Mysterious History: Lincoln’s Ghost Train

 

Mysterious History: 

Lincoln’s Ghost Train

Every April The Train Ghosts Through Albany

Following Abraham Lincoln’s 1865 assassination, two coffins—one containing the president’s body and the other bearing the exhumed remains of his young son, Willie, who had died in the White House—were placed on a train pulled by a steam locomotive for transport back to the Lincolns’ home state of Illinois, where they would be buried. All along the route from Washington to Illinois, people lined the tracks to bid farewell to the president who had fought and won the Civil War.

The funeral train was made up of nine cars. The ninth car, which had been built to take the living president and his family on rail trips, was the one in which Lincoln and Willie were carried.

The train’s route passed through Albany, New York, and for a number of years afterward, around the anniversary of Lincoln’s final journey, Albany-area railroad men reported seeing a phantom version of the funeral train traveling on the rails. After a time, on the evening of each April 27, people began making their way to the railroad line in hopes of seeing the ghost train as it passed.

Some paranormal enthusiasts believe Lincoln’s ghost train still rolls through Albany—perhaps even making the entire journey from Washington to Illinois. An additional bit of folklore concerning the train is that as it goes by, it stops clocks and watches in the surrounding area.

Ghost trains in general are a paranormal phenomenon experienced in several other places, including in Europe and Canada. In some ways they are similar to tales of ghost ships on the high seas.

Almost certainly the most famous ghost train in America is the one that took President Abraham Lincoln home after he was assassinated in 1865. (The exhumed body of this son Willie, was also on the train).

Against his wife’s wishes it was decided that Lincoln’s body would be displayed on a funeral train that would stop at various towns throughout the northern part of the United States on its way to Springfield, Illinois.Although the body was embalmed, some funeral employees were enlisted to travel with the deceased president, as was the embalmer himself, in order to keep his body looking as presentable as possible. They used fresh flowers to mask the smell, which meant the train had to make frequent stops to collect fresh flowers.

The train traveled in a zigzag pattern so that it could stop in all the major cities in the area as well as several smaller communities, and all along the path of the train, men, women and children lined up along the tracks to pay their respects to a man who had become a hero to most of the people in the north.

The train left Washington DC on April 21, 1865, and on April 29, the train arrived in Columbus where Lincoln’s body was displayed in the statehouse rotunda for about twelve hours. Over fifty thousand people came to the statehouse to pay their respects. The train left around 8 pm, heading west. This was unusual, as the way west was one of the steepest grades in Ohio, and it would require two engines to make the trip. Normally trains would head south to Cincinnati, but there was a concern that Copperheads (anti-civil war protesters) would potentially make trouble for the train if it went through the Queen City.

Instead, the train took the western tracks and late that night passed into Urbana. Many people assume it stopped at the Miami Street depot, the only train station still in town, but it actually stopped at the North Main Street station, which no longer exists. The train was met by a large flower archway over the tracks and several hundred mourners who brought wreaths of flowers.

The train was only in town for about twenty minutes and to the contrary of some urban legends, it did not break down there. The train then left Urbana, heading west to Piqua where it stopped again for a short time just after midnight. The train eventually made it to Springfield, Illinois on schedule where the president was interred.Even before the first anniversary of Lincoln’s death reports of the Ghost Train began to trickle in. The original stories were reported in the Hudson River Valley.

Every year since, at the end of April during the anniversary of the first funeral trip, people along the train’s original route report seeing a strange sight, an eerie spectral train passing silently along the tracks, sometimes on existing tracks and sometimes on a route where tracks once were.

The ghost train, it was said, was crewed by skeletons and a similar skeleton honor guard stood watch over the casket. The sound of the train’s whistle, (quite different from the trains of today), could sometimes be heard, or a puff of smoke from the invisible passing train might be seen, and reports of clocks that would stop for anywhere from six minutes to twenty (the length of the actual stay).

Lincoln’s Phantom Train

Lincoln's Funeral Train

In the spring of the year, you might hear whisperings about a phantom train seen traveling through seven U.S. states.  Legend has it this is the Funeral Train of President Abraham Lincoln, still running its designated route from Washington to Springfield – and still on time.

Abraham Lincoln

Mary Todd Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, was surrounded by odd occurrences and paranormal experiences all of his life.  His wife, Mary Todd Lincoln dabbled in spiritualism, believed in omens, and held séances trying to establish contact with her dead son Willie.

Lincoln's Dream

Lincoln’s death also held mystery. About two weeks before he was killed, Lincoln had a dream that foretold his death.  In the dream, he heard sobbing and followed it to the East Room where he saw soldiers guarding a body.  When Lincoln asked, “Who is dead in the White House?”, a solider answered, “The President.  He was killed by an assassin.”

At Ford's Theatre

Three days after relating his dream to his wife, Mary, and a few close friends, Lincoln was assassinated. It was during the evening of April 14, 1865 at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C.  Actor John Wilkes Booth burst into the Presidential box and shot the president at point-blank range before escaping.  Lincoln lived only a few hours before dying at 7:22 A.M. on April 15^th.  Flags were immediately lowered to half-mast, bells across the city began to toll, and a shocked nation went into mourning.

Oak Hill Chapel

William (Willie) Lincoln

It had been planned that Lincoln’s young son Willie was eventually to be interred back home in Springfield, Illinois. When Lincoln died, both he and Willie would make the final journey home together.  Willie had died in 1862 at the age of 11 from what was apparently typhoid fever.  Willie’s body was removed from a borrowed vault at Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown so that he could be buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.

Edwin Stanton

Funeral Train Route

Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton was in charge of overseeing the arrangements for the funeral train.  An order to commandeer the use of the railroads from Washington to Springfield, Illinois was issued. The funeral train would travel 1,654 miles along the same route Lincoln had taken as president-elect in 1861. The only difference was the train would not go through Pittsburgh or Cincinnati.

Funeral Train

Schedule of Route

The train left Washington on April 21^st  and arrived in Springfield, Illinois on May 3^rd , having traveled through seven states, and past 440 communities. The actual funeral route went through Baltimore, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, New York City, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Chicago, before arriving at Springfield.

Guard of Honor

The Nine Car Train

The funeral train was called The Lincoln Special. The engine was the known as the Nashville. The train consisted of nine cars with the funeral car being the eighth in line. A Guard of Honor accompanied Lincoln’s body, and his son Robert also rode on the train.

Mourners Line Tracks

Thousands lined the tracks during the 13-day trip.  Regardless of the time of day, or night, entire towns and communities turned out to pay their respects and watch silently as the train bearing their president glided past.

Depot at Springfield, Illinois

Lincoln Home Draped in Mourning

The Lincoln Special reached its destination of Springfield on May 3^rd, 1865.  But, it
apparently still runs the same route each year during the last part of April. At least, a phantom funeral train does...

Hundreds have reported seeing the ghost train traveling through the countryside with the President’s casket aboard.  It has been rumored that clocks and watches stop running when the train passes by. The air on the tracks becomes cool and sharp, while just off to the side, the air remains warm but still. Clouds cover the moon, and a ghostly headlight pierces the night. Suddenly, with a rush of wind, the train passes by, noiselessly, as if running on a carpet.

There are reports that mournful music may be heard coming from the train, while others say that the train goes past without a sound.  Some see smoke belch from the stack, others hear an eerie whistle as the train approaches. There are reports of skeletons dressed in blue, standing at attention by Lincoln’s flag-draped casket.  Flags and streamers attached to the train whip in the wind, but no sound is heard as the train fades from view

Albany, New York

If the phantom train encounters a real train, the sounds are suddenly hushed as the ghost train passes through it and continues on its spectral journey.

Getting Ready in Urbana, Ohio

Communities throughout the seven states still hold watches for the phantom funeral train.  The best known are in Albany, New York on the nights of April 26 and 27, and in Urbana, Ohio, on the night of April 29^th.

To see if a community near you is on the list of places the train passed through, visit the Lincoln Highway National Museum & Archives @ http://www.lincoln-highway-museum.org/WHMC/WHMC-LFTR-01.html

Legend has it that the phantom train never reaches its destination but simply disappears some where along the tracks out on the Illinois prairie.

Lincoln's Funeral Car

The Lincoln funeral car changed hands several times after fulfilling its duty. Unfortunately, in March 1911, the car was destroyed when a fire swept through an area near Minneapolis, Minnesota where it was being stored.

Regardless, you might want to grab a blanket and take a friend with you tonight to a lonely set of tracks where, if you’re lucky, you might get to see Lincoln’s Funeral Train solemnly pass by…yet again.