That is pretty awesome...I wouldn't mind attending such a thing.

They're all crazy, just a question of degree.

Tad Todd.

PTSD?

nopokerface: They're all crazy, just a question of degree.

Maybe just a tad, in this case.

Maybe she turned into a vampire.

"Mary Todd Lincoln stood by her husband's side in 1865 as he died from a gunshot wound to the head. Ten years later she was found insane."

HA! I've got her beat: I've been insane since before I was 10, and nobody had to die for it neither.

Rufus Lee King: We should talk to Houdini about all this spiritualism stuff. Oh, wait...

[backstoryradio.org image 625x502]

Abe never believed in it. He attended to humor his wife. He famously bribed a spiritualist on a train to show him how it was done.

Seeing your husband get shot might stress you out.

Gyrfalcon: Mantour: Maybe she turned into a vampire.

So she shot him herself, is that your theory for the sequel?

Collateral Damage, Vampire Edition!

There's an awesome Lincoln biography on netflix right now. His wife seemed like psycho hose beast even before the shooting. Insulting other president's wives so much so that they didn't want to be seen with her in public, making up robberies to get Lincoln's attention, starting wars with the neighbors. Interesting take on her.

KrispyKritter: good luck finding a skirt in DC that isn't batshiat insane. same goes for the suits too.

That's no joke.
They all be crazy up in there.

what difference does it make now?

BTW, the article is wrong. She sat on a couch in another room as her husband was dying. She did not attend the funeral even though it was just down stairs. She did not go with the train carrying the body back to Illinois.


Not that the above is any proof, but if that woman was not batshiat crazy, then they need to empty lots of mental hospitals.

Rufus Lee King: We should talk to Houdini about all this spiritualism stuff. Oh, wait...

Seems legit

What good does holding a trial for someone thats been dead for over a century do for society?

That she was certainly neurotic doesn't demonstrate that she was insane to a legal standard. Her accuser wasn't dispassionate, neither.

Aristotle Onassis was 20 when Robert Lincoln died.

Didn't everyone run around talking to / worshiping dead people in those days?

Mary Lincoln was wacky, but I don't think she would be committed today. Not only did she lose her husband, but she also lost two of her four sons. However, she was pretty strange before that, and very difficult to live with. She was seen at least once in Springfield chasing her husband with a knife.

Based on the incidents I've read about (including her behavior with money, her treatment of Lincoln's private secretaries and White House staff, and her reaction to the Grants and to any attention that the president paid to any woman) and the letters I've read of hers, she would easily be diagnosed with a personality disorder, but she was never really certifiable. Robert Lincoln had her committed (only for a few months) so that he could stop her from messing up her finances even more than she already had. He really didn't have any other recourse.

One of the perplexing questions plaguing humanity. That, and the cure for cancer. But enough about the cancer.

Could have sworn we already discussed this topic to death back in 1875.
I still fondly remember the system I had back then, not the best screen resolution but the best money could buy:

KangTheMad: trappedspirit: One of the perplexing questions plaguing humanity. That, and the cure for cancer. But enough about the cancer.

There was a thread about the cure for cancer a while ago. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but my bubble was all about deciding the sanity level of some ancient murdered president's ex-wife. I mean, was she pro-abortion or con-abortion?

Here comes the seance...

Widow? So that art thing yesterday didn't go well I take it.

Oldiron_79:

What good does holding a trial for someone thats been dead for over a century do for society?

Does everything people do have to be good for society?

No, this is in fact a repeat from 1875. The trial, anyway.

I for one am glad money is being spent on this retrial instead of feeding and clothing the poor. Dead people have feelings too.

The One True TheDavid: Oldiron_79:

What good does holding a trial for someone thats been dead for over a century do for society?

Does everything people do have to be good for society?

Not everything, but our court system paid for with our tax dollars should

gadian: There's an awesome Lincoln biography on netflix right now. His wife seemed like psycho hose beast even before the shooting. Insulting other president's wives so much so that they didn't want to be seen with her in public, making up robberies to get Lincoln's attention, starting wars with the neighbors. Interesting take on her.

Lincoln even threatened to send her to an asylum on more than on occasion, and actually booted her out of the house back to her folks place so he could have some peace and quiet from her rants. Only the kid's begging Abe got him to take her back. Only explanation I can come up with is like many insane hosebeasts, she was also a freak in the sack. Sometimes the temptation to keep sticking your dick in the crazy overrides common sense.

She wasn't crazy, she just missed his Lincoln log.

/why, yes, a window seat sounds lovely.