The last surviving person to view the face of Lincoln. An exercise in creepy...

[Cooley Hurd]

Inspired by this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026505016

(note: I don't find Mr Lindley creepy, but his experience is uber-creepy)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleetwood_Lindley

Fleetwood Herndon Lindley (April 4, 1887 – February 1, 1963) was the last surviving person to have looked upon the face of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln before his final burial at his tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery on September 26, 1901; Lindley was fourteen years old at the time.

Lindley was born in Illinois, the son of Joseph Perry Lindley[3] and Julia Herndon.[4] Joseph Lindley was a member of the Lincoln Guard of Honor, assembled in February 1880 by John Carroll Power, custodian of Lincoln's tomb, in response to the attempted theft of Lincoln's remains from the tomb in November 1876.[5] In 1900–1901, the tomb underwent a massive reconstruction, and Lincoln's body was to be placed in a steel cage which would be filled with Portland cement. To satisfy their curiosity and lay to rest rumors that his body was no longer there, the surviving members of the Guard of Honor decided to open Lincoln's coffin for a final inspection.

On the morning of September 26, Lindley's teacher gave him a note from his father, telling him to get on his bicycle and ride as fast as he could to Oak Ridge Cemetery to witness a historic occasion. In an interview on January 29, 1963, three days before his death, Lindley recalled what he had seen: "Yes, his face was chalky white. His clothes were mildewed. And I was allowed to hold one of the leather straps as we lowered the casket for the concrete to be poured. I was not scared at the time but I slept with Lincoln for the next six months."[6] Though George Cashman, a later custodian of Lincoln's tomb, claimed to be the last person to have seen Lincoln's face that day, Cashman's wife Dorothy refuted this in a pamphlet, stating, "At the time of his death in 1963 Fleetwood Lindley was the last living person to have looked upon Mr. Lincoln's face."

Lindley became a florist in adulthood, and later married with two children. He died in Springfield on February 1, 1963, and is buried at the Lindley family plot in Oak Ridge Cemetery, not far from Lincoln's tomb.

[Arugula Latte]

1. Stuff like this is always fascinating.

There's a time-travel aspect to it, when someone young meets/sees a historic figure from a long-ago age, then lives a long life and dies in modern times.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. This story has fascinated me for decades...

...ever since reading about it in the book "Twenty Days" by Dorothy Meserve Kunhardt and Philip B. Kunhardt Jr.

http://www.amazon.com/Narrative-Pictures-Assassination-Abraham-Lincoln/dp/1555219756

[Lars39]

3. Saw that on PBS....mind-boggling.

Poor Abe.

[rsdsharp]

4. In early 1963, Life magazine published an article about this.

I was not quite nine years old at the time. I read the article, and it scared the hell out of me. I had nightmares for weeks. Recently I acquired a copy of that Life issue, and have re-read the article. It is still creepy, but not as scary more than 50 years later.

[appalachiablue]

5. Grim but interesting actually. And bizarre like the search and exhumation of JOHN PAUL JONES

body in Paris where he died in 1792. The American Revolutionary war hero was b. 1747 in Scotland, became a seaman and worked in the West Indies. When in Virginia in 1775 Jones joined the American Rebels and the Continental Navy. His travels took him to the Court of Catherine the Great of Russia and then Paris where he died of an illness. Around 1899 there was renewed interest in the French burial site location of the American Naval hero. After search and discovery in Paris the remains were transported back to the US in 1905 and to a final resting place of honor in Annapolis, MD.

*Graphic Images, Warning-

http://www.seacoastnh.com/Maritime-History/John-Paul-Jones/is-this-john-paul-jones-corpse/

[Rhiannon12866]

6. K&R! Fascinating story...

Seriously creepy, but fascinating...