Abraham Lincoln’s Prophetic Dream

Today is President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Out of all the United States presidents, I’d have to say Lincoln is my all time favorite. He served two terms during the bloodiest conflict on American soil and managed to preserve the Union. If not for his dedication, our country wouldn’t be the major power it is today.

But what most fascinates me about Lincoln are his stories of personal tragedy, his bouts of major depression and his belief in paranormal occurrences, like dreams of his own future. Shortly before his assassination, he dreamed of his own death.

Details are recorded in “Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-1885″ (Ward Hill Lamon, 1911):

“About ten days ago, I retired very late. I had been up waiting for important dispatches from the front. I could not have been long in bed when I fell into a slumber, for I was weary. I soon began to dream. There seemed to be a death-like stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs. There the silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing, but the mourners were invisible. I went from room to room; no living person was in sight, but the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I passed along. It was light in all the rooms; every object was familiar to me; but where were all the people who were grieving as if their hearts would break?

“I was puzzled and alarmed. What could be the meaning of all this? Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and so shocking, I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered.

“There I met with a sickening surprise. Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of people, some gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. ‘Who is dead in the White House?’ I demanded of one of the soldiers ‘The President’ was his answer; ‘he was killed by an assassin!’ Then came a loud burst of grief from the crowd, which awoke me from my dream.”

The paranormal has always fascinated me and I’ve used devices like reincarnation and dreams in two of my published historical romance stories. It’s fun to think about, and Lincoln’s dream, being so detailed, gives me pause to think that the fiction I write could very well be based on fact.

To see what paranormal stories I have out, visit my website: www.susanmacatee.com

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