A newly married couple from Dowagiac, Michigan ended their honeymoon on the ill fated Titanic and a fortuneteller saw the tragedy coming.

Dickinson and Helen Bishop married in November of 1911 and took a 4 month honeymoon in Europe. At the end of their trip the couple postponed their return to the U.S., so that they could experience the maiden voyage of the most decadent ship ever built, the Titanic.

By all accounts the honeymoon was bliss. The couple became pregnant, adopted a dog, saw a psychic, and booked passage on the Titanic. The first four days at sea we lovely, then at 11:40 pm on Sunday April 14th tragedy struck.

The couple was alerted that the ship had struck an iceberg and after some minor confusion were placed on the first life boat launched onto the ocean. This is were the story gets really interesting. It was reported that Helen shared her experience with the fortuneteller to other passengers on the lifeboat to help keep them calm. Encyclopedia-titanica.com reports that Helen said...

"We have to be rescued, for the rest of my prophecy to come true."

The prophecy is incredibly tragic

Helen was told by the psychic that she would survive a shipwreck, an earthquake then be killed in a car accident.

Less then a year later while vacationing in California the couple experienced an earthquake, yet their troubles were not over!

Then on November 15, 1913, the couple was returning to Dowagiac from Kalamazoo, when their car when it went out of control and struck a tree. Helen did not die in the wreck but suffered a serve head injury that ultimately was the cause of her death. It was just after her 23rd birthday that she slipped on a rug, hit her head and passed away.

Dickinson survived till 1961, but life was not always easy for him. For the remainder of his life he was constantly questioned on how, he (a man) survived the sinking of the great ship. It was even rumored that he dressed as a woman to board a lifeboat. That of course was not the case, because it was the first boat loaded, and many felt it was a just precautionary to load the boats.Dickinson boarded with his wife and survived.

Other Michigan Survivors Of The Titanic...

Ruth Becker Blanchard from Benton Harbor was 12 years old and traveling with her family when the great ship sank. At one point, Ruth was separated from her mother when she was sent to the families cabin to acquire more blankets. Ruth braved a lifeboat alone, and was reunited with her mother on the Carpathia. Her father perished in the tragedy.

Hanna Touma and her two children where on their way to Dowagiac to meet her husband. All three survived and ended up moving to Flint and running a local grocery store.