Historical dream account · English · published source text
The Swimmer Who Saw His Body on the Beach
Horace G. Hutchinson
Dreams and Their Meanings (1901) · 1901 edition, chapter IV, printed pp.162–163; PDF pages 174–175; original scan leaves 178–179
Dreamer identified by the source: Unnamed correspondent
Read in your language or share a constellation ↗
" I was in the streets of this little town " (a certain small seaport in the far north), " and was pursued by a number of Russian sailors who were doing their best to shoot me. I ran down the pier with bullets singing about me, dived from the end and tried to swim up alongside it, under water, to the shore. Then suddenly I found myself on shore, and I shall never forget the exquisite feeling of lightness and freedom which possessed me. But all at once I caught sight of my own body lying on the beach. I knew that I was not dead, and that I might be revived if prompt measures were taken. Some men stood near, and I moved to them and tried to tell them what I wished ; but found I could not make myself felt, heard or seen. Then the thought flashed through me ' I am a ghost,' and my first idea was that it would be good fun to frighten the men. Then came a sudden realisation of the fact that I was cut off from the living world, which filled me with the wildest terror and horror. I shrieked out at the men and tried to strike them, but with no effect. They, however, just then saw my body, dragged it up and began trying to revive me. I felt myself being drawn back into the body and then I awoke."
Source & context
A published personal recollection sent to, or personally recorded by, Horace G. Hutchinson and printed in his 1901 edition. Recurrent personal accounts are counted once, not once per occurrence. Where Hutchinson interrupts a quotation, his original reporting phrases remain in the excerpt.
Unnamed correspondent, reported in Horace G. Hutchinson, Dreams and Their Meanings (London, New York and Bombay: Longmans, Green and Co., 1901), 1901 edition, chapter IV, printed pp.162–163; PDF pages 174–175; original scan leaves 178–179. Primary witness: original 1901 edition at Internet Archive. The compiler, dreamer, and separately credited earlier recorder are distinguished. Editorial title and navigation themes added; no generated narrative or new translation.
The publication year is not the dream date. No exact dream date or present-day person location is inferred. Dates printed in the narrative remain source wording.
Public domain in the United States (1901 edition) ↗
The original English 1901 edition is public domain in the United States by expired publication term; Archive metadata reports NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT. No new Archive license or Public Domain Mark grant is asserted. The linked NoC-US statement describes the US-only rights basis; blanket worldwide clearance is not asserted. Hutchinson’s own writing and named or unidentified contributors are distinguished; no contributor is assigned the compiler’s death date. Unnamed original correspondent/friend; no modern contributor identity or permission is invented..
Source locator and text provenance
1901 edition, chapter IV, printed pp.162–163; PDF pages 174–175; original scan leaves 178–179
The original text and redactions are preserved. The page title is an editorial navigation label.
Whitespace/linewrap normalization, witnessed end-of-line dehyphenation, and listed scan-verified OCR repairs only. No dream narrative, person, event, translation or stylistic rewrite added.
- Account text SHA-256
- 1cd985c0ebb4b4cda8fe70de7fcc1d47d1e34efcc922039742399db46cac6226
- Source file SHA-256
- 40a41bb112104c3680401c260e060fde498bfe84e41f4394ee28e47f7e827b5f
Content notes
- Death
- Violence
- Peril
Connections in the Loom
Titles, theme labels, illustrations and map connections are editorial navigation aids. They are separate from the account’s words and do not establish connections between real people.