Boston Globe reporter Ed Samson was sleeping on a couch in the newsroom when he awoke from a terrible dream. The dream was so vivid, that when he woke, he immediately began writing down the details. He wrote that the fear-crazed natives of Pralape, an island near Java, had found themselves trapped between the molten lava and the sea. The island quivered under the fury of the pent-up volcano, the ships were taken under by huge waves and finally the island collapsed, leaving only a fire-spouting crater to mark its passing. At the top of the paper, he wrote important.
The next morning, the editor found the paper and assumed that this was a breaking story brought in from the wire during the night. He ran it as a two-column story on the front page. He gladly put it on the Associated Press wire and the story was fed to papers all over the nation. It was the big story on August 29th, 1883. When other papers began asking for more details, he began searching for the reporter who had written the story. The local library informed the paper that there was no island named Pralape, in Java or anywhere else. That night, he eventually found Samson, who admitted it was all based on a terrible dream. He was fired. The Boston Globe prepared to print an apology on the front page, but then something mysterious began to happen.
Along the west coast of the United States, the beaches were receiving unusually high tides. From scattered places across the globe came reports that a great catastrophe had occurred near the Indian Ocean. Tidal waves had killed thousands and many ships were recorded as missing. A few days later, a few ships had limped into port reported the story of Krakatoa, the island that had vanished in one planet-shaking explosion, which produced an atmospheric shock which circled the earth three times. Krakatoa began writhing on August 27th, was blown to bits the following day, and settling beneath the waves on the 29th. The sights Samson reported were taking place the very instant he was dreaming on the couch half way around the world.
The Dutch Historical Society eventually sent Samson an old map which listed Krakatoa by its native name of Pralape – a name which had not been used for more than a hundred and fifty years.
Revered Charles Morgan of Winnipeg, Canada was responsible for choosing the hymns to be sung in church. In a dream, he was reminded of an old hymn which had not been sung for many years. For the evening service that night, he felt a compulsion to ask the congregation to sing the hymn, the verse of which says, ”Hear, Father, while we pray to Thee for those in peril on the sea.” The date was April 14th, 1912 – the very night the Titanic was sinking and its survivors were clamoring for safety.
James Watt was the inventor of the steam engine. In his day, lead shot was made in a very awkward and drawn out process. Eventually he had a strange dream every night for a week, in which he walked through a heavy rainstorm in which the rain itself turned into tiny leaden pellets which bounced across the floor. Unable to restrain his curiosity, he tossed a kettle of molten metal into a water-filled moat below. When he searched the moat, he found that the lead had formed into round particles ideal for loading guns. He popularized this discovery and all other methods were immediately discarded.
The Violin Sonata in G minor, also known as the Devil’s Trill Sonata by Giuseppe Tartini is one the most technically demanding solo works for violin, even today. Tartini dreamed that the Devil appeared to him and asked to be his servant. At the end of the lesson, Tartini handed the devil his violin and the Devil played a badass solo. When he woke he immediately wrote down what he remembered but commented that it was “so inferior to what he had heard.”
7thdirection
11 Comments
I've dreamed entire plot lines too.. AND died three times in my dreams ( and the matrix theory doesn't hold true) cuz..like it or not..i'm still kicking hehe
I definitly get creative inspiration from dreams- I have several stories I have to get on paper.. the dream is written out of course- just have to fill in the details
As life progresses very quickly (at the rate of one second per second) and the 'input' from all your senses is so vast, the brain needs some time when it is receiving less input to process the data it has. This is one of the reasons we sleep. The brain uses this time to 'process' the input, placing stuff in memory, making connections between recently acquired data and stuff already in memory and generally clearing out stuff it 'thinks' we don't need.
We only remember dreams we wake up in the middle of, which suggests the dream we are having when we do wake up, is interrupted. This is why some people (myself included) can slip back into the same dream if we go immediately back to sleep.
This means that dreams cannot be interepted as such and despite some people seemingly having prophetic dreams (as have I), nothing useful can be gained from trying desperately to remember them. I know I'll get some stick for that but, accept it or not, it's the only explanation that makes any real sense.
The fact that dreams appear to tell 'stories', is due to the fact that, in order to make sense of them, we link the various parts together subconciously so that it only 'appears' to have a story. The brain reacts to symbolism (this is memory associating some things with others, however tenuous the link may appear to be to our concious minds) and so, processing the memory of catching a bus, say, can be analogous to flying (as they are both journeys).
My opinion would be to forget dreams as trying to see anything useful would be a waste of time. If you are troubled by recurring bad dreams, I would suggest that (and I am not being flippant here), look at your pre-bedtime diet (as diet does not necessarily affect dreams as such but the digestive process may cause a lighter sleep, ensuring you remember the dreams). I would also look for a pre-bedtime relaxant (warm milk or other) which will help you sleep deeper.
I know a lot of people will disagree with me and that is their right. But my experience has shown me that once you quit worrying about it, it goes away. Trust me; I am not a doctor.
Hey you know AdGuy always gets the last word! ;)