Oct 302013
 

When grief has broken us, the link between what we want of life and what life delivers is strained; daily events take on the tenor of the unreal; dreams grow into rumors of the other realm, and the mind becomes a point of focus where invisible whispers enter the verity of daylight. Mary Todd Lincoln became grief-distracted by the death of her son, Willie, during the time the Lincolns lived at the White House. Rumor and witness conspired to declare her mentally ill or dangerously depressed at this time. Lincoln himself adopted an ever more fatalistic turn of mind about his eventual assassination, the destiny of both his presidency and the nation seemingly carved in marble gravestones. Both of the Lincolns saw and felt Willie’s presence in the White House, hearing his fleet footsteps run down empty corridors, or experiencing other eerie manifestations. Mary Todd became obsessed with wanting to contact Willie and held s

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