The word “Oneirium” means a “place, container, or location for dreams.”
The first Oneirium was established by my great grandfather, Sebastian Cyrus Corbin, in West Pigglebach, Michigan, near the south beach. It first opened its doors on August 16, 1901, around the time of the solar eclipse. Corbin had been working for years on what he termed the “artificial calcification of ephemeral psychic events.” In non-specialist terms, Corbin had created a mechano-spiritual technology of some sort (his notebooks were destroyed in the famous “Fire of 01” so his exact protocols are hard to ascertain) to encapsulate the actual substance of dreams, and preserve them - in glass containers. In Corbin’s view, his acts of dream preservation were a public service. With this in mind, he opened The Oneirium to the public. Unforeseen by Corbin, the locals, already somewhat annoyed about the holes in the graveyard (for the digging of which Corbin had been questioned, but never formerly accused), and recognizing some of the preserved dreams in The Oneirium as those of certain deceased members of their close relations, instantly convened a formal riot and burned the place to the ground. 
I assume all the oneiriums that Corbin had created were destroyed in the fire, although I have heard rumors that one, or perhaps two, survive in private collections. I’ve never seen them, or been able to pin the rumors down to anything definite.
Still, in the circles in which I travel, one hears things. At any rate, soon after the fire, the family swept up what was left of old Sebastian Cyrus Corbin, put it all in a nice vase, and moved to the sparsely populated north, where we could practice our arts without the interference of too close and unseemly nosey neighbors. 
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Although understandably shy about “going public” due to our family history, we have decided that forming a non-material nexus via the internet would provide the anonymity our work requires, while also allowing us to interface with humans in a manner that provides a degree of safety for both sides.
Thus, we are resurrecting Sebastian Cyrus Corbin’s dream (if not Sebastian himself) and proudly opening this new, slightly less dangerous, on-line version of The Oneirium. - Bill Corbin, 2022 |