Precognitive dreams: LOST CHILD
At the time of this experience, David was 55, a practising psychologist in Auckland, and his wife Ginny was studying.
At 4 am one morning, David awoke from a vivid nightmare, in which he was desperately searching shops in a city street for his granddaughter, aged 3. He sat up in bed to clear his mind. His wife awakened and sat up too, saying she had dreamed she was desperately trying to rescue their granddaughter from a bramble-bush. They were very fond of her.
They calmed down and went back to sleep.
At breakfast they discussed whether they should contact their daughter, who lived in Wellington, but agreed not to disturb her, as it was “just a dream” and she always kept the little girl on reins in the street anyway.
The dream stayed on David’s mind, however, and after lunch he decided to phone his daughter and simply ask her how she was. She poured out her story of losing the little girl in the street when she slipped her reins that morning about 11 – seven hours after the dream - and spending half an hour desperately searching for her! He was amazed, as he had never had such an experience before. Nor did it fit his belief system.
Precognitive dreams are not uncommon, though it is rare for two people to dream simultaneously of an event yet to happen. This example is remarkable for several reasons:
- David dreamed the literal account, while Ginny dreamed it in metaphor. Did they dream independently, or did Ginny “catch” it telepathically from David? Why the difference?
- They dreamed it as if they were in their daughter’s mind; not like observers.
- The real event did not happen till 7 hours after they had “seen” it in their dreams. How can we have “memories” of something in the future?
- If they had phoned to warn their daughter, would the event still have happened? Or more likely, could their daughter have responded more quickly? Perhaps their unconscious concern actually prevented a worse outcome anyway.
This does not fit the standard scientific understanding about linear time. However, thousands of examples have been recorded and rigorously examined, so our understanding of time has to expand. It seems likely that new explanations will eventually emerge from quantum physics.