The unsolved mystery of the lost governor of Maine

Enoch Lincoln 

 

 

 

 

At the eastern edge of Capitol Park in Augusta, Maine, near the Kennebec River and a short distance from the State House, sits a grave topped by an obelisk.

 

The Maine Legislature created the tomb in 1842, “for the interment of public officers dying at the seat of government.” Four state officials were buried there, including Enoch Lincoln, who served as Maine’s governor from 1827 until his death, in office, in 1829. An inscription on the obelisk indicates that Lincoln had lived in Portland and was a mere 40 years old when he died.

But there’s a hitch. The tomb is empty. And it has been for a long time.

Maine’s sixth governor, a Massachusetts-born abolitionist and poet who helped choose Augusta as the state capital and played a role in deciding where the State House would be built, has gone missing. No one in authority knows when. Or why. Or where he ended up.

In 1903, when the tomb was opened and repaired, Lincoln was still in residence. A legislative document from that period says his remains were “well preserved” in a metal casket. “The remains of the others have been properly cared for by being placed in new caskets, the original having become decayed with age and dampness.”

But a state inspection in the 1980s confirmed that the tomb was, by then, quite empty. So what happened in the intervening years? State officials have no idea. No records have been found that provide an explanation. It's a grotesque mystery of, well, ghoulishly gubernatorial proportions.

Unfortunately, neither Hercule Poirot nor Miss Marple is on hand to ferret out clues and ultimately reveal all. Still, the creator of those legendary detectives, mystery writer Agatha Christie, did come up with a couple of book titles that could prove useful if someone were to pen a book about Lincoln's disappearance. There’s Christie's Destination Unknown, for example. Or, better yet, And Then There Were None.

The tomb and obelisk in 2022.