The Attic Files: Where Dreams Begin to Overlap

Dreams are supposed to belong to the person dreaming them. But across history and cultures, there are accounts suggesting the boundaries between dreams may not always be so clear.

In this episode of The Attic Files, we explore six stories and traditions surrounding shared, recurring, and seemingly prophetic dreams: dream traditions of the Mohawk, accounts associated with the Senoi, Carl Jung and his ideas about dreams and the collective unconscious, mysterious letters from Devon, reported dreams in South Wales connected to the Aberfan disaster, and the recurring figure known as the Hat Man.

From Indigenous traditions and Jungian psychology to premonitions of tragedy and a shadowy figure reported by sleepers around the world, these accounts raise questions about why similar images and experiences sometimes appear in different minds.

What happens when a dream no longer seems entirely your own, and where does one person's dream end when another begins?