January 2006: A patient of a well-known New York psychiatrist drew a portrait of a man’s face that she had repeatedly seen in dreams who gave her advice; however, she never met the man while awake. A few days later, another patient saw the portrait and said the same thing. The psychiatrist sent the picture to colleagues he knew who had patients with recurring dreams. Four other patients said they saw him in their dreams. All of the experients referred to him as This Man. From January 2006 to date, at least 2,000 people, globally, have said they saw him in their dreams. There has been no relationship with experients and none share a common trait. They haven’t recognized the man whom they never met while awake. On January 11, 2011, This Man made the news again. In the past, some have debunked him as a hoax.
Theories about This Man
Speculation has been developed about who or what This Man might be. These include:
- Archetype: Based on Carl Jung’s psychoanalytic archetypical theory, This Man is a classic image in the human collective unconscious that can surface to the conscious mind during stressful times in various ways, including dreams. The collective unconscious is universal, linked to heredity and is something humans are born with. Archetypes are based on instinct.
- Metaphysical: According to this, This Man is the image of the Supreme One and is one of the forms in which s/he manifests her/himself.
- Dreams Imitating Life: This purports that what is seen while awake is so deeply ingrained that people dream about the incident, which is one of the theories about déjà vu, the most common psychic occurrence, experiencing the past in the present, that the event already happened, although it’s happening for the first time.
- Lack of Recognition: People usually don’t remember faces of all of the people they see while dreaming. This Man’s face would be recognition of an undefined image of or involved with dreams.
- Psychic: This Man is a real person who, by intentionally creating an out of body experience, OBE, can appear in other people’s dreams. A reciprocal apparition of the living is when the experient and agent are aware of each other. The agent feels transported to where the percipient is. This may be experienced by more than one observer. Mrs. Wilmot was the agent in a case that her husband saw her in a dream and his cabin mate aboard his ship saw her while he was awake. According to parapsychological theory, the dead can also do this. Some believe that extraterrestrial aliens have this ability.
- A Type of Shadow People, SP: These are universally seen humanoid forms that appear in the peripheral vision and vanish or move through walls when noticed. It could be possible that some SPs can appear as a face in dreams.
This Man Was Created by an Accomplished Ad Man
Todd M. Denis, Editor and Founder – Jawbone TV, Founder Swarm Entertainment and Social Media Operations Manager – BlackBerry and Chris Capps wrote that they believe that This Man is a viral marketing technique created by Andrea Natella, the director of Guerriglia Marketing in Italy, a viral advertising agency, and also the registrant of thisman.org. Viral marketing uses unconventional communication techniques, such as creating fictitious events or ad campaigns. It’s been written that Natella wrote several papers on the viral marketing and, allegedly, has been involved in some hoaxes. Denis offers no product or service that could be advertised. Capps speculates that This Man could be an independent film company employing Natella’s agency to obtain promotion for its movie or it might be Natella advertising his agency.
What Could This Man Be?
The first article about the mysterious man appeared on October 13, 2009. The articles about This Man being an ad agency’s creation appeared on October 15th and 16th, 2009. One of the problems with seeing This Man in dreams is that the “well known” psychiatrist’s and others’ names aren’t given and there is no mention about confidentiality in the articles which are cited as references and have drawings of This Man.
The theories are speculative and appear to have no proof, according to the scientific method. Psychology is considered a social science; parapsychology, the scientific study of psychic phenomena, psi, without bias, a speculative science. Both take the recognized fields of science, such as biology, into account.
There is no hard evidence that This Man is a hoax, as in the case of the horror that happened in Amityville which has been debunked by parapsychologists, skeptics and the legal system. The real horror was when Ronnie DeFeo killed his family. William Weber was his defense attorney. Kathy and George Lutz, both deceased, bought the DeFeo house knowing it was the scene of mass murders. Weber and the Lutzes decided to create the horror to make money, which a judge said was evident when Weber sued the Lutzes for his share of the profits. Weber admitted to the media that the horror was a hoax.
The Archetype, Metaphysical, Dreams Imitating Life, Lack of Recognition, Psychic and A Type of Shadow People, SP, Appearing in Dreams cannot be proved by the known laws of science. Perhaps, one day, the enigma of This Man, hoax or reality will be solved.
Articles Related to This Man
People who found this article interesting might want to read:Amityville, Scamityville!: The Amityville Horror Spawned Books, Movies, Lawsuits & Controversy, An Apparition of the Living, Apparitions Are Intelligent Ghosts: Parapsychological Experience Based on Survival Theory, What is Déjà Vu – Already Experienced? and What are Shadow People?: Theories, Both Scientific and Paranormal, Exist to Explain Them.
Sources:
“Ever Dream This Man?” January 11, 2011. This Man Organization. Accessed on January 13, 2011.
“Ever Dream This Man? Urban Myth, Viral Hoax or Terrifying Boogeyman?” Todd M. Denis, JawboneTV, October 15, 2009. Accessed on January 13, 2011.
“This Mysterious Man,” Chris Capps, Unexplainablenet, October 16, 2009. Accessed on January 13, 2011.
Jill Stefko - I'd rather deal with the paranormal than human abnormal - having dealt extensively with both.
