Which major Cayce predictions had precise calendar dates and where are the original trance transcripts archived?
Executive summary
Edgar Cayce’s readings include multiple entries that carry precise calendar dates—some ordinary case readings (medical or personal) and a handful of his more publicized prophecies are tied to specific dates in the 1930s and earlier, for example readings from July 1, 1932 and a January 1936 reading predicting major U.S. coastal destruction [1] [2]. The original trance transcripts and attendant stenographer notebooks, typewritten copies, indexes, and related correspondence are preserved primarily in the Edgar Cayce Foundation / A.R.E. archives, with many compilations and published collections also available via public repositories such as the Internet Archive [3] [4] [5] [6].
1. Major dated predictions commonly cited in scholarship and popular accounts
The most frequently cited “dated” prophecy in secondary accounts is a January 1936 Cayce reading that reportedly predicted the destruction of Los Angeles and San Francisco followed by New York City; this is noted in standard biographical summaries of Cayce’s work [2]. Another clear example with a specific calendar datum in available collections is Reading 5748-6, explicitly dated July 1, 1932 in published transcriptions of Cayce’s material [1]. In addition to those, Cayce recorded dreams and visions with explicit dates—such as a March 1936 dream recalling a rebirth in the year 2100—showing that some public prophecies and personal visions in his corpus carried precise day/month/year markers [2].
2. What counts as a “precise” Cayce prediction in the records
Cayce’s corpus includes thousands of readings, and many entries are logged with the date the trance was given (medical readings, advice, and investigations all bear session dates), so “precision” can mean either the reading’s recording date or the calendar date Cayce assigns to a future event within the trance; the archives and guides make this distinction clear by preserving both the session metadata and the trance content [7] [3]. Public attention tends to focus on readings where Cayce named future years or specific days (for instance the 1936 coastal prediction and dated Atlantis/Egypt readings such as the 1932 entry), but the bulk of dated items are therapeutic case readings rather than sweeping geopolitical prophecies [1] [8].
3. Where the original trance transcripts and source materials are archived
The principal repository for Cayce’s original readings and attendant documentation is the Edgar Cayce Foundation / A.R.E. library and archives, which holds original stenographer notebooks, typewritten copies, appointment books, indexes and correspondence and explicitly states that these materials are preserved for research under its reference policy [3] [4]. The A.R.E. collection’s description and finding aids note that Gladys Davis Turner transcribed shorthand notes into typewritten copies and that the archive maintains both these transcriptions and source notebooks, which form the “foundation” of Cayce research [7] [3]. Public-facing compilations and searchable collections, including large digitized aggregations and published volumes of readings, are available through repositories such as the Internet Archive and curated A.R.E. publications [5] [6] [8].
4. How the records were produced and why archival provenance matters
Readings were produced while Cayce was in trance, guided by his wife and recorded by stenographer Gladys Davis Turner—her shorthand notebooks and two typewritten copies are the immediate primary records and are explicitly part of the archival holdings, which is important for assessing chain-of-custody and textual fidelity [7] [3]. The Edgar Cayce Foundation emphasizes custody and preservation (including microfilm and electronic copies), and also requires researchers to follow access and reproduction policies, meaning scholars can consult original transcripts but with institutional controls on publication [4] [3].
5. Limits, alternate interpretations, and next steps for researchers
The sources consulted confirm that specific dated readings exist and that primary materials are preserved at A.R.E., but they do not provide an exhaustive, annotated list of every “major” dated prophecy or a complete crosswalk between popular claims and specific reading numbers—researchers seeking to verify particular prophecies should consult A.R.E.’s reading indices or digitized collections and request access to the original stenographer notebooks where necessary [7] [3] [6]. Skeptical and historiographical perspectives about interpretation, retrospective fitting of dates, or selective citation are not fully represented in the provided materials, so comparative evaluation against independent scholarship and contemporary reports would be a prudent further step (no source in this set provides that critique).