Prophecy, Second Sight & John Barker’s Premonitions Bureau

“As to the divination which takes place in sleep, and is said to be based on dreams, we cannot lightly either dismiss it with contempt or give it implicit confidence.” These were the words of Aristotle, written in 350 BCE, and taken very much to heart by a British psychiatrist in the 1960’s, when he took on the monumental task of collecting and collating hundreds of premonitions from across the country, with the ultimate goal of not only researching the phenomena, but then also using the data to avert disaster and perhaps even to save the world. SOURCES Knight, Sam (2022) The Premonitions Bureau: A True Account of Death Foretold. Penguin Press, NY, USA. Ulanowski, Krzysztof (2014) Mesopotamian Divination. Some Historical, Religious and Anthropological Remarks. Miscellanea Anthropologica et Sociologica 2014, 15 (4): 13–28.  Martin, Martin (1719) A description of the Western Islands of Scotland. A. Bell, London, UK. Dunne, J. W. (1927) An Experiment With Time. A & C Black, London, UK. Barker, John (1968) Scared To Death. Dell Publishing, London, UK. Psychic News (1968) Doctor Who Studied Premonitions Dies. Psychic News, Thurs 31 Aug 1968, p1. London, UK. Fairley, Peter (1966) Did Anyone Have A Genuine Premonition OF Aberfan Disaster? Evening Standard, Fri 28 Oct 1966, p13. London, UK. Fairley, Peter (1967) If You Dream Of Disaster… . Evening Standard, Wed 4 Jan 1967, p19. London, UK. Barnes, Michael (1966) Learning To Hate Your Bad Habits. The Daily Telegraph, Fri 30 Dec 1966, p5. London, UK. Birmingham Evening Mail (1967) 124 Killed In Holiday Air Crash. Birmingham Evening Mail. Thurs 20 April 1967, p1. Birmingham, UK. The Guardian (1967) As Torrey Canyon Breaks Up Oil Battle Is Extended To Strait Of Dover. Tues 28 March 1967, p1. Manchester, UK. Evening Standard (1967) Giant Tanker On Reef. Evening Standard, Sat 18 March 1967, p9. London, UK. Birmingham Daily Post (1968) A Bureau To Avert Disasters? Birmingham Daily Post, Fri 23 Feb 1968, p34. Birmingham, UK. Fairley, Peter (1968) The Londoners Who Believe They Saw Disaster In Advance. Evening Standard, Mon 11 March 1968, p8. London, UK. Fairley, Peter (1968) Did Mr Hencher Forecast The Hither Green Rail Disaster? Evening Standard, Tues 12 March 1968, p7. London, UK. Psychic News (1968) Doctor Who Studied Premontions Dies. Psychic News, Aug 31 1968, p1. London, UK. ------- This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp, check out betterhelp.com/darkhistories to get 10% off your first month.   ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices