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Part 1
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Precognitive dreams & premonitions here..
Clearly, my dream had portrayed a vision of the future. Although the events which I
had been privileged to glimpse some ten hours earlier were not spectacular, they
served a purpose. That same dream came to mind while I was considering whether to
tackle the fire myself or not. Somehow, I knew that events would go exactly as they
did, and there would be a satisfactory outcome.
Normally, my precognitive dreams are almost inconsequential - reflecting ordinary
occurrences in my day to day life. So much so, in fact, that I often experience the
feeling of deja vu and recall vague memories of a dream. Perhaps this phenomenon is
as a result of each of us acting out part of an unremembered precognitive dream?
Returning to Dr Hearne's experience on the ferry, he found it so intriguing that it
changed the direction of his studies, and led to serious research into premonitions
which, after fifteen years, remains ongoing. In his own words, he now explains how
that event initiated his studies, and the subsequent data uncovered as a result:
When I met my friend at Grimsby station, I told him earnestly of my presentiment.
The experience had decided me to alter the emphasis of my parapsychological
research from the artificial set up of the laboratory to the real world - where such
phenomena are happening naturally.
I asked him if he knew anyone who'd had a premonition. He instantly told of an
incredible case concerning his niece Lesley Brennan who - confirmed by witnesses precognised the Flixborough chemical plant explosion. I began to realise that
premonitions were frequent in the population. Surveys in fact show that seven out of
ten people accept the existence of premonitions and that over a quarter of the
population report that they have actually experienced such things.
As a result of several articles being published about my initial research in several
national newspapers, literally hundreds of people wrote to me and completed
questionnaires regarding their premonitions. Little research has actually been
conducted into premonitions as such. Most scientific effort has gone into laboratory
studies involving the statistical analysis of precognition using card or pattern
guessing.
The data that I received from percipients showed that nine out of ten of reported
premonitions were experienced by females. There was a possibility that a 'reporting
bias' was operating in that perhaps men were unwilling to admit to being psychic. I
got round that by asking the percipients who else in their family had premonitions. It
was still overwhelmingly a female ability. About a quarter said their premonitions