Lincoln Memorial is hiding a sexy secret in its graffiti

Here’s a titillating tale from the crypt.

Experts believe the Lincoln Memorial sits above a racy secret.

Forty-five feet below the iconic sculpture of the former president is the sketch of a woman suspected to be Theda Bara — a scandalous silent film star from the time of the Memorial’s construction.

The drawing found on the pillars of the basement of the Memorial in Washington D.C. depicts the profile of a woman with dark lipstick, dark eyebrows, dark eye makeup and a cigarette hanging from her lips.

Next to the sketch, the word “Vamp” — inspired by one of Bara’s characters — is written in exaggerated script.

“I think there’s a compelling (if circumstantial) case to be made” that the doodle is of Bara, Mike Litterst, a spokesman for the National Mall and Memorial Parks, told the Wall Street Journal in an email.

He first heard the theory several years ago from a former Park Service volunteer and stands by it.

Bara rose to fame as she began staring in silent films beginning around 1914 often playing the evil seductress. Despite the harsh ridicule, people flocked to the theaters to see her films.

“In 1915 (the same year they were finishing pouring the foundational pillars in the undercroft) she had her breakthrough role in a film called ‘A Fool There Was’ in which she played a character called ‘The Vampire,’” Litterst wrote.

Eventually shortened to “Vamp” Bara’s character “is the origin of the term we use today to refer to a seductive woman who exploits men,” he explained.

The timing, depiction and caption of the doodle all lead experts to believe that the doodle was intended to be of Bara.

“Again, all circumstantial, but I’d make the case that some lovesick laborer working on the Lincoln Memorial goes to the movies and sees ‘The Vamp,’ then in a quiet moment in the undercroft the next day draws a picture of her and labels it accordingly,” Litterst wrote.

The scandalous sketch isn’t the only one in the croft. Doodles of the cartoon characters Mutt and Jeff, and a figure believed to be President Woodrow Wilson — who was in office during the construction — have also been spotted among others.

Stephen Potter, a retired regional archaeologist for the service’s national capital region, told the WSJ he cataloged some of the graffiti in the 1980s, noting “some that were extremely well executed.”

The drawings are suspected to have been done with carpenters’ pencils because “everybody had them in the slot of their bib overalls,” he said.

The experts believe many of the inscriptions — including the one of the “Vamp” — were created by “Johnny Bosco,” who signed his name with the same flourish displayed in much of the graffiti.

It’s not clear what his connection to the site was.

The memorial’s new undercroft visitor center won’t include the area where the graffiti is, but copies of much of it will likely be displayed to viewers.

The project is set to be completed by July of 2026.

The new center will include a museum, store and exhibit section, views of the cathedral-like interior of the undercroft, and an immersive theater presentation, the Park Service said.