A real-life story · California, United States, and England, 1892

“I dreamed I was in a house where there was a funeral going on”: the shared-death experience of John Owen

In 1892, John Owen lived in California and his 80-year-old mother in a village in England. One night he dreamed of a funeral, and in the dream his dead father told him it was his mother’s. A few days later he told his sister about it in a letter. His mother had died two days before the dream, and the news had not yet reached him.

The case has an unusual piece of evidence. The letter in which John tells the dream survives with its postmarks. The letter left California before anyone told John his mother had died. Even so, the dream did not come at the time of death, but two days later. We tell it step by step and then look at what could be checked. If you’re in a hurry, go straight to the check. How did John know?

Step 1

1892 · Told by the rector of Trefonen

A son in California and an 80-year-old mother in England

Illustration from “I dreamed I was in a house where there was a funeral going on”: the shared-death experience of John Owen: “A son in California and an 80-year-old mother in England”

Margaret Owen was 80 and a widow. Her husband had died 16 years earlier. She lived in Trefonen, a village in the west of England, near the border with Wales.

Her son John lived in Red Bluff, in California, thousands of miles away. He had not seen his mother for 12 years. She wrote to him once a month, and he answered about as often.

Going by the postmarks on this family’s letters, a letter took about two weeks between California and England. George Williams, the rector of Trefonen, later told all this. According to him, John had no reason to fear for his mother, except that she was already 80.

Step 2

22 August 1892 · In Trefonen

John’s sister writes to him: their mother is very ill

Illustration from “I dreamed I was in a house where there was a funeral going on”: the shared-death experience of John Owen: “John’s sister writes to him: their mother is very ill”

Lizzie, John’s sister, lived in Trefonen. On 22 August she wrote to California to tell him their mother was very ill.

That letter would take two weeks to arrive. John still knew nothing.

Step 3

29 August 1892 · In Trefonen

Margaret Owen dies at home

Margaret Owen died on 29 August in Trefonen. Her funeral card and the newspaper of the nearby town, the Oswestry Advertiser, say so.

The family arranged the burial in Churchstoke, her husband’s village in Wales. It was meant to be on 1 September, but in the end it was on the 2nd.

In California, John still knew nothing.

Step 4

The night of 31 August to 1 September · Asleep · Told by John

John dreams of a funeral, and his father tells him it is his mother’s

Illustration from “I dreamed I was in a house where there was a funeral going on”: the shared-death experience of John Owen: “John dreams of a funeral, and his father tells him it is his mother’s”

That night, in California, John dreamed he was in a house where there was a funeral going on. Everybody was dressed in black. His whole family was there except his mother.

His father, dead for 16 years, told him that his mother had died and that it was her funeral.

John woke up with a sadness he could not shake off. The dream came two days after the death, and one day before the burial.

Step 5

5 September 1892 · In Red Bluff

John writes to his mother without mentioning the dream

Illustration from “I dreamed I was in a house where there was a funeral going on”: the shared-death experience of John Owen: “John writes to his mother without mentioning the dream”

On 3 September, the letter his mother had written in July reached him, late. On 5 September, John answered it.

According to the rector, who read that letter later, John wrote about ordinary matters. He said nothing about the dream and showed no anxiety about his mother’s health.

Four days after the dream, John did not seem worried about his mother.

Step 6

6 September 1892 · In Red Bluff · Written by John

The letter about the illness arrives, and he writes to his sister about his dream

Illustration from “I dreamed I was in a house where there was a funeral going on”: the shared-death experience of John Owen: “The letter about the illness arrives, and he writes to his sister about his dream”

On the morning of 6 September, John mailed the letter to his mother. Then his sister’s letter of 22 August arrived. It said their mother was very ill.

That same day he wrote to his sister:

“I was afraid there was something the matter, as on the night of Aug. 31st, or the morning of Sept. 1st, I dreamed I was in a house where there was a funeral going on. […] father told me that she was dead, and that it was her funeral that was then in process of being carried out.”

John Owen, letter to his sister Lizzie, Red Bluff, 6 September 1892

He asked her to write as soon as she could and left messages for his mother, in case she was still alive. He wrote it on the 6th, and the Red Bluff postmark is dated 8 September.

John still did not know that his mother had died eight days earlier.

Step 7

September 1892 to May 1893 · Told by the rector and Frederic Myers

The letter reaches England, and the rector sends it to the researchers

Illustration from “I dreamed I was in a house where there was a funeral going on”: the shared-death experience of John Owen: “The letter reaches England, and the rector sends it to the researchers”

The letter reached the post office in Oswestry, the town near Trefonen, on 21 September. The next day, George Williams, the rector of Trefonen, was visiting his parishioners. Someone asked him to read John’s letter.

Williams knew Frederic Myers personally. Myers was one of the researchers of the Society for Psychical Research, a London group that studied such cases. Williams sent him the letter. With it he sent the funeral card, the newspaper and John’s letter of the 5th. He added that John had never before written home because of a dream.

The society published the case in May 1893. Myers pointed out that the dream falls between the death and the funeral. The society warned that dreams that come days after a death count for less than those at the time of death. The more time passes between the death and the news, the easier it is for such a dream to coincide by chance.

The question from the beginning remains: how did John know his mother had died? Let’s see what could be checked.

What does the evidence say?

What can be checked

We ask every story the same five questions. They don’t tell us whether someone is telling the truth. They tell us what can be shown today. Here we ask them about John’s dream: that he was at his mother’s funeral.

4.5 of 5

Yes
Unconfirmed
No data

Did John Owen write down his dream before he knew his mother had died?Yes. He wrote it in a letter to his sister on 6 September 1892, with a Red Bluff postmark of the 8th. The news of the death had not yet reached him. That same morning another letter from his sister had reached him, saying his mother was very ill.
Is it known which night John Owen dreamed of his mother’s funeral?Yes. In his letter of 6 September 1892, written before he knew of the death, John says it was the night of 31 August or the morning of 1 September.
Is it known when Margaret Owen died and when she was buried?Yes. Her funeral card and a newspaper from Oswestry, the town near her village, say she died on 29 August 1892 and was buried on 2 September. The burial had been planned for 1 September.
Is there any document confirming Margaret Owen’s death and its date?Yes. George Williams, the rector of Trefonen, Margaret’s village, sent the researchers of the Society for Psychical Research, in London, John’s letter, the funeral card and the Oswestry Advertiser with the news.
Could John Owen have learned or suspected through an ordinary channel, such as a letter, that his mother had died?It cannot be fully ruled out. He could not have known of the death by mail, and the letter saying his mother was ill reached him after the dream. But his mother was 80, and the dream came two days after the death, not at the same time. Also, John wrote down the dream the same day he learned his mother was very ill. The day before, in a letter to his mother, he did not seem worried. Reading that news may have made him start to give the dream importance, and that is why he told it.

Why we ask each question

When did each thing happen?

22 August. Lizzie writes that their mother is very ill.
29 August. Margaret Owen dies in Trefonen.
Night of 31 August to 1 September. John dreams of the funeral.
2 September. Burial in Churchstoke. It had been planned for the 1st.
5 September. John writes to his mother, without anxiety.
6 September. The letter about the illness arrives, and he writes the dream to his sister.
8 September. Red Bluff postmark.

The dream did not come at the time of death, but two days later. It came before John knew anything, about either the illness or the death.

What is hard to explain

John wrote down the dream, with its date, before he knew of the death, and the letter survives with its postmarks.
He dreamed of his mother’s funeral between her death and her burial.
The dream came before the letter about the illness reached him.
According to the rector, John had never before written home because of a dream.

What remains unresolved

His mother was 80. A dream like this can coincide by chance with the death of someone so old.
The dream came two days after the death, not at the same time.
John wrote down the dream the same day he learned his mother was very ill. The day before, in his letter to his mother, he did not seem worried. Reading that news may have made him start to give the dream importance, and that is why he told it.
Nobody knows how many sad dreams people have about their relatives that coincide with nothing.

Frequently asked questions

What did John Owen dream about his mother in 1892?

He dreamed he was in a house where there was a funeral, with his whole family dressed in black except his mother. His father, dead for 16 years, told him it was his mother’s funeral. She had died in England two days earlier, and John, who lived in California, did not yet know.

Could John Owen’s dream have been chance?

It cannot be ruled out. His mother was 80, and the dream came two days after the death, not at the same time. The society that published the case already warned that in such cases chance has more room.

Where this story comes from

Case documents

Case G. 234, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 6 (May 1893), pages 82 to 84, public domain. It reproduces John Owen’s letter of 6 September 1892 and what the rector George Williams wroteRead for free
Margaret Owen’s funeral card and the Oswestry Advertiser, cited in the same issue

To understand more

Dreams that warned of a death: the 24 cases of “Phantasms of the Living”Read
J. F. Morse (1897): a dream a doctor wrote down before the news arrivedRead
More shared-death experiencesRead

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