The night Frederick Wingfield saw his brother in a dream: a shared-death experience

Step 1

1879-1880 · In Brittany · Frederick Wingfield’s account

Frederick lives in a small town in France, far from his brother

Frederick Wingfield was English. He had been living for about twelve months in Belle-Isle-en-Terre, a small town in Brittany, in northwestern France.

His brother Richard lived in England. His full name was Richard Baker Wingfield-Baker, and the family called him Richard Baker. The two brothers hadn’t been in touch for some time. Frederick knew that Richard was in good health and that he was an excellent rider.

Frederick describes himself as a skeptic. He says he has even been accused of not believing in anything he can’t explain.

He was in the habit of reading late before going to sleep.

Step 3

That same night · Frederick’s account

He wakes up standing by the bed, trying to say his brother’s name

When he woke up, he had one foot on the floor and the other on the bed. He was trying to speak and say his brother’s name.

Richard’s presence felt so real that he left the bedroom to look for him in the sitting room. He looked at the chair where he had seen him sitting.

He went back to bed. He wanted to fall asleep again so he could see him again, but he was too upset. He fell asleep around dawn.

In the morning, the dream was still just as vivid.

Step 4

The next morning · Frederick’s account

He writes the date, four initials, and “God forbid!” in his notebook

Frederick had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. He wrote this note in the notebook where he kept track of things:

“Appearance — Thursday night, 25th of March, 1880. R. B. W. B. God forbid!”

There is an explanation for the four letters. Frederick had recognized his brother’s face. Even so, that night he thought the figure also looked a little like William Bigge. William Bigge was a colonel and his best friend, and he wore his beard the same way as Richard. So he wrote R. B. for Richard Baker and W. B. for William Bigge.

He didn’t tell anyone. In those days he had no friends nearby.

Step 5

Three days later · Frederick’s account

The news arrives: Richard died that Thursday night after a fall from his horse

Three days later, Frederick received the news. His brother Richard had died on the night of Thursday, March 25, 1880. He had fallen from his horse during a hunt in England, and he died of his injuries.

Frederick looked at the note in his notebook again. Only then did he notice that the four letters together, R. B. W. B., were also the initials of his brother’s full name, Richard Baker Wingfield-Baker.

According to Frederick, Richard died at 8:30 in the evening, the same night as the dream.

Step 6

March 30, 1880 · According to the newspapers

Two English newspapers confirm that Richard died on March 25

The Times published the obituary on March 30, 1880. It says that Richard Wingfield-Baker, of Orsett Hall, in the county of Essex, died on the 25th.

An Essex newspaper, the Essex Independent, gives the same date. It adds that he died around 9 p.m.

Frederick dreamed of his brother later, once he had gone to bed. According to the researcher who published the case, the dream came a few hours after the death, not at the same time.

Step 7

Sunday, April 4, 1880 · The Prince de Lucinge’s account

A friend arrives from Paris, and Frederick shows him the note in his notebook

The Prince de Lucinge-Faucigny was a friend of Frederick’s. He arrived from Paris on April 4 to spend a few days in Brittany, and they had lunch together that Sunday.

The prince found Frederick deeply shaken by his brother’s death. Frederick told him about the dream and showed him the note in his notebook. By then he already knew that Richard had died.

Four years later, the prince recalled it in a letter. He remembered that Frederick saw his brother next to the bed, got up, and spoke to him, and that the figure then vanished. In the letter, the prince says the note was dated February 24 or 25, not March. Gurney thinks the prince made a slip when he wrote “February.” He reasons that the prince gets the day of the month right and writes that it was “a few days before” the news.

Years later, the notebook ended up in London.

Step 8

1883-1886 · Edmund Gurney’s account

Frederick sends his notebook to a researcher in London

Edmund Gurney was an English researcher who was collecting cases like this for a book. In December 1883, Frederick wrote to him and told him what had happened. He gave his word of honor that it was all true, and he admitted this about his note:

“As evidence, of course, this is worthless.”

In February 1884, Frederick sent him the notebook. Gurney found the note among business memos and notes on books. Frederick added that he had never had another dream like it, and that he had never again seen anyone who wasn’t really there.

Gurney and his colleagues published the case in 1886, in Phantasms of the Living. On the page about that study we explain how it was done and what can be checked about the 24 dreams the book brings together.

The question remains: why did Frederick dream of his brother on the very night he died?