Today is the 57^th anniversary of the assassination of RFK.  This article, from History.com., details the information available at the time.

From: History.com:

Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California presidential primary. Immediately after he announced to his cheering supporters that the country was ready to end its fractious divisions, Kennedy was shot several times by 24-year-old Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan. He was pronounced dead a day later, on June 6, 1968.

The summer of 1968 was a tempestuous time in American history. Both the Vietnam War and the anti-war movement were peaking. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated in the spring, igniting riots across the country. In the face of this unrest, President Lyndon B. Johnson decided not to seek a second term in the upcoming presidential election. Robert Kennedy, John’s younger brother and former U.S. Attorney General, stepped into this breach and experienced a groundswell of support.

The Assassination of RFK

The assassination of Robert Kennedy was another tragic incident in a year marked with unrest.

Kennedy was perceived by many to be the only person in American politics capable of uniting the people. He was beloved by the minority community for his integrity and devotion to the civil rights cause. After winning California’s primary, Kennedy was in the position to receive the Democratic nomination and face off against Richard Nixon in the general election.

As star athletes Rafer Johnson and Roosevelt Grier accompanied Kennedy out a rear exit of the Ambassador Hotel, Sirhan Sirhan stepped forward with a rolled-up campaign poster, hiding his .22 revolver. He was only a foot away when he fired several shots at Kennedy. Grier and Johnson wrestled Sirhan to the ground, but not before five bystanders were wounded. Grier was distraught afterward and blamed himself for allowing Kennedy to be shot.

Sirhan, who was born in Palestine, confessed to the crime at his trial and received a death sentence on March 3, 1969. However, since the California State Supreme Court invalidated all death penalty sentences in 1972, Sirhan has spent the rest of his life in prison. According to the New York Times, he has since said that he believed Kennedy was “instrumental” in the oppression of Palestinians. Hubert Humphrey ended up running for the Democrats in 1968, but lost to Nixon.

SOURCE: HISTORY.COM

RFK JR. however, does not believe Sirhan is his father’s murderer.  This is a recent article in the NY Post:

Robert Kennedy Jr. has long maintained that Sirhan Sirhan, who has spent nearly 60 years in prison for killing his father, is innocent of the crime — and that a second gunman was involved in the assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy in 1968.

That belief has fueled division between him and the majority of his siblings as well as their mother, Ethel, when she was alive. And it’s sure to heat up again as Sirhan, 81, could be eligible for parole again next year.

“I believe Cesar killed my father,” Kennedy Jr. wrote in a 2021 San Francisco Chronicle op-ed of security guard Thane Eugene Cesar, who died in 2019 and was never charged. “Sirhan,” Kennedy Jr. wrote, “is not my father’s killer.”

It was revealed Wednesday that Kennedy Jr., the current US health and human services secretary, sent a letter to then-US Attorney General Eric Holder in 2012 requesting a new investigation into his father’s death and the two-gunmen theory. The letter to Holder, who served under President Barack Obama, came to light in documents on the assassination declassified by the Trump administration.

When Kennedy Jr., 71, recommended to the California Board of Parole Hearings that Sirhan be given parole in 2021 — the 16th time he faced the board — six of his siblings, led by their mother, slammed the move.

“Our family and our country suffered an unspeakable loss due to the inhumanity of one man,” said Ethel in a Sept. 7, 2021, post on her daughter Kerry Kennedy’s X account — adding: “He should not have the opportunity to terrorize again.”

Ethel passed away on Oct. 10, 2024, at age 96.

Her children Joe, Courtney, Kerry, Chris, Max and Rory have opposed Sirhan’s parole. Son Douglas, like Kennedy Jr., is in favor.

Daughter Kathleen Kennedy Townsend told the Washington Post in 2018 that Kennedy Jr. “makes a compelling case” about Sirhan not acting alone, but has not commented on the matter since.

Kennedy Jr.’s 2012 letter to Holder included a three-page “Summary of Evidence for the New Investigation” compiled by Paul Schrade. A former labor leader and confidant of RFK, Schrade was among five people wounded in the fusillade of bullets that resulted in Kennedy’s death at Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel following his Democratic presidential primary victory in California.

Schrade, who was shot in the head by Sirhan during the melee, spent years trying to prove his theory that there were two gunmen involved in the assassination.

“Paul and his team of nationally prominent attorneys including former US Attorney Rob Bonner strongly believe this new evidence is conclusive and requires a new investigation,” Kennedy Jr. wrote in his letter to Holder. “I agree and support his request for a new investigation.”

The request was based on “new forensic tests on a journalist’s audiotape recorded during this crime and found in the FBI’s files,” said Schrade in his own letter to Holder dated July 29, 2012.

An acoustics expert who examined the recording maintained that 13 shots were fired. Sirhan fired all eight shots from his .22-caliber Ivar Johnson revolver and did not reload, said Schrade in his letter to Holder.

Schrade, who died in 2022 at age 97, also pointed to the autopsy report that showed that RFK was shot from behind. Eyewitnesses said Sirhan had stood in front of the candidate.

“I have been a strong advocate for the release of Mr. Sirhan B. Sirhan since I learned of evidence that was not presented to the court during his trial,” said Kennedy Jr. in an August 27, 2021, letter to the Board of Parole Hearings. “After years of careful investigation, I arrived at the conviction that the story of my father’s murder was not as cut and dried as portrayed at trial.

“While Sirhan clearly fired shots at my father, overwhelming evidence suggests that these were not the shots that took his life.”

Cesar, hired as a security guard for the night, “was in the exact position to fire the shots as described in the autopsy. Three witnesses saw him draw his gun — which he later admitted — and one said she saw him fire it,” Kennedy Jr. wrote in 2021. “The Los Angeles police never bothered to examine the gun. Cesar, who was moonlighting that night from his high-security clearance job at the Lockheed plant, acknowledged a loathing for the Kennedys and their race-mixing sympathizers.”

Sirhan has consistently maintained that he does not recall the events that took place on the day of the assassination.

Other recently released files on the assassination released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard revealed numerous menacing handwritten notes in Sirhan’s bedroom in the Pasadena, Calif., home he shared with his mother and three siblings.

“My determination to remove RFK is becoming more the more of an unshakeable obsession,” read one of the scribbled notes included in the file.

When Sirhan was up for parole in 2021, the Kennedy family fight over his impending release led to one side “double-crossing” the other, inside sources told The Post at the time.

The family members against Sirhan’s release had promised that they would not make a statement to the parole board, sources told The Post.

“The night before the hearing I got a letter from the parole board via the LAPD,” Sirhan’s lawyer Angela Berry told The Post in 2021. “It read, ‘On behalf of the Kennedy family, we oppose the release of Sirhan.’  [Kennedy Jr.] had been staying out of it specifically on the assumption that his family was going to stay out of it … I got ahold of him right away letting him know what happened.”

In response, Kennedy Jr. stayed up late writing a letter in favor of Sirhan’s release that barely made it into the hearing, sources said.

“The parole hearing started at 8:30 a.m. and Robert’s letter streamed in at 10:30 a.m.,” Berry said. “It read in part, ‘I have to assure you that the letter you got is not on behalf of the whole Kennedy family.’ That was the very last thing the hearing officer read into the record.”

SOURCE: NYPOST.COM

Since today is Patrick Henry’s birthday, I’m bringing an article from the Have Fun With History website.

13 Facts About Patrick Henry

by The Historian

Patrick Henry (1736-1799) was an American attorney, planter, and politician who played a vital role in the American Revolution and the early years of the United States. Known for his powerful oratory skills, Henry’s passionate speeches and unwavering commitment to liberty made him one of the most influential figures of his time.

Serving as the first and sixth Governor of Virginia, he mobilized support for the Revolutionary cause and played a significant role in shaping the course of the war.

Henry’s famous “Give me liberty or give me death!” speech and his advocacy for individual rights and religious freedom left a lasting impact on American history.

Despite his reservations about the U.S. Constitution, he continued to advocate for the protection of individual liberties, contributing to the subsequent adoption of the Bill of Rights. Patrick Henry’s legacy as a statesman, Founding Father, and defender of individual freedoms continues to inspire and resonate today.

Patrick Henry Facts

1. Patrick Henry was an American attorney, planter, and politician

Patrick Henry was an American attorney, planter, and politician who is best known for his oratory skills and his role in the American Revolution.

2. He was born on May 29, 1736, in Hanover County, Virginia

Born in Hanover County, Virginia, on May 29, 1736, Henry was a charismatic and persuasive speaker whose speeches had a profound impact on the events leading up to the Revolutionary War. His ability to inspire and galvanize audiences with his words made him one of the most influential figures of his time.

3. Henry served as the first and sixth Governor of Virginia

Henry served as the first and sixth Governor of Virginia, holding the position from 1776 to 1779 and again from 1784 to 1786. As governor, he played a crucial role in mobilizing Virginia for the Revolutionary War.  He implemented measures to strengthen the state’s defenses, organized militias, and supported the training and equipping of soldiers.  During his tenure, Henry faced numerous challenges, including British invasions, supply shortages, and political rivalries. Despite these difficulties, he worked tirelessly to lead Virginia through the war and its aftermath.

4. He is famous for his speech at the Virginia Convention in 1775, where he passionately declared, “Give me liberty or give me death!”

One of Patrick Henry’s most iconic moments came during the Virginia Convention in 1775. With tensions escalating between the American colonies and Britain, delegates gathered to discuss Virginia’s response to the growing crisis. It was during this convention that Henry delivered his famous speech, passionately declaring, “Give me liberty or give me death!”

These powerful words expressed his unwavering commitment to the cause of American independence and became a rallying cry for those who sought freedom from British rule. Henry’s speech electrified the audience and solidified his reputation as a fiery patriot and staunch advocate for revolution.

5. Henry was a staunch supporter of American independence from Britain

Patrick Henry’s speech at the Virginia Convention in 1775 is considered one of the most influential speeches in American history. His words were a call to action, urging the colonists to resist British oppression and fight for their freedom. The speech emphasized the importance of individual liberty and the willingness to sacrifice everything for the cause. It helped galvanize support for the Revolutionary War and inspired countless individuals to join the fight for independence.

6. He was a leading figure in the movement for religious freedom in Virginia

Henry was not only a passionate advocate for American independence but also a staunch supporter of religious freedom. He believed in the separation of church and state and fought for the rights of individuals to practice their own religion without interference from the government. His efforts culminated in the passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786, which became a model for religious freedom protections and influenced the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

7. Henry was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and was a delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1774

As one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Patrick Henry played a significant role in shaping the early years of the nation. He was a delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1774, where he joined other colonial leaders in discussing grievances with the British government and laying the groundwork for a united colonial response. Henry’s strong convictions and forceful rhetoric made him a prominent figure in the Congress and a voice for colonial rights and self-governance.

8. He opposed the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and argued for the inclusion of a Bill of Rights to protect individual liberties

While Patrick Henry was a prominent figure in the American Revolution, he held reservations about the newly proposed U.S. Constitution. He was concerned about the potential concentration of power in the federal government and the lack of explicit protections for individual rights. Henry opposed the ratification of the Constitution and argued for the inclusion of a Bill of Rights, which would explicitly safeguard fundamental freedoms. His advocacy for the inclusion of a Bill of Rights helped shape the subsequent debate and led to the adoption of the first ten amendments to the Constitution.

9. Despite his opposition to the Constitution, Henry was elected to the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788

Patrick Henry’s opposition to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution stemmed from his concerns about the centralization of power and the potential for tyranny. He believed that the Constitution granted too much authority to the federal government at the expense of individual liberties and state sovereignty. Henry argued that without explicit protections for individual rights, the federal government could potentially infringe upon the freedoms of the people. His stance reflected a broader debate between the Federalists, who supported the Constitution, and the Anti-Federalists, who sought to limit federal power and protect individual rights.

10. Henry was not chosen as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787

Although Patrick Henry was not chosen as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, his absence did not diminish his impact on the shaping of the Constitution. From the sidelines, Henry voiced his concerns about the proposed Constitution and its potential implications. His absence at the convention was largely due to his position as an outspoken critic of the centralization of power, which made his selection as a delegate less likely. Nonetheless, his influence on the subsequent debates and discussions surrounding the Constitution cannot be understated.

11. He retired from politics in 1791 but continued to be involved in public affairs

After retiring from active politics in 1791, Patrick Henry remained engaged in public affairs and continued to advocate for the protection of individual rights and limitations on the power of the federal government. He believed that eternal vigilance was necessary to prevent the erosion of individual liberties and constantly spoke out against perceived encroachments on the rights of the people. Henry’s dedication to the principles of limited government and individual freedom remained steadfast even after his formal political career ended.

12. Henry died on June 6, 1799, at the age of 63, in Charlotte County, Virginia

Patrick Henry passed away on June 6, 1799, at the age of 63, in Charlotte County, Virginia. Throughout his life, he had made significant contributions to the American Revolution, the formation of the United States, and the protection of individual liberties. His death marked the end of an era and the loss of a powerful voice in American politics. However, Henry’s ideas and principles continued to resonate and shape the course of American history long after his passing.

13. He left a lasting legacy as an orator, statesman, and advocate for individual liberties

Patrick Henry left a lasting legacy as an orator, statesman, and advocate for individual liberties. His speeches, particularly his “Give me liberty or give me death!” speech, continue to be studied and celebrated for their powerful rhetoric and their ability to inspire people to action.

Henry’s unwavering commitment to freedom, his opposition to tyranny, and his emphasis on the protection of individual rights continue to influence political discourse and shape the understanding of American values. His contributions to the American Revolution, his role as a Founding Father, and his defense of individual liberties solidify his place in history as one of the most influential figures of his time.

Source: HAVEFUNWITHHSTORY.COM

Today’s abandoned mansion is in Pennsylvania, Elkins Park to be exact—Lynnewood Hall. I found this article about this mansion on the Untapped Cities website. (I am presenting the article in two parts. This is part 2)

6. The Ballroom Used to Be a Library

The ballroom of Lynnewood Hall is perhaps the grandest space in the home. Decorated in a Louis XIV style, it’s covered with walnut paneling that is adorned with ornate gold leaf details. And just look at that ceiling! The central mural that hangs above is believed to be from the 17th century and comes from an Italian villa. This room hosted extravagant balls in the time of both Peter’s and his son Joseph’s residency. However, before the raucous costume balls and performances by the Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra, this room was much quieter.

It was originally a library. The walls were covered in velvet and there were built-in bookshelves at the four corners of the room. It was converted into a ballroom around 1912. The blocked-off entryway you see in the photo above used to lead out into the conservatory. If you were to walk from there to the second conservatory on the opposite end of the home, you would cover 268 feet, one of the longest residential enfilades in the country.

7. The Lost Bowling Alley & Basement Billiards Room

There were roughly 40 live-in staff members at Lynnewood during the Widener’s time. They slept on the upper floors of the home above the galleries where there were more than 20 bedrooms. They worked down in the basement where you would find the kitchen, bakeries (one for pastries and one for bread), wine cellar, carpentry shop, upholstery shop, coal storage, and more workspaces. Among these spaces though there was once an area reserved for the family, a private bowling alley. When more staff came on and additional housing was needed, the bowling alley was converted into bedrooms, workspaces, and a billiards room for the staff. In the basement today visitors will notice a fireplace mantelpiece that seems quite ornate for servants’ quarters. This was once part of the bowling alley room.

8. The Final Remaining Piece of Original Free Standing Furniture

The only freestanding piece of furniture that is original to the home and still in the home is the organ bench pictured above. After Peter Widener died, the estate went to his only surviving son Joseph. Joseph lived there until his own death in 1943. At that time, the estate was liquidated in an auction covered by outlets like the New York Times and Life magazine. Everything that hadn’t already been donated to the National Gallery in D.C. went to the auction block. The auction drew hundreds of eager bidders and lasted five days. According to Life, the most expensive item purchased was a “tapestry-covered sofa and eight matching chairs that had once belonged to Louis XV.” It sold for $30,000.

It took a while for the hall to find a new owner after the Wideners. “It was a completely different time,” Thome notes, echoing the writings of Widener’s grandson, “People couldn’t keep up these types of homes anymore.” In 1952, a buyer finally came through. The estate was purchased by Faith Theological Seminary, a Christian school led by Carl McIntire. When the Seminary needed funds, it would sell off parts of the mansion, like wood paneling or mantelpieces. This trend would sadly continue with the next owner who came in 1996, Dr. Richard Yoon, leader of the First Korean Church of New York. Over the ensuing decades, Lynnewood Hall started to come apart piece by piece. Now, the Preservatin Society is working to restore the home to its former glory.

9. The Grand Hall is Based on the Entryway of a Vanderbilt Mansion

The Grand Hall at Lynnewood makes a statement. With soaring ceilings over 40 feet high, intricate carvings, and a wide central staircase, it was an entrance befitting the grandeur of the exterior. While the classical exterior design of the home was inspired by Prior Park in Bath, England, this room was inspired by the entryway at The Breakers, the Newport Estate of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Comparing photos of the two entryways, you can see the similarities. They are both ringed with arched entryways topped by marble accents. There is a central staircase emerging from one of these arched portals in both homes. The Corinthian pilasters are nearly identical and details on the coffered ceiling and moldings are strikingly similar.

What sets these two spaces apart is the floor. Lynnewood Hall has a checkered black and white floor while the floor at The Breakers is all white, but Lynnewood’s floor was also originally all white as well. When Joseph Widener made renovations to the home around 1915, he added the checkered pattern. It was a popular element in French chateaus. Joseph sprinkled many elements of French influence throughout the mansion.

10. You Can Visit Lynnewood Hall

There is a very long road ahead before Lynnewood Hall can be open to the public. However, there is a way you can get inside while simultaneously supporting the Foundation’s preservation efforts. You can do this by joining a Pre-Restoration Hard Hat Tour. Money from these tours will go toward covering the $1,250,000 cost of asbestos remediation. The tours will be scheduled for after remediation is complete in approximately 4 to 5 months.

The Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation was formed in 2019 and officially took ownership of the estate on June 30, 2023. In the years leading up to the purchase, board members worked closely with the previous owner to install security cameras on the property, make essential repairs like fixing broken windows and stopping leaks, and start clean-up efforts. The Foundation is currently waiting on the final report from a conditions assessment which will lay out the roadmap for the estate’s restoration journey. “It’s a daunting project,” VanScyoc admitted, “but from our perspective, we always had the faith that it could be.”

SOURCE: UNTAPPEDCITIES.COM

(Many more photos can be seen at this link: https://www.untappedcities.com/lynnewood-hall-abandoned/)

Today’s abandoned mansion is in Pennsylvania, Elkins Park to be exact—Lynnewood Hall. I found this article about this mansion on the Untapped Cities website. (I am presenting the article in two parts. This is part 1.)

From untappedcities.com:

Untapped New York made a visit to Lynnewood Hall to explore its many rooms and uncover a few of its secrets. We spoke extensively with VanScyoc and the Foundation’s Executive Director Edward Thome about the building’s history, its hidden gems, and the ambitious plans for its future. “There is such a rich history here, not just of the era of the Gilded Age and the family that lived here, but also of tradesmen, craftsmen, architecture…Think of all the stories that could be told,” VanScyoc mused. “It has an uncanny way of drawing you in and not letting you go,” said Thome, who has been mesmerized by the building since he was just 11 years old. While there are fascinating stories to be found around every corner of the massive building, we’ve picked out a few of our favorites to expand upon here. Read on to learn more about this stunning estate (and see photos from inside), from its tragic ties to the Titanic to its hidden room full of safes, mysterious tunnel system, and how you can visit!

1. The Art Galleries Had a Museum-Worthy Lighting System

The original owner of Lynnewood Hall, Peter A.B. Widener, died with a personal fortune that would have been worth tens of billions of dollars today and a museum-worthy art collection, but he came from humble beginnings. Born to a butcher in West Philadelphia, Widener also went into the meat business. His first big break in business was winning a contract to supply mutton to Union troops during the Civil War. He used his earnings to invest in street car lines and moved his way up the political ladder in Philadelphia until he became City Treasurer. He had holdings in foundational American companies such as U.S. Steel, American Tobacco Company, and Standard Oil. Though Widener was one of the wealthiest Americans to ever live, his money couldn’t insulate him from tragedy.

After his wife, Hannah Josephine Dunton, died in 1896, Widener realized he wanted to keep his family close. He commissioned architect Horace Trumbauer to build a home large enough to house the families of Widener’s two sons, George and Joseph, and his own expensive art collection. “Lynnewood is the home that art built,” VanScyoc said, noting how important the art collection was to the family. Widener began collecting art around 1885 and by the time Lynnewood was complete in 1899, he had amassed a collection of priceless masterpieces that included paintings by Raphael, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Gainsborough, and more. The collecting bug was passed on to his son, Joseph, who expanded on his father’s collection.

Widener arranged his works of art in five different galleries throughout his home, one on the first floor and four on the second floor. Each gallery was designed to display specific works based on the artist and style. To ensure the safety of his prized collection and to show the pieces in the best (literal) light, Widener had his home built with the latest technology. “Even though the building is a classical piece of architecture, it’s very technologically advanced,” VanScyoc said.

The main gallery, for instance, is surrounded by walls of concrete 2 feet thick as a fire precaution. The galleries on the second floor were lit by diffused skylights. Above the skylights, there is a mechanical system of long fins that can be adjusted to direct sunlight as the sun changes position in the sky throughout the day. The gallery skylight is also rigged to a ventilation system that allows a person to turn one wheel and simultaneously open a series of glass panels to let air flow.

The art galleries were named after Widener’s favorite artists, including Rembrandt, Raphael, Cellini, and van Dyck. Within each, paintings were displayed on red velvet walls, the remnants of which you can see hanging throughout the galleries today. In the Cellini room, niches in the walls housed precious jewelry items crafted by the Italian goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini. The Rembrandt Room held all Rembrandts. The van Dyck room, which is VanScyoc’s favorite, was also Widener’s favorite. It once held a portrait of Widener by John Singer Sargent. “Restoration would make these galleries the preeminent galleries in the country,” said Thome.

During the Depression, the Wideners opened their art galleries to the public so that anyone who wanted to could see the treasures inside. The philanthropically minded Joseph Widener bequeathed the family’s art collection, over 2,000 items, to the National Gallery in D.C. where you can see many of the items on display today. That creative and philanthropic spirit will be carried on in the estate’s future.

2. A Hidden Room Full of Safes Doesn’t Appear on Floorplans

While working to clean up the mansion and learn more about it, the Preservation Foundation has made many surprising discoveries. One such hidden gem they’ve found is a room full of individually locked safes. It is tucked away behind the Butler’s Pantry and squeezed between the first and second floors and is the only room in the mansion that doesn’t appear on floor plans. There are fourteen safes in total, each lined with a dark blue velvet.  These safes likely held the finest pieces of silver from the Widener’s dinner service. Unfortunately, no long-forgotten treasures were found inside when they were opened.

3. Underground Tunnels and Buried Gardens

The Lynnewood Hall Estate didn’t just include the 100,000-square-foot mansion and the nearly 35 acres of land it sits on today. It originally covered 300 acres. On that land were two structures that still exist – Lynnewood Lodge (the former stables) and the Gatehouse – as well as a lost farm, a Normandy-style village for the staff, a powerplant, greenhouses, a polo field, and more. Snaking below the property is a large system of underground tunnels. VanScyoc told Untapped New York that the tunnel system may be even larger than they know. One branch of the tunnel system definitely goes from the basement of the main house to the central fountain in the front yard. A few manhole covers have been found around the property, but there may be more to uncover.

Another fun fact about the land is that the original gardens were buried. Upon the death of Peter Widener, his son Joseph inherited the property. Joseph and his father had slightly different tastes when it came to architecture and landscape design. Peter’s original landscaping for Lynnewood Hall was of an Italianate style with sunken gardens lined by balustrades. After Peter died, the sunken gardens were filled in and topped with a formal French garden.

4. Secret Doors and the Abraham Lincoln Couch

The smoking room is full of secrets! Take a peek at the right-hand side of the photo above. In the bookcase to the right of the mirror, you can see a hidden door. The door leads to a marble-clad bathroom for the gentlemen who would have enjoyed lounging in this space. The right side of that bookcase actually hides more shelves behind it, complete with false book spines. Throughout Lynnewood Hall there are many hidden doors, usually disguised as mirrors. Some doors are also fake. Rather than opening, they are simply built against a wall and give the illusion of an entryway.

The couch in the smoking room is called the Abraham Lincoln couch because, so the story goes, Lincoln once sat in it. The couch, which is not original to the home, is allegedly from the New York Governor’s mansion and was graced by Lincoln’s rear end when he came to visit.

5. Tragic Ties to the Titanic

Many wealthy 19th-century families, the Wideners were touched by the tragedy of the Titanic. The family of Peter’s eldest son, George, booked tickets on the Titanic for their return trip from Paris. George and his wife Eleanor owned the Philadelphia Ritz-Carlton, so they were traveling to Europe to find a new chef for the hotel. They also needed to pick up a wedding trousseau for their daughter Josephine and some rare books for their son Harry. Harry, George’s valet Edwin Keeping, and Eleanor’s ladies maid Amalia Geigerhey went along for the trip. When the Titanic sank, George, Harry, and Edwin sadly lost their lives. Eleanor and Amalia made it safely to New York. This tragedy has long been one of the things that Lynnewood is most known for, but there is much more to the story of the Wideners and their opulent home.

SOURCE: UNTAPPEDCITIES.COM

(Note: This article is courtesy of Filly!)

The strange reasons medieval people slept in cupboards

22 January 2024

By Zaria Gorvett

These cozy, wardrobe-like pieces of furniture could reportedly sleep up to five people. Why did they fall out of fashion?

At a museum in Wick, in the far north of Scotland, is what looks like a particularly large pine wardrobe. With a pair of full-length double doors at the front, and suitcases stacked above it, it wouldn’t look out of place in a modern bedroom. It’s even assembled like regular flat-pack furniture – with each piece slotting together, so it can be easily moved and rebuilt. But this cupboard is not for storing shirts or jackets; there are no hangers or shelves inside. This is a box bed – and it’s designed to hold sleeping people.  

Otherwise known as a closet bed or close bed, the box bed was surprisingly popular across Europe from the medieval era to the early 20th Century. These heavy pieces of furniture involved exactly what you would expect – a box made of wood that contained a bed. Some were plain and humble, no more than basic wooden containers. Others were elaborately decorated, with carved, panelled or painted sides. Often the cupboards had doors that closed to impound the sleeper within the blackness of their cramped interiors, or a little curtained window. The fanciest had a variety of uses – with bonus drawers and a seat at their base. 

For centuries, drowsy farm-workers, fish-gutters, and even members of the nobility would crawl inside these cozy wooden dens each night, presumably being careful not to bash their elbows as they did so, and shut themselves in.

Box beds were versatile pieces of furniture. Often, they were used almost as miniature bedrooms – spillover places for people to sleep where there otherwise wouldn’t be enough space. In one case from 1890, a family living in the Scottish Highlands was too large for their single-room house – so some members slumbered in a box bed in the barn, among dogs and horses, according to the Wick Society. It was also common to use them for migrant workers in some areas, such as the overflow of herring-gutters who descended on the region of Wick during the fishing season – with up to five or six people required to share a bed.

In fact, sharing a box bed with family members or co-workers was not unusual. In the 1825 melodrama The Factory Lad, workers slept in stacks of box beds, with two or three people in each one. Some had holes for ventilation, but cramming too many people in may have carried a risk of suffocation – one tale from 13th-Century France involves a woman hiding three secret guests inside a bed, who then perish in its stuffy interior.  

Box beds were particularly common in Britain and on the continent in Europe. According to one account from 1840, most cottages in Brittany, France, included these pieces of furniture, which were typically made from oak and piled up to 4ft (1.2m) high with bedding. There might be several to a room, and each one would have a long wooden chest placed at their base. “This is always the seat of honor, and serves also as a step to assist mine hostess in mounting to her exalted couch,” wrote the author Thomas Adolphus Trollope.

But there was a further benefit to these sleeping-coffins: warmth. Without modern heating or insulation, in the winter bedrooms could be literally freezing – so cold that it was standard practice to go to bed wearing a hat, so that only your face was exposed. And it was significantly colder then.

Roger Ekirch, a university distinguished professor of history at Virginia Tech, Virginia, and the author of At Day’s Close: A History of Nighttime, explains that from the 14th to the 19th Century, Europe and portions of North America were experiencing the Little Ice Age. In London, the Thames froze over on eighteen occasions – an event that hasn’t happened since 1963. “Diaries spoke of sap from burning logs in fireplaces freezing as soon as it seeped from the bare ends… inkwells would freeze overnight,” he says.

This not only made bedmates an appealing prospect, but also the sheltered environment of a box bed, where warm air became trapped.

The box bed eventually became associated with poverty and country life, and fell out of fashion. By the mid-20th Century they were rare. However, now similar pieces of furniture are making a quiet comeback. Today it’s possible to buy bed tents, which turn sleeping areas into snug little caves with the added benefit of extra privacy, while wooden sleeping “nooks” that look suspiciously similar to box beds are being sold for aspirational “cottage style” homes.

SOURCE: BBC.COM

From History.com:

The Oklahoma City bombing occurred when a truck packed with explosives was detonated on April 19, 1995, outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, killing 168 people and leaving hundreds more injured. The blast was set off by anti-government militant Timothy McVeigh, who in 2001 was executed for his crimes. His co-conspirator Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison.

Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building

Shortly after 9:00 a.m. on April 19, 1995, a Ryder rental truck exploded with terrifying force in front of the nine-story Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. The powerful explosion blew off the building’s entire north wall. Emergency crews raced to Oklahoma from across the country, and when the rescue effort finally ended two weeks later, the death toll stood at 168 people. The list of the deceased included 19 young children who were in the building’s day care center at the time of the blast. More than 650 other people were injured in the bombing, which damaged or destroyed over 300 buildings in the immediate area.

What Led to the Oklahoma City Bombing?

Timothy McVeigh

A massive hunt for the bombing suspects ensued, and on April 21 an eyewitness description led authorities to charge Timothy McVeigh, a former U.S. Army soldier, in the case. As it turned out, McVeigh was already in jail, having been stopped a little more than an hour after the bombing for a traffic violation and then arrested for unlawfully carrying a handgun. Shortly before he was scheduled to be released from jail, he was identified as a prime suspect in the bombing and charged.

That same day, Terry Nichols, an associate of McVeigh’s, surrendered in Herington, Kansas. Both men were found to be members of a radical right-wing survivalist group based in Michigan. On August 8, Michael Fortier, who knew of McVeigh’s plan to bomb the federal building, agreed to testify against McVeigh and Nichols in exchange for a reduced sentence. Two days later, McVeigh and Nichols were indicted on charges of murder and unlawful use of explosives.

Domestic Terrorists Behind the Oklahoma City Bombing

While still in his teens, McVeigh, who was raised in western New York, acquired a penchant for guns and began honing survivalist skills he believed would be necessary in the event of a Cold War showdown with the Soviet Union. He graduated from high school in 1986 and in 1988 enlisted in the Army, where he proved to be a disciplined and meticulous soldier. While in the military, McVeigh befriended fellow soldier Nichols, who was more than a dozen years his senior and shared his survivalist interests.

In early 1991, McVeigh served in the Persian Gulf War. He was decorated with several medals for his military service; however, after failing to qualify for the Special Forces program, McVeigh accepted the Army’s offer of an early discharge and left in the fall of 1991. At the time, the American military was downsizing after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Another result of the end of the Cold War was that McVeigh shifted his ideology from a hatred of foreign communist governments to a suspicion of the U.S. federal government, especially as its new leader Bill Clinton, elected in 1992, had successfully campaigned for the presidency on a platform of gun control.

McVeigh, Nichols and their associates were deeply radicalized by such events as the August 1992 shoot-out at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, between federal agents and survivalist Randy Weaver at his rural cabin, and the Waco siege of April, 1993, in which 75 members of a Branch Davidian religious sect died near Waco, Texas. McVeigh planned an attack on the Murrah Building, which housed regional offices of such federal agencies as the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives, the agency that had launched the initial raid on the Branch Davidian compound. On April 19, 1995, the two-year anniversary of the disastrous end to the Waco siege, McVeigh parked a Ryder rental truck loaded with a diesel-fuel-fertilizer bomb outside the Murrah Building and fled. Minutes later, the massive bomb exploded.

McVeigh and Nichols Sentenced

On June 2, 1997, McVeigh was convicted on all 11 counts against him, and on August 14 the death penalty was formally imposed. The following year, Fortier, who had met McVeigh in the Army, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for failing to warn authorities about the Oklahoma City bombing plan. Fortier was released from prison in 2007 and entered the witness protection program. In December 1997, Nichols was found guilty on one count of conspiracy and eight counts of involuntary manslaughter, for killing federal law enforcement personnel, and was sentenced to life in prison. In 2004, he was tried on state charges in Oklahoma and convicted of 161 counts of first-degree murder, including fetal homicide. He received 161 consecutive life terms in prison.

Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum

In December 2000, McVeigh asked a federal judge to stop all appeals of his convictions and to set a date for his execution. The request was granted, and on June 11, 2001, McVeigh, at age 33, died by lethal injection at the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was the first federal prisoner to be put to death since 1963. In May 1995, the Murrah Building was demolished for safety reasons, and the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum later opened at the site.

SOURCE: HISTORY.COM

Pat’s Note: Filly brought a comment about the bombing and I wanted to include it here:

NebraskaFilly

April 10, 2025 at 9:44 am Edit

Yet another quagmire from history – why are they STILL hiding this???

EXCERPT: “After the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing, the FBI launched a massive manhunt for a mystery accomplice to Timothy McVeigh known as “John Doe 2”—only to later claim that he never existed, and that McVeigh acted largely alone.

Nearly 30 years later, an attorney in Utah named Jesse Trentadue is still working to unearth the truth through his ongoing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit for surveillance footage of the blast. According to FBI and Secret Service records, the footage shows McVeigh with another unidentified subject.

Since McVeigh’s other known accomplice, Terry Nichols, was confirmed to have been in Kansas on April 19, John Doe 2’s identity remains a subject of debate. Credible researchers have made the case that he may have been an undercover informant, or even an agent.

Trentadue’s nearly 17-year-old FOIA lawsuit hasn’t received much attention over the last decade, largely because it’s been litigated behind closed doors, with gag orders on all parties. That’s because a special master is continuing to investigate stunning allegations that the FBI intimidated an undercover informant involved in the case.

With the OKC bombing anniversary next week, Trentadue recently moved to unseal the deposition he took of the FBI informant—a retired Marine named John Matthews, who allegedly saw McVeigh months before the bombing. However, one of the top officials in the Justice Department, Principal Acting Assistant Attorney General Yaakov Roth, is opposing his motion, according to a letter Trentadue wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi—a copy of which this reporter obtained.

“Mr. Roth appeared in that case in his official capacity and heads the Department of Justice’s vehement opposition to unsealing Matthews’ deposition,” Trentadue told Bondi in a March 26 letter. “Why is the Department of Justice fighting so hard to prevent the unsealing of that deposition when it is contrary to everything the current administration has publicly stated about exposing and cleaning up the FBI lawlessness?”

The contents of Matthews’s deposition are not publicly known. Trentadue said he wasn’t allowed to comment on the matter due to the court-imposed gag order……”

https://thefederalist.com/2025/04/10/why-is-trumps-doj-hiding-an-fbi-informants-deposition-on-the-oklahoma-bombing/

The first Pony Express ride began in St. Joseph, MO on April 3, 1860 and ended in Sacramento, CA, on April 14, 1860. 

“…citizens paraded the streets with bands of music, fireworks were set off….the best feeling was manifested by everybody.”
– New York times, April 14, 1860 on the success of the first Pony Express delivery.

With only two months to make the Pony Express a reality, the team of William H. Russell, Alexander Majors and William B. Waddell had their hands full in January 1860. Over 100 stations, 400-500 horses and enough riders were needed – at an estimated cost of $70,000.

But on April 3, 1860, the first official delivery began at the eastern terminus of the Pony Express in St. Joseph, Missouri. Amid great fanfare and with many dignitaries present, a mail pouch containing 49 letters, five telegrams and miscellaneous papers was handed to a rider. At 7:15 p.m., a cannon was fired and the rider bolted off to a waiting ferry boat.

The Pony Express was set up to provide a fresh horse every 10-15 miles and a fresh rider every 75-100 miles. 75 horses were needed total to make a one-way trip. Average speed was 10 miles per hour.

On April 9 at 6:45 p.m., the first rider from the east reached Salt Lake City, Utah. Then, on April 12, the mail pouch reached Carson City, Nevada at 2:30 p.m.

The riders raced over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, through Placerville, California and on to Sacramento. Around midnight on April 14, 1860, the first mail pouch was delivered via the Pony Express to San Francisco.

Despite the success and approval of the public, the Pony Express was by no means a trouble-free operation after the first delivery. Costs and difficulties of maintaining the extensive network of stations, people and horses were numerous. Yet the Pony Express, with the exception of delays caused by the Pyramid Lake War, stayed in operation until the telegraph’s arrival in 1861.

SOURCE: NPS.GOV