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B J Laubscher – Where Mystery dwells

Mrs. Mey wrote from Benoni:

"I have always had advanced knowledge of death of members of my family or friends through dreams. For example I was living in England for a few years and saw clearly a friend of mine who resided in George, Cape Province fully dressed in evening clothes drop dead. My mother who lived in Oudtshoorn at the time confirmed this by letter.

My husband and I returned to South Africa and lived at Koegasbrug in the Northern Cape. In September 1951 I had the most vivid dream of my father-in-law standing at the foot-end of the bed, trying to speak to me. The noise he made was terrible and I could not understand him, except for the word "will". His face turned purplish blue and he dropped to the floor. I awoke terrified and woke my husband. We learned later that he had died of a stroke on the night of my dream. What is more the family could find no will but we knew there was one. We knew that one had been made.

While living at Koegasbrug the dreams became more frequent, not only of death notices but also of premonitions of accidents. In the end my friends would not come near me if I talked of dreams.

They told me to shut up. They were frightened because my dreams always came true.

For instance I dreamed of our neighbour's little girl and in the dream were visions of an operating theatre, screaming ambulance sirens and people running about. After each of these dreams I would wake terrified. I called on my neighbour Mrs. V.D.B. and told her to keep the little girl in the yard as I had had one of my queer dreams. By 1 p.m. the ambulance went screaming down the mine's one main road. I was working in the mine office and was summoned to find the District Surgeon. He was almost fifty miles away. The rush and confusion was exactly as in my dream.

The little girl had eaten some pips from a seed-box containing Belladonna poison. She hovered between life and death but fortunately survived. After this I was regarded almost as a witch.