Dreaming of a house you've never been to

I don't know if anyone's ever heard of this before, but I've seen it reenacted on TV a few times now, in which a person tells the story of how they came to move into their house. First, they had seen it perfectly in a dream -- they knew what it looked like inside and out, and they also knew where it was located and how to get to the house. They usually also have a ghostly story to go along with this.

My question is, how does this relate to the paranormal and how can such a thing even happen? If they are telling the truth, it's amazing that they already know where everything in the house already is and what it looks like. Do spirits have the power to project these images onto to the living? Why?

Has anyone else heard of anything similar?

w1ngs0fate wrote:I don't know if anyone's ever heard of this before, but I've seen it reenacted on TV a few times now, in which a person tells the story of how they came to move into their house. First, they had seen it perfectly in a dream -- they knew what it looked like inside and out, and they also knew where it was located and how to get to the house. They usually also have a ghostly story to go along with this.

My question is, how does this relate to the paranormal and how can such a thing even happen? If they are telling the truth, it's amazing that they already know where everything in the house already is and what it looks like. Do spirits have the power to project these images onto to the living? Why?

Has anyone else heard of anything similar?

This is actually interesting on a couple of levels - I have heard of similar things to this before, but mostly with connecting people to each other, rather than to places. (In fact I have my own story - when I was 17 or 18 I had a dream where I was getting married to the girl who I was dating at the time, in the middle of the ceremony I stepped back and said "no, I am supposed to marry Jenny" - I didn't really think anything of it other than the usual 'guy' response of: well, I sure am not ready to get married! Of course now, my fiancee's name is Jenny - I didn't meet her until almost 6 years later. Now, obviously I cannot even say that this was paranormal or anything other than a very interesting coincidence.)

I've often wandered if something beyond our comprehension could influence our dreams...I'll have to think a little more about all of this.

Wow. That's a really interesting story! Thanks for sharing it. I can't imagine that just being a mere coincidence. That's really something.

This kind of dabbles in religion a bit, as this is my personal belief, but I do think that there is such a thing as Fate, in varying degrees. I wholeheartedly believe that there is something greater than ourselves out there, whether that be a God, the Will of the Universe, or whatever else may be out there... I do think that there are certain things in life that are meant to happen to you. It also would appear that if you try veering off this planned out path, there is always something that happens to get you back on track - always. At least, this has been the reoccurring case with myself.

Perhaps, in your case, you somehow knew or had access to the information concerning your intended wife at that time, 6 years before meeting her. How or why? That's the question.

Okay, I'll start by playing the doubting cynic (something that I have alot of practice with, if y'all hadn't noticed.) I don't specifically believe that these are the answers, but I believe that they are possible answers...I'll consider the supernatural side of this issue and post something on that later. (I am supposed to be working...)


Is it possible that these cases people may be 'reverse engineering' their dreams - as soon as they come upon a house that is similar to this 'dream house' they begin to conform the memories of the dream to the reality of the house.

or could it be that the house has a common floor plan and footprint (one that has been visited before, maybe even only briefly, but made a great impact on the sub-consious mind.)- with just enough detail like the 'dream house' that the mind makes the connection.(This is similar to my concern for my personal story - if her name wasn't the 2nd or 3rd most popular woman's name in the US, I would find it MUCH less likely to be coincidence)

Aesalon wrote:(This is similar to my concern for my personal story - if her name wasn't the 2nd or 3rd most popular woman's name in the US, I would find it MUCH less likely to be coincidence)

Hmm, you have a point there.

Aesalon wrote:or could it be that the house has a common floor plan and footprint (one that has been visited before, maybe even only briefly, but made a great impact on the sub-consious mind.)- with just enough detail like the 'dream house' that the mind makes the connection.

You know, that kind of reminds me of something I had seen before. Lots of people can be mentally tricked by their own mind, lead to believe something that isn't true, that didn't happen, or that isn't real. There are many studies that have been done on this in varying types. One example, is that a person who has never broken their arm before can actually be lead to believing that the did, as long as they have positive reinforcement backing up the claim, especially from close family members.

In one scenario, a man was told by his parents casually in conversation that he had broken his arm as a little boy. He has said, "What? I don't remember that." But his father then chimed in after his mother stating, "Yeah, you hurt yourself playing with your friends on the play equipment." As his parents and the rest of his family present added their share of the story, forming an image in this man's head, eventually, he actually believed that this was true! A polygraph test later proved that he did, in fact, think this story of breaking his arm was fact. Later, after the experiment was over and he was told that he hadn't actually broken his arm, he refused, arguing, "But all those things you said, I remember perfectly in my head! Like how I fell over and called out for you guys and you driving me to the hospital..." His mind had been tricked.

How false memories can be implanted in your head is a bit of a mystery, but it is quite possible. Perhaps, relating this back to the subject, those that thought they knew the house merely referred back to their dream of a similar house and convinced themselves that it was the same exact house, fooling their own minds.