Warnings Given in Dreams.
In my case each of my premonitions related to an important crisis in my
life, but often premonitions are of a very different nature. One which
was told me when I was in Glasgow came in a dream, but it is so peculiar
that it is worthy of mention in this connection. The Rev. William Ross,
minister of the Church of Cowcaddens, in Glasgow, is a Highlander. On
the Sunday evening after I had addressed his congregation, the
conversation turned on premonitions and second sight, and he told me the
following extraordinary dream:--When he was a lad, living in the
Highlands, at a time when he had never seen a game of football, or knew
anything about it, he awoke in the morning with a sharp pain in his
ankle. This pain, which was very acute, and which continued with him
throughout the whole day, was caused, he said, by an experience which he
had gone through in a dream. He found himself in a strange place and
playing at a game which he did not understand, and which resembled
nothing that he had seen played among his native hills. He was running
rapidly, carrying a big black thing in his arms, when suddenly another
youth ran at him and kicked him violently on the ankle, causing such
intense pain that he woke. The pain, instead of passing away, as is
usual when we happen anything in dreamland, was very acute, and he
continued to feel it throughout the day.
Time passed, and six months after his dream he found himself on the
playing fields at Edinburgh, engaged in his first game of football. He
was a long-legged country youth and a swift runner, and he soon found
that he could rush a goal better by taking the ball and carrying it than
by kicking it. After having made one or two goals in this way, he was
endeavouring to make a third, when, exactly as he had seen in his dream,
a player on the opposite side swooped upon him and kicked him heavily
upon the ankle. The blow was so severe that he was confined to the house
for a fortnight. The whole scene was exactly that which he had witnessed
in his dream. The playing fields, the game, the black round ball in his
arms, and finally the kick on the ankle. It would be difficult to
account for this on any ground of mere coincidence, the chances against
it are so enormous. It is a very unusual thing for any one to suffer
physical pain in the waking state from incidents which take place in
dreams.
_A Premonition of a Bad Debt._
When in Edinburgh I had the good fortune to meet a gentleman, who had
held an important position of trust in connection with the Indian
railways. Speaking on the subject of premonitions, he said that on two
occasions he had had very curious premonitions of coming events in
dreams. One was very trivial, the other more serious, but both are quite
inexplicable on the theory of coincidence. The evidential value is
enhanced by the fact that each time he mentioned his dreams to his wife
before the realisation came about. I saw his wife and she confirmed his
stories. The first was curious from its simplicity. A certain debtor
owed Mr. T. an amount of some £30. One morning he woke up and informed
his wife that he had had a very disagreeable dream, to the effect that
the money would never be paid, and that all he would recover of the debt
was seven pounds odd shillings and sixpence. The number of shillings he
had forgotten, but he remembered distinctly the pounds and the sixpence.
A few days later he received an intimation that something had gone wrong
with the debtor, and the total sum which he ultimately recovered was the
exact amount which he had heard in his dream and had mentioned on the
following morning to his wife.
_A Dream of Death._
His other dream was more curious. An acquaintance of his in India was
compelled to return home on furlough on account of the ill-health of his
wife, and he agreed to let his bungalow to Mr. T. One morning Mr. T.
woke up and told his wife of what he had dreamt. He had gone to Lucknow
railway station to take possession of Mr. C's. bungalow, but when
stepping on the platform the stationmaster had told him that Mr. C. was
dead, and that he hoped it would not make any difficulties about the
bungalow. So deeply impressed was he with the dream that he telegraphed
to his friend C. to ask when he was going to start for England, feeling
by no means sure that the reply telegram might not announce that he was
dead. The telegram, however, came back in due course. Mr. C. stated that
he was going to leave on such and such a date. Reassured, therefore, Mr.
T. dismissed the idea of the dream as a subjective delusion. At the
appointed time he departed for Lucknow. When he alighted he was struck
by the strange resemblance of the scene to that in his dream, and this
was further recalled to his mind when the stationmaster came up to him
and said, not that Mr. C. was dead but that he was seriously ill, and
that he hoped it would not make any difference about the bungalow. Mr.
T. began to be uneasy. The next morning, when he entered the office, his
chief said to him, "You will be very sorry to hear that Mr. C. died last
night." Mr. T. has never had any other hallucinations, nor has he any
theory to account for his dreams. All that he knows is that they
occurred, and that in both cases what he saw was realised--in one case
to the very letter, and in the other with a curious deviation which adds
strong confirmatory evidence to the _bonâ fides_ of the narrator.
Both stories are capable of ample verification if sufficient trouble
were taken, as the telegram in one case could be traced, the death
proved, and in the other the receipt might probably be found.
Dreams which give timely notice of coming accidents are, unfortunately,
quite as often useless as they are efficacious for the protection of
those to whom they are sent. Mr. Kendall, from whose psychical diary I
have often quoted, sends me the following story of a dream which
occurred, but which failed to save the dreamer's leg, although he
struggled against it, and did his best to avert his evil fate:--
"Taking tea at a friend's house in the road where I live, I met with the
Rev. Mr. Johnson, superintendent of the South Shields Circuit among the
Primitive Methodists. He spoke with great confidence of the authenticity
of a remarkable dream which he related. He used to reside at Shipley,
near Bradford. His class-leader there had lost a leg, and he had heard
direct from himself the circumstances under which the loss took place
and the dream that accompanied. This class-leader was a blacksmith at a
manufacturing mill which was driven by a water-wheel. He knew the wheel
to be out of repair, when one night he dreamed that at the close of the
day's work the manager detained him to repair it, that his foot slipped
and became entangled between the two wheels, and was injured and
afterwards amputated. In consequence he told his wife the dream in the
morning, and made up his mind to be out of the way that evening, if he
was wanted to repair the wheel. During the day the manager announced
that the wheel must be repaired when the workpeople left that evening,
but the blacksmith determined to make himself scarce before the hour
arrived. He fled to a wood in the vicinity, and thought to hide himself
there in its recesses. He came to a spot where some timber lay which
belonged to the mill, and detected a lad stealing some pieces of wood
from the heap. He pursued him in order to rescue the stolen property,
became excited, and forgot all about his resolution. He found himself
ere he was aware of it back at the mill just as the workpeople were
being dismissed. He could not escape, and as he was principal smith he
had to go upon the wheel, but he resolved to be very careful. In spite
of his care, however, his foot slipped and got entangled between the two
wheels just as he had dreamed. It was crushed so badly that he had to be
carried to the Bradford Infirmary, where the leg was amputated above the
knee. The premonitory dream was thus fulfilled throughout."
_A Death Warning._
A much more painful story and far more detailed is contained in the
fifth volume of the "Proceedings of the Psychical Research Society," on
the authority of C. F. Fleet, of 26, Grosvenor Road, Gainsborough. He
swears to the authenticity of the facts. The detailed story is full of
the tragic fascination which attaches to the struggle of a brave man,
repeatedly warned of his coming death, struggling in vain to avert the
event which was to prove fatal, and ultimately perishing within the
sight of those to whom he had revealed the vision. The story in brief is
as follows: Mr. Fleet was third mate on the sailing ship _Persian
Empire_, which left Adelaide for London in 1868. One of the crew,
Cleary by name, dreamed before starting that on Christmas morning, as
the _Persian Empire_ was passing Cape Horn in a heavy gale, he was
ordered, with the rest of his watch, to secure a boat hanging in davits
over the side. He and another got into the boat, when a fearful sea
broke over the ship, washing them both out of the boat into the sea,
where they were both drowned. The dream made such an impression upon him
that he was most reluctant to join the ship, but he overcame his
scruples and sailed. On Christmas Eve, when they were nearing Cape Horn,
Cleary had a repetition of his dream, exact in all particulars. He
uttered a terrible cry, and kept muttering, "I know it will come true."
On Christmas Day, exactly as he had foreseen, Cleary and the rest of the
watch were ordered to secure a boat hanging in the davits. Cleary flatly
refused. He said he refused because he knew he would be drowned, that
all the circumstances of his dream had come true up to that moment, and
if he went into that boat he would die. He was taken below to the
captain, and his refusal to discharge duty was entered in the log. Then
the chief officer, Douglas, took the pen to sign his name. Cleary
suddenly looked at him and exclaimed, "I will go to my duty for now I
know the other man in my dream." He told Douglas, as they were on deck,
of his dream. They got into the boat, and when they were all making
tight a heavy sea struck the vessel with such force that the crew would
have been washed overboard had they not clung to the mast. The boat was
turned over, and Douglas and Cleary were flung into the sea. They swam
for a little time, and then went down. It was just three months after he
had dreamed of it before leaving Adelaide.
Here we have inexorable destiny fulfilling itself in spite of the
struggles of its destined victim. It reminds me of a well-known Oriental
story, which tells how a friend who was with Solomon saw the Angel of
Death looking at him very intently. On learning from Solomon whom the
strange visitor was, he felt very uncomfortable under his gaze, and
asked Solomon to transport him on his magic carpet to Damascus. No
sooner said than done. Then said the Angel of Death to Solomon, "The
reason why I looked so intently at your friend was because I had orders
to take him at Damascus, and, behold, I found him at Jerusalem. Now,
therefore, that he has transported himself thither I shall be able to
obey my orders."
_A Life Saved by a Dream._
The Rev. Alexander Stewart, LL.D., F.S.A., etc., Nether Lochaber, sends
me the following instance of a profitable premonition:--
"It was in the winter of 1853 that my brother-in-law, Mr. Kenneth
Morrison, came on a visit to us here at the Manse of Nether Lochaber.
Mr. Morrison was at that time chief officer of the steamship _City of
Manchester_, of the Inman line, one of the ocean 'greyhounds' of her
day, sailing between Liverpool and Philadelphia.
"In my service here, at the time of Mr. Morrison's visit, was a native
of Lochaber, Angus MacMaster by name, an active, intelligent man, of
about thirty years of age, a most useful man, a capital shot, an expert
angler, and one of the best violinists in the West Highlands. No great
wonder, therefore, that Morrison took a liking for Angus, and that the
end of it was that Morrison invited Angus to join him on board the
_City of Manchester_, where, it was arranged, he should act as one
of the steerage stewards, and, at the same time, as Mr. Morrison's
valet. To this Angus very willingly agreed, and so it was that when Mr.
Morrison's leave of absence expired, he and Angus joined the _City of
Manchester_ at Liverpool.
"Within a twelvemonth afterwards, Mr. Morrison wrote to say that he was
about to be promoted to the command of the new Inman Steamship _City
of Glasgow_--at that time, of her class and kind, the finest ship
afloat--and that having got a few weeks' holiday, he was coming down to
visit his friends in Lochaber, bringing Angus MacMaster along with him,
for he had proved so good and faithful a servant that he was resolved
not to part with him.
"Sooner than was expected, and when his leave had only extended to some
twenty days, Captain Morrison was summoned to Liverpool to take charge
of his ship, which had already booked her full complement of passengers,
and taken in most of her cargo, and only required some little putting to
rights, which had better be done under her commander's supervision,
before she sailed on her maiden trip to Philadelphia. 'I must be off the
day after to-morrow,' said Morrison, as he handed the letter to me
across the table. 'Please send for Angus,' he continued, 'I wish him to
come at once, that we may be ready to start by Wednesday morning.' This
was at the breakfast table on a Monday morning; and that same evening
Angus, summoned by a special messenger from the glen in which he was
staying with his friends, arrived at the Manse, but in so grave and
cheerless a mood that I noticed it at once, and wondered what could be
the matter with him. Taking him into a private room, I said, 'Angus,
Captain Morrison leaves the day after to-morrow. You had better get his
things packed at once. And, by the way, what a lucky fellow you are! If
you did so well on the _City of Manchester_, you will in a year or two
make quite a fortune in the _City of Glasgow_.' To my astonishment Angus
replied, 'I am not going in the _City of Glasgow_--at least, not on this
voyage--and I wish you could persuade Captain Morrison--the best and
kindest master ever man had--not to go either.' 'Not going? What in the
world do you mean, Angus?' was my very natural exclamation of surprise.
'Well, sir,' said Angus (the reader will please understand that our talk
was in Gaelic). 'Well, sir,' said Angus, 'You must not be angry with me
if I tell you that on the last three nights my father, who has been dead
nine years, as you know, has appeared to me and warned me not to go on
this voyage, for that it will prove disastrous. Whether in dream or
waking vision of the night, I cannot say; but I saw him, sir, as
distinctly as I now see you; clothed exactly as I remember him in life;
and he stood by my bedside, and with up-lifted hand and warning finger,
and with a most solemn and earnest expression of countenance, he said,
"Angus, my beloved son, don't go on this voyage. It will not be a
prosperous one." On three nights running has my father appeared to me in
this form, and with the same words of warning; and although much against
my will, I have made up my mind that in the face of such warning, thrice
repeated, it would be wrong in me to go on this voyage. It does not
become me to do it, but I wish you, sir, would tell Captain Morrison
what I have now told you; and persuade him if possible to make the best
excuse he can, and on no account to go on this voyage in the _City of
Glasgow_.' I said all I could, of course, and when Captain Morrison was
told of it, he, too, said all he could to shake Angus from his
resolution; but all in vain. And so it was that Morrison left without
him; poor Angus actually weeping as he bade his master good-bye.
"Early in March of that year, the _City of Glasgow_, with a valuable
cargo and upwards of five hundred passengers on board, sailed under
Morrison's command for Philadelphia; and all that was good and
prosperous was confidently predicted of the voyage of so fine a ship
under charge of so capable a commander. When sufficient time had
expired, and there was still no word of the ship's arrival at
Philadelphia, Angus came to enquire if we had heard anything about her.
I could only reply that there was as yet no word of her, but that the
owners, in reply to my inquiries, were confident of her safety--their
theory being that something had gone wrong with her engines, and that
she was probably proceeding under sail. 'Pray God it may be so!' said
Angus, with the tears in his eyes; and then in his own emphatic
language--_ach s'eagal leam, aon chuid dhuibhse na dhomhsa nach tig fios
na forfhais oiree gu brath_--(but great is my fear that neither to you,
sir, nor to me shall word of her safety, or message from her at all ever
arrive). And it was even so: from the day she left the Mersey until this
day no word of the _City of Glasgow_ has ever been heard. It was the
opinion of those best able to offer a probable conjecture at the time,
that she must have come into contact with an iceberg, and instantly gone
down with all on board.
"I may add that Angus was a Catholic, and that Father Macdonald, his
priest, told me shortly afterwards that Angus, before my messenger
calling him to the Manse could have reached him, had communicated the
thrice-repeated dream or vision to him in confession, and precisely in
the same terms he used in describing it to me. When no hope of the
safety of the _City of Glasgow_ could any longer be entertained, Angus
emigrated to Australia, whence after the lapse of several years, he
wrote me to say that he was well and doing well. Whether he is still in
life, or gone over to the majority, I do not know."
_A Highlander's Dream of his Drowning._
Another story, which was sent me by my old friend the housekeeper of the
Hon. Auberon Herbert's Highland retreat on the shores of Loch Awe, is an
awful tale of destiny, the premonition of which only renders it more
tragic.
They were all sitting round the fire one winter night each relating his
best story. Each had told his story of the most wonderful things he had
heard or seen in the Ghost line except Martin Barraw from Uist who sat
silently listening to all.
"Come, Martin," said the man of the house "are you not going to tell a
story, I am sure you know many?"
"Well yes," said Martin. "I know some and there is one strange one,
running in my mind all this night, that I have never told to anyone yet,
but I think I must tell it to-night."
"Oh, yes, do, Martin," cried all present.
"Well," said Martin, "you all I am sure remember the night of the fatal
boat accident at Portroch ferry, when Murdoch McLane, big David the
Gamekeeper, and Donald McRae, the ferryman were drowned and I was the
only one saved of the four."
"Yes we do that Martin, remember it well," said the good man, "that was
the night the Taybridge was blown down, it was a Sunday night the 28th
of Dec. '79."
"Yes you are right that was the very night. Well you know Murdoch and I
were Salmon watching down the other side of the Loch that winter. Well
one night about the middle of November we were sitting by the side of
Altanlarich, it would be about midnight, we had sat for some time
without speaking I thought Murdoch was asleep and I was very nearly so,
when suddenly Murdoch sprung to his feet with a jump that brought me to
mine in a second.
"Goodness what is wrong with you," said I, looking round in every
direction to see what startled him but could see nothing.
"'O dear, dear! what a horrid dream I have had,' said he. 'A dream,'
said I. 'My' I thought you had seen a ghost or something by the spring
you gave.'
"'Well! you would spring too if you could and you drowning.' Then he
told me that he thought it was the 28th of December and there was such a
storm he had never seen anything like it in his life before. 'We were
crossing the loch at the ferry,' said he. 'We had the big white boat and
four oars on her. Big David the keeper Donald the ferryman you and I.
And man but it was awful. The boat right up on end at times every wave
washing over us and filling the boat more and more, and no way of
bailing her, because no one could let go his oar, you and I were on the
weather side, and Big David and Donald on the other, they of course had
the worst of it, we got on until we were near the other side, the waves
were getting bigger and the boat getting heavier, we were going to run
for the creek, when she was struck by a huge wave that filled her up to
the seats and sent David and Donald on their backs, they lost their
oars, and the next wave came right over her and down she went. The other
two never were seen, you and I came up and tried to swim to the shore,
you got near enough to catch a rope that was thrown you, but I could not
get through the tremendous waves and was just going down when I awoke
with such a start.'
"'My what a frightful dream,' said I. 'I should not like to have such a
dream although I do not believe in dreams or Ghosts or these things it
was the rain falling on your face did it.'
"'Well! maybe it was' said he, but all the same I could see he was
thinking a good deal about it all night, although I tried to laugh him
out of it. Well time passed until about the beginning of December there
was heavy rain. Murdoch went home to see his wife and family as all the
rivers were flooded and there was no need of watching. He was on his way
back to his work on the evening of the next day, when he got to the
ferry, it was raining and blowing like to blow the breeks off a Hieland
man as they say. 'Dear me Murdoch,' said Donald the ferryman, 'you
surely, don't mean to go out to-night.'
"'It is very stormy,' said Murdoch, 'if you would be so kind as come
over for me at six o'clock in the morning I would go home again I must
be down passed the Governor's before he gets up you know.'
"'Oh! I'll do that for you Murdoch,' said Donald. So Murdoch went home
again that night and next morning by six o'clock he was at the ferry
again. 'Well done, Donald. You are a man of your word,' said he, as he
saw what he thought was Donald on the pier waiting him with his boat
along side,--the morning was calm and fair though pretty dark, he
thought it strange Donald did not answer him, but hurrying down the pier
was about to step into the boat, when he felt someone strike him a
violent blow on the ear with the open hand. Looking sharply round he was
astonished to find no one near, but he thought as he turned round he had
seen a dark shadow disappear in the distance.
"'God be with us,' said he, turning to Donald, 'what was that?' He was
horror struck to see a most hideous object for what he had taken to be
Donald, glaring at him with eyes of fire. 'God have mercy on my soul,'
said he, as he turned to run, but he had no sooner done so than he was
seized by a grasp of iron and pressed down towards the boat, then began
a struggle for life. He wrestled and struggled with all his strength and
you know he was a very strong man, but he could do nothing in the iron
grasp of his foe, and that foe a mere shadow, he was surely and steadily
forced towards the boat, he was being forced over the side of the pier
and into the boat through which he could see the waves rolling quite
clearly, it was a mere shadow also.
"'Oh God help me,' he cried from the depth of his heart as he gave
himself up for lost. Suddenly as though forced by some unseen power the
grasp that held him ceased and Murdoch fell back upon the pier
unconscious.
"How long he lay he could not say, but it was Donald throwing water in
his face that brought him round, they went into the Hotel where the
people were just getting up, and he got a glass of brandy to steady his
nerves, and after a short time they started and Murdoch got back to his
work sometime during the day, where he told me the whole affair.
"Poor Murdoch was much changed after that, for the few days that he
lived you could easily see the thing was pressing upon his mind a good
deal.
"I need not tell you of the boat accident, you all know that well enough
already, how Murdoch's dream became true even to the very letter. Mr.
Ross the Minister was preaching in the little church up here we went to
put him across the Loch and it was while coming back that we were caught
in the storm and the boat was swamped. Big David and Donald never were
seen. Murdoch and I tried to swim to the shore but he only got a short
way when he also sank and was drowned. I got near enough to catch a rope
that they threw out to me and they pulled me in although I was just
about dead too."
There are many cases of this unavailing warning. Mr. T. A. Hamilton, of
Ryedale Terrace, Maxwelltown, Dumfries, writes:--
"Thirty years ago I had the misfortune to lose my right eye under
peculiar circumstances, and the night previous to the day on which it
happened my sister dreamt that it had happened under precisely the same
circumstances to which it did, and related her dream to the household
before it had occurred. The distance between the scene of the accident
and the house in which she slept was eight miles."
_How a Betting Man was Converted._
One of the most interesting cases of premonitions occurring in a dream
is that which I have received from the Rev. Mr. Champness, who is very
well known in the Wesleyan denomination, and whose reputation for
sterling philanthropy and fervent evangelical Christianity is much wider
than his denomination. Here is the story, as Mr. Champness sends it
me:--
"Some years ago, when working as an Evangelist, it was arranged that I
should conduct a Mission in a town which I had never visited before, and
where, so far as I remember, I did not know a single person, though I
ought to say I was very much interested in what I had heard about the
place, and had been led to think with some anxiety about the Mission. It
would appear that on the Saturday night preceding the Mission a man in
the town dreamed that he was standing opposite the chapel where the
Mission was to be held, and that while he was standing there watching
the people leave the chapel, a minister, whom he had never seen before,
came up to him and spoke to him with great earnestness about religious
matters. He was so much impressed by the dream that he awoke his wife,
and told her how excited he was. On the Sunday morning he went to the
chapel, and greatly to his astonishment, when I came into the pulpit he
saw that I was the man whom he had seen in his dream. I need not say
that he was very much impressed, and took notice of everything that the
preacher said and did. When he got home he reminded his wife of the
dream he had had, and said, 'The man I saw in my dream was the preacher
this morning, and preaches again to-night.' This interested his wife so
much that she went to chapel with him in the evening. He attended on
Monday and Tuesday evenings. On the Tuesday evening after the service he
waited outside the chapel. To his great surprise, when I came out of the
chapel I walked straight up to him, and spoke to him energetically, just
as he had seen on the Saturday night. The whole thing was gone over
again in reality, just as it had been done in the vision. On the
Wednesday evening he was there again, and I remonstrated with those who
had not yielded to the claims of Jesus Christ. I pushed them very hard,
and was led to say, without premeditation, 'What hinders you? Why do you
not yield yourself to Christ? Have you something on a horse?' Strange to
say, there was a race to be run next day, and he had backed the
favourite, and stood to win 8 to 1. As he said afterwards, 'I could not
lug a racehorse to the penitent form.' After the service, he went
straight to the man with whom he had made the bet, and said, 'That bet's
off,' at which the man was very glad, as he expected to lose the bet.
Sure enough, when the race was run the one that had been backed did win,
but he had given up any intention of winning money in that way, and that
night decided to become a Christian. He has since then died, and I have
good hope of seeing him in the country where we may perhaps understand
these things better than we do now."