A new documentary sees experts attempting to determine whether a newly discovered photograph that appears to show President Abraham Lincoln on his deathbed is real.
The Discovery Channel documentary, titled Undiscovered: The Lost Lincoln will air Sunday (October 4), and sees host and executive producer Whitny Braun searching for the truth about the lost photograph.
Born in Kentucky on February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 to his untimely death in 1865.
Check out the dramatic trailer for Undiscovered: The Lost Lincoln below:As many of us know, Lincoln was fatally wounded on April 14, 1865, after being shot in the back of the head by Confederate spy John Wilkes Booth, as the President and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, watched the play Our American Cousin from the presidential booth of Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.
Roughly nine hours after being shot, Lincoln passed away at 7:22 am on April 15.
As the trailer for the new documentary states, to this day, only 130 photographs of President Lincoln are known to exist. But Dr. Jerry Spolar and Dr. Tonny Jill Williamson believe they now own a photograph on glass that could be the photograph number 131.
If it is determined to be real, it would also be the last ever photograph taken of Abraham Lincoln.
The photograph in question was reportedly taken as Lincoln lay on his deathbed, and features a man with many of the president's famous physical characteristics, such as his gaunt face and famous beard.
In addition, per the New York Post, the right eye is slightly bulging, which is indicative of a head wound.
The original ambrotype image is reportedly locked in a safe deposit box in Illinois.
The trailer for Undiscovered: The Lost Lincoln shows professor and investigative researcher Whitny Braun meeting with several experts and historians to determine the legitimacy of the potentially historic find.
Per the Post, some experts believe that the photo is indeed a long-lost photo of Honest Abe, with Braun herself telling the Associated Press that she thinks the image is "99% real".
However, historian Harold Holzer - who traced the origins of the 130 known images of Lincoln in his 1984 book The Lincoln Image: Abraham Lincoln and the Popular Print - believes it to be a hoax.
In the photograph, the man is wearing a shirt, but Holzer states that Lincoln’s clothes were stripped off him after the shooting in order to check for other wounds.
Undiscovered: The Lost Lincoln airs on Discovery tonight at 9:00PM.
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