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Mysteries - Colin Wilson

One of the best authenticated cases [of prophecy] of recent years is the case of John Godley, later Lord Kilbracken, who succeeded in realising every punter's dream and predicting the winners of horse races.

On the morning of March 8, 1946, Godley, who had gone to bed exceptionally late the night before, woke up with the names of two horses running in his head: Bindle and Juladdin. He had dreamed he read them in a list of winners in a newspaper. Godley, who was at Balliol College, Oxford, went to the Randolph Hotel and told his friend Richard Freeman; they checked the newspapers and found that Bindle was running in the one o'clock at Plumpton, and Juladdin at Weatherby.

A group of them decided to risk a bet. Godley rang his London bookmaker and backed Bindle; it won at six to four. He transferred his winnings to Juladdin, which duly won at ten to one, netting Godley over £100.

A few weeks later, back home in Ireland, he again dreamed of looking at a list of winners in the newspaper. The only one he could recall when he woke up was a horse called Tubermor. A check with the local postmistress (who placed bets) revealed that a horse called Tuberose was running in the four o'clock at Aintree. Godley and his brother and sister managed to scratch together a few pounds to back it (they were not a rich family.) The horse won at a hundred to six, making them over sixty pounds between them.

In late July, 1946, Godley dreamed that he went into the telephone box of the Randolph Hotel and called his bookmaker to ask for the winner of the last race; he was told that it was Monumentor. The only horse with a similar name was Mentores, running that afternoon at Worcester. The odds-as he had dreamed-were five to four. Godley backed it. Later that day, he went into the Randolph Hotel, into the call box-which, as in his dream, was stuffy, and called his bookmaker.

Mentores had won.

Another year went by before he had another dream of horses. This time he dreamed he was at the races and recognised the colours of one winner as those of the Gaekwar of Baroda; it was ridden by a jockey he recognised as Edgar Brett. He also heard the crowd shouting the name of another winner-'The Bogey'. The next day, he rushed to see his girlfriend Angelica, and told her what had happened. They checked in the racing news; Edgar Brett was riding a horse belonging to the Gaekwar of Baroda-it was called Baroda Squadron. They could find no horse called The Bogey, but there was a horse called The Brogue running at Lingfield.

Godley placed a five-pound win double on the two horses-so that if Baroda Squadron won, the winnings would be placed on The Brogue. Once again, both horses won.

This kind of thing obviously could not continue forever. Godley did dream two more winners; but he also dreamt several losers. The only consolation was that his fame as a 'psychic punter' launched him into a career of journalism-as the racing correspondent of the Daily Mirror.

Ten years later, in 1958, he dreamed that the Grand National had been won by a horse called What Man? The only horse with a similar name was Mr What, and the odds were not the same as in his dream-sixty-six to one instead of eighteen to one. But on the morning of the Grand National, when Godley happened to be in Paris, he checked The Times and found that Mr What was now eighteen to one; he rang his bookmaker and placed a bet of twenty-five pounds to win.

Later that day, he heard that Mr What had won, bringing him £450 – the largest sum he had won so far.  Since that time his powers have apparently left him.