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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.

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El sueño

Narrado con nuestras propias palabras a partir de las fuentes indicadas abajo, sin citas textuales.

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.

De dónde viene la historia

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.

Cómo se ha interpretado

Historia

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.

Investigación

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.

Preguntas para tus propios sueños

  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?

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Fuentes

Todas las interpretaciones de esta página se basan en estas obras. Aún no se han comprobado todas las referencias a páginas; las pendientes están marcadas.

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

    dominio público

    • Ubicación de la cita: ch. VII, "Dreams and Presentiments" (referencia aún sin comprobar)
    • Ubicación de la cita: ch. VII (referencia aún sin comprobar)

    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.

    citado, no reproducido

    • Ubicación de la cita: continuity between waking concerns and dream content (referencia aún sin comprobar)

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

    citado, no reproducido

    • Ubicación de la cita: entry for Ward Hill Lamon (referencia aún sin comprobar)

    Grades the reliability of words attributed to Lincoln by others.