Historical dream account · English · published source text
The Voice at the Small Bridge
Horace G. Hutchinson
Dreams and Their Meanings (1901) · 1901 edition, chapter VII, printed pp.290–291; PDF pages 302–303; original scan leaves 306–307
Dreamer identified by the source: H. C. Reynolds
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' About the year 1870 I was in charge of a length of roadway, together with the bridges, large and small, that carried it. Sometimes there were floods which endangered the bridges, and I was therefore always on the look out to prevent serious damage which would have impeded the traffic. At the same time this had been my daily life for so long that no anxiety remained in my mind about it. I regarded my duties as merely routine work. I was in a fairly good state of health. One night I dreamt in a most vivid manner that I saw an exact picture of a certain small bridge. All the surroundings were complete and left no doubt as to which bridge it was. A voice at the same moment said to me : ' Go and look at that bridge '. This was said distinctly three times. In the morning the dream still persisted in my mind and so impressed me that I rode off at once about six miles to the bridge. Nothing was to be seen out of the ordinary. The small stream was, however, coming down in flood. On walking into the water I found to my astonishment that the foundations of the bridge had been entirely undermined and washed away. It was a marvel that it was still standing. Of course, the work necessary to preserve the bridge was done. There is no doubt that but for the dream the bridge would have fallen, as there was no reason whatever to attract my attention specially to the bridge. Though small, the bridge was an important one, as its situation was peculiar. The picture that was dreamt was so strong that it is even now fixed in my mind as plainly almost as it was then. I have no doubt whatever that a special warning was given me by a higher intelligence. I have never at any time had any other similar experience.
Source & context
A sleep-dream recollection reproduced in the 1901 edition’s chapters compiled by an unnamed collaborator, mainly from earlier Society for Psychical Research material. The quoted waking follow-up and supernatural interpretation are historical claims by the source, not independently verified events.
H. C. Reynolds, reported in Horace G. Hutchinson, Dreams and Their Meanings (London, New York and Bombay: Longmans, Green and Co., 1901), 1901 edition, chapter VII, printed pp.290–291; PDF pages 302–303; original scan leaves 306–307. 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. Named or initialled historical contributor as printed; contributor death date not established here. US publication-term basis is used, not Hutchinson’s death year..
Source locator and text provenance
1901 edition, chapter VII, printed pp.290–291; PDF pages 302–303; original scan leaves 306–307
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
- f43661192c2fa3dff5f8b5eed40c9670c4d3d545f97a1588ab3eaeff9a13a2dd
- Source file SHA-256
- 40a41bb112104c3680401c260e060fde498bfe84e41f4394ee28e47f7e827b5f
Content notes
- Peril
- Claimed premonition
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.