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00:00A cannon fires supernatural beings haunting blood-stained battlefields mysterious spies
00:09infiltrating the inner sanctum of power and treasure hunters seeking a legendary fortune
00:18in gold William Shatner from 1861 to 1865 the United States of America found itself in a deadly
00:27conflict a four-year struggle that forged heroes freed millions and would forever be known as the
00:37Civil War while history often focuses on the polarizing politics and the bloody battles of
00:44this tumultuous era there are so many fascinating and shocking stories to be found of the people in
00:52places that played a role in the war between the states from rumors of lost treasure haunted
01:02battlefields to mysterious premonitions and secret societies could these intriguing tales shed new
01:12light on America's darkest days well that is what we're trying to find out a sliver of light peeks
01:21through a blanket of fog as a title fades in the unexplained with William Shatner
01:26a US flag waves atop a sea fort Fort Sumter South Carolina this historic landmark was built in 1829
01:40to protect Charleston Harbor against naval attacks every year hundreds of thousands of people visit
01:48this old sea fort to walk in the footsteps of some truly remarkable American history because on April
01:5612th 1861 it was here that the first shots were fired during the American Civil War Edna Green Medford PhD the
02:07Civil War is perhaps the most important thing that ever happened in the history of this country it's often referred
02:16to as the brothers war not just because you had Americans from the south fighting Americans from the north but within families there was division
02:29you had sons growing up in the same household with the same parents and one takes the side of the north and the other takes the side of the south
02:37there were between two and three million men who were serving the expectation was that it would only be for
02:45a few months but the war actually lasted from April 1861 to April 1865 during the conflict the confederate states of
02:57America attempted to dominate the United States military on the field of battle by the time that the war ends in 1865 over 600,000 Americans have lost their
03:09lives as a result of combat during the American Civil War that is a total number that is greater than any other conflict we
03:17have ever fought so more Americans die fighting the American Civil War than die fighting the Second World War we should be comforted by the
03:27the idea that we're so far away from this conflict and that nothing to equal the terror of the American Civil War has happened to the
03:34American people since Martin Morgan the Civil War saw over 10,000 battles and military engagements fought in 19 states between the Union
03:45and today the most visited of these former battlegrounds is in rural Pennsylvania at the site of the conflict's blood
03:571863
04:04the battlefield here at Gettysburg looks very much like it did in 1863 trees dot a brown hill here we are on the face of little
04:26round top this was a scene of mass confusion the ridge in the distance of seminary ridge the attacking confederates came across these rocks this was bloody hand-to-hand fighting confederates coming up the cliff it was just an amazing scene of bullets cannonballs exploding shells
04:53the horror here was astounding in a photo bodies littered
05:00the ground my great-great-grandfather was in the extreme right flank of the confederate attack here
05:07and he had served through the war the fact that I have stood here where my ancestors fought and seen the battle in my mind's eye that was
05:18indescribable to me it's really a part of who I am spiritually headstones for neat
05:25rose Gettysburg is not only a place of spiritual reflection but for many it's also a place filled with restless spirits
05:33and many have wondered is Gettysburg haunted by the tens of thousands of soldiers that died here
05:40this is definitely not only hallowed ground but haunted ground a bright figure appears
05:48people actually see spectral soldiers they hear musket fire they hear phantom artillery fire to this day
06:00there are so many accounts by so many people of their experiences here that it simply cannot be discounted
06:07I was a park ranger at Gettysburg for six years in the 70s having studied this for 40 50 years I would have to say
06:19without a doubt Gettysburg is one of the most haunted places probably in the world
06:24what happened in Gettysburg stayed in Gettysburg the ghost of the soldiers who died they're here
06:32and most everybody feels it in one way or another mark nesbitt passes between boulders
06:38according to mark nesbitt the highest concentration of otherworldly reports come from an area on the
06:45battlefield that is called devil's den right now we're in devil's den one of the more recognizable
06:53places on the battlefield of Gettysburg the fighting here gradually grew into some of the most savage fighting
07:00of the battle and hence of the American Civil War from 4 p.m. on July 2nd to 4 p.m. on July 3rd
07:101863 at Gettysburg was the bloodiest 24 hours in American history these granite boulders formed tunnels
07:22and passageways through these great rocks in Devil's Den soldiers had to fight through these this area is very much like a maze
07:32there are great cracks in these boulders wounded men fell into them and then after the battle when the burials were going on there's no place to dig a grave
07:46so sadly a number of these men were just tossed into these crevices between the giant rocks and so it's no surprise that this is one of the most haunted spots in America
07:58boulders life piled against each other perhaps the most frightening story I ever heard about Gettysburg took place here in Devil's Den
08:06two women were up on this these rocks and they were hopping across one of these cracks and one woman stepped over and all of a sudden her leg got caught and she looked down and there was a hand that had come up and grabbed her leg and she screamed and she was
08:26and she screamed and pulled away and when they went over to look down in the crevice no one was there
08:34why is there such a high concentration of haunting reports at Devil's Den some believe it could trace back to the most chilling photograph ever taken at Gettysburg
08:46Jeff Bellinger
08:48the home of the rebel sharpshooter photograph was taken at Devil's Den
08:52it's one of the most famous photos from the whole of the Civil War
08:56you see this dead body and you see a rifle
08:58and it is a powerful powerful photo
09:02it's also staged
09:04the photographer Alexander Gardner moved the body he positioned the head so the face was a little bit more toward the camera
09:10he had set the rifle in a certain place because he was trying to tell a story
09:14that fallen sharpshooter haunts Gettysburg
09:18I can't recall any other time when soldiers were were actually posed
09:26here's a young man obviously young killed
09:30they're desecrating his memory
09:32so if there is a perturbed spirit
09:36at Devil's Den
09:38no doubt
09:40it's this young man
09:42who was dragged back and forth
09:44and posed
09:46just to make a photographer
09:48some money
09:50could the desecration of this
09:52unidentified soldier
09:54be connected to paranormal activity
09:56reported in Gettysburg
09:58is an intriguing thought
10:01but there are other Civil War mysteries that may be much easier to unravel
10:07like the legends of lost gold just waiting to be found
10:13Gold Coins Glimmer
10:19Loudoun County, Virginia
10:21Treasure Hunter Brian Cerniglia
10:24scours farms, fields, and former battlegrounds of the American Civil War
10:29searching for lost pieces of 19th century history
10:33here we have a six pound cannonball
10:36Brian and others have managed to find all kinds of historic Civil War artifacts
10:41from simple buttons and buckles
10:44to objects of remarkable value
10:47Brian Cerniglia
10:48I've been hunting for Civil War relics almost my entire life
10:52the passion for history
10:55and the search for the unknown
10:57constantly drives me
10:59to pick up a metal detector
11:00and get out and explore
11:02we stumbled across quite a bit of relics
11:05from the Civil War era
11:06of course the favorite of everybody
11:09is the coins
11:11so here's just a small example
11:13of all the different types of coins
11:15that can be found
11:16when you're out treasure hunting
11:18for Civil War relics
11:20and this coin is actually made out of silver
11:23large coins like this
11:24were how the soldiers got paid
11:26this could have been
11:27in the pocket of a Civil War soldier
11:29he scans a field
11:31the prospect of finding a stash of Civil War coins
11:34is every treasure hunters dream
11:36just how much silver and gold might still be out there
11:40waiting to be found
11:42Lance Geiger
11:43there are real mysteries of Civil War treasure
11:46because we know quite a lot of gold and silver was used during the war
11:50quite a lot of payrolls were going out during the Civil War
11:54and a lot of it went missing
11:56a great example of that
11:59at the end of the Civil War
12:01is when it's clear that the Union is coming to Richmond
12:04it was really the end for the south
12:06the Confederate government leaves Richmond
12:09and they call it evacuation day
12:12Confederate President Jefferson Davis
12:14left Richmond with a train
12:16that had the entirety of what was remaining of the Confederate
12:19treasury
12:20millions in gold and silver
12:22and six weeks later when he's captured
12:25he's got essentially a few dollars in his pocket
12:28and in between we don't know what happened to all that money
12:31and that's not the only case during the entire American Civil War
12:35where large dollar amounts went missing
12:38we don't know where that money went
12:40the tales of missing fortunes have motivated many history salutes
12:45to try and piece clues together to find lost loot
12:50one of the most sought after hidden fortunes
12:53is said to have belonged to a Confederate colonel
12:56named John Singleton Mosby
12:58also known as the Grey Ghost
13:02John Singleton Mosby is a really interesting character in the war
13:07he's with the 43rd Virginia Cavalry
13:09but his unit which comes to be called Mosby's Rangers
13:13their speciality was to just pop up
13:16you know 10 miles behind the lines
13:18where no one was expecting it
13:20they'd grab sentries or they would steal things
13:22and so he almost becomes like a boogeyman
13:25John Mosby he was known as the Grey Ghost
13:28because the ghost would appear
13:30and the ghost would vanish
13:32he would strike railroad lines
13:35that were carrying supplies to the army
13:37he would attack messengers and couriers
13:40so that communication would be broken up
13:42and then if they needed to hide
13:44Mosby's men would disappear in that part of Virginia
13:49to the Blue Ridge Mountains
13:50once you were in the mountain
13:52the enemy was not going to follow you there
13:55Mosby was also rumored to have cleverly made a stash of gold silver and jewels disappear
14:01from a federal building in Fairfax Virginia
14:05it is said that on March 9th 1863
14:11the Grey Ghost snuck behind enemy lines
14:14and robbed the Fairfax courthouse
14:17making off of the fortune that if found today
14:20would be worth 6 million dollars
14:24Dennis E. Frye historian
14:26Mosby's men go right to Fairfax courthouse
14:30Mosby sends parties out to capture horses
14:34and officers associated with the Union Army
14:37but then he discovers something
14:39$350,000 worth of loot
14:45they're stored in Fairfax County at the courthouse
14:49so the story goes
14:51he decides to bury it
14:53so in the darkness somewhere in Virginia
14:57between Fairfax courthouse
15:00and Centerville
15:02there Mosby buries the loot
15:05Chuck Morrow
15:06Mosby found $350,000 worth of gold silver and family heirlooms
15:12that had been taken by the Union soldiers from the southern homes
15:15and as they left the legend states
15:18that Mosby buried the gold and silver
15:21between two pine trees that he marked with an X with his knife
15:26and only he and his sergeant knew the location
15:29Mosby's treasure was never recovered
15:32but there is a story that on his deathbed
15:35he said something to the effect of
15:38there's a fortune in the hills of Virginia
15:41to suggest that maybe it had been left behind
15:44so people ever since have been looking for trees with X's
15:47carved in them trying to find Mosby's treasure
15:51could the great ghost's fable lost treasure really be hiding in a Virginia forest
15:58while it could be easy to dismiss the story as pure myth
16:02remarkably a very real civil war treasure has recently been discovered
16:08in the summer of 2023 on his property a farmer in Kentucky made a pretty interesting discovery
16:16this man looks down in the dirt of the recently plowed field and see some gold coins
16:21by the time he's done rooting around in the recently plowed field
16:25he's pulled out over 800 coins over 700 of which are gold
16:31these coins are all minted in the years before the Civil War and during the Civil War up until 1863
16:39and here we are in 2023 and a man has just found this mother load of coins that date to the era of the Civil War
16:50it's a significant find
16:52the massive cash of riches is estimated to be worth more than 2 million dollars
16:58and it's a priceless incentive to relic hunters to continue their search for treasures of the Civil War
17:06growing up and exploring Virginia I find myself retracing the paths the steps those soldiers would have taken
17:14searching for any trinkets or treasures they may have dropped along the way
17:19I was out detecting one day and stumbled upon this small pocket knife
17:24which doesn't look like much but given the context in the story of General Mosby marking the treasure with his knife
17:32I thought to myself maybe just maybe this could be the knife
17:36unfortunately the knife was all that was there
17:39but it gives me the thought that possibly maybe treasure could be buried nearby
17:45there is always the possibility that John Mosby's treasure is still out there
17:51and that I could be the one to find it
17:54will the grey ghost treasure ever be found?
18:00I guess it depends on whether anyone can locate those two pine trees
18:04if even they're still standing
18:07but sometimes the most intriguing secrets are hiding in plain sight
18:12for instance there's the story of a prominent southern socialite
18:18who controlled a spy ring inside the headquarters of the Confederate States of America
18:29Richmond, Virginia
18:31evidence of this southern city's strategic importance during the Civil War can still be found
18:36there is the Tredegar iron works where over half the cannons used by the southern states were made
18:42the Timuraza hospital which treated over 76,000 injured soldiers
18:47and the White House of the Confederacy
18:50the south's base of operations
18:53Nathan Hall
18:54in 1861 Richmond becomes the capital of the Confederacy
18:57and then basically all the government is going to flood to it and massively increase the population
19:02so Richmond becomes the center of Confederate legislation
19:05but also the center of moving food and weapons and war materials
19:10to all the theaters of war
19:12it will have Confederate government departments
19:14so War Department and Navy Department
19:16all the stuff that comes with trying to run a government
19:19is grafted on to Richmond
19:21three portraits appear
19:23in addition to President Jefferson Davis
19:26other key figures like Vice President Alexander Stevens
19:29and General Robert E. Lee
19:32the Supreme Commander of the Confederate Army
19:34all made Richmond their home
19:38as local residents of status and wealth began to socialize with the men
19:43who were tasked with saving the south
19:45an unlikely spy was secretly plotting to defeat them
19:49a woman turns
19:51her name was Elizabeth Van Loo
19:54Elizabeth Van Loo was from a wealthy family
19:58she was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia
20:01throughout the 1840s and 1850s
20:03she's vocally advocating for abolition of slavery
20:07which is a fairly dangerous thing to do in Richmond, Virginia
20:11of the 1840s and 1850s
20:13when war came
20:14Elizabeth Van Loo ended up leading an espionage network
20:18to collect military information
20:20information that would be of value
20:22and transmitted successfully to the United States Army
20:26so the Van Loo spy ring is the story of
20:29the most successful spy network of the Civil War
20:33the consequences for spying were severe
20:37you could be sentenced to death
20:39if you were found to be guilty of spying in Richmond
20:42but she helped to get information out
20:45about the Confederate government
20:47and the Confederate military
20:49at a time when the US really needed valuable actionable intelligence
20:53so it says a lot about the people who were willing to do this
20:57because they were willing to gamble with their lives
21:00with the ever-present threat of being caught and punished by death
21:04how did an established Southern Belle become the most successful spy master
21:09of the Civil War?
21:11well some believe it was because she employed secret agents
21:15that could easily hide in plain sight
21:18among Richmond's Confederate leadership
21:21Van Loo recruited African Americans
21:25as spies
21:27Van Loo understood Southern culture
21:31because she was a part of it
21:33she understood how they thought
21:36how they viewed black people
21:38and so she understood
21:40that if she sent black people out
21:43to spy
21:44that they could be very successful
21:47because no one would ever expect
21:49that they had the intelligence or the courage
21:52to carry any of her plans out
21:55and she realized
21:57that if she was going to be successful
21:59if she was going to aid the union
22:01she would have to use black people to help her
22:04in that endeavor
22:06as she brought them into this whole thing
22:09but we're still trying to find out
22:11the extent to which African Americans
22:13were involved in intelligence gathering
22:17during the Civil War
22:19we can't always put a name to these people
22:23because their operations were clandestine
22:27the identities of Elizabeth Ann Loo's spies
22:30remain largely a mystery
22:32but remarkably
22:33there is evidence to suggest
22:35that she was able to place
22:36an African American spy
22:37inside the most important
22:39Confederate residents
22:40in all of Richmond
22:41the home
22:42of the Confederate president himself
22:45Jefferson Davis
22:47In 1911
22:50Harper's Monthly Magazine
22:52published a story
22:53and that story detailed
22:55that Elizabeth Van Loo had been a spy
22:58in Richmond during the Civil War
23:00on behalf of the United States
23:02and it said
23:03that an African American woman
23:05had been placed in the home
23:06of Jefferson Davis as a spy
23:08it named that woman
23:09as Mary Elizabeth Bowser
23:12and that story from 1911
23:14has been kind of repeated
23:16and re-repeated
23:18and embellished
23:19for a hundred plus years
23:21Edna Green Medford
23:23The person that we certainly celebrate
23:25more than anyone else
23:27is Mary Elizabeth Bowser
23:30she was a young woman
23:32who grew up
23:33in the Van Loo household
23:36historians have grappled in recent years
23:39with her true identity
23:42because she used a variety of aliases during her life
23:45and it makes sense
23:47because if she's engaged in espionage
23:50she doesn't want anyone
23:52to know her true identity
23:54so it's been very difficult
23:57as a consequence
23:58for historians
23:59to really trace her life
24:01historians would love to know
24:04if she was actually
24:05in the Confederate White House
24:07and what she actually discovers
24:10while there
24:11and how that might have impacted the war
24:14but we just don't have that information
24:17a re-enactor rifles through papers
24:20did an African-American spy
24:22named Mary Elizabeth Bowser
24:24really infiltrate the Confederate White House?
24:27while the mystery lives on
24:30we do know that Elizabeth Van Loo's spy ring
24:33proved hugely successful
24:35in fact
24:36her clandestine operations
24:38even garnered praise
24:39from the commander of the Union Army
24:41General Ulysses S. Grant
24:44Ulysses Grant
24:45said about Elizabeth Van Loo
24:47you provided me with
24:48the most valuable information
24:49I received from Richmond
24:50during the war
24:51that's pretty high praise
24:53similarly
24:54George Sharp
24:55head of military intelligence
24:56said
24:57that Elizabeth Van Loo
24:58was all that was left of the power
25:00of the U.S. government
25:01in Richmond
25:03so the people that are most positioned
25:05to say
25:06whether or not this was valuable
25:08unequivocally
25:09said how valuable
25:10the Richmond spy network was
25:12the courage shown by Elizabeth Van Loo
25:16and the African-Americans
25:17who participated in the Richmond spy ring
25:20must have outweighed the fear
25:22they felt conducting such a dangerous mission
25:25but there's another mystery
25:27that's frightening for a very different reason
25:30it involves a grotesque monster
25:32set to roam one of the Civil War's bloodiest battlefields
25:35Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
25:45overlooking the winding Tennessee River
25:47this picturesque site spans 9,000 acres
25:50across the border of Tennessee and Georgia
25:53a tower stands on a hill
25:55in 1863
25:57this was the site of the second
25:59bloodiest battle of the Civil War after Gettysburg
26:03it's the Battle of Chickamauga
26:06the Battle of Chickamauga took place in Tennessee
26:09a few months after the Battle of Gettysburg
26:11and the carnage was awful
26:14Confederate General John Gordon
26:16would write in his book about the battle
26:18that he had heard
26:20that the word Chickamauga translates to river of blood
26:24he got the translation wrong
26:26but he got the spirit of it right
26:28it was the river of death
26:30reenactors fire muskets
26:33more than 100,000 soldiers met at the Battle of Chickamauga
26:37and 34,000 were either killed or injured
26:42in addition to this river of death
26:45according to local legend
26:47soldiers on the Chickamauga battlefield
26:50saw an even more disturbing sight
26:53a terrifying creature
26:55ticking through the corpses
26:57that has come to be known as
26:59Old Green Eyes
27:02Old Green Eyes is a very difficult story to pinpoint
27:06because there are so many variations of the legend
27:09one of the prevailing theories is that he is possibly a demon
27:14that has come to feed on that negativity
27:16and so when Chickamauga was such a large loss of life
27:19that was protracted over several days
27:21that may have attracted the interest of something that's malevolent
27:24Old Green Eyes has been described as a predatory cat
27:29he's been described as a small goblin-like creature
27:32he's also been described as a soldier
27:36who possibly lost his head to a cannonball during the battle
27:40a cannon fires and a soldier collapses
27:43and he is out searching for it
27:46the one thing that's consistent is they always describe them as having glowing green eyes
27:52Mark Nesbitt
27:55the legend is that soldiers would see this indistinct shape out in front of them
28:01as it got closer
28:03they would see these piercing green eyes staring at them
28:06but of course we're not 100% sure about any of this
28:11is Old Green Eyes a real thing?
28:15is this a hallucination?
28:17that I don't know
28:19that's the mystery
28:20but we do know that the savagery was real
28:24and it was an awful thing to witness
28:27the men, they didn't have a term called post-traumatic stress syndrome
28:32but no doubt they all went home with it
28:35is the legend of Old Green Eyes based on a real-fashioned blood monster?
28:40or is it a story meant to describe the madness of war?
28:45two eyes glow green
28:47clues might be found in indigenous folklore
28:50that is surprisingly similar to the stories of the horrific creature
28:56in Native American lore there's several places where there are mounds
29:00that they believe are protected by entities and spirits
29:03much like what Old Green Eyes would be described as
29:07in the middle of the Chickamauga battlefield stands Snodgrass Hill
29:11and it's about 900 foot tall at elevation
29:14it is possible that that mound had some spiritual significance
29:18to Native Americans who lived in that area
29:21because during the battle it was where Green Eyes is seen the most
29:26strange stories of creatures monsters and ghosts have been around for millennia
29:31and they cross all cultures
29:33so it's quite possible that Native Americans had some belief in something in this region
29:38and that after the battle they sort of got mixed and merged together
29:42we're trying to put a name on something we don't understand
29:45while it's hard to pinpoint the true origin of this legend
29:49and it's easy to dismiss the idea of a monster with glowing green eyes
29:53to this day locals claim they've seen the beast
30:00one of the earlier ones that I researched was about a young man who was on his way to pick up a date
30:07he lived in Tennessee and he was driving down into Georgia to pick her up
30:12and on the way through it was a foggy night
30:15and in the distance he noticed an oncoming car had green headlights
30:19and as he got closer he noticed that they weren't headlights at all
30:23but glowing green eyes and they appeared to be running towards him
30:27this of course startles him and he wrecks his car off to the side of the road
30:31it's a very strange occurrence, very odd
30:34an article appears
30:36every legend is real to some extent
30:38so if people are seeing things and then giving it that label
30:43like old green eyes, that was real to them
30:46a story can't endure and stick around
30:49if it's not getting reinforced by other people having an experience
30:53so in that regard, yeah, it's absolutely real
30:57did the terrible carnage on the Chickamauga battlefield
31:02attract the attention of a bloodthirsty monster
31:05or was the legend of old green eyes
31:08created to try and make sense
31:11the horrors of war
31:13whatever the case
31:15there's another
31:17chilling Civil War mystery
31:19one of deadly premonitions
31:21not from a battlefield
31:24but from the mind of Abraham Lincoln himself
31:32the White House
31:34December 1862
31:36in the oval-shaped parlor known as the Red Room
31:39where America's First Ladies
31:41traditionally held receptions for visiting dignitaries
31:45President Abraham Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd Lincoln
31:49welcomes guests for an unusual event
31:52the group is holding a seance
31:55to contact the Lincolns dead son
31:58in February 1862
32:01the Lincolns lost their favorite son, Willie Lincoln
32:04and that was a very dark time for the Lincoln family
32:08and Abraham and Mary Lincoln fell into an extraordinarily deep grief
32:13they had lost another son earlier in their lives
32:16but this one really hit hard
32:19Jonathan White
32:20during the Lincoln presidency
32:22Mary Todd Lincoln
32:23was holding seances
32:24in the White House
32:25she was so distraught
32:27so she would bring in mediums
32:29to try to communicate
32:31with his spirit
32:32and we know President Lincoln attended
32:34at least one of them
32:35because he paid a bit of a political price
32:37in the newspapers
32:38that said what's this president doing
32:40consulting with mediums and psychics
32:42and things like that
32:43Jeff Bellinger
32:45despite the flak
32:47President Lincoln received
32:49the notion of spiritualism
32:51the belief that the dead could communicate
32:54with the living via psychic mediums
32:56was actually on the rise
32:58during the Civil War
33:00and Lincoln himself
33:02was no exception
33:04during the Civil War
33:05this is a time period
33:07when people all over the world believe
33:09in this spiritualist idea
33:11of communicating with the dead
33:13and over the course of the Civil War
33:16there are intense casualties
33:18on the battlefield
33:20so people are having seances
33:22to speak to their long lost dead
33:25I think President Lincoln
33:26was probably more spiritually in tune
33:28than most
33:29especially considering
33:31the pressure he was under
33:34his son died
33:36while he's in the White House
33:37his nation's at war with itself
33:40tens of thousands of people
33:42dying on both sides
33:44you're desperately trying
33:45to hold this country together
33:47it's now your charge
33:48you're the president
33:49and of course
33:50we paid the ultimate price
33:51for the office
33:53Lincoln smiles in a portrait
33:55Washington DC
33:56April 14th 1865
33:59just five days
34:01after the South surrender
34:02ends the Civil War
34:04President Abraham Lincoln
34:05and his wife
34:06attend a play at Ford's Theatre
34:08and as the show is about to begin
34:10a gunshot rings up
34:13Lincoln slumps forward in his seat
34:15mortally wounded
34:16by an assassin named
34:18John Wilkes Booth
34:20David C. Keene
34:22John Wilkes Booth was a Confederate sympathizer
34:25and a very famous actor
34:27that night he went in secretly
34:30went outside the president's box
34:33opened the door
34:35he had a Derringer
34:37rushed in and shot the president
34:39in the head
34:40Lance Tiger
34:41when John Wilkes Booth
34:43assassinates Lincoln
34:44he jumps down
34:45he catches his leg
34:46in a bunting
34:47but he yells
34:48sick semper tyrannis
34:49which means
34:50thus always to tyrants
34:52so it's personal for him
34:54he hates Abraham Lincoln
34:56and there were people
34:58who thought of Lincoln as a tyrant
34:59while Lincoln's assassination is well known
35:04in the wake of this tragic event
35:06Lincoln's biographer
35:08and friend
35:09Ward Hill Laman
35:10claims that Lincoln had told him
35:12of a terrible dream he had
35:14just three days before his murder
35:17a photo depicts the men
35:19Ward Hill Laman was Lincoln's
35:21self-appointed bodyguard
35:23they were very close to one another
35:26in 1872 Laman published a biography of Lincoln
35:31and according to Laman
35:34Lincoln had a dream that he was in the White House
35:37and Lincoln heard all sorts of weeping and wailing
35:40and in his dream he made his way through the White House
35:44and went downstairs into the East Room
35:47and when he got there he saw a catafalque
35:50with a corpse on it being guarded by a soldier
35:54and Lincoln went up to the soldier and said
35:56who is dead in the White House
35:58and the soldier replied
36:00the president
36:01he's been shot by an assassin
36:03and according to Laman
36:06Lincoln told this story to Mary
36:08and to several other people
36:09and that Lincoln looked very disturbed by the dream he had had
36:13did President Abraham Lincoln have a premonition of his own death
36:20it's a question that has intrigued historians for over 150 years
36:26did Lincoln actually have a premonition
36:28or was this simply what the exhausted and stressed mind
36:33produced in moments of unconscious sleep
36:36by the time you get to April 1865
36:39Lincoln's exhaustion is total
36:41think of all of the deaths on the battlefield
36:44that must have just sort of bounced around in his consciousness
36:47before he drifted off to sleep each night
36:50and a troubled person
36:52their troubles will be reflected in their dreams
36:56I don't know if Lincoln was psychic or clairvoyant
36:59but the night Lincoln went to Ford's theater
37:02there was a story about how he always said good night
37:06to one of his guards
37:08it was always good night
37:09but that night he said goodbye
37:12and maybe he knew
37:13did he know it would be that night
37:15when we can't get answers
37:17mysteries are born
37:19Baltimore, Maryland, February 1861
37:29members of a mysterious secret society wait for Abraham Lincoln
37:32to pass through the city by train
37:34their goal is to murder the newly elected president
37:39before he ascends to the highest office in the land
37:42while this secret plot was ultimately discovered and prevented
37:47by legendary detective Alan Pickerton
37:49it revealed the existence of a shadowy organization
37:53known as the Knights of the Golden Circle
37:57Jonathan W. White
37:58the Knights of the Golden Circle was a secret society that was born in the mid 1850s
38:03by a man named George Bickley
38:05the Knights of the Golden Circle was a secret society with 25 or 50,000 members
38:12the Knights secrecy was composed of rituals
38:15but the rituals were kept oral
38:17so what they were saying was really never disclosed
38:21there were passwords needed to get into Knights meetings
38:25and because of the secrecy
38:27and it's very hard to decipher what the Knights actually did and didn't do
38:31the Knights of the Golden Circle wanted to create
38:34designated the Golden Circle
38:36and that is the southern state
38:38encircling the Caribbean
38:40where slavery would be
38:42deal with
38:48the Knights of the Golden Circle
38:50were seen as a secret treasure
38:54as a secret traitorous society
38:56that may have wanted to overthrow the Union from within
38:59when Lincoln was assassinated in 1865
39:03Americans at the time believed that
39:05the Knights of the Golden Circle
39:07may have been behind the assassination conspiracy
39:10while we know the Knights of the Golden Circle
39:13plotted to kill Abraham Lincoln in 1861
39:16many have wondered
39:17was the assassination of Lincoln in 1865
39:21also the work of the secret society
39:24David C. Keene
39:26there was an 1865 wood print that says
39:30theory, practice, effect
39:34and under the theory it shows George Bickley
39:37he was the head of the Knights of the Golden Circle
39:39under practice it shows Booth
39:42as having been the one that assassinated Lincoln
39:46and the effect was Lincoln's assassination
39:49so I believe that the wood panel
39:52alleges some connection between
39:54the Knights, Booth and the Lincoln assassination
39:57so that's one of the mysteries involved here
40:00was that really true?
40:01a hand rests on a book
40:03was a secret society the hidden hand behind
40:06one of the most infamous assassinations
40:08in American history?
40:10we may never know
40:12but like so many stories from the Civil War
40:16solving each mystery
40:18may be as complicated as the history
40:21of the United States itself
40:23the Civil War continues to capture our imagination
40:28because the conflict remains incredibly important
40:32to the overall broader narrative
40:34of the American experience
40:35and there are still going to be mysteries
40:38that need to be solved
40:39because in many respects
40:41we are still living in the shadow
40:43of the American Civil War
40:45there's so much still that we don't know
40:49that we're trying to unpack
40:51about the Civil War
40:53there will always be questions
40:55we will never know all of the answers
40:58but we have to get as close to the truth as we can
41:02the idea that a secret society with radical plans
41:07may be responsible for the tragic assassination
41:10of President Lincoln
41:12just goes to show us that even today
41:15160 years after the last shots were fired
41:18there are still many mysteries yet to be solved
41:22about the American Civil War
41:26whether it's spy rings or premonitions
41:29or even monstrous creatures
41:32historians, researchers and treasure hunters
41:35will continue to explore the fascinating stories
41:38of millions of Americans
41:40who experienced the bloodiest days
41:43to ever occur on U.S. soil
41:46these tales continue to be a source of curiosity
41:50fascination
41:52and they forever remain
41:55unexplained
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