Sprache auswählen

Abraham Lincoln (as reported by Ward Hill Lamon)Said to be days before 14 April 1865; published 1895

Lincoln's dream of a funeral in the White House

The most retold presidential dream in American history: a coffin in the East Room, days before the assassination. The source is shakier than the legend.

Diese Seite ist für die Sprache Deutsch noch nicht verfügbar. Deshalb liest du die englische Version.

EntwurfDiese Seite wurde noch nicht redaktionell geprüft.

Der Traum

Nach den unten genannten Quellen in eigenen Worten nacherzählt, nicht zitiert.

According to Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln's friend and bodyguard, Lincoln described a dream to a small group shortly before his death. In the dream he heard sobbing in the White House and wandered from room to room looking for its source. In the East Room he found a coffin on a platform, guarded by soldiers and surrounded by mourners.

He asked who was dead. "The President", a soldier answered: he had been killed by an assassin. The crowd's cry of grief woke him, and he said he slept no more that night.

Woher die Geschichte stammt

Lincoln was shot at Ford's Theatre on 14 April 1865 and died the next morning. His body lay in the East Room. Lamon's account appeared in 1895, in a book assembled by his daughter from his notes after his death, about thirty years after the events.

No letter, diary or newspaper from 1865 mentions the dream, including the writings of people Lamon places in the room. That silence is why historians treat it as a late recollection rather than a record.

Wie der Traum gedeutet wurde

Geschichte

Lincoln is well documented as someone who took dreams seriously and spoke about them, so the story fits what people knew of him. That is exactly what makes a late, attractive story easy to believe, and why it needs checking.

Forschung

Even if a dream like this happened, it needs no prophecy to explain it. Lincoln lived under constant death threats during a war that killed hundreds of thousands. The continuity hypothesis predicts that such waking fears show up in dreams; we remember the rare dream that seemed to come true and forget the many that did not.

Fragen zu deinen eigenen Träumen

  1. Have you ever had a dream that seemed, looking back, to predict something?
  2. How many similar dreams did not come true, and do you remember them as well?
  3. What fear might a dream like this be carrying, rather than foretelling?

Symbole in diesem Traum

Hattest du einen Traum, der dir im Gedächtnis geblieben ist?

Meinen Traum erzählen

Quellen

Jede Deutung auf dieser Seite stammt aus diesen Werken. Noch sind nicht alle Seitenangaben geprüft. Ausstehende Prüfungen sind gekennzeichnet.

  1. Ward Hill Lamon (1895). Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-1865. Chicago: A. C. McClurg.

    gemeinfrei

    • Fundstelle: ch. VII, "Dreams and Presentiments" (Fundstelle noch nicht geprüft)
    • Fundstelle: ch. VII (Fundstelle noch nicht geprüft)

    Published after Lamon's death from his notes, about thirty years after the events.

  2. G. William Domhoff (2003). The Scientific Study of Dreams: Neural Networks, Cognitive Development, and Content Analysis. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    als Quelle angeführt, nicht vervielfältigt

    • Fundstelle: continuity between waking concerns and dream content (Fundstelle noch nicht geprüft)

  3. Don E. Fehrenbacher, Virginia Fehrenbacher (1996). Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    als Quelle angeführt, nicht vervielfältigt

    • Fundstelle: entry for Ward Hill Lamon (Fundstelle noch nicht geprüft)

    Grades the reliability of words attributed to Lincoln by others.