Paul McCartneyAround 1964 (released 1965)Famous dreams, and how they were read
Real dreams that people published themselves, or that history recorded. We retell them in our own words, name the sources, and say plainly when a story is disputed.
We never invent example dreams or users. Stories from readers will only appear with their written permission.
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- Paul McCartneyAround 1964 (released 1965)
Mary ShelleyJune 1816, near Geneva; told in 1831Mary Shelley's waking dream of Frankenstein
A nineteen-year-old, a ghost-story contest and a vision in the half-dark: the most famous origin story in English fiction.
Stephenie Meyer2 June 2003The meadow dream behind Twilight
A stay-at-home mother woke from one vivid scene, wrote it down so she would not lose it, and had a finished novel three months later.
Abraham Lincoln (as reported by Ward Hill Lamon)Said to be days before 14 April 1865; published 1895 · DisputedLincoln's dream of a funeral in the White House
The most retold presidential dream in American history: a coffin in the East Room, days before the assassination. The source is shakier than the legend.
Robert Louis StevensonAutumn 1885, BournemouthThe dream that gave Stevenson Mr Hyde
Short of money and short of a plot, Stevenson dreamed two scenes, and wrote one of the most famous novellas in English in a matter of days.
Stephen KingMid-1980s, on a flight to London (King gives no exact date)Stephen King's nightmare on the way to London
A writer falls asleep on a plane and dreams of a fan who holds her favourite author captive. The note he scribbled became Misery.
Carl Gustav Jung1909, on the voyage to America with FreudJung's dream of the house with many floors
Travelling with Freud, Jung dreamed of going down through a house into older and older layers. He later said it was where his idea of the collective unconscious began.
Pharaoh, interpreted by JosephUndated; told in the Book of GenesisPharaoh's cows and ears of grain
Perhaps the best-known dream interpretation in world literature, and a window into how the ancient world thought about dreams.
Giuseppe TartiniSaid to be 1713; told to Lalande in the 1760s · DisputedTartini and the Devil's Trill
A violinist dreams he sells his soul to the devil, who then plays more beautifully than anything he has ever heard.
Calpurnia, wife of Julius CaesarNight of 14 to 15 March 44 BCECalpurnia's dream before the Ides of March
The night before Julius Caesar was murdered, his wife dreamed of disaster and begged him not to go to the Senate.
Larry PageAround 1996, at StanfordLarry Page's midnight idea
Google's co-founder says the idea of downloading the whole web came to him when he woke from a vivid dream at 23.
Dmitri MendeleevFebruary 1869 (by the Russian calendar of the time) · DisputedDid Mendeleev dream the periodic table?
One of the most repeated stories in science says the periodic table appeared to Mendeleev complete in a dream. The evidence says otherwise.
Saint Nino, Enlightener of GeorgiaEarly 4th century CE (tradition)Saint Nino and the cross of vines
Georgia's best-loved sacred story begins with a dream: the Virgin Mary gives a young woman a cross made of grapevine and sends her to Kartli.
Queen Maya, mother of the BuddhaTraditionally c. 6th-5th century BCEQueen Maya's dream of the white elephant
In Buddhist tradition, the Buddha's conception was announced by a dream in which a white elephant entered his mother's side.
Zhuangzi (Zhuang Zhou)4th century BCE (traditional)Zhuangzi's butterfly dream
Did the philosopher dream he was a butterfly, or is a butterfly now dreaming it is a philosopher? Two thousand years later the question still unsettles people.
Sigmund FreudNight of 23 to 24 July 1895Irma's injection
The dream Freud chose to open his method with, and the first one he analysed line by line in print.
René DescartesNight of 10 to 11 November 1619Descartes' three dreams
On the night he believed he had found the foundations of a new science, the young Descartes had three dreams he took as a turning point in his life.
August KekuléReverie dated to the 1860s; told in 1890 · DisputedKekulé's snake biting its tail
A famous story about a dream that led to the ring structure of benzene. Historians disagree about how much of it to believe.
Madam C. J. WalkerAround 1904-1905, St. Louis or DenverMadam C. J. Walker's dream formula
America's first great Black businesswoman said the recipe for her hair grower came to her in a dream. The story helped sell it too.
Harriet Tubman1840s, before and during her escape; published 1869Harriet Tubman's dreams of flying to freedom
Before she escaped slavery, Tubman dreamed of flying over fields and rivers to a line she could not cross, until women in white reached out and pulled her over.
Otto LoewiEaster weekend, 1921Otto Loewi's Nobel Prize dream
A pharmacologist dreamed an experiment, lost it, dreamed it again the next night and went straight to his lab. It proved that nerves speak in chemicals.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeAutumn 1797, Exmoor; told in 1816 · DisputedKubla Khan and the person from Porlock
A poet dreams two or three hundred lines, starts writing them down, and is interrupted by a visitor. The rest is lost forever, or so he said.
Srinivasa Ramanujan1900s-1910s, India and CambridgeRamanujan and the goddess Namagiri
One of history's greatest mathematicians told friends that his family goddess showed him formulas in his dreams.
Elias HoweSaid to be around 1845; first printed 1900 · DisputedElias Howe's spear dream: a legend
A famous story says the sewing machine needle came from a nightmare about spears. Howe himself never seems to have told it.
King Nebuchadnezzar (Book of Daniel)Set in the 6th century BCE; the book is dated much laterNebuchadnezzar's statue of gold, silver, bronze and clay
A king demands that his wise men tell him not only what his dream means, but what the dream was. Only Daniel can.
Gilgamesh, king of UrukEpic composed c. 2nd millennium BCEThe dreams of Gilgamesh
The oldest great work of literature is full of dreams: of a star falling from heaven, of a friend on the way, and of death.
Dreamers recorded by Artemidorus2nd century CEArtemidorus' casebook of dreams
The oldest surviving collection of real people's dreams, each paired with what the dreamer believed happened next.