(126) "In September, 1879, I was in B - s, and laid up with a rather sharp attack of fever, kept to my room, and seeing no one. In the middle of one night I was awoke, as was my husband also, by a most piercing shriek; he knew it was I who had cried aloud, whilst I had then no idea of it. But I began to tell him that I had been dreaming his sister was teasing me, and I looked up and saw (and as I came to that point I was again seized with horror) a tall man, dead, being carried, with his hair, which was very thick, falling back from his face. The figure impressed me with the idea of being upheld by four men, but I did not see any of them. I knew the figure at once, and kept saying, ' The Colonel's dead, the Colonel's dead,' and it was an hour or two before my husband could calm me, and I could go to sleep again. At last I did so, however, and the next sound we heard was the servant knocking at our door, and calling out, 'Get up, sir, the Colonel's dead; you're wanted'.

"Colonel F. had died after a short illness, of which I knew nothing at all. My husband thought he had a cold, but had not named it to me or been anxious about it himself, and, as far as I was concerned, my acquaintance with him was of the slightest, so that if I had been told he had a cold, I should not have thought about it again.

"I may add that I have said many times, when asked to explain it, I believe it was caused by Major White, who was with the F.'s, thinking of us, and what a shock it would be, as my husband was the only other R.E. officer there, and would have to arrange for the funeral next day. That was what seemed to me likely, because I have noticed all my life that I frequently speak of the subjects which are in the thoughts of my friends and companions without any apparent cause, and have been accustomed to speak of it as the result of ' my sixth sense,' because I did not know what else to call it. It has often been a subject of annoyance to me in one way, which was that, with one very dear friend, our letters invariably crossed (though very infrequently written), so that we never felt as if we had an answer. She complained, and so did I, but we could not alter it.

" Kate E. Bolland".

We find from the Army List that Colonel F. died on September 7th, 1879.

The following is from Lieut.-Colonel Bolland, R.E.: -

"July 20th, 1884.

"With regard to Colonel F., I cannot say I remember that Mrs. Bolland mentioned his name, though she may have done so; but having awoke me with a terrific scream at about 1 a.m., on the 8th September, 1879 (which I think was the date), she told me she had been dreaming of my sister, and when looking up to speak to her, she saw a tall man, dead, being carried by four other men, his head dropping, and long, thick hair falling back.

"She was terribly frightened, and it was some time before we again got to sleep. The next sound I heard was the servant knocking at my door, and calling out, ' Get up, sir, you are wanted; the Colonel is dead! ' I had known Colonel F. was ill, but had not thought seriously of it, nor had I named it to my wife, who had herself been ill some days with denzie fever. If I had thought of his illness at all, it would have been without any anxiety, as I had beard he was better, and able to lie on the sofa. It is now some years since these things happened, and I may not be correct in my remembrance of all details; but as to both the waking1 and the sleeping impressions being named to me before the events which they seemed to have indicated were known, or could be known to us in any ordinary way, I am positive. "G. Herbert Bolland".

In conversation with the present writer, Colonel Bolland spontaneously referred to the extraordinary character of the scream.

Colonel Bolland's account suggested some doubt in his mind as to whether his wife had actually identified the dead man before the news of the death was known, and this point was accordingly inquired about. In his reply, Colonel Bolland mentioned that for some time past his hearing has been somewhat imperfect and uncertain, and he continues: -

" I can safely say that Mrs. Bolland, from the time of the event, has always said she said, ' It is the Colonel,' and I have never told her that I did not hear her, never doubting but that she said it. She, however, is much surprised that I never mentioned the fact of not having heard it. Her description at the time left no doubt in my own mind that it was Colonel F. She said she saw a long (or perhaps tall) man being carried, with his long hair falling back. Colonel F. wore his hair long for a military man of the present day, so the short description she gave me identified the man, as long hair is so rarely worn by military men. We may even have discussed whether it was he, but I don't remember her saying almost at once, ' It is the Colonel.' My wife has a very much better memory for conversations than I have, so that I will not undertake to say that we did not discuss, between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m., whether or not it was Colonel F.; but I am certain I did not hear my wife say at once, immediately after her short description of the dream, ' It is the Colonel,' but she may have said it without my hearing it.

Mrs. Bolland is so minutely accurate in repeating a conversation that I feel sure her version is much more to be relied on than my own".

And Mrs. Bolland adds: -

" July 27th, 1884.

"As regards my own opinion of what happened after my dream about Colonel F., I have not, nor ever had, any doubt that it was he I saw. I can see the whole scene before me now, as I saw it then, and I cannot get over my impression that I mentioned his name at once, or rather, as soon as I came upon the recollection of what had made me scream. I think I have told you that although my own scream awoke me, I did not at once know that I had been frightened, or that I had cried out. But in describing my dream to my husband, I suddenly came upon the picture again, and then I was so frightened it was some time before I could get over it".

[I received by pure accident a confirmation of the fact that Mrs. Bolland mentioned Colonel F. at the moment. I was sitting at tea with Colonel and Mrs. Bolland; and the conversation turning on telepathy, but no mention having been made of the above case, a sister of Colonel Bolland's, who was present, suddenly said to Mrs. Bolland, "Do you remember about that time when you called out, ' There's the Colonel? ' " It turned out that she remembered these words as having occurred in a letter from Mrs. Bolland, which described the incident immediately after its occurrence; and neither of them could recall that the subject had been afterwards talked of between them].

1This refers to another case, No. 201, below.

We come now to cases where a distinctly fantastic element appears; the reality is bodied forth in a dream-scene which has no relation to actual possibilities.

The following case is remarkable in that there were two percipients, for one of whom the distant event was embodied in a fantastic, and for the other in a more normal, manner. The doubling of the experience of course enormously increases the improbability that the coincidence was accidental; but it is open to us to suppose that only one of the dreams was directly connected with the absent friend, and that this dream produced the other, on the analogy of some of the cases of simultaneous dreaming already given.1 Miss Varan, of 40, James Street, Cowley Road, Oxford, writes: -

"January, 1885.