mediamode presents

Chapters 5 & 6 of Volume 1 of Gustavus Meyer's 1909 book, "History of the Great American Fortunes." Read by Gordon Comstock of Ministry of Truth/Rejected Knowledge, this was first uploaded online in 2011. Find other Rejected Knowledge series and other complete series under the Pages section to the right. Listen below or download it here. 

Chapters 3 and 4 of Volume 1 of Gustavus Meyer's 1909 book, "History of the Great American Fortunes." Read by Gordon Comstock of Ministry of Truth/Rejected Knowledge, this was first uploaded online in 2011. Find other Rejected Knowledge series and other complete series under the Pages section to the right. Listen below or download it here. 

Chapter 2 of Volume 1 of Gustavus Meyer's 1909 book, "History of the Great American Fortunes." Read by Gordon Comstock of Rejected Knowledge. Find other Rejected Knowledge series and other complete series under the Pages section to the right. Listen below or download it here. 

Chapter 1 of Volume 1 of Gustavus Meyer's 1909 book, "History of the Great American Fortunes." Read by Gordon Comstock of Rejected Knowledge. Find other Rejected Knowledge series and other complete series under the Pages section to the right. Listen below or download it here. 

In the final episode of The Hit on Abe, Booth hopscotches through the Northeast, Quebec, the Caribbean and obtains a passport through the British Consulate in San Francisco, having “appropriated” the identity of British immigrant John B. Wilkes, then of Terre Haute, Indiana. Three women recount the time they spent with Booth after his “death.” Booth’s reputed wife Izola is aided by another “dead” man in her efforts to join Booth in San Francisco. Booth’s treachery knows no bounds as he cuts Izola adrift on the Pacific from the ship he commissioned to take them to India. She survives. Years later, Booth as Wilkes returns to the United States for a brief time with his last wife, the former Elizabeth Marshall Burnley of England. After Booth’s death, she writes a series of letters importuning U.S. Grant—whom she had met in 1877in India during his post-Presidential global tour—to release Booth’s frozen assets for a dispersal among her, her daughters, three other women and the children they bore him. Booth, as John B. Wilkes, “believing death to be imminent,” executes his will, Sept. 12, 1883, in Bombay, India, and is buried in Guwahati. The will is certified and probated in the U.S. and its instructions followed. The real John B. Wilkes, formerly of Sheffield, England, dies in Terre Haute in 1912. This episode was originally posted by Vyzygoth on his Alembic Files site in April 2015. Find other complete series under the Pages section to the right. Listen below or download it here.  MHT12 - Mystery History Theater; the Hit on Abe series

"You have spoiled my fun in Mexico" Six miles south from their Rappahannock crossing, Boyd and Herold stop at Garrett’s farm. Booth and Henson, now joined by Booth’s loyal valet, Henry Johnson, head west in a wagon for the safety they hope to find on the far side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A patrol stops the three, but not recognizing any of them as the perpetrators, lets them go. A patrol stops at Garrett’s farm and surrounds Herold and Boyd hiding in a tobacco barn. This episode was originally posted by Vyzygoth on his Alembic Files site in April 2015. Find other complete series under the Pages section to the right. Listen below or download it here. 

“Up to the Turn of a Doorknob” After an almost comical number of failures to kidnap Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth’s Flying Circus falls apart, but now, it’s not about kidnapping anymore. It’s about murder in the worst degree. A soldier thinks he hears Booth talking to a co-conspirator about Lincoln leaving Ford’s Theater during the play’s second intermission, but dismisses it. Lincoln’s body guard Ward Lamon is in Richmond on business for his President. John Parker, the “special policeman” guarding Lincoln, leaves his post to grab a beer with Lincoln’s coachman and footman. The third act begins and Booth downs a shot of courage in Taltuvull’s Star Saloon, then slips next door into the theater and clandestinely makes his way to Lincoln’s box. At about the same time, off Lafayette Park, an injured, bedridden Secretary of State William Seward is attacked by a person or persons unknown in a confused frenzy, the account of which--to this day--has never been satisfactorily explained. Can the key to the mystery be found in the Seward Family's closet of skeletons? This episode was originally posted by Vyzygoth on his Alembic Files site in March 2015. Find other Rejected Knowledge series and other complete series under the Pages section to the right. Listen below or download it here. 

Another Booth on the Loose - - who was James William Boyd? This episode was originally posted by Vyzygoth on his Alembic Files site in March 2015. Find other Rejected Knowledge series and other complete series under the Pages section to the right. Listen below or download it here.  

This episode was originally posted by Vyzygoth on his Alembic Files site in February 2015. Vyzygoth interviews Troy Cowan, author of “Izola," and they speak about the story of John Wilkes Booth’s "wife”. Find other Rejected Knowledge series and other complete series under the Pages section to the right. Listen below or download it here.

This episode was originally posted by Vyzygoth on his Alembic Files site in February 2015. Booth prepares for his final performance. Find other Rejected Knowledge series and other complete series under the Pages section to the right. Listen below or download it here.

This episode was originally posted by Vyzygoth on his Alembic Files site in February 2015. Lafayette Baker’s accusation that Secretary of War Stanton led the conspiracy to whack Lincoln. Those in deep with Stanton numbered politicians, army and naval officers, prominent bankers, newspaper reporters and assorted civilians. Baker rightfully fears his own assassination. A nineteenth-century hitman facilitates the faked death and release of a convicted conspirator jailed in Fort Jefferson on the Dry Tortugas. He is also present at three suspicious deaths—one of which is Baker’s. He loses the trail of the released conspirator, who assists Booth’s wife in getting to San Francisco with a cache of gold and silver for a rendezvous with a man named John Byron Wilkes and a watery passage to India. Find other Rejected Knowledge series and other complete series under the Pages section to the right. Listen below or download it here. 

This episode was originally posted by Vyzygoth on his Alembic Files site in January 2015. What’s being scrutinized in this audio is an article--"Did Stanton Plan Lincoln's Murder?"--that appeared in Civil War Times, the August 1961 issue, Vol. 3 No. 5, in which then-editor Robert H. Fowler relates the findings of Ray Neff, one of the co-authors of “Dark Union,” with regard to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton’s possible involvement in the murder of Abraham Lincoln. Neff relies heavily on National Detective Police head Lafayette C. Baker’s revelations written in cipher as to the personages behind the assassination. Baker thought himself a target of the henchmen (the clean-up crew) most likely serving at the behest of high-placed Northern power brokers. Unfortunately, Baker was correct, as his demise added to the curious body count of those with inside knowledge of the circumstances and principals in and around the killing of the President. Sound familiar? Find other Rejected Knowledge series and other complete series under the Pages section to the right. Listen below or download it here. 

This is Part Three of the series and Part Two of “Who was Abe?” Abe as a Rosicrucian. His health. His half-brother Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America. His instigation of the Civil War. This episode was originally posted by Vyzygoth on his Alembic Files site in January 2015, where he and Gordon Comstock discussed the true events behind our historical milestones. Listen below or download it here.   MHT03 - Mystery History Theater; the Hit on Abe series

Yes, we’re finally getting back to the Lincoln assassination.  Unfortunately I don’t have the time to enhance these forthcoming episodes, but here they are in their original audio nonetheless.  This is Part Two of the series and Part One of “Who was Abe?”  Abe as a Rosicrucian. His health. His half-brother Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America. His instigation of the Civil War. This episode was originally posted by Vyzygoth on his Alembic Files site in December 2014, where he and Gordon Comstock discussed the true events behind our historical milestones. Listen below or download it here.   ReCast - MHT02 - Mystery History Theater; the Hit on Abe series ReCast - MHT02 - Mystery History Theater; the Hit on Abe series

In the final episode of AFP, Cato's final Letter (No. 7) mentions the Senate's close ties to the Presidency; that conflicts of interest will rear their heads and render impotent any checks and balances applying to treaties and impeachments. Cato is also concerned that the new Congress will have control over the circumstances of their own elections. As a result of this, through manipulation there will be limits to its subserviency to the people. Cato provides historical examples of the dangers of fully enabling politicians and bureaucrats to positions of authority. He warns that caution should be the rule when entrusting any government with power. Cato is concerned that the new government will travel down a similar road in time, and asks his countrymen to consider the implications.   Read by Eric the Blacksmith. Find previous episodes and other series under the Pages section to the right. Listen below or download it here.