When you’ve dreamed up a genealogical conclusion, you need to cite that dream. Here are some suggestions for citing dreams, visions, and conjurings. These can be modified to include interactions with zombies, tarot card readings, and leaves in the bottom of that cup of tea you had in the archives gift shop.
We’ve decided to treat dreams and visions as personal knowledge. We’ve only included reference notes in this post.
Citing a dream:
Dream of the author, Sebastian G. Smith [Madeitup, Ilinois]. Smith, a great-great-great-grandson of Ignatius P. Smith, dreamed about the names of the parents of Ignatius P. Smith in the early morning hours of 14 July 2015.
Citing a vision:
Vision of the author, Areyou Kidding [Madeitup, Kansas]. Kidding, a descendant of James Thoma, had a vision of Thoma’s burial location on 13 July 2014.
Citing a conjuring of an ancestor or deceased relative is best done by treating it as an interview. Psychic conjurings should be transcribed as they occur. Videos are preferable.
Citing a psychic:
Thomas P. Johnson (1789-1856), afterlife conjuring by Ima Psychic, 14 July 2015; video and transcript privately held by Excellentia Researcher, [address for private use], Madeitup, Illinois, 2015.
If you can dream it, you can cite it.
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Now it’s back to actual research. We hope you enjoyed this little attempt at humor. If you want to cite actual materials, consider adding Evidence Explained to your genealogical bookshelf.
5 Responses
Thanks for the humor. It gave me a good chuckle. I actually think this is how some people have arrived at the information contained in their online family trees.
You had a smile from me.:}
Thank you.
Cracked me up! Thanks for the laugh!
Great tips, because they work! They work! I conjured my 3rd g-grandparents and learned the names of their parents and where in Ireland they came from! Now, about finding them in other records … Thanks for starting my day with a smile {;-)
Thanks. I have a few I need to conjure up, but I’ll have to work on my low-German first for one of them 😉