Historical dream account · English · published source text
The Pale Rattlesnake with the Unusual Tail
Horace G. Hutchinson
Dreams and Their Meanings (1901) · 1901 edition, chapter VII, printed pp.284–284; PDF pages 296–296; original scan leaves 300–300
Dreamer identified by the source: George H. Kinsolving
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" The dream was this. I seemed to be in woods, back of the hotel at Capon Springs, W. Va., when I came across a rattlesnake which, when killed, had two black-looking rattles and a peculiar projection of bone from the tail, while the skin was unusually light in colour. The impression of the snake was very distinct and vivid before my mind's eye when I awoke in the morning, but I did not mention the dream to any one, though I was in the act of telling my wife while dressing, but refrained from so doing because I was in the habit of taking long walks in the mountains, and I did not wish to make her nervous by the suggestion of snakes.
Source & context
A sleep-dream recollection reproduced in the 1901 edition’s chapters compiled by an unnamed collaborator, mainly from earlier Society for Psychical Research material. The quoted waking follow-up and supernatural interpretation are historical claims by the source, not independently verified events. The dream includes a killed snake, without graphic description. The later waking encounter is outside this bounded excerpt.
George H. Kinsolving, reported in Horace G. Hutchinson, Dreams and Their Meanings (London, New York and Bombay: Longmans, Green and Co., 1901), 1901 edition, chapter VII, printed pp.284–284; PDF pages 296–296; original scan leaves 300–300. Primary witness: original 1901 edition at Internet Archive. The compiler, dreamer, and separately credited earlier recorder are distinguished. Editorial title and navigation themes added; no generated narrative or new translation.
The publication year is not the dream date. No exact dream date or present-day person location is inferred. Dates printed in the narrative remain source wording.
Public domain in the United States (1901 edition) ↗
The original English 1901 edition is public domain in the United States by expired publication term; Archive metadata reports NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT. No new Archive license or Public Domain Mark grant is asserted. The linked NoC-US statement describes the US-only rights basis; blanket worldwide clearance is not asserted. Hutchinson’s own writing and named or unidentified contributors are distinguished; no contributor is assigned the compiler’s death date. Named or initialled historical contributor as printed; contributor death date not established here. US publication-term basis is used, not Hutchinson’s death year..
Source locator and text provenance
1901 edition, chapter VII, printed pp.284–284; PDF pages 296–296; original scan leaves 300–300
The original text and redactions are preserved. The page title is an editorial navigation label.
Whitespace/linewrap normalization, witnessed end-of-line dehyphenation, and listed scan-verified OCR repairs only. No dream narrative, person, event, translation or stylistic rewrite added.
- Account text SHA-256
- 376f61e519a5dcc05db8d00a5961aaa38ada11ae1b46538c0599f68d8d9c509b
- Source file SHA-256
- 40a41bb112104c3680401c260e060fde498bfe84e41f4394ee28e47f7e827b5f
Content notes
- Animal harm
- Claimed premonition
Connections in the Loom
Titles, theme labels, illustrations and map connections are editorial navigation aids. They are separate from the account’s words and do not establish connections between real people.