Historical dream account · English · published source text
A pack hidden in a cairn
John Hill Burton
The Literature and Curiosities of Dreams (1869) · Original 1869 edition, printed pp. 456, 457
Dreamer identified by the source: Kenneth Fraser
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The author only remembers one instance in which a prophetic dream appears in connection with a criminal trial; and that occurred so lately as the year 1831. In that year, a young Highlander was tried and executed for the robbery and murder of a pedlar, in the wilds of Assynt, in Ross-shire. A certain Kenneth Fraser, a village tailor, pointed out the place where the plunder was hidden, and stoutly maintained that it had been revealed to him in a dream. The testimony is given thus :—‘ I was at home when I had the dream, in the month of February. It was said to me in my sleep, by a voice like a man’s, that the pack was lying in such a place. I got a sight of the place, just as if I had been awake. I never saw the place before. The voice said in Gaelic—“The pack of the merchant is lying in a cairn of stones, in a hole near their house.” ’ The voice did not name the Macleods, but he got a sight of the ground, fronting the south, with the sun shining on it, and a burn running beneath Macleod’s house.
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. 1831 is the trial year in the preceding sentence; February is given for the dream. No dream year/date inferred.
John Hill Burton, Narratives from Criminal Trials in Scotland, as quoted by Frank Seafield, The Literature and Curiosities of Dreams, second edition, revised (London: Lockwood & Co., 1869), printed pp. 456, 457. 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. 456, 457
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
- bc07e245a85cd1b887d12ab343acb9078758774b0509c1df5c476b07e6a8f0cf
- Source file SHA-256
- a73a0cec3f3d14cf9cf75b6335ee55d560d5b927017f27a081afdc3bc7ca3dba
Content notes
- Murder
- Execution
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.