Question

An esteemed rabbi got a ride and told that he had been approached with a question about a man whose father came to him in a dream on the night of the Sabbath and the holiday of Shemini Atzeret and told him to flee, etc.
In the end, there really was a massacre in that place.
A few days later I see that something similar was publicized about another rabbi, that in his study hall there are all kinds of stories, and some cast doubt on whether they were allegories or not even that.
 
What do you make of it?
Could it be that someone here is making things up?
Could it be that someone was not precise in reporting what he was asked?
Could it be that both of them were asked? (One was formerly the other’s student.)