On the day of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a popular actor and Confederate sympathizer, shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. John Wilkes Booth escaped after he shot Abraham Lincoln which followed one of the largest manhunts in US history. The manhunt comprised of over 10,000 federal troops, followed by detectives and state police finally tracking him down.
The former 16th president of the United States Abraham Lincoln had a prophetic dream predicting his own death. Three days before his assassination he spoke about his nightmare he had in the previous week to his close friend Ward Hill Lamon, and wife Mary Todd Lincoln. His vivid dream troubled his mind as he felt something bad was going to happen to him.
Abraham Lincoln Dream
“About ten days ago, I retired very late to bed. 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 exhausted. I soon as I started to drift off to sleep, there seemed to be a death-like stillness about me. I started to hear subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I questioned if I left my bed and wandered downstairs. An eerily silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing, but the mourners were invisible. I then walked from room to room; not a living person was in sight, though the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I moved across. I saw 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 baffled and anxious. What was the purpose of this I wondered? Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and so shocking, I kept on going until I ended up in the East Room, which I entered. There I met with a sickening surprise. In front of me was a catafalque, on which a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. I noticed there where stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a group of people, watching mournfully upon the corpse, unable to see the face as it 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 followed by a loud burst of sorrow from the crowd, which then I jumped out of my sleep. I was unable to sleep no more that night; and although it was only a dream, I have been strangely annoyed by it ever since.”
Three days later after he spoke about his dream Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by renowned actor John Booth. Booth made his way to the private box that seated Abraham and his wife Mary as they where watching the play. As he entered he shot Lincoln in the back of this head with a .44 caliber derringer.
Abraham Lincoln Precognitive Dream Analyzed
If the accounts are true that Abraham Lincoln told his wife and confidant Ward Lamon about his dream, then there is solid evidence that he predicted his death. If Abraham Lincoln took his dream seriously it might have stopped him from meeting his fate in the theater. In his dream uncovered many warnings that he was unable to piece together.
In his dream he recounts a “death-like stillness about me”, this symbol might have suggested the emotions expressed right after being shot. The moments before you know you are going to die; making sense of the eerie calmness. Right after he hears what he described as “pitiful sobbing” that accounted to the sadness of others around him as he was dead or dying.
Walking from room to room might have foreshadowed the rooms he was walking though in the theater. Alternatively, he might have been having an outer body experience; not being able to be seen but heard the cries of his mourners. The metaphoric language the dreams speak used this symbol describing he was now a ghost or spirit.
The next sequence of his dream he points out his confusion, anxiousness followed by a shocking realization in the East Room. The symbol “East” in dreams usually donates to the sunrise which is also associated with the Resurrection. It’s also possible that the east room was the room he was seated in before he was shot.
Next he spoke about being being met with a sickening surprise, In front of him was a catafalque. A catafalque is a raised bier, box, or similar platform, often movable, that is used to support the casket, coffin, or body of the deceased during a funeral service. This part of the dream shows his shock that he is dead; though it could he have predicted being in a limbo state, or shock that he was dying.
The next interested part of his dream he mentioned “I noticed there where stationed soldiers who were acting as guards”. The language in our dreams speaks to us in metaphors providing clues pointing to John Booth as the killer. Notice he said “acting as guards”, John was an actor pretending. The guards are put in place as a symbol of the gun; or disguised gunman.
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 he woke up.
It was also noted in National Geographic that Lincoln had another dream that might have picked up on his death. On the night before his assassination he allegedly dreamed on being a strange mysterious boat or ship. He mentioned that he was “sailing toward a dark and indefinite shore.”
Though Lincoln who brushed off the meaning to be a symbol more emblematic of the current state of war as opposed to his own death. It was noted by his friend Ward Lamon he referred to his death dream with some playful humor.
Fun Facts:
- A spiritualist named Charles Colchester spent some time with Booth who eventually planned and carried out Lincoln’s assassination. Charles attempted to tell Lincoln about his fate but was unsuccessful.
- During the night of his assassination, Lincoln told a bodyguard William H. Crook ‘goodbye’ instead of ‘goodnight’.
- Ghost sighting have been seen mainly in the white house.
- After Lincoln’s son died, both parents saw the boy’s ghost.
- In the white house Séances and “calls to the dead” took place in the Red Room.
- Abe didn’t believe in an afterlife.