A Trip To Ford's Theatre Left A Toddler Scared That John Wilkes Booth Is Hiding Under Her Bed
There are plenty of things to see in our nation's capital, but not all of them are suitable for kids. I would put a visit to Ford's Theatre on the "safe for kids" list.
Sure, it was the site of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln at the hands of actor John Wilkes Booth, but I would've assumed that most of the dark stuff would sail over a youngster's head. I mean, a lot sailed over my head the time I went there back when I was like 15, though that was largely because I was thinking about the burger I was going to order next door at The Hard Rock Cafe.
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But it didn't sail over the head of one 3-year-old, and now she's dealing with a fear of John Wilkes Booth.
According to People, Cassie Litton and her family, including her young daughter, Lainey, were in Washington, DC taking in the sights and that included the infamous theater.
As I said, most of what happened should sail over a toddler's head no problemo, but you never know. They might end up with a question, and that's why Cassie says she explained what happened in the theater in broad terms, and explained a pivotal political assassination about as well as you can to a child.
"There's a statue downstairs in the museum part of the theater. She said, ‘Is that him over there?’ I responded, ‘No, that's not him. This happened a long time ago,'" Cassie told People. "She was already on edge, so when we went for the presentation, and they were talking about Abraham Lincoln, and how it all went down that day, she just really held on to that.
"She was very fixated on Abraham Lincoln the whole rest of the trip."
I mean, thinking about learning about John Wilkes Booth at 3. You're still learning the finer points of how toilets work, and now you're having to process why an actor would shoot the president in the back of the head, then jump onto the stage and break his leg, all while shouting in Latin.
It is admittedly a lot to take in.
A painting depicting John Wilkes Booth fleeing after assassinating President Abraham Lincoln, but if you passed middle school history, you knew that. (Illustration by Ed Vebell/Getty Images)
Undoubtedly, this has led li'l Lainey to get fixated on the assassination. Later on in the trip, she recognized Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial as the guy who "got shotted," and eventually needed reassurance that John Wilkes Booth wasn't hiding under her bed at home.
Hey, I get it. Don't we all check to make sure John Hinckley Jr. isn't going to pop our from under our bed and start playing some terrible folk music?
Surely, she'll get over this fear, and it will be something other family looks back on and laugh at, but in the meantime, they got some serious social media heat. The original video that Litton posted to social media about her daughter's John Wilkes Booth-aphobia went viral and has racked up millions of views on social media.