Historical dream account · English · published source text
Four poachers at the facing gates
Horace G. Hutchinson
Dreams and Their Meanings (1901) · Original 1901 edition, printed pp. 215, 216; chapter VI; PDF pages 227, 228
Dreamer identified by the source: William Myers (bailiff and ex-keeper, as printed)
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Some years ago, I was asleep in bed here about 12 to 1 A.M., and dreamt that I was out watching in a certain place where two gates face each other, near my house ; that four poachers came up to me through those gates and that I seized hold of two of them, one in each hand, and shook them and struggled with them, at the same time shouting for assistance. My cries and struggles awoke my wife, who woke me up ; at once I told her what my dream had been, and that I had had a hard fight. Just about that very time, and at the very place I saw in my dream, four poachers did make their appearance and stoned some of our men who were watching there.
When they came to see me in the morning, before I had any conversation with any one, I told them at once I knew all about it, describing to them in presence of my wife both the number of men and the place where they had come across them.
My wife will corroborate all I say as to my cries and struggles, of which I myself was quite unconscious till she woke me. We thought it a curious dream at the time.
Source & context
William Myers is the dreamer, distinct from F. W. H. Myers. Elizabeth Myers corroborates his sleeping cries, and Francis Alvey Darwin records the report. Darwin’s reply says Myers already knew the place was a likely poacher route. That explanation and the compiler’s comparison accompany the account below. The letter date is not an exact dream date. Source qualification (The 1901 editor’s introduction and comparison, and Francis Alvey Darwin’s reply, printed pp. 215, 216): “Mr. Francis Alvey Darwin, of Creskeld Hall, Pool, Leeds, sends us the following narrative, taken down by him from the lips of William Myers, bailiff and ex-keeper on the Creskeld estate, and Elizabeth, his wife, both of whom sign the account. In answer to your letter of the 10th inst., I have no doubt that the place near the gates referred to was a place which he knew perfectly well that poachers would be almost sure to pass in order to set a certain wood. I do not think that the place was ever regularly watched, as there is no cover to hide any men in, but the gates would certainly be frequently marked in order that it might be ascertained if any one had gone through them or not, yours truly, Before dismissing this dream as a mere accidental coincidence, the reader should refer to Dr. A. K. Young's case (Phantasms of the Living, vol. i., p. 381), where the dreamer strikes out violently at imaginary foes — in a scene where an assault is being actually committed upon a tenant of his own.”
William Myers (bailiff and ex-keeper, as printed), reported in Horace G. Hutchinson, Dreams and Their Meanings (Longmans, Green and Co.,1901), Original 1901 edition, printed pp. 215, 216; chapter VI; PDF pages 227, 228. Earlier reporter: Francis Alvey Darwin, who took the account from William and Elizabeth Myers; both sign. Chapters VI–VII were prepared by an unnamed collaborator. The book author/compiler, dreamer and earlier reporter are credited separately. Editorial title and navigation themes added; no generated narrative or new translation.
The publication year1901 and letter datelines are not assigned as the dream date. Dates/relative dates in original prose remain unchanged.
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. These are named, initialled or anonymous published-correspondent accounts reproduced by an unnamed collaborator in Hutchinson’s book. The dreamer and earlier reporter are credited separately; no contributor is assigned the compiler’s death date. No modern translation is used.
Source locator and text provenance
Original 1901 edition, printed pp. 215, 216; chapter VI; PDF pages 227, 228
The original text and redactions are preserved. The page title is an editorial navigation label.
Descriptive editorial title only; no generated dream prose or translation. Book repeated paragraph-opening quotation marks and trailing presentation quote excluded through exact source-span boundaries. Literal internal dialogue retained. Whitespace/line wraps normalized; only explicitly listed scan-confirmed corrections/dehyphenations. Complete qualification spans retained separately as attributed source context. Addresses/signatures/letter headers outside dream prose are boundary furniture, not silent dream omissions.
- Account text SHA-256
- ae5186e2fb218c3c65ee559f37c9e2b29688004ae90e19b3c59f32102975fb22
- Source file SHA-256
- 40a41bb112104c3680401c260e060fde498bfe84e41f4394ee28e47f7e827b5f
Content notes
- Violence
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.