A real-life story · England, 1882

The blind boy who dreamed of his mother’s death: a shared-death experience

In February 1882, a nine-year-old blind boy was a boarder at a school in Worcester, far from home. On the night his mother died suddenly, the boy dreamed that she had died. The letter with the news reached the school two days later.

It is one of the three cases in “Phantasms of the Living” with witnesses from outside the family. A schoolmate and the headmaster say the boy told his dream before the news arrived. But the three accounts we have don’t tell the same story. What happened that night?

Step 1

1882 · Worcester · His sister’s account

A nine-year-old blind boy boards at a school for the blind

Illustration from The blind boy who dreamed of his mother’s death: a shared-death experience: “A nine-year-old blind boy boards at a school for the blind”

The boy, Tracy, was blind and nine years old. He was a boarder at the school for the blind in Worcester, in the west of England.

His family lived in Beccles, in the east, more than 250 kilometers away.

His sister says that “he always speaks of seeing people, though quite blind.”

Step 2

The afternoon of Saturday, February 11, 1882 · Beccles · His sister’s account

His mother complains of a headache and dies that same night

Illustration from The blind boy who dreamed of his mother’s death: a shared-death experience: “His mother complains of a headache and dies that same night”

At about five in the afternoon, his mother complained of a slight headache. Then she lost consciousness.

She died between eight and eight thirty. In the shock of the moment, no one looked at the exact time.

The newspaper The Times published her obituary. The obituary confirms the date and that the death was sudden.

Step 3

That night, at the school · His sister’s account

His sister says a master found him crying: his mother had come to say goodbye

Illustration from The blind boy who dreamed of his mother’s death: a shared-death experience: “His sister says a master found him crying: his mother had come to say goodbye”

His sister tells what she was told. That night, the boy went to bed as usual. Later, a master went into the dormitory and heard a boy crying. It was him.

The boy told him that “his mother had come to him to say good-bye, as she was going away.” He said he had tried to hold her, but she had slipped away from him.

It took quite a while to calm him down.

Step 4

That night, at the school · The headmaster’s account

The headmaster says the boy dreamed his mother had died and was being buried at the school

Illustration from The blind boy who dreamed of his mother’s death: a shared-death experience: “The headmaster says the boy dreamed his mother had died and was being buried at the school”

The headmaster of the school, the Rev. S. G. Forster, gives another version. He got it from the boy himself.

According to the headmaster, that night the boy dreamed that his mother was dead and “was being buried in part of our old place called The Swings.” He didn’t wake up until seven in the morning.

The two versions don’t fit together. In one, the boy was crying that night. In the other, he slept until morning.

Step 5

Sunday, February 12, in the morning · His schoolmate’s account

In the morning he tells a schoolmate: his mother has died

Illustration from The blind boy who dreamed of his mother’s death: a shared-death experience: “In the morning he tells a schoolmate: his mother has died”

A schoolmate, L. G. Sandford, remembers the boy telling him the dream the next morning. According to Sandford, the dream was simply that his mother had died, “mixed up with all the inconsistencies and absurdities common to dreams.”

The headmaster says “we all knew of it, and that the dream was described before the fact was known.”

On the other hand, his sister says the boy didn’t talk about the dream the next morning.

Step 6

Monday, February 13, 1882 · The headmaster’s account

On Monday, the letter with the news reaches the school

The family, in shock and grief, didn’t write right away. In the headmaster’s words: “Owing to the surprise and trouble at home, we did not hear of it by letter till the Monday after.”

If the boy told his dream on Sunday, it was before anyone at the school knew anything.

Step 7

December 1885 to February 1886 · The researchers ask

Almost four years later, the sister, the headmaster, and the schoolmate put it in writing

Illustration from The blind boy who dreamed of his mother’s death: a shared-death experience: “Almost four years later, the sister, the headmaster, and the schoolmate put it in writing”

The London researchers who were gathering these cases wrote to the family and to the school. The three witnesses answered in writing, almost four years later.

The sister tells what she was told, and says the family would rather not remind the boy of it.
The headmaster doesn’t remember whom the boy told, but states that it was told before the news.
The schoolmate heard it himself. But he believes the mother died on the same day the boy told him, the Sunday, and that is not the case.

No written statement by the boy survives. The headmaster says the boy himself told him the dream. Everything else comes through other people.

Step 8

1886 · The book

The boy’s dream goes into the list of 24 dreams in “Phantasms of the Living”

Illustration from The blind boy who dreamed of his mother’s death: a shared-death experience: “The boy’s dream goes into the list of 24 dreams in “Phantasms of the Living””

In 1886, Edmund Gurney and his colleagues published the book Phantasms of the Living. In the book, Gurney analyzes 24 dreams about a death that happened less than 12 hours from that death. The Tracy boy’s dream is one of them.

On the page about the study we explain how those 24 dreams were gathered and what can be checked about them.

The question remains: how did a boy more than 250 kilometers away know that his mother had died that night?

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 young Tracy’s dream: that his mother had died that night.

3.5 of 5

Yes
Unconfirmed
No data

Did young Tracy tell anyone about his dream before the news of his mother’s death arrived?Two witnesses from outside the family say he did, but they tell it almost four years later. A schoolmate, L. G. Sandford, remembers Tracy telling him the next morning. The headmaster says the dream was told before Monday’s letter. His sister says Tracy didn’t talk about the dream that morning, but she only heard about it secondhand. Nothing was written down in 1882.
Is it known what time young Tracy dreamed of his mother’s death?The night is known, but not the time. It was the night of Saturday, February 11, 1882. His sister says a master found him crying that night. The headmaster says he slept until seven. They tell it from memory, almost four years later.
Is it known what time young Tracy’s mother died?The day is known, and the time roughly. The newspaper The Times confirms that she died on February 11, 1882, and that it was sudden. Her family says she died between eight and eight thirty in the evening.
Is there a document from the time that confirms the death of young Tracy’s mother?Yes. The obituary in the newspaper The Times confirms the date of the death and that it was sudden.
Could young Tracy have learned some other way that his mother was dying?No. His mother complained of a headache at five in the afternoon and died at around eight thirty, more than 250 kilometers from the school. The letter with the news arrived on Monday.

Why we ask each question

What is hard to explain

The mother died suddenly, within a few hours, and far away. The boy could not have known she was ill.
A schoolmate and the headmaster were not family. Both say he told it before Monday’s letter arrived.
The newspaper The Times confirms the date of the death and that it was sudden.

What remains unresolved

The three witnesses tell it almost four years later, and they don’t tell the same story. In one version, the boy was crying that night. In another, he slept until morning. In one, his mother says goodbye. In another, she is buried.
His sister says the boy didn’t talk about the dream the next morning.
The boy never told his dream to the researchers.
It may not be rare for a boarding-school boy to dream that his mother has died. No one knows how often it happens without matching anything.

Where this story comes from

Books

Edmund Gurney, Frederic Myers, and Frank Podmore, Phantasms of the Living, vol. 2 (Trübner, London, 1886), case 452, pages 419 and 420, in the public domainRead for free

Case documents

The sister’s letter, dated December 1885, in the book
The letters from the headmaster of the Blind College in Worcester, the Rev. S. G. Forster, dated December 17, 1885, and January 5, 1886, in the book
The schoolmate’s letter, from L. G. Sandford, dated February 12, 1886, in the book
The mother’s obituary in The Times, checked by the researchers

Learn more

The 24 dreams in “Phantasms of the Living”: how they were gathered and what can be checkedRead
Annie Harriss: a dream of her mother’s death, another of the six clear casesRead
More shared-death experiencesRead

Our archive

Our reading of the case in the original book and its score on our five criteria, as of October 21, 2026

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