The image is haunting, depicting a gaunt-faced man with a familiar beard, staring ahead lifelessly. The right eye is bulging and appears disfigured from an unseen wound. Some experts believe it is a picture of Abraham Lincoln, captured just hours after he was shot on April 15, 1865. If it's the real deal, the photo would be of incalculable emotional and historic value.
After looking into it for two years, Whitney Braun, a California investigator whose effort to determine if the photo is real is traced in an upcoming documentary, said she's 99% convinced the photo is genuine.
As the story goes, the image was captured by Henry Ulke, a professional photographer who lived across the street from Washington's Ford's Theatre in the boarding house where Lincoln was brought after being shot. Lincoln died early the next morning, and Henry supposedly took the picture in secret before the president's body was taken to the White House. If the photo was proven genuine, there's no telling what it would be worth on the open market.
Source: AP
Now there's this . . . .
Lincoln Death Photo Owners Try To Block Discovery Channel Documentary . . .
The Discovery Channel is being sued over a documentary about Abraham Lincoln that has yet to be aired.
"Undiscovered: The Lost Lincoln" is set to air on Sunday, but two researchers are asking a Los Angeles court to stop those plans. Dr. Jerry Spolar and Dr. Tonny Jill Williamson claim the Discovery Channel violated a nondisclosure agreement and misappropriated their research to make the documentary.
The two also own a photograph on glass that may be the last known image of Abraham Lincoln. The image is said to have been taken after the president was shot and had died.
The suit claims that Discovery Channel contractor Whitny Braun, the show's host and executive producer of the documentary sought to profit from the photo and Dr. Spolar and Dr. Williamson's research and work.
The network says it did not know there were competing claims of ownership when it signed a deal with a production company co-owned by actor Mark Walhberg.
Source: Deadline
PHOTO: Getty Images