MYSTERY OF DREAMS.

Shannon News, 2 November 1926, Page 3

MYSTERY OF DREAMS.

SOME STRANGE TAUES. WARNING OF COMING EVENTS MANY REMARKABLE CASES ; Science has only recently occupied ' itself with that mysterious realm InJ to which persons can pass when they [ close their eyes in sleep. Dreamland j was formerly not regarded as worthy, lof attention of serious investigators. ilt is quite otherwise to-day, when j more and more enquirers are gatherI ing facts—startling facts sometimes J —concerning dreams. [ Certain marvellous things, declares 1 a writer in an English paper, ahe now Known beyond all doubt concerning Dreamland. - First, there is a great number of thoroughly authenticated cases of dreams which have predicted future events. Then, there is also an equally impressive number of dreams, which have given the dreamer clairvoyant sight, or the ability to see events happening far off at the moment of the dream. A strange example of the prophetic or premonitory dream is related by Dr. de Sermyn. One night the doctor dreamt that his favourite child fell into the fire and was burnt to death. So powerful was the dream that he rose and went to look at the child, wlio was sleeping calmly. Next day the dream warning of the child's death followed him. He examined the child, but found it perfectly healthy. The day after however, a sudden bronchial pneumonia set in and ended fatally. Was this mere coincidence, or a Dreamland vision of the future? Seven years ago an old lady, living ih Philadelphia, dreamt that she saw her son crushed to death by a street tramear. She awoke, slept again, and again dreamt of her son's tragic death. So powerful was the dream that she took the train to New York, Avhere he lived. She arrived in the morning, left the station, and was crossing Seventh A.venue when she , saw a crowd abaut a dead man. It | was her son, and'"he hadl been run over by a. tramear. The victim of I this tragedy was Mr William Cooper, a millionaire manufacturer. ■ The case has been thoroughly authenticated by the famous French scientist, Camille Flammarion. Three Months Before Event. One day an Irish ' girl told ,her mother at breakfast that she had had an aibsurd dream. She found herself in a train standing in a railway station. Friends were about the door. As the train started a little package was thrust into the carriage. She opened it and found therein a biscuit and a bar of soap. At that minute the" train ran into a tunnel. Three months later, while she was travelling in Scotland/the exact incident came to pass. The great German prilosopher Schopenhauer tells a similar story. One day he upset his ink and rang maid to clean up the mess. "I dreamt that I did this la3t night," she said as she stooped to mop up the black fluid. "Nonsense, you lie" said the philosopher. "I do hot lie, sir," said tlie girl. "Ring for the cook. I toad her of my dream this morning." Sure enough, the cook supported the housemaid's statement. Take the ctase of E£wjn Reed, the naturalist. One day ihe dreamt that he was t, yalking >down s.n avenue when he canio upon a cross with the inscription: "Kdwin Heed, naturalist, Nov. 7 1910." He told this dream laughingly to ftis family. But he died on that very day. i Saved By A Dream Warning. Dreams seem att times to possess the power to warn the dreamer against coming disaster. Thus, on the day before the' famous Brooklyn Theatre fire, which resulted in the loss of over 300 livee, a Cantata MacGowan cancelled sea*s for ihimseif and his two sons as the result of a dream which had warned lUm not to enter the theatre that day., This strange case wan and , vouched for by Professor Sir -williaan Barratt. Has any dreamer ever .consistently dreamt the winners of future horse races? Probably no.t, thaugh cases of people backing hoi-ses which they had seen win in theirj dreams are numerous enough. But such dreams ; might easily be explained away. Tfcie sleeper would have, perhaps, the names of 15 horses for the race in his mdnd, of which he had been thinking diaring.his waking hours. To dream tlae winner, therefore, would be mereJy a 15 to 1 chance. But what of the well-attested dream of the famous :French doctor, Baron Larrey? The .baron dreamt of four numbers for a coming lottery. He backed' those numbers, which proved to be the prize winners. What were the odds against ttis being a mere coincidence?. They have been reckoned out and proved to- be about 2,555,189.