“He had recurring dreams of Lincoln sitting in that booth”
John Wilkes Booth (1839-1865), the US actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, recounted to his brother Edwin how he had several dreams in which he shot the President.
And the dreams were identical to the way it eventually happened.
John and Edwin came from a distinguished theatrical family, and Edwin was one of America’s most acclaimed Shakespearean actors. But after the public disgrace of his brother’s actions, Edwin’s career bottomed out due to the connection.
Edwin often felt guilt-ridden because he believed his brother’s dreams were nothing more than a figment of his imagination. And had Edwin known his brother would follow the dreams step-by-step, he might have prevented the assassination. Edwin said that John might have taken a different course of action, and protested his anger in a non-violent way, had Edwin taken the dreams seriously.
“Apparently, the dreams were a premonition that my brother felt obligated to follow,” wrote Edwin. “I shall forever regret not taking decisive action that could have prevented Lincoln’s assassination.”
It has also been reported that Lincoln himself had recounted to his wife on a number of occasions that he had a premonition of being shot in the head and killed.
