This morning I received a letter from a fan telling me she had just watched Netflix’s new series, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and wanted to let me know they were using a term I frequently use in my Haunting Danielle series—dream hopping.

My definition of dream hopping is when a spirt enters your dream. He or she might also pull another spirit or another dreaming person into your dream. I first started using this term in my books back in 2014, when writing The Ghost Who Wasn’t, which was published early 2015. Dream Hops have become a familiar element in my series.

The concept of a spirit entering your dream is nothing new. However, I thought I was being super clever coming up with the term ‘dream hop,’ but apparently, I wasn’t. As it says in Ecclesiasticsthere is nothing new under the sun.

I did a little Google search on the term. Back in 2017, two years after I published The Ghost Who Wasn’t, some guy registered the domain, dreamhopping.com, and he claims Dream Hopping is a trademarked term, but when I did a trademark search, it didn’t come up. I am not suggesting he lied; something might have been wrong with the search engine I used.

As I continued to search, I found other people using “Dream Hopping,” even a recent SpongeBob episode. When Googling the term, I found it scattered all over the internet, yet none coming up before I used the term.

But then I found a post from 2005—a decade prior to the publishing of The Ghost Who Wasn’t. It was on a dream forum I had never heard of before or visited. Member issaiah1332 wrote a post entitled “Dream Hopping,” and then went on to ask if it was possible to hop into another person’s dream. 

His or her question was not about ghost dream hopping. So, while I obviously can’t claim I coined the term, was I the first to use it when referring to a spirit visiting us in our sleep? Probably not. 

8 comments on “Dream Hopping: Who said it first?

  1. Kay Jake

    I am out here! I have read and loved all the Haunting Danielle series, though I think I missed one where a couple of the people got abducted. The closest I have ever read about Dream Hopping is couple romance novels where people from different times in history Dreamed about each other and Fate had one hopping forward or back, but it was NOT called Dream Hopping. Love the picture out on the lake! Thank you for such a heartwarming series!

    1. Bobbi Holmes Post author

      Thank you for reading the series and for taking the time to post! Stay safe during this crazy time!

  2. Debbie Zupancic

    Hello, Bobbi. I am out here too! I haven’t enjoyed a book series so much for a long while. I have “tried” to wait patiently for each and every book to come out. I have done pretty well, I guess, in that department. Having something to look forward to while in isolation makes me feel oh so much better. By the way, I have a little Lily too! She is a Chinese Crested Powder Puff weighing all of 14 pounds and apricot in color. Her three year old picture is taken with a tiara…yes, she is a princess and at times a real Diva too. I hope you and your family are well. Hugs from Las Vegas

    1. Bobbi Holmes Post author

      Hello back to you! My Lily says hi to yours! Stay safe in Vegas during these crazy times and glad you are enjoying the series. Thanks for posting!!

  3. Caroline Betz

    I don’t remember how I found your books, but am I so glad. I had to buy everyone of them. I am of course up to date waiting for the new one to come out. To me the books are like a special dessert to read real slow and enjoy. Please keep writing more.

    1. Bobbi Holmes Post author

      Thank you! Glad you are enjoying them!

  4. KELLY

    I love your Haunting Danielle series…started reading shortly after you published your first book. Then I found myself waiting four you next book…then I forgot about the books. Well now I discovered them in audible books…I just fininished the one on Second Chances. I am thrilled that Walt is alive. I love the way Eva sparkles with glitter when she appears. I told my coworkers about the storyline…they think its pretty cool story. I do believe that I actually experienced a “dream hop”.

    1. Bobbi Holmes Post author

      Thank you for your comment! Glad you’re enjoying the series. I too believe I have experienced a dream hop. Maybe not quite like the one Walt and Danielle enjoy, LOL, but similar. 🙂

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