The Night Lincoln Died
A comedy, a conspiracy, and the longest night in American history. Walk the assassination hour by hour — from the Capitol where Lincoln took the oath, to the boarding house where the plot was hatched, Ford's Theatre, the tiny room where he died, and the memorial to a man America hated while he lived and sainted the moment he died.
What You'll Experience
Plan your walk
Know the route before you buy
- Starts at
- Introduction
- Ends at
- The Reveal
- Walking plan
- 2h · ~2.9 miles
- Schedule
- Start, pause, and resume anytime
Included in the app
- Professional narration
- GPS-triggered stops
- Downloadable tour audio
- Ask the Historian Q&A
- Optional end-of-tour reveal
- All 9 story stops
A taste of what you'll hear
9 stops, each with its own story. Here's a preview.
"April fourteenth, eighteen sixty-five. Good Friday. The war is over — Lee surrendered five days ago. The entire city of Washington is celebrating. And Abraham Lincoln decides to go see a comedy. The play is called Our American Cousin."
"Five-sixteen Tenth Street. The Petersen House. Directly across from Ford's Theatre. After the shot, soldiers carried Lincoln down the stairs and into the street. They didn't know where to take him."
"OK. Time to come clean. Most of this was true and a few things were mine — and I'm mixing them together, because the real stuff is so strange you won't be able to tell the difference. Booth timing his shot to the biggest laugh in the play? Real."
Tour itinerary
Every stop on this walk
Explore the route before you go. Each stop has its own story preview, location details, and place in the larger tour.
- 11IntroductionApril fourteenth, eighteen sixty-five. Good Friday. The war is over — Lee surrendered five days ago.38.8899, -77.0091 Read this stop
- 22The U.S. CapitolThe United States Capitol. Six weeks before Lincoln was shot, he stood right here — on the East Portico — and took the oath of office for...38.8899, -77.0091 Read this stop
- 33Mary Surratt's Boarding HouseSix-oh-four H Street Northwest. If you're looking at a Chinese restaurant right now — that's the place.38.8985, -77.0210 Read this stop
- 44Ford's TheatreFord's Theatre. It's still a working theatre — they stage plays here year-round. The presidential box has been restored to look exactly like...38.8966, -77.0256 Read this stop
- 55The Petersen HouseFive-sixteen Tenth Street. The Petersen House. Directly across from Ford's Theatre. After the shot, soldiers carried Lincoln down the stairs...38.8967, -77.0254 Read this stop
- 66Lafayette SquareLafayette Square. Seven acres, four statues of foreign Revolutionary War heroes, one Andrew Jackson on a horse. It's a nice park.38.8997, -77.0366 Read this stop
- 77The White HouseSixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue. The White House. Lincoln lived here for four years, led a war from the second floor, and — if you...38.8977, -77.0365 Read this stop
- 88The Lincoln MemorialThe Lincoln Memorial. You know this building. Everyone knows this building. What almost nobody knows is this: While Lincoln was alive,...38.8893, -77.0502 Read this stop
- 99The RevealOK. Time to come clean. Most of this was true and a few things were mine — and I'm mixing them together, because the real stuff is so...38.8893, -77.0502 Read this stop
Stories first
Every stop is built around people, conflict, ambition, and consequences—not a plaque read aloud.
Most of it is true. The extra mischief is just a wink at the end, but the story is what carries the walk.
Have questions? Just ask.
Curious about something you heard? Want to know more about a place? Ask us anything — we have a lot to say. It's more fun when it's a conversation.
Ready?
Download the app, head to the starting point, and press play. The stories start themselves.
Get the AppBefore you go
Quick answers
How much is this tour?
$9.99 as a one-time purchase in the iOS app. The Washington DC city pack is $14.99 and includes every currently available tour in the city.
Can I use it with spotty cell service?
Download the tour audio on Wi-Fi before leaving. Cached narration plays without streaming; map tiles and other online features may still need a connection.
Do I have to start at a specific time?
No. Start when it suits you, pause for a detour or meal, and resume later. Check the opening hours of any venue you personally plan to enter.
Are admission tickets included?
The purchase covers the Bad Historian audio experience. Transportation, food, and admission to third-party attractions are not included.
Other Washington DC Tours
National Mall
Dead Letters and Cursed Gems
Seven museums on the National Mall, each hiding something absurd. A flag stitched on a brewery floor by a widow and a thirteen-year-old. A cursed diamond mailed for two dollars and forty-four cents. A Leonardo da Vinci smuggled in a suitcase under an FBI codename. A college student who got a C and amended the Constitution. And the most important airplane in history, exiled to London over a grudge.
Georgetown
Georgetown Was Here First
The oldest neighborhood in Washington didn't ask permission. Walk from George Washington's bankrupt canal and the Exorcist steps to a university built by a man who passed as white, the Georgetown mansion where the United Nations was invented, and the bar where JFK proposed — through the part of the city that existed before the city did.
National Mall
Monuments to the Dead
How America learned to remember — by fighting about it every single time. Seven memorials around the Tidal Basin, from the World War Two gold stars to the sinking Jefferson: the lawsuits, the insults, the twenty-one-year-old who got a B-plus, and the long argument a country has with its own memory.
Penn Quarter
Spies, Lies & Dead Drops
How Washington became the most paranoid city on Earth — and earned it. Walk from Ford's Theatre to the Soviet Embassy through the ugliest building in America, a hotel that smuggled a president, the most bugged address on Earth, an apartment complex where five men got caught with consecutive serial numbers on their bills, a spy's mailbox in Georgetown, and a tunnel that cost hundreds of millions and produced nothing.
The Night Lincoln Died
$9.99 · one-time