Richard Goulding reads the Sunday Times bestselling book The Premonitions Bureau by The New Yorker journalist and author Sam Knight, which accounts the true reported premonitions of disasters in 1960s Britain.

The story follows the real life establishment of a Premonitions Bureau by Dr John Barker in the 1960s to scientifically record and investigate the claims of those who believed they had the power of foresight and could predict an impending disaster. From coal mining disasters, to the largest train and plane accidents ever recorded (and also to the prediction of Barker’s own death) The Premonitions Bureau is an enthralling and eerie true story of psychology, science and the supernatural – a journey to the most powerful and unsettling reaches of the human mind.

In this episode the response to Barker’s advertisement for premonitions of the Aberfan disaster returns some fascinating results, and Barker’s theories on the reality of precognition begin to evolve.

Abridged by Katrin Williams
Produced by Anne Isger and Rick Woska Show less