Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known better by his pen name Mark Twain, is still considered one of the greatest American writers. And although many of his writings and famed quotations poke fun at the folly of men, he seemed to have a mystical side as well. It is well known, for example, that he predicted the circumstances of his own death: he was born in 1835 when Halley’s Comet was visible and said that he came in with Halley and would go out with Halley.
Sure enough, he died in 1910 when the comet was again visible.
Lesser known, however, is a dream that he had in the late 1850s, which came true in acute detail. He experienced an unusually vivid dream in which he saw the body of his brother Henry lying dead in a metal coffin in his sister’s sitting room. The coffin was supported by two chairs, and upon his brother’s still chest was a bouquet of flowers with one red rose in its center.
It was just a few weeks later that Henry died as the result of injuries sustained in a boat accident. Appearing at the wake, Twain found his brother’s body just as he had seen it in the dream: in a metal coffin supported by two chairs. Missing only were the flowers. Just then, a woman entered the room and placed on Henry’s chest a bouquet – with a single red rose in the center.
