Submitted by Claire de Lune on
About
This Man (a.k.a “Ever Dream This Man?”) is an Internet myth associated with an artist’s illustration of a man with beady eyes, bushy eyebrows, thin lips, and a receding hairline. Since October 2009, numerous reports of this man appearing in people’s dreams have come from around the world, typically portrayed as a benevolent character.
Origin
The copypasta story is said to have originated from thisman.org a website launched in September 2009 by Italian viral marketing specialist Andrea Natella. According to the site description, the portrait (shown below) was drawn by a mental patient of a well-known psychiatrist:
In January 2006 in New York, the patient of a well-known psychiatrist draws the face of a man that has been repeatedly appearing in her dreams. In more than one occasion that man has given her advice on her private life. The woman swears she has never met the man in her life. That portrait lies forgotten on the psychiatrist’s desk for a few days until one day another patient recognizes that face and says that the man has often visited him in his dreams. He also claims he has never seen that man in his waking life. The psychiatrist decides to send the portrait to some of his colleagues that have patients with recurrent dreams. Within a few months, four patients recognize the man as a frequent presence in their own dreams. All the patients refer to him as THIS MAN.
The website also insists that since January 2006, at least 2,000 people from all over the world have claimed they have seen “This Man” in their dreams, with reports coming from Los Angeles, Berlin, Sao Paulo, Tehran, Beijing, Rome, Barcelona, Stockholm, Paris, New Dehli, Moscow, etc.
Spread
Throughout October 2009, the mysterious copypasta spread across various blogs like Neatorama, Now Republic and io9, discussion forums including Yahoo Q&A, Facepunch and StraightDope Forum, as well as social news communities 4chan, Reddit and Metafilter, where lengthy discussions about the rumor’s validity and debunking attempts ensued. Numerous explanations about “This Man” soon followed suit, some based on sociological and psychological concepts like Carl Jung’s Archetype Theory or Dream Imitation Theory, as well as others that are more absurd of claims like the man is a dream skipper or the God himself.
People still claim to dream about this man. Is it merely subversive marketing tactics gone psychologically awry or something else?
In any event ...
That doesn’t mean the core idea is bad for a film. Now Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures is putting together This Man, which will be written and directed by Bryan Bertino, who last directed The Stranger for Rogue Pictures.
A press release from Ghost House says the story is “based on real life accounts,” and will follow “an ordinary guy who discovers that people he has never met are seeing him in their dreams. Now he must find out why he is the source of nightmares for strangers all over the world.”