Precognitive disaster dreams often challenge our preconceptions about how the world and the dreaming mind are connected. Below are several remarkable examples of such dreams that forewarned of significant tragedies.
Abraham Lincoln’s Dream
In his book Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-1865, Ward Hill Lamon recounts a dream Lincoln had shortly before his assassination. In the dream, Lincoln heard mournful weeping in the White House. When he investigated, he found a corpse wrapped in funeral clothes. Upon asking a soldier who had died, the reply was: "The President. He was killed by an assassin."
The Titanic Disaster Dream
A day before the Titanic sank, a woman on board dreamt of the catastrophe. Despite her husband dismissing her fears, the dream affected her so deeply that she secretly prepared herself and her children. After the ship struck the iceberg, she and her children were rescued, but her husband perished with over 1,500 others.
The Newfoundland Sealing Disaster
In 1914, 120 Newfoundland sealers were abandoned on an ice-floe. One of the fifty-five survivors had a dream weeks before the event. In his dream, he wandered alone on an ice mountain, surrounded by white mounds—figures he could not identify. After the disaster, he realized that these mounds were the bodies of his fellow sealers covered in snow.
Carl Jung’s Vision Before World War I
Carl Jung described disturbing visions in 1913. In one, he saw a flood covering Germany, followed by the sea turning to blood. He initially believed the vision was personal, but later realized it foreshadowed the outbreak of World War I. This led Jung to conclude that the unconscious mind has both personal and collective dimensions.
The Aberfan Disaster
On 21 October 1966, a coal collapse buried a section of Aberfan, Wales, killing 116 children and 28 adults. After the disaster, reports of premonitions emerged. One woman’s child dreamt of a black mass covering the school the night before the event. Another person dreamt of a landslide burying a schoolhouse. One man even dreamed of the letters "A-B-E-R-F-A-N" spelled out in light the night before the disaster, only realizing its meaning after the event.
Dreams of the 9/11 Attacks
After the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, many people reported vivid dreams that foreshadowed the events. These dreams included images of planes crashing into buildings, collapsing towers, and people covered in ash. Despite the clarity of the images, most people only connected their dreams to the event after it had occurred.
Why Can’t Precognitive Dreams Prevent Disasters?
The question often raised is why, if so many people dreamt of these disasters, nothing was done to prevent them. The answer lies in the fact that people usually realize the significance of their dreams only after the event has occurred. Additionally, precognitive dreams often lack specific details, making it difficult to predict exactly what will happen, where, or when.
See also: Precognition, Disaster Dreams, Prophetic Dreams, Collective Unconscious.
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