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The Future and Beyond – H F Saltmarsh

This case is taken from Proc., XI, 527:

Lady Q, living with her uncle, who was like a father to her, dreamed that she was sitting in the drawing-room of his house with her sister. It was a brilliant spring day and there were many flowers showing in the garden, over which, however, there was a thin coating of snow.

In her dream she knew that her uncle had been found dead by the side of a certain bridle path about three miles from the house and that he was wearing a dark homespun suit; his horse was standing by him. She also knew that the body was being brought home in a two-horse farm waggon with hay in the bottom. They were waiting for the waggon with the body to arrive at the house. Then, in the dream, she saw the waggon come to the door and two men, well known to the dreamer, carry the body upstairs with considerable difficulty as the uncle was a very tall and heavy man.

During this proceeding the body's left hand hung down and struck against the banisters as the men ascended the stairs. This detail gave her unreasonable horror and she woke.

In the morning, feeling much upset, she told her uncle and begged him to promise that he would never ride that particular road alone. He promised that he would always make an excuse to have a groom with him when he rode that way in the future. Gradually the memory of the dream grew fainter until, two years later, it was repeated in every detail.

Lady Q taxed her uncle with having broken his promise, and he admitted that he had occasionally done so. Four years after this, Lady Q, having married and left her uncle's house, was living in London and was expecting her first baby. On the night before she was taken ill she dreamed the dream again with the variation that she seemed to be in her bedroom in London and not in her uncle's drawing-room as previously. She was, however, able to perceive the whole scene as in the former dreams.

Then came another fresh point; a gentleman, dressed all in black, whose face she could not see, stood beside her bed and told her that her uncle was dead.

She awoke in great distress but, being then so ill, ceased to dwell on the dream. After a few days she was allowed to write a few lines in pencil to her uncle. This note reached him two days before his death.

During her convalescence, she wondered at not hearing from him, until, one morning, she was told that her step-father wished to see her. He entered the room dressed in black and stood beside her bed. Lady Q cried out, 'The Colonel is dead. I know all about it. I have dreamed it often.'

Subsequent inquiries showed that the dream was fulfilled in every detail, including that of the left hand striking against the banisters. The men who carried the body upstairs were those seen in the dream. The only detail which was not correct was that of the flowers and snow, but Lady Q discovered that dreams of flowers and snow were considered as symbolic of death by members of her family.

I have summarized this case rather fully as it seems to me that it is a particularly interesting one. Not only are the details of the precognition very full and numerous, but the fact of recurrence makes it specially impressive. Also it is an example of long-distance precognition, the first dream having occurred six years before the event.

Lady Qs account is confirmed by her husband and her step-father.