Historical dream account · English · published source text
A son returns to say goodbye
John Abercrombie, citing Joseph Taylor
The Literature and Curiosities of Dreams (1869) · Original 1869 edition, printed pp. 452, 453
Dreamer identified by the source: An unnamed young man and his mother
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A young man who was at an academy a hundred miles from home, dreamed that he went to his father’s house in the night, tried the front door, but found it locked; got in by a back door, and finding nobody out of bed, went directly to the bed-room of his parents. He then said to his mother, whom he found awake, ‘ Mother, I am going a long journey, and am come to bid you good-bye.’ On this she answered under much agitation, ‘ Oh, dear son, thou art dead!’ He instantly awoke, and thought no more of his dream, until a few days after he received a letter from his father inquiring very anxiously after his health, in consequence of a frightful dream his mother had on the same night in which the dream now mentioned occurred to him. She dreamed that she heard some one attempt to open the front door, then go to the back door, and at last come into her bed-room. She then saw it was her son who came to the side of her bed, and said, ‘ Mother, I am going a long journey, and am come to bid you good-bye ;’ on which she exclaimed, ‘ Oh, dear son, thou art dead.’ But nothing unusual happened to either of the parties.
Source & context
Historical published account of a recalled sleep dream, not a verified prediction or contemporary community submission. One complete separately narrated case; source explanation and subsequent unrelated cases excluded. Paired/recurring episodes remain together. These are historically published claimed recollections. Source claims of fulfilment/causation are not independently established facts, predictions or medical evidence. One source-linked paired episode: son and mother’s dreams retained together, not counted twice.
John Abercrombie, citing Joseph Taylor, Inquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers, and the Investigation of Truth, as quoted by Frank Seafield, The Literature and Curiosities of Dreams, second edition, revised (London: Lockwood & Co., 1869), printed pp. 452, 453. Source: Wellcome Collection. Dreamer and anthology compiler are credited separately. Descriptive title and navigation themes added by Synastry.
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 Mark 1.0 (source status) ↗
Wellcome’s catalogue and IIIF manifest identify the original 1869 revised second edition as public domain. Public Domain Mark identifies status, not a new license grant. The English text is retained as printed, including historical translations; no modern translation is included. Earlier works and authors are credited as printed in this anthology, not claimed independently reverified.
Source locator and text provenance
Original 1869 edition, printed pp. 452, 453
The original text and redactions are preserved. The page title is an editorial navigation label.
Editorial descriptive title. Printed header/page number excluded; original OCR line wraps joined, including word-wrap hyphens; exact raw page spans retained. OCR repairs replayable from normalizedOCR; source words/spelling retained except documented scan-confirmed repairs. No new translation, generated narrative, fabricated date, contemporary dreamer identity, or AI visual. Primary witness is this1869 anthology; quoted earlier work/author credited as printed, not claimed independently reverified.
- Account text SHA-256
- 0d14c1a2281db7d546baacf66f8dc55e3502834b4e425779c3c10c67a8584df9
- Source file SHA-256
- a73a0cec3f3d14cf9cf75b6335ee55d560d5b927017f27a081afdc3bc7ca3dba
Content notes
- Death anxiety
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.