Nightmares ... ?

[Stingy Jack]

I don't understand it ... I'll watch horror films and read horror novels like they were candy, and hardly ever get a shiver. Then I'll have some dumb-assed nightmare, like I had last night, and be totally creeped out for a couple of hours. And it WAS a stupid nightmare: not worth going into much detail. I was a character in a survival-horror video game, being chased by zombies. And it wasn't even a GOOD video game! The graphics were like old NES technology. But here's a cool nightmare I had once (which typifies my usual dreams):

I'm renting a home in a neglected neighborhood. The houses, including my own, are VERY shabby ... walls crumbling, no glass left in the windows, weeds growing up through the floor. The house next to mine has been abandoned for a long time, but I notice new people moving in one day. However, my new neighbors are members of some violent cult (I know this because of the clothes they are wearing ... pure white suits and black shoes. Doesn't sound like a real cult, but it my dream it was common knowledge.) I'm spying on them through one of my windows as they move in, and notice that they have a body stuffed in with their stuff.

I run from the house to get a friend of mine to show him the new fucked up neighbors; but when we return, the new neighbors are nowhere to be found. We decide to investigate the house.

The neighbors' front porch has been decorated with all sorts of ceremonial crap -- dead birds hanging by their feet, animal skulls laid out in a pattern, symbols drawn on the walls. The front door is locked, so we decide to go around back.

The backyard is littered with trash. Old car parts, used tires, rusted metal poles and wire among other things. At the edge of the yard begins a vast cornfield that borders us on all sides. In the middle of the yard sits a picnic table covered with piles of food.

As we investigate, the back door bangs open and a HUGE guy storms out, coming straight for us ... Fast. My friend and I know that if we run, we'll get caught. So, we decide to stand our ground. We run to the picnic table and begin throwing the food at the guy. Our efforts are in vain, for he merely catches everything we throw in his mouth and eats it. My friend is about to give up when we throw the last piece of food, until I ball up a napkin and hurl it at the guy. Again, he catches it in his mouth, but this time he chokes on it and dies.

As my friend and I are about to celebrate, ANOTHER guy comes out the back door. This time, my friend tries to coax me into running into the cornfield. I tell him calmly to step back, then I whip out my pee-pee and wield it like a firehose (which is actually an appropriate simile for what is coming next). As the guy closes in, a violent stream of flames shoots from the end of my johnson, and englufs him. He falls, dead.

That's all I remember of that one. It was creepy at the time, but now I just tell it for a laugh.

[Egekrusher]

That sounds like the majority of my dreams as well. I have learned to control my dreams/nightmares to do crazy things like peeing out fire (never done that one exactly...). I can do things like fly at will, kill monsters by the mere thought, become a human torch, etc. A very recurring them in my dreams are monsters, specifically zombies. I had nightmares SO MUCH when growing up that my mind responded by teaching me how to control these situations.

[Stingy Jack]

Originally posted by Egekrusher
That sounds like the majority of my dreams as well. I have learned to control my dreams/nightmares to do crazy things like peeing out fire (never done that one exactly...). I can do things like fly at will, kill monsters by the mere thought, become a human torch, etc. A very recurring them in my dreams are monsters, specifically zombies. I had nightmares SO MUCH when growing up that my mind responded by teaching me how to control these situations.

I've heard of people having this ability, and it seems to be pretty common. Some of the kids's shows my daughter watches actually say: "If you're having a bad dream, just remember ... it's your dream. You can do whatever you want." I've never been able to control my dreams any farther than recognizing it is a dream and waking out of it. But whether or not I recognize it as a dream is out of my control.

[kpropain]

I have some pretty fucked up dreams myself sometimes, nothing really worth telling, but they always make me think WTF when I wake up, trying to contemplate WTF just happened in my head....

[Vodstok]

I have two tuypes of nightmares, both of which (ironically) correspond to my favorite horror flicks:

The Alien Movies
And Romero's zombie movies.

I have had multiple dreams involving being trapped in a ship inhabbited by the alien. Once i was being pursued through the town i livee din in Germany growing up, with a dusturbing amount of real detail.


The walking dead dreams have always been the worst, though. They are usually so involved and detailed, i am unaware that i am dreaming. They are very similar to Lovecraft's dream chronicles, where the main characters actually live another life in their sleep.
I wake up from them feeling like they are precognitive, and i am usually afraid to look out the window for fear of seeing an army of corpses milling abbout.


A slightly different one i had once:

In the dream, i came home to find my girlfreind (now fiance) having a threesome with 2 other guys. We had been going out for about 3 months at the time, but with us, we were VERY attached by that time. it didnt last long, but in the dream she was like "Its no big deal, get over it....Jesus...." I woke up EXTREMELY upset, and when i rolled over to touch her and reassure myself, she was not there.

I think that is the only time i have panicked in the last 10 years. I got up immediately and started looking around for her (at 3 in the morning), and she was on the couch. I woke her up, and she said tshe thought she was crowding me, so she went out to the couch so i could sleep better.

I told her about the dream. It bothered the hell out of me. Needless to say, she came back to bed.

The upside was, i learned that night that i really was in love with her... :)

[Stingy Jack]

Originally posted by Vodstok

I wake up from them feeling like they are precognitive, and i am usually afraid to look out the window for fear of seeing an army of corpses milling abbout.


Yes! This is how I felt last night. I woke up from my zombie video game dream and went to pee. In the bathroom, the shower curtain was partly closed, and I just KNEW there was a fuckin' zombie standing back there just waiting for me to be in an unadvantageous position. I actually looked behind the curtain before I went to the bathroom.

Nothing there, though.

[Vodstok]

If you havent yet, check out the link in my sig that says “Godammit, Marc. Special People always walk funny”.

That story is a pretty good window into what my dreams are like.


Yes, this is also a thinly veiled attempt to get someone to read more of my stuff, but the content is still valid.

[Egekrusher]

I know the feeling of precognition. Some of my dreams actually are precognitive, like a dream that I had the night before 9/11 happened.

I was in an airport, with a trash bag full of pop cans (odd..). All I could think about was "I hope they don't think I'm a terrorist". I then boarded the plane, and was about to hijack it when I woke up. This was at approximately 7:30 eastern time, just before the first plane hit. Scary fucking shit.

Also, you have to be careful about these feelings of precognition. They can be very false. I have come very close to the point of insanity because of these types of dreams. When you question what's real every waking second of your life, it really, really fucks with your head.

[Vodstok]

I always assume they are just dreams. Luckily, i havent ever had one that actually predicted ANYTHING.

[Egekrusher]

Originally posted by Vodstok
If you havent yet, check out the link in my sig that says “Godammit, Marc. Special People always walk funny”.

That story is a pretty good window into what my dreams are like.


Yes, this is also a thinly veiled attempt to get someone to read more of my stuff, but the content is still valid.

On that same note, check out my beliefs on dreaming here (http://technologicalwasteland.com/links/session2.htm).

[Vodstok]

Very interesting, ege. If the link works, I think you would enjoy this book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345384210/qid=1088091766/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-6683674-9500148?v=glance&s=books

It's "The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death", I have had a copy of this for almost 10 years now. It is Lovecraft's best Dream stories. I think you would probably get a deeper meaning out of them than most people.

[orangestar]

The weird thing about nightmares is that while they are happening and right after you wake up, you are so terrified, and most of the time with me, it is not something I should have been that scared of.

Like mlast night I had a dream that I was at school and one of my friends stole my shirt right off my back, so I was walking around school half naked, trying to find a place to hide. I walked into a classroom and I tried everything, but I couldn't get the light to turn on. I woke up absolutely terrified about not being able to make a light turn on.

I think that dreams almost always mean nothing. I have lots of dreams about my parents dying, but Im usually on a spaceship or in Japan or something, so Its not a realistic thing. That 9/11 dreams sounds pretty creepy though.

[Egekrusher]

Originally posted by Vodstok
Very interesting, ege. If the link works, I think you would enjoy this book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345384210/qid=1088091766/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-6683674-9500148?v=glance&s=books

It's "The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft: Dreams of Terror and Death", I have had a copy of this for almost 10 years now. It is Lovecraft's best Dream stories. I think you would probably get a deeper meaning out of them than most people.

If you are interested in my philosophy, check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006092554X/qid=1088092340/sr=ka-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-3900252-1803131

It is titled "The Art Of Dreaming". It's author is Carlos Castaneda, one of the foremost experts on lucid dreaming and controlling your dreaming self.

[Egekrusher]

Originally posted by orangestar
The weird thing about nightmares is that while they are happening and right after you wake up, you are so terrified, and most of the time with me, it is not something I should have been that scared of.

Like mlast night I had a dream that I was at school and one of my friends stole my shirt right off my back, so I was walking around school half naked, trying to find a place to hide. I walked into a classroom and I tried everything, but I couldn't get the light to turn on. I woke up absolutely terrified about not being able to make a light turn on.

I think that dreams almost always mean nothing. I have lots of dreams about my parents dying, but Im usually on a spaceship or in Japan or something, so Its not a realistic thing. That 9/11 dreams sounds pretty creepy though.

From your dreams, I can tell that your are still quite young (probably 14 or 15 years old), and that you have a big fear of abandonment or rejection.

[orangestar]

Originally posted by Egekrusher
From your dreams, I can tell that your are still quite young (probably 14 or 15 years old), and that you have a big fear of abandonment or rejection.

Right on both counts.

[Vodstok]

I think the light thing is like the dreams i occasionally have about still being in high school, or still working one of my previous shit-jobs:

There is a feeling of helplessness, and confusion. Deep down inside, it's these two things that fuel most of our insecurities, so i think that is why something so small can be so terrifying, in a dream at least.

In real life, you have control over a lot of things. it is weird how your brain will set up roadblocks for you that normally dont exist.

[Egekrusher]

Originally posted by orangestar
Right on both counts.

One of my hobbies is dream interpretation. I'm growing to be quite good at it. :)

[movieman64]

I share the same aspects of pretty much all of you here in my dreams. I think the scarey thing for me is that it envolves family or friends, and how I got them drug into these situations.

I keep a notepad and pencil on the nightstand and write down my dreams when I wake up from them. I read them later and if worthy put them in my journal. Maybe someday it will reveal somthing, or prove I'm just full of shit.

[Vodstok]

That's not a bad idea. The Terminator came into being because Jim Cameron drew some pictures of a nightmare he had of a cyborg trying to kill him. He wrote a story around it, and then got his buddy Lance Henrikson to help him pitch the idea for a movie. The rest, as they say, is history. :)

[Egekrusher]

Originally posted by movieman64
I share the same aspects of pretty much all of you here in my dreams. I think the scarey thing for me is that it envolves family or friends, and how I got them drug into these situations.

I keep a notepad and pencil on the nightstand and write down my dreams when I wake up from them. I read them later and if worthy put them in my journal. Maybe someday it will reveal somthing, or prove I'm just full of shit.

Very good idea. By doing this, you are basically training yourself to remember your dreams more vividly by actually trying to extract details from it. Most people don't remember the dream itself, but a feeling or emotion caused by the dream.

[Rebel Yell]

I have nightmares pretty much every night. I often am gutted and I watch from 3 different views, in body, out of body, and I watch from the view of the gutter. My nightmares are always bloody and I am either killed, or someone is trying to kill me. They say that you aren't supposed to die in your dreams, because it means you really die, but that is crap. I have died many times. After death, my nightmare shifts to jet black.

This is a nightmare I had a few nights ago.

I was having a dinner party, and this crazy lady and her devil child showed up. I kept trying to think of ways I could get rid of them, so I decided that killing them would be the best. It was crazy. I was trying to stab the chick, but people kept walking in, so I broke her neck and hid her in the closet. Then I killed her kid, I have no idea how, and I threw him in the pot on the stove. When I realized what I had done I felt like shit, but I also realized that if I didn't take off it would be a long prison sentance. The thought of going to hell ran through my mind, and when I heard my guests talking about the "new meat" cooking on my stove I bolted. When I went outside the hills started turning to fire, and everything around me was burning. I totally went to hell.

Crazy shit I tell you.

[orangestar]

I usually cant remember very many details from dreams (its funny how your mind does that to you) but there are a few that affected me pretty bad.

I've only died once in a dream, and I definelty remeber every detail of that dream. It wasnt necessarily a scary dream, just really really weird.

[Egekrusher]

Rebel Yell-

You've had some very bad things happen in your lifetime that you are having a hard time dealing with. You also feel that you have done many bad, evil things as well. You are conflicted about your point of view on this though. You don't know whether to submit to these feelings of self hatred and guilt, or to fight them. Whether or not you deserve the blame for these is up to you to decide. These feelings are so persistent that you feel like you are in a living Hell.

And yes, you can very well die in your dreams, though it's not advisable. It's not good for your mental state.

Tell me if I'm off the mark here.

[Stingy Jack]

Something about my dreams that impresses me is how resourceful I can be in them. I remember one nightmare I had where my wife and I were being stalked by a scissor-weilding killer. He had long, greasy hair that hung in his face, was unshaven, and decked out in a pale plaid shirt, jeans, and work boots.

He managed to get my wife to the ground, and was about to kill her. I looked around, searching for a weapon, but could only find a telephone. I unhooked the coiled wire that connects the handset to the cradle, and strangled the guy with it before he could kill my wife.

I woke up feeling quite proud that I was able to hold my own in that situation. :D

[thEsounDofdirT]

i love it when i have a nightmare that leaves me in ruins... it means i'm about to make some of my best music :)


i have died in my dreams... it has never really messed me up... however, when family dies.. or people i care about.. it's really devastating.. and it's difficult to realize that it's a dream even after i wake up...

but even though a dream is disturbing to me... i am happy to have that kind of fear and disarray in my life so that i can make "real world" music

[jay o2 waster]

I belive that you have dreams everynight, but you dont always remember them, and i never remember my dreams

[thEsounDofdirT]

oh yea.. if you sleep normally hours... you dream... theta waves i believe, are the waves you see during REM sleep.. i THINK.. i can't remember.. i don't have my psych books with me at the moment :)

everyone enters this stage... however, the more you grow old, the less time you spend in this stage.. a baby spends a large majority of its time sleeping, and a large majority of THAT time dreaming

it's a shame we don't always remember though

[Rebel Yell]

Originally posted by Egekrusher
Rebel Yell-

You've had some very bad things happen in your lifetime that you are having a hard time dealing with. You also feel that you have done many bad, evil things as well. You are conflicted about your point of view on this though. You don't know whether to submit to these feelings of self hatred and guilt, or to fight them. Whether or not you deserve the blame for these is up to you to decide. These feelings are so persistent that you feel like you are in a living Hell.

And yes, you can very well die in your dreams, though it's not advisable. It's not good for your mental state.

Tell me if I'm off the mark here.
I have definitely had bad things happen to me troughout my life. I haven't done anything truly evil. I have done things to hurt people that I regret. I don't live in a world of self hatred, but there was a point in my life when I did. I am actually pretty happy right now. I do have mad mood swings though, but the night I had that hell nightmare I was really upbeat. It was like a nightmare, but I found it to be more comical. A slapstick dream of sorts, or something.

[zwoti]

i don't dream.