18. Abraham Lincoln’s Wife May Have Had Schizophrenia
Mary Todd Lincoln grew up in an affluent Kentucky family that provided her with the best education that a girl could receive in the Antebellum South. She went on to become one of the most successful women in the country and supported her husband during his ambitious political rise.
Her life was also marked by immense personal tragedy, as she witnessed the assassination of her husband and outlived all but one of her children. Her temperament could be wild at times and included psychotic outbursts, sometimes in public. She even contacted mediums to attempt to contact the spirit of her dead son. Anecdotal evidence leads some researchers to believe that the former first lady may have had schizophrenia.