I'm not sure if this was a psychic experience or if it's just a scary coincidence but one thing's for sure, it happened, and it makes me quite curious about the connection between dreams and our conscious everyday life.

It was the end of May in 1998. I was asleep and lost in dreamland. I had one particular dream that stood out quite a bit. I was in my friend Jen's backyard, and a group of us were playing Frisbee and running around, having fun. I heard the phone in Jen's house ring, so I went inside to answer it.

I picked up and said, "Hello?" I heard a man's voice on the other end, and he sounded distressed. He said something like, "Stop it! You're hurting me!" And I said, "Stop what? Who is this?" He said, "This is Phil." I thought, and thought, and I couldn't think of any Phil that I know. I thought it could have been Jen's friend Phil, but as far as I knew he was in the backyard, and this voice was of someone much older.

I asked him, "What's wrong?" He just kept saying things like "Stop it!" and he sounded terrified. I said, "Stop WHAT?!" and he said, "You are one psychotic woman!" He was freaking out and crying. So I tried to console him. I told him everything was going to be okay, and I was sorry for anything that was hurting him, and he finally seemed calm and said, "Okay, bye." And we hung up.

I woke up immediately after this dream, sometime in the wee hours, like maybe 3AM, I'm not sure. I woke up thinking, "Phil. Who the heck is Phil?!" And I fell back asleep.

The next morning I was at work, and my boss came in, and said, "Hey, Tina. How well do you know your comedians?" I replied, "Pretty well. Why?" He asked, "Do you know who Phil Hartman is?" I said, "Well, yes..." He said, "Well, Phil Hartman was shot and killed by his wife in the middle of the night." There was something strange about hearing that, but I didn't know just what. "How terrible," I said. (For those who don't know, he is known for his roles on SNL and Newsradio.)

I was saddened by the news, but something else kept bothering me about it and I couldn't concentrate on my work. I kept repeating it in my head, when I suddenly remembered my dream, and it dawned on me. His name was PHIL! That must have been Phil Hartman in my dream!

I wasn't sure if I should dismiss it as a ridiculous notion or not. Half the people I have talked to about it have said, "Hm. what an interesting coincidence," while the other half I have told have been quite amazed and scared. Some have suggested that I may have tapped into some sort of struggle that Phil was having inside as he was dying, and some have said that maybe his soul was calling out for help, and I happened to be the one who heard it. One person thought I was spiritually connected to Phil Hartman.