4. Lincoln Assassination Organised By The Pope
The Theory: Emmett McLoughlin proposed in his 1963 book An Inquiry into the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln that the Roman Catholic Church were the real orchestrators behind the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The bottom line to McLoughlin's hypothesis is that the Church was a silent partner in the murder of good old honest Abe and that Pope Pius IX was at the very least a co-conspirator, if not the actual instigator. The reason that McLoughlin gives for the Church's desire to assassinate Lincoln is that he successfully defended Charles Chiniquy, a rebellious priest back in 1856, Urbana Illinois. According to Chiniquy this was seen as an affront by the Catholic Church and on several occasions he visited the White House in an attempt to warn Lincoln of this ill feeling towards him. Chiniquy went on to suggest in 1906 that John Wilkes Booth was trained by the Jesuits and swore that the assassination of Abraham Lincoln was ordered by Rome and was not related to the American Civil War.
Why Its Bonkers: This actually sounds very plausibleoh wait its total bullshit. How anyone can believe that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated because the Pope got the hump over some small time, back village priest completely disregarding that little thing called the American Civil War that had just happened is beyond me. Surely if the Papacy had wanted Lincoln killed then they could have done it pretty easily back when he was just a Lawyer (or vampire slayer, depending on the history you believe). Instead they waited until he was elected President, then waited until after the war and THEN had him killed. If anything Lincoln being a vampire slayer is more likely than this. Although, it does sound like a great idea for a new Dan Brown novel...Dan if you're reading, you're welcome. To read more on McLaughlin's conspiracy, click
here.