, I'm here to help you climb back out. Welcome to the fourth episode of our series on John Wilkes Booth. Trial by Jury. LINKS


Our Website

Vanished on Twitter 
Vanished on Instagram 
Vanished on Facebook 
Vanished Facebook Discussion Group 
Jennifer Taylor on Twitter 
Chris Williamson on Twitter 
Smith & Vinson Law Firm Official Website

Jennifer Taylor Attorney Profile @ Smith & Vinson's Official Website

Smith & Vinson on Twitter

Music by Dane Gerous Schmidt 

"Satisfied" performed by Amber Farndon
Album Art Illustration courtesy of Desdymona 
Vanished is a ChrisEvan Films Production
Vanished is part of the Straight Up Strange Podcast Network 
Vanished stars Jennifer Taylor and Chris Williamson with a special appearance by Montgomery Sutton as John Wilkes Booth
Dave Taylor's site of record Lincoln Conspirators 
Dave Taylor on Twitter

Mark Zaid's Official Website

Mark Zaid on Twitter

Special Appearance by Nate Orlowek 

SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING 



"The Escape & Suicide of John Wilkes Booth" by Finis L. Bates @ Amazon

Dave Taylor's "John Wilkes Booth: In the Woods" Series Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7

The Podcast of Record 1865


"Relatives press fight to reopen Booth grave Appeals court will study bid to confirm whether body is Lincoln assassin's" @ The Baltimore Sun


"John Wiles Booth Descendants Seek to Exhume Body" @ The Chicago Tribune


"Body of Lincoln's Killer is Left in Grave" @ The Tampa Bay Times


"Did Booth Actually Get Away" Original Article @ USA Today 

I have a lot of heavy lifting to do.In part 3 of our series on John Wilkes Booth, my investigation is in full swing. Joined by a world class guest list, I dive into the case head first in an effort to understand how and why Booth might have escaped, the complex introduction of DNA into the case, and the first trial that took place on this case a little over a quarter century ago. Welcome back to Vanished. This is part 3 of our series on John Wilkes Booth.LINKS


Our Website

Vanished on Twitter 
Vanished on Instagram 
Vanished on Facebook 
Vanished Facebook Discussion Group 
Jennifer Taylor on Twitter 
Chris Williamson on Twitter 
Smith & Vinson Law Firm Official Website

Jennifer Taylor Attorney Profile @ Smith & Vinson's Official Website

Smith & Vinson on Twitter

Music by Dane Gerous Schmidt 

"Satisfied" performed by Amber Farndon
Album Art Illustration courtesy of Desdymona 
Vanished is a ChrisEvan Films Production
Vanished is part of the Straight Up Strange Podcast Network 
Vanished stars Jennifer Taylor and Chris Williamson with special appearances by Montgomery Sutton as John Wilkes Booth and TJ Counihan as Sargent Silas Cobb.
Dave Taylor's site of record Lincoln Conspirators 
Kate Clifford Larson's Official Website 

"The Assassin's Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln" @ Amazon

Emma Hinkle's Blog 
Steministas Podcast

Emma Hinkle on Twitter


"Who is the Real John Wilkes Booth?" @ Amazon

Mark Zaid's Official Website

Mark Zaid on Twitter

Special Appearance by Nate Orlowek 

SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING 


Dave Taylor's "John Wilkes Booth: In the Woods" Series Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7

The Podcast of Record 1865

"The Ironic Death of Silas Cobb"
"The Need to Kill James William Boyd" 
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 4, Episode 2 - Full Episode @ YouTube


"The John Wilkes Booth Mummy That Toured America" @ History

"The Strange Story of David E. George (Or Is It John Wilkes Booth?")
"The Postmortem Career of John Wilkes Booth"

I’ve been investigating historical mysteries for a long time. And everything always begins with a story. It’s hard to look at our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln as controversial. But he was. As much as he’s now revered the world over for his acts during his presidency, there were many people that stood in opposition of Lincoln and the Union. When we think of Lincoln, we often think about his end; the assassination that we’ll be covering so deeply during this series. But what you might not know is that the assassination that would be successfully carried out in 1865 wasn’t the first attempt on his life. Four years earlier, there was another attempt. And the story behind this one is something out of a summer blockbuster movie. But every bit of it is real. In order to get to the ending, and everything beyond, we need to start at the beginning.Tonight, we lay out all the events that begin on April the 14th 1865 and end 12 days later in a tobacco farm in Virginia. Or do they? As our split investigation continues on from Oklahoma and Austin, here’s the big question. If John Wilkes Booth did vanish that night in 1865, he must have had help. So, who helped him? Could it be that Booth was simply the tip of the spear that pierced the Union? Is it possible, maybe even probable that the figure calling the shots was in Lincoln's own cabinet? A man that would have the most to gain from the assassination of the president? And was his potential collusion influenced by the most famous assassin in all of history?Welcome back to Vanished. This is part 2 of our series on John Wilkes Booth. LINKS


Our Website

Vanished on Twitter 
Vanished on Instagram 
Vanished on Facebook 
Vanished Facebook Discussion Group 
Jennifer Taylor on Twitter 
Chris Williamson on Twitter 
Smith & Vinson Law Firm Official Website

Jennifer Taylor Attorney Profile @ Smith & Vinson's Official Website

Smith & Vinson on Twitter

Music by Dane Gerous Schmidt 

"Satisfied" performed by Amber Farndon
Album Art Illustration courtesy of Desdymona 
Vanished is a ChrisEvan Films Production
Vanished is part of the Straight Up Strange Podcast Network 
Vanished stars Jennifer Taylor and Chris Williamson with special appearances by Montgomery Sutton as John Wilkes Booth and R. Bruce Elliot as Andrew Johnson.
Dave Taylor's site of record Lincoln Conspirators 
Dave Taylor on Twitter 
Josh Mensch's Official Website 
Josh Mensch on Twitter 

"The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America's 16th President--and Why It Failed" @ Amazon 
Special Appearance by Nate Orlowek 

SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING 


Dave Taylor's "John Wilkes Booth: In the Woods" Series Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7

The Podcast of Record 1865

Allan Pinkerton @ Wikipedia 
Kate Warne @ Wikipedia 

"The Unsuccessful Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln" @ Smithsonian 

"Abolitionist John Brown is Hanged" @ History


"The Web of Conspiracy" by Theodore Roscoe @ Amazon 
James William Boyd @ Wikipedia 

"A Conspiracy Theory to End All Conspiracy Theories: Did John Wilkes Booth Act Alone?" @ Rollingstone 

"John Wilkes Booth Killed Lincoln, but Who Killed John Wilkes Booth?" @ Vice 

"The Escape & Suicide of John Wilkes Booth" by Finis L. Bates @ Amazon 

"A Piece of Crutch" @ Lincoln Conspirators 

"Historical Vertebrae, a Sideshow Mummy and the Lingering Mystery of John Wilkes Booth" @ PBS

What you’re about to hear really started for me a few years ago. I was just about to leave Los Angeles for our big family move out to the midwest. I was in the Los Angeles Public Library looking through some microfilm on Amelia Earhart when I stumbled back a little too far and found the contents of an 1862 Valentines’ note to Lucy Lambert Hale; a prominent Washington D.C. socialite. That’s right. Everything you’re about to hear, started with a Valentine. 

The contents of the note read like something out of a period romance film but with just a pinch of darkness. The words jumped off the page. Here’s what it said. 


“My dear Miss Hale, were it not for the License with a time-honored observance of this day allows, I had not written you this poor note. … You resemble in a most remarkable degree a lady, very dear to me, now dead and your close resemblance to her surprised me the first time I saw you. This must be my apology for any apparent rudeness noticeable. To see you has indeed afforded me a melancholy pleasure, if you can conceive of such, and should we never meet nor I see you again believe me, I shall always associate you in my memory, with her, who was very beautiful, and whose face, like your own I trust, was a faithful index of gentleness and amiability. With a Thousand kind wishes for your future happiness I am, to you, a stranger. 


The, at the time anonymous letter captivated Miss Hale, and that captivation went from 0 - 60 when she learned that the note had been written by none other than John Wilkes Booth; the man that three years later would commit the most famous assassination in all of history. 

As I sat there pondering what I’d just read one of the librarians came over to me and said “you found the Hale note”. I remember telling her how I’d always been fascinated by the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and by John Wilkes Booth in particular. And then she hit me with a question that I’ve been wondering about to this very day. “Did you know the FBI still holds an active investigation into the fate of John Wilkes Booth?” And that question has taken us to Oklahoma. Since that day in Los Angeles in 2017 I’ve been piecing together a story that I’ve gone over and over and over in my head. A story that, as history has recorded it, contains love, betrayal, tyranny, rage, murder, secret burial plots, modern day trials, the birth of the FBI, mummy's, and a history altering conspiracy that the world isn’t ready to believe. And that’s before we got to it. Season 2 rolls on from Oklahoma, this is part one of Vanished: John Wilkes Booth.LINKS


Our Website

Vanished on Twitter 
Vanished on Instagram 
Vanished on Facebook 
Vanished Facebook Discussion Group 
Jennifer Taylor on Twitter 
Chris Williamson on Twitter 
Smith & Vinson Law Firm Official Website

Jennifer Taylor Attorney Profile @ Smith & Vinson's Official Website

Smith & Vinson on Twitter

Music by Dane Gerous Schmidt 

"Satisfied" performed by Amber Farndon
Album Art Illustration courtesy of Desdymona 
Vanished is a ChrisEvan Films Production
Vanished is part of the Straight Up Strange Podcast Network 
Vanished stars Jennifer Taylor and Chris Williamson with a special appearance by Montgomery Sutton as John Wilkes Booth 

SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING



"Into the Abyss: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" by Kate Gillett

"Stalking John Wilkes Booth" @ American Battlefield Trust


"Lucy Lambert Gets a Valentine From John Wilkes Booth" @ New England Historical Society  

THE UNION  

Abraham Lincoln @ Wikipedia 
Edwin Stanton @ Wikipedia 
Andrew Johnson @ Wikipedia 
William H. Seward @ Wikipedia 
Ulysses S. Grant @ Wikipedia 

THE CONFEDERACY


Jefferson Davis @ Wikipedia

Robert E. Lee @ Wikipedia 

THE BOOTH FAMILY


John Wilkes Booth @ Wikipedia 
Edwin Booth @ Wikipedia

Asia Booth Clarke @ Wikiped

This is the end. And frankly I’m relieved to be through it. To be honest, when we first decided we’d venture outside the Amelia Earhart case, I had doubts. I still do if I’m being completely honest. But starting with Jack the Ripper was a good experiment for me. It tested my emotional ability to get through a case like this and come out the other side. You’ve had a couple of weeks to digest the trial, the evidence and the testimony and now the time is almost at hand for you to render your decision. Who do you think was Jack the Ripper? And does it even matter? Are the legacies of the victims what we should really be discussing here? Jack the Ripper is an enigma. A faceless man. A man without an identity. Or maybe a man with several. I know what I believe. Now, as always it's up to you. But before we leave you to decide we have one more person that we feel you need to hear from. And what she has to say might change the way you look at Montague John Druitt and the man behind this unspeakable evil forever. Welcome back to Vanished and our final episode on Jack the Ripper. LINKS


Our Website

Vanished on Twitter 
Vanished on Instagram 
Vanished on Facebook 
Vanished Facebook Discussion Group 
Jennifer Taylor on Twitter 
Chris Williamson on Twitter 
Smith & Vinson Law Firm Official Website

Jennifer Taylor Attorney Profile @ Smith & Vinson's Official Website

Smith & Vinson on Twitter

Exit script read by Oz Oddball of the Oddball Aussie Podcast 
Music by Dane Gerous Schmidt 

"Satisfied" performed by Amber Farndon
Album Art Illustration 50399190 © Alancotton | Dreamstime.com

Vanished is a ChrisEvan Films Production
Vanished is part of the Straight Up Strange Podcast Network 
Christine Ward-Agius appears courtesy of Regnery History

Get the UK edition of "The Escape of Jack the Ripper: The Truth About the Cover-up and His Flight from Justice" Here

Preorder the US release featuring new information on the case by Regnery History Here 
John & Christine's Official Website

Hainsworth & Ward-Agius @ Facebook 

SHOW NOTES & FURTHER READING


Montague John Druitt @ Wikipedia 
George Robert Sims @ Wikipedia 
Henry Richard Farquharson @ Wikipedia

John Moylan @ Wikipedia 
Basil Thomson @ Wikipedia 
Melville Macnaghten @ Wikipedia 
Mcnaghten's Favoured Suspect @ jack-the-ripper.org 
Montague John Druitt @ Casebook

Montague John Druitt @ Jack the Ripper Tour 
The Macnaghten Memoranda @ Casebook 
The Macnaghten Memoranda Original Document @ Casebook Courtesy of Thomas Schachner