OTHERPLANE

I don't know if the following counts as a ghost story, psychic encounter, or just a strange dream. I've spent the last ten years wondering about this on and off, and I still have no explanation for it. (This is a true story by the way).

I had a dream in July 1990 that involved one of the members of Monty Python (I'm not kidding). The dream began in a room with a hardwood floor, three windows opened wide to let the warm breeze in; the windows were draped with white lace curtains that fluttered about. Outside the windows were hills greener than the Irish countryside. I saw this after I entered the room through a white door.

In the center of the room sat a man wearing drag (specifically wearing the type of drag that the guys used to wear on Monty Python). I recognized the individual; it was Graham Chapman (he played King Arthur in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"). He had died of cancer in October 1989; during that summer I caught some of the Python episodes on MTV, and I liked the show, but I wasn't attached to it in a particular fashion.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him. "You're supposed to be over there. You're dead." Chapman spoke in the falsetto voice the men used on the show when doing one of their "female" characters. "No I'm not", he replied. "Yes you are. You're Graham Chapman from Monty Python and you died of cancer. I saw it on the news." Again he denied it, saying a really silly name that I can't remember. I was getting frustrated. I shook my head and said, "Look, are you even aware that you're dead?"

"Well, that's silly. How could I be dead and be here?" "Because you're in my dreams right now. I'm talking to you in a place that doesn't exist. I think you have to know you're dead."

At some point he stopped his charade, for I may have blinked or something because he wasn't in rags anymore. Now he was just a tall man wearing a white suit, looking sad.

"Well Mr. Chapman", I said. He responded with, "I know I'm dead. But I don't know where to go." I looked over at the windows, at the green hills outside. I pointed to the window on the far right. "I think you go through there." "Where?" "Over the hills. You just climb out and walk straight."

"How do you know?" I shrugged. "I just do. It's time for you to go over now." "How will I know where to find it?" "Don't worry. The sun will be setting and that's how you'll know."

He looked at me, hands in the pockets of his pants. "I never knew what to do. I've been lost." "Well, I'm here. Go to the window. It's time to go."

He walked over to the right window. He looked out. "It's awfully high," he said. "Don't worry. When you jump out and land you can't injure yourself." He climbed onto the ledge, with his dangling out the window he looked back at me and said, "I'll see you in ten years". Then he jumped off and out. I watched him start walking towards the horizon, steady and fast. When he reached the last visible hill he ran up to the top, turned and waved, then walked down and disappeared.