John Wilkes Booth was on the run for twelve days before being tracked down to a tobacco barn at Garrett’s Farm in Port Royal, Virginia, and shot in the neck. He died of his injuries on 26th April, 1865 - after several agonising hours bleeding out. 

Despite numerous witnesses to his death, it continued to be disputed by conspiracists for decades afterwards - one of whom took a mummified corpse he believed was the ‘real’ Booth on a tour of sideshows and carnivals.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how Booth’s fame preceded him long before he fired a shot at President Lincoln; consider why the site where Booth breathed his last is still relatively obscured by the authorities; and explore how Boston Corbett, the man who killed Booth, was a rather curious chap himself…

Further Reading:

• ‘John Wilkes Booth's Death And The Manhunt That Preceded It’ (All Thats Interesting, 2022): https://allthatsinteresting.com/john-wilkes-booth-death

• ‘John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln… but who killed John Wilkes Booth?’ (The Verge, 2013): https://www.theverge.com/2013/7/31/4395960/john-wilkes-booth-killed-lincoln-but-who-killed-john-wilkes-booth

• ‘John Wilkes Booth's Final Days’ (HISTORY, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC0vHZeBIHI

#US #1800s #Crime #Politics #Theatre

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Alexa Weissman.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2022.

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