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Looking over our archives, I’m noticing we like to post about sleep and sleep-related habits. Last winter, Higgins wrote a fabulous post about lucid dreams, or dreams you can control. Ransom has had a few cool posts on dream-related topics, including an exceptional one asking readers whether it’s smart to wake a sleepwalker or not.
I’ve long been fascinated by dreams and even used to keep a dream journal when I was going through a Freudian phase, obsessed with his writings in The Interpretation of Dreams. Freud thought dreams were full of symbolism tied to our deepest desires—things repressed by the super-ego during our waking life. But asleep, the more primitive id is free to frolic and work out wish fulltime through two separate layers: manifest content, which is what the dream seems to be about on the surface, and latent content, or the hidden meaning of the dream.
Of course, Freud was hardly the first to place great importance on dream-states. In ancient Egypt and Greece, dreams were thought of as the most direct means of communication with the Gods. I’ve also read that in ancient Rome, some physicians even used dreams to help them diagnose illnesses.
Lately, my dreams have been seriously supersized. Not sure if it’s the new vitamins I’m taking or what, but last week, for instance, I had the wildest dream in which I was playing the viola! Mind you, I don’t know the first thing about playing a string instrument. As you saw in monday’s On Music post, it’s quite difficult. But in the dream I had full mastery of the instrument and was producing the most glorious, richest tone I’d ever heard. Don’t exactly remember what music I was playing, but I woke from the dream thinking I should call a violist friend, borrow his axe, and see if, in fact, I really COULD play the viola. That’s how vivid the dream was. As of this posting, I’m still trying to figure out the latent content (though I’m sure I know what old Freud would say about that viola bow).
What about you guys? What’s the coolest, most vivid dream you’ve ever had? Or the scariest? The most surreal? If you’re not certain what it meant, maybe another _floss reader can help you out with her/his own interpretation.
Comments (64)
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I had this dream when I was little that I had somehow lost my pinky nail. And I mean like there was no nail there whatsoever. Only I thought this had really happened until a couple of years ago when I asked my mother about it and she said that I never lost my nail. I went through a majority of my life thinking I lost a pinky nail when I was little, but all along it was only a dream!
On the other hand, I had a recent dream about my boyfriend and his ex and it was creepy because while I have no reason to worry, my dream made my feel like I had one. It was one of those dreams where I lost my boyfriend to this woman and when I woke up I needed him by my side to make me feel ok!
posted by AimeeD on 10-10-2007 at 4:14 am
I once had a dream entirely in Shakespearean sonnet form. Iambic pentameter and everything. So that was kind of.. bizarre.
There was an interesting segment on sleep & dreams on a recent episode of NOVA. It’s viewable online here, if anyone’s interested:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3410/01.html
posted by Celeste on 10-10-2007 at 4:22 am
I had a very strange dream last week where I had been sent, for a week, to go and work at the bread processing plant. The bread processing plant, for those who don’t know is the place where giant trucks with crates, bring ALL mouldy bread to go and be disposed of safely. In my dream I spent a week armpit deep in cold, mould infested, fuzzy water making the tubes work or whatever, when they decided to drain out all of the water and then I was going to get sucked in! but I didn’t *phew) then on myway home I drove past a mushroom cloud explosion. Crazy, crazy dream, I’m still really scared of my loaf……………..
posted by dolly d on 10-10-2007 at 4:46 am
Hi,
I’ve read this site for awhile but never responded before. Couldn’t resist with this topic.
I had a dream once where I was attacked by a bear and killed at a local sand pit a short distance from my home. The bear had me down and ripped open my back. In my dream I woke up with a start. I called a friend and told him about the dream and how disturbing it was. He suggested that we meet up and go to the sand pit where the dream took place. When we got close to the pit we noticed a crowd of people with police and ambulance lights surrounding the pit. I worked my way through the crowd and looked into the pit – I looked down and saw myself dead with my back ripped open.
I had this dream years ago and can’t remember what was happening in my life at the time. It stays with me though only because I think it’s one hell of a dream.
It also proved that you can die in a dream and still wake up. I died in a dream within a dream – interesting.
Ok guys – wrap your minds around that one and share your thoughts.
Peace, Shawn
posted by Shawn on 10-10-2007 at 4:48 am
My favourite dream: I was told the funniest joke in the universe, a joke so hilarious that an entire city was laughing with me after the telling of it in shockwaves of mirth, and the laughing just. didn’t. stop.
I was laughing so hard that I woke myself up from the dream, gasping for normal breath.
I think i tasted a moment of zen enlightenment in there somewhere. Of course, there is no memory of the actual details of the joke (which is probably a good thing, as I can’t tell a joke to save my life) :)
posted by adam alexander on 10-10-2007 at 4:57 am
Scariest dream…
Definitely the one I had about WWIII when I was 13. (Now 15) It was insane. There were just stacks of bodies everywhere. There was also an older woman gnawing at a human arm, eating it. My cousins, brother, and I were in Time Square gathering the bodies together with a bulldozer.
The thing that really gets me is one of my cousins (not in my dream) had a dream about such a time as well on the same night. There was overcrowding in a hospital and some sort of an epidemic had occurred. She was a doctor treating the patients.
posted by Umar on 10-10-2007 at 5:10 am
I have dreams once in awhile where I get really angry with a person in my life, such as my mom or sister. When I wake up, I’ll still raging mad. I actually have to talk myself down so that I don’t go storming into their rooms at 3am to yell at them. But in a few hours, I don’t even remember why I was mad.
Also, when I was taking AP spanish in high school I used to dream in spanish. It was strange because I’d have to think of everything that was going on or what I was saying in Spanish. Needless to say, my spanish isn’t very good so my dreams ended up going really slowly.
posted by Amy on 10-10-2007 at 6:03 am
My psychology professor once told of this theory where someone said that during sleep, the brain filed away things that happened that day in a shuffling pattern as if putting things in order in a filing cabinet and dreams formed as we caught glimpses of the filing. That why so many strange things would be together that wouldn’t normally. It’s hard to explain. If anyone has heard of this theory please let me know.
posted by Sasquatch on 10-10-2007 at 6:22 am
I once dreamt I was in a duel, with old fashioned handguns and all. I ended up being shot in the shoulder and was slowly dying in my dream as a result.I woke up before I was totally dead though. The thing was, in my dream, although I was dying and knew it my shoulder didn’t hurt…I felt no pain whatsoever….and I have spent many waking hours wondering if it hurts when you get shot. I actually did some research that suggests that the shock of getting shot shuts down the pain process temporarily, and no, it doesn’t always hurt. Weird as it is, this dream made me a lot less afraid of “the potential for pain” and a lot more confident in trying things in my life. (I still don’t want to get shot though, pain or no!!)
posted by Sandie on 10-10-2007 at 6:36 am
When I was 8, I had a dream that i had a metal bar in my mouth and when i touched it, my tongue fell out. I showed my mom and she cut a tongue-shape out of a milk carton and put that in my mouth. When I woke up, I actually had to check if my tongue was still attached or not.
posted by mor on 10-10-2007 at 7:00 am
The only lucid dream I’ve ever had is my favorite. I had just read an article about lucid dreaming that said that most people during a lucid dream choose either to fly or have sex.
In my dream I was rollerskating over gravel, and I realized that I wasn’t falling over, so I must be dreaming. I remembered what the article said, and I started skating with superhuman speed, and then I was flying.
posted by jamie g on 10-10-2007 at 7:03 am
My wife is 8 months pregnant with our first child. She has several times woekn me up screaming and thrashing dreaming of, among other things…
Snakes attacking her while she is holding the baby trying to eat it.
Picking up the baby and its head falling off.
Poopie Diapers (no, wait, that last one is me.)
posted by Witty Nickname on 10-10-2007 at 7:21 am
I used to dream repeatedly that I was getting married, but had forgotten the name of the man I was marrying–couldn’t even remember what he looked like! I dreamed the whole scene, getting ready for the wedding, walking down the aisle, and every time his name would be mentioned, something would happen so I couldn’t hear. I dreamed this at least five times (each time the same) over the year before I met my husband-to-be, when the dreams stopped. The week before our wedding, I dreamed it again–only this time, I knew who I was marrying!
posted by Kat on 10-10-2007 at 7:21 am
I remembered another one, when I was in college studying computer science I had an entire dream sequence in C++, do not remember how that worked exactly. Just remember waking up and saying, “What the hell?”
posted by Witty Nickname on 10-10-2007 at 7:25 am
Wait…Witty, Are the Poopie Diapers on the baby or on you?
On the Baby…..OK
On you……..Not OK (kinda sick)
posted by Paul on 10-10-2007 at 7:31 am
I very, very rarely remember my dreams. I’m not sure if that says anything about me.
However, on the rare occasion that I do remember what I was dreaming about, it’s usually some variation of me being able to fly. I’ve been having some form of this same dream for about 15 years now. Sometimes I’m the only person who can fly and sometimes there is a small group of us. Sometimes no one can see me while I’m flying, sometimes they can but it’s ok, and sometimes they can and they’re trying to capture me for it.
The dream is always so vivid that when I wake up it feels like, if I could just remember exactly how I did it, I’d still be able to fly.
posted by caitlen315 on 10-10-2007 at 7:33 am
I have a certain type of theme in my recurring dreams that always involve a similar topic, and until recently, I never knew that this was a rather common dream ‘theme’ for people who live in large, cramped cities especially… it always involves my moving into and/or discovering some kind of new living space. Either I am moving or finding a new ‘wing’ to someplace I already live, and somehow, I end up finding vast streches of space that belong to me. Huge bathrooms the size of warehouses with 27 bathtubs and waterslides and fountains, or entire wings of unused bedrooms and hallways, all at my personal disposal. Doors that open up to entire underground mansions that all belong to me and I never even knew it. Man, those dreams are the BEST.
posted by Sarah on 10-10-2007 at 7:35 am
Nothing too weird about the dreams i remember.
One dream I used to have all the time though seemed very real. I was always flying but not high in the sky. It was always over a fence. I would fly over the length of it just a few inches above. And evertime I woke up from the dream, I would SWEAR I could feel myself crash onto my bed.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 10-10-2007 at 7:41 am
David – I just noticed that you posted this at 3:30 am. Were you woken up by a dream, or just by that adorable little boy?
posted by caitlen315 on 10-10-2007 at 7:47 am
Sarah, I didn’t realize that was a theme of people living in cramped spaces. It’s weird because my mom often dreams of finding new rooms in my parents’ house . . . and they live in the middle of nowhere Texas on a farm–not exactly cramped. Hmmm, there’s got to be something Freudian to that.
posted by Meagan on 10-10-2007 at 7:48 am
There is a school of thought that suggests flying dreams are actually a form of Astral Projection. That your consciousness actually leaves your body and you are able to visit “the other side”. Kind of like the Remote Viewing experiments they toyed around with in WWII.
posted by Groovygaia on 10-10-2007 at 7:54 am
I had been out late with some friends and was able to sleep in the next morning. As I was lying on my left side in bed, I opened my eyes briefly. When I did so, my arm, which was lying stretched out in front of my face, was orange, rocky, and chunky just like The Thing from the Fantastic Four. I looked at it, opened and closed my hand, watching my square fingers move, then shut my eyes again. I immediately opened my eyes again and I was back to normal. I didn’t fall back asleep after this, so I must have dreamt it right on the edge of consciousness. It was definitely wild.
posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 10-10-2007 at 7:58 am
I had a dream just last night that was very odd. In the dream, my mother came running into the house and said that her friends were trying to kill her. I looked outside and saw these 3 women that were her friends. (No clue who they are though) Then, this guy knocks on the door. He is trying to get my mom to eat Bil-Jac dog food which will somehow poison her and kill her. He is a hitman. After talking to him for a little while, I give him $50 and he agrees to not try to kill my mom anymore. Then, I ended up getting his phone number and we dated.
Very, VERY odd!
posted by D on 10-10-2007 at 8:23 am
I’m sure that a load of people here will have had the worst dream in the world before, its one that i have a couple of times a month….. thats right… its the LOTTERY DREAM!!! There’s absolutely nothing worse than waking up to realise that you aren’t megarich and you actually do have to go to work today. It always makes me want to cry :(
posted by Kamal on 10-10-2007 at 8:24 am
I had a recurring theme in my dreams during my late teens. I was able to glide along about 1 inch above the ground with full control of the movement – it was graceful and peaceful whenever I could maneuver in this fashion.
The first time I saw “wheelies” (~9 years ago), I thought wow – “my dream come true.” Now if I could get up the courage to but a pair ;-)
posted by Donna Andlen on 10-10-2007 at 8:31 am
I think the strangest dream i’ve ever had was that i went to London to meet a girl. But when i got there she had a boyfriend so i killed him with a samurai sword. Then i proceeded to escape from london on the roof of a train being chased by the military and bizzarely i ended up in an underground base with rockets everywhere (think “you only live twice”) but i woke up before anything happened. I wuz gutted… i want the end of that dream!!!
posted by Kamal on 10-10-2007 at 8:35 am
Also i dreamt that i was being chased down the street by dancing tramps/clowns. They were making wierd grunting noises and were dancing round me waving their arms. I was fighting these dancing tramps when i was woke up by my then girlfriend cos i’d punched her in the face in my sleep!
What can i say? I eat a lot of cheese before i go to bed! I love crazy dreams!!!
posted by Kamal on 10-10-2007 at 8:39 am
Most of my dreams have some element of motion in them, usually flying or swimming. I heartily enjoy flying, but unfortunately most of the dreams with flying also come equipped with power lines. Too many times I have hit power lines while dream-flying (I was overjoyed when there were no obstacles in a recent lucid dream).
But probably the weirdest dream I had where the second dream was trying to explain the first. The first dream had me tumbling through some sort of convuluted terrascape, then I blacked out. Then, in the second dream, I had “woken up” to find a bunch of my friends huddled over me, and explaining to me I had been knocked out by a badly-placed kick during tae kwon do class. Strange, huh?
posted by Zeph on 10-10-2007 at 8:41 am
Having many take home exams as an undergrad taking “DiffiQ”, I would often crash before resolving a particularly tough equation.
Imagine dreaming the solutions and waking up to finish writing the exam. This happened more than once.
This went to far when I found myself trying to solve life issues in my dreams by writing them out in equations.
A+B =C
Now if only my toddler (A) plus a warm bath (B) could equal easy bedtime routine (C). Or eating cake (A) and chocolate (B) equaled thin (C).
These clearly didn’t compute!
posted by Donna Andlen on 10-10-2007 at 8:42 am
I have a tendency to have “sleep paralysis” dreams, which are most often frightening. What happens is I fall asleep, but the setting of my dream will be the exact setting of where I have fallen asleep. Now it only starts to get creepy when I notice that something is amiss, it can even be something tiny like the lighting is off. (Or it can be huge like a man with no face standing over me). This will make me feel huge amounts of terror and since I know I am dreaming, I will try to wake myself up, either by moving or saying something out loud. The only problem is, I am unable to move or produce words (am paralyzed) and so I cannot come out of my dream, which in turn causes even more amounts of tremendous fear and fright. To make matters worse this happens at least two or three times a week. I guess they are interesting to experience though. Also, when I am not having sleep paralysis, I have recurring dreams that are set on dilapidated bridges over water. This is the only other thing I dream about.
posted by Celeste on 10-10-2007 at 9:01 am
I have a couple, I’ll post them separately since the first is loooong (but awesome).
My favorite dream ever was in college. It starts with me running down an ever-narrowing path into the woods. As I’m running, everything goes slow-motion — and I find myself able to recover from leaning over so far to the point that I’m parallel to the ground, several times.
I tire out, and start walking. I overhear walkie-talkies in the woods, saying something about a show, and no one but this girl I had the hots for being capable of going near it.
As I get further into the woods, a red glow appears in the distance. I get closer, and it intensifies…in addition, a mechanical whirring sound kicks in. I think to myself that it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen/heard in my life. This must be the show I was hearing about.
Eventually, I go home. On my way out of the woods, three adorable little aliens (2.5 feet tall) start walking with me. As they’re walking with me, they jump up and down excitedly — kicking their legs back at the peak of each jump. Also, they jump so that the tops of their heads touch the palms of my hands — and the tops of their heads feel AMAZING. I’ve never felt brain coral before, but the surface of their heads look like it, so I imagine they feel like brain coral feels.
We get back to my home, and the aliens introduce themselves to me. The only one I remember is Ben Ben — in my dream, it strikes me that someone was just telling me about someone named Ben Ben. “Do they call you Bun Buns?” I ask him. He nods. “Mr Talkative?” He nods again, and smiles.
I don’t know why, but something about it made me feel incredible. I woke up and sat upright in my bed with my jaw dropped and a huge smile for like five minutes. This was about 10 years ago, and I can still remember the amazing red glow, and soothing mechanical whirring, and feeling of the tops of their heads like it actually happened.
posted by steverino on 10-10-2007 at 9:10 am
My second —
The latest rage with people was something called “Rats” — they were pets. But they were miniature people, who liked to chew on their owners limbs, and wet themselves. Why people liked them, I don’t know. But someone bought me four of them.
I didn’t want them. So I put them in the trunk of a car, and drove toward a brick wall, and jumped out of the vehicle. As it rolled toward the wall, it transformed in front of my eyes into Andre 3000, of Outkast fame, and walked away.
These are the only two dreams I’ve ever had about 2.5 feet tall beings…I swear.
posted by steverino on 10-10-2007 at 9:11 am
P.S. I heard that during the Middle Ages it was believed that to dream about water signified insanity. I hope this is not true.
posted by Celeste on 10-10-2007 at 9:24 am
Sometime within the last 2 weeks, my girlfriend was sleeping over, and I had a dream that I woke up next to her and she was having a horrible nightmare, screaming and thrashing about, and I was trying to comfort her and wake her, and I ended up waking myself and her (in real life) by yelling “Boo!”
I used to lucid dream when I was younger, generally jumping higher and higher until I started flying anywhere up to 50ft above the ground, but not anymore. It seems whenever I realize I’m dreaming now, I can’t help waking up.
posted by TMo on 10-10-2007 at 9:25 am
Recently, as in the last few weeks, I have been having dreams involving time travel. The first one is the most vivid, and I traveled into the past and met a current ex-boyfriend at a party. I remember being highly amused that we went on the have this long term relationship, but he didn’t know it yet. Mostly, the feeling was that it was just fun to see him without all the dramatic relationship stuff.
There have also been future dreams, but these seem to be about a variety of options in my life at the moment. Sometimes I am living with the current boyfriend, sometimes with friends or by myself. Sometimes I work in a museum, and sometimes I have a baby.
These dreams are so vivid, that I often wake up thinking they have actually happened. It is a little hard to go work in a cafe in the morning when a few hours ago you were the director of a major museum. . . sigh. . .
posted by jzimm on 10-10-2007 at 9:31 am
When I was little (between ages of 4 and 9) I used to dream that I flew round and round my room. In my dream, I was a bumblebee which had a string tied around it´s body so it couldn´t fly off, and I was on my bed holding the string at stomach level.
I had it quite often, and one day I was flying round and round and missed and went through the wall and to the outside. I flew back in, and decided to go through the wall once again, and after that I went up through the roof and onto the apartment that was above me.
i remember I didn´t like to be between the ceiling in my room and the floor of the apartment above, I though that there was something there which could cut through the string, so I went back inside and landed on the belly of my body on the bed.
Years later I read about astral projection, and boy, was I freaking out.
posted by medea on 10-10-2007 at 9:33 am
When I was younger, 10 or so, I had this same dream about five times…
Myself and a number of friends are all playing tag, we are running around inside this building like mad – tag your it- but most of the rooms in this building were elevators that seemed to cooperate automatically run in, go to another floor, run out.
At the end of the dream all of us would end up in the basement where there were these dentist-chair like chairs on tracks, one for each of us. We got on and the race started, That was where I would wake up.
posted by ron on 10-10-2007 at 9:59 am
Glad to know I am not the only one with wierd dreams.
I have had two recurring dreams throughout my life:
1. I am trapped in my house and there are numerous tornados outside.
2, It is night, and I am trying to get home, but I am lost in the bad part of town-boarded up buildings, broken steet lights.
I have’nt had those dreams in a while.
Last night I dreamed I was on the island in the “Lost” TV show(!)
posted by Mark on 10-10-2007 at 10:13 am
I tend to have lots of nightmares, or at least it seems like I do.
I used to have recurring nightmares (up to 3 or 4 times a week) mostly about elevators. Either I’d be in a elevator and the cables would snap and the elevator would start falling, or something else would snap and the elevator would start shooting towards the roof. And one time, I was stuck in this dream where the elevator would fall, and just as it was about to hit the ground, it would shoot up towards the roof, and then start falling back down, and so on.
The most frustrating recurring dream I have, is when I’m dreaming that I need to get to algebra or french class in high school. But I know that I haven’t been in high school for 6 years. But for some reason I need to be there, and I’m going to be really late, and really, really behind in homework.
posted by linda on 10-10-2007 at 10:17 am
I remember having a dream with ending credits. The credits flew by for a while, complete with the production logos, then the “screen” went blank. (Meaning I woke up). Very odd
posted by StephanieArcher on 10-10-2007 at 10:55 am
I have a recurring dream in which I discover new rooms in my house. These newly discovered rooms are usually underground, and accessed through the cellar. I live in a little old farmhouse, so it’s not surprising to me that I should dream about more space.
I used to have dreams where I could fly, but not soaring, thermal-riding condor-like flight. I could fly, but I was only about 6 inches off the ground. Picture lying face down on a skateboard, only without the skateboard. It was fun flying over water, though; I felt like a human hovercraft.
posted by Ken on 10-10-2007 at 11:18 am
I have those dreams sometimes when I am so tired that I am sleeping through the alarm while it’s going off in the morning. Then the beeping appears in my dream, that’s how I finally wake up because the beeping is really annoying.
With both of my children, I met them in my dreams and knew what gender they would be when they were born.
My grandmother has won thousands of dollars by dreaming of a certain sequence of numbers and betting on them.
posted by Jen on 10-10-2007 at 11:26 am
My favorites dreams involve me having the ability the breathe underwater. On occasion I’ll have premonition dreams. However, it can take a couple of years before the dream comes “true”. I used to have recurring nightmares of a man standing over my bed watching me sleep. After a few months had gone by my mother told me she had a baby 10 years before I was born and she put him up for adoption. She told me he started searching for her in September 2002 (same month my nightmares started) and found her in February 2003 (which is the same month my nightmares ended). I had absolutely no idea he existed until June 2003 when he asked my mom if he could talk to me on the phone. We’ve been happily reunited ever since!
posted by Rashmi on 10-10-2007 at 12:42 pm
Whoa, there’s another Celeste here. That never happens!
I very, very frequently dream about elevators. Like, elevators that go up 200 floors or something insane. And of course they’re always glass elevators, which I *hate*. They’re not falling/crashing, but it’s just distressing and no one around me seems to mind them at all.
I also dream about flying, but sometimes I’m up in the air and I keep going up and can’t get myself to come back down.
posted by Celeste M. on 10-10-2007 at 12:44 pm
I don’t know how relevant this is, but not so long ago I got a little weirded out by the very idea that we can “remember” dreams. That is, we can have memories of events that never actually happened. It just kind of bothered me. (Truth be told, it still does, a bit.)
The strangest dreams to me are ones which are about bizarre happenings, but are apparently common, such as dreaming that your teeth fall out. Whenever I have that one I inevitably have to actually check my mouth when I wake up. I’m led to believe that this is not an uncommon dream, though!
posted by Richard on 10-10-2007 at 1:13 pm
Teeth dreams are scary for me too, because they always feel so real! I also hate running dreams because I feel like I’m on a Stairmaster and can’t run at all…which always lead me to think that I actually run in my sleep, but I don’t know…
The best dream I’ve had was flying, despite the fact that I’m afraid of heights. Those come by rarely, and it’s magical and amazing when it does happen.
I’ve had repeated dreams about driving and not being able to brake properly. When I was with my ex, I had repeated dreams about cheating on him and he finding out and me going all apologetic…and as soon as we broke up, the dreams suddenly disappeared. And there have been so many variations of dreams involving my childhood friend, it’s not fun to dream about them anymore (sort of a long story behind that).
I love dreams. I’ve been able to record and decipher most of my mine for years. They’re there to figure out life’s kinks and to release pent-up emotions, and sometimes do nothing but amuse us.
posted by Lisa on 10-10-2007 at 3:26 pm
I once had a dream that I was attending Hogwarts (no surprise really; I had just finished the 7th book that day). I wasn’t just a regular student, but I was a professor conducting research. My project was to transport inanimate objects anywhere you wanted them to go (I’ve been thinking, and I don’t think they can do this in the books). Yep. At the very end of the dream I finally had some success. I think I got too excited and woke up.
Wow. What a dorky dream.
posted by David on 10-10-2007 at 3:40 pm
Oh, I forgot about driving dreams. I dream all the time that I’m driving and suddenly realize I’m in the backseat (and no one’s in the front).. or that some cars are coming towards me and some away, and there’s not really any order to things. Or, like you, Lisa, just that I can’t stop, or that I have to put my entire body into pushing on the brake and BARELY manage to stop like a millimeter away from the car in front of me.
posted by Celeste M. on 10-10-2007 at 3:53 pm
I have dreams about attend college again. It’s never the same campus in the dreams nor do any of them remind me of the one I attended. The one common thread in each dream is that I do not know what my class schedule is. I attend one class then walk around campus with a blank sheet of paper looking for my next class. I guess I might be searching for something in my life that I have not completed or lost. I never went pass the AAS level and I know I’m smart enough for at least a masters. Oh well, go figure.
posted by Owen on 10-10-2007 at 4:36 pm
I had a dream where I was strapped to a cold metal table in some hospital. Everything was 1950’s sickly green. Maniacal looking surgeons weilding syringes loomed over me. One of the surgeons raised up his syringe-which was the size of a rolling pin-and shoved it into my stomach.
My mouth stretched open to scream; a nurse shoved it full of sterile cotton.
To evade at least seeing the surgeons, my eyes shot to the ceiling. There, happened a creature crossed between a spider and an octopus. It looked just like an enormous spider, until it started to move. Then its appendages curled and writhed like seperate beings.
I woke up after the spider-octopus craw-slithered its way out a window.
posted by shannon on 10-10-2007 at 4:38 pm
I remember having one strangely vivid dream, where my house was located at the top of a very mossy, treeless mountain, and my friends and I were on a ledge below the house, admiring the view. Well, I fell off the ledge, and started sliding down the mountainside. I kept sliding through the moss, and some climbers called to me to grab the rope they were climbing with, and I did, but after a few minutes of holding on to it, I simply let go, and kept on sliding down the mountain, fast approaching the lake that lay in the valley below. In any case, I had so much momentum I sped off the pier and into a canoe. Then I climbed back up the mountain. It was strangely vivid.
When I woke up, I had slid out of my bed and was attempting to climb back into it(my bed was three feet off the ground, and I was about 6 at the time). My dad was standing outside the bedroom going WTF
posted by Catherine on 10-10-2007 at 4:57 pm
I had a dream in which I had some kind of power called “monster vision”. I could see all the scary creatures lurking in the shadows of my room, so I got up and crept out, but the monsters had no idea that I could see them, so they sat there gambling and somking pipes. I left my room and went downt he hall, and saw one resembling Randall from Monsters Inc., who gave me his phone number and hit my butt as I walked by. A large one was playing piano, while a tiny, lizard-like one plyed the piccalo on his head. I went into the kitchen and one was cooking me pasta. I ate dinner with it and it was the most delicious pasta I had/have ever eaten.
Then we got married.
It was SO odd.
posted by Kayla on 10-10-2007 at 7:14 pm
I have really vivid dreams all the time. The weirdest ones are the ones where I’m having one dream and it just changes into another dream without warning (like flipping the channels on a tv)it always kinda freaks me out.
My most vivid dreams were when I was about 6. It happened over the course of about a week-2 weeks. We were in Paris (on vacation that time) and our hotel room had a big skylight in it with this weird slanted ceiling. I remember because it always struck me as a bit odd. I had this awful nightmare that I was in a dark room hanging by metal chains over a pot of boiling lava and the devil was laughing at me. (and I grew up in a really non-religious house, I can count on one hand the number of times I went to church as a child) I had the same dream every night, except that the way the devil had chained me up was different. It freaked me out, and when I would wake up, the shadows from the skylight would cast weird shapes and I somehow got it into my head that there were snapping turtles and snakes on the floor so I would be afraid to get up and tell my parents. The same thing happened night after night, but stopped when we returned to our house in the States.
posted by greenstrawberries on 10-10-2007 at 8:19 pm
When I was a teenager, someone told me that I could control my dreams, if I could just remember to make a conscious effort to do it while dreaming. Only once was I was actually able to keep my presence of mind enough to control the dream. I don’t remember everything about the dream, but I woke up feeling triumphant because instead of just hoping for a flying dream, I was actually able to make one happen.
I have never had nightmares more terrifying than the ones I get since I had my kids. I read an article saying they reflect parental anxiety. I’d say that’s an UNDERSTATEMENT! If I so much as see a headline about a kid in danger, I know I’m going to have bad, bad nights.
posted by Rusty on 10-10-2007 at 9:32 pm
I have 4 common dreams that often repeat themselves:
Surreal: In a position of fear with no ability to react properly.
– Most recent one was I was showering at some place and then the curtain opens and there is a old classmate staring at me getting ready to grab… same thing happens… I cannot scream and I cannot punch, hit, or kick with any might.
Weight:
– I have a frequent dream where I am able to run vast distances in short amounts of time… with people being carried on my back.
Highly Imaginative one:
– When I was reading a Eragon and Tears of Artamon, I kept having this dream where I had a dragon (I’m the Dragon rider) and then all of a sudden I turn into a Drakhaon (Dragon Demon) and I fight to save something.
Sexy Dream:
– In a weird situation whether it be work or play, everything would be normal until someone comes into play. Then it becomes a X-rated vision and then… I open the next door and I’m at my grandma’s House.
posted by 123456 on 10-11-2007 at 1:10 am
When I was about 3, I had a dream that I was in my room at night doing something, probably jsut staring at the wall because I distinctly remember a shelf with a bunch of toys on it, and all of a sudden something crashed through the cieling and landed a few feet away from me. It was – get ready – a cartoonish toilet that smiled and waved at me. For some reason this didn’t faze me at all and I went to my parents’ room to tell them about it. When we went back to my room, it had changed into a wierd commode with three connected seats and its lids were moving up and down rhythmically. Now THIS freaked me out, though now I just think what a weird kid I was lol.
A trend in my more recent dreams has been me losing teeth. Most of the time they jsut become loose and fall out, but the freaky thing is that I can actually feel the tooth moving, as well as the void in my mouth afterwards.
posted by heather on 10-11-2007 at 1:26 am
I’m glad I’m not the only person who’s dreamed about their teeth falling out. That dream always freaks me out because for some reason by teeth are HUGE in my dreams.
I recently dreamed that I was at school talking to some random guys that I had met. My friend Katie walked in, so I introduced her to the guys. Evidently she and one of the guys went to the same high school and knew some of the same people. They started discussing one of their classmates. Their conversation went along these lines:
Random guy: Have you heard about Jake?
Katie: Yeah, I heard he really went off the deep end.
Random guy: Yeah. Did you hear he tried to marry a goat?
Then I woke up. I have tried and tried to come up with a logical explanation as to why I would dream someone tried to marry a goat, but I can’t seem to find one. It still makes me laugh.
posted by Janel on 10-11-2007 at 9:35 am
Ok, so I have really vivid, crazy dreams that are usually semi-lucid and play out cinematically. Here are the top 3-very summarized.
1. I’m on the run with my family b/c we’re being trailed by a serial killer and the cops who think we’re somehow helping the serial killer. We stop in a small train town in Montana for a while to make some money and catch our breath. We’re there for a few months and in that time I start dating this man. We go out for a walk one evening, along the tracks-very romantic but I feel something is off. He starts telling me he loves me and I realize he’s going to ask me to marry him. He reaches out to hold me and I freak out-I push him away, onto the tracks into an oncoming train! He’s dead…suddenly my mind flashes back to ten or so other men who I killed in similar circumstances-I’m the killer. I then go into hiding and leave my family to protect everyone from myself.
2. I’m in a glass building on the coast in a semi-post-apocalyptic world. Things are chaotic outside and there’s a small group of us (20 or so) who’ve gathered for a cocktail party. As we’re talking a light shines through one of the windows-at first we think it’s the sunset but then realize it’s getting closer. Finally a person (who we discover is an angel) tells us not to fear and that she has a special message. My message is that there is a new planet and that we’ve been chosen to populate it. I’ve been selected to serve in the “Eve” position b/c they need a strong leader. They introduce me to my “Adam” who is a guy I dated a couple years ago (and apparently am not over). All this revelation occurs over a few days. Oh, and part of the populating new planet thing involves my family having their memory of me temporarily erased so they won’t miss me.
3. This isn’t a dream so much as a feature of many dreams. There is this building, that is my safe place. In any dream I can go to this building and hide or have peace for a little while. One of its features is numerous secret passages and an underground bathroom/locker room that is always deserted. The building itself is abandoned and kind of creepy, but I know my way around and can always escape anyone who’s chasing me, if only for a while.
posted by ashleyd on 10-11-2007 at 10:55 am
I have the good fortune of having good, or at least interesting dreams and being able to remember them frequently. One of the strangest ones occured a few years ago. I wake up laughing from dreams a few times a year. Usually, I go right back to sleep, but this one made me laugh so hard I woke my husband up, too, and I could not stop laughing AWAKE for about 20 minutes. That being said, it’s realy not that funny.
In the dream I’m watching TV and a commercial comes on for a DVD collection called “Christopher Walken’s Worst Moments: ‘I was Born Rich and have No Talent.’” I’m trying to figure out if it is a real commercial or a spoof. Turns out to be real, complete with testinmonials from people who hate him. There was a sweaty, angry bald man who exclaimed, “I was so mad by the third segment I spat on the TV!” Still in the dream, I’m trying to tell someone about the commercial but can’t remember Christiopher Walken’s name so I tell the person, “I’m going to say Willem Defoe, but it’s not Willem Defoe – he’s nothing like Willem Defoe, but I’m going to use that name to tell you about the commercial.” This is when I woke up busting a gut.
In reality I have no strong feelings about Christopher Walken or Willem Defoe. I’ve never even seen a movie with the former, and only one with the later. Somehow this made the dream even funnier.
Anyone else have dreams where you are so tired you sleep in your dream? I’ve slept in a shower and an empty church in my dreams. No action, just sleep.
posted by elizabutt on 10-11-2007 at 11:26 am
I had a dream that eventually went lucid. I was in a long line waiting to enter church and noticed I was naked, however it being a dream it didn’t seem that abnormal. My mother and I finally get a seat in a pew and I start thinking about me being naked. Now myu dream has gone lucid! I look at my mother and say that I know this is a dream, and she says how? I reply that because I’m sitting naked in a church naked next to my mother and we both laugh and I wake up!
Another dream I had was that I was on the cast of the original Star Trek and Capt. Kirk had forgotten his lines, therefore we have a “blooper” and we all start laughing. It was very real to me and I felt like I was really there!
posted by John Brown on 10-11-2007 at 5:26 pm
FYI: although most dreams seem longer, they usually only take seconds or a minute or two!
True story! I was pulled over by a cop who was in a bad mood and looking to for trouble. He accused me of speeding, crossing the double yellow line and being disrespectful. I advised him he was full of cow manure, pushed him and rared back to slap some sense into him when my alarm clock went off waking me up, i got dressed, went to work and did not get a ticket!
posted by John Brown on 10-11-2007 at 5:44 pm
When I was little I guess my mom took me to the mall often.
I dreamt there was an underground passage under the mall that was made entirely of brick and there were a bunch of sharp turns. My mom and grandma were ahead of me but kept disappearing around corners until I was finally alone. I kept walking and there was a bunch of animals in cages, like a pet store. Only they were monster animals. The 1 I remember the most was a giant skull with big black eyes who opened and shut it’s mouth over and over again. I think this stemmed from me always getting lost in stores, my mom tended to not make sure we were with her.
posted by Lauren on 10-11-2007 at 8:04 pm
For about 10 years I experienced lucid dreaming frequently. In each case it was as if I was watching a video recording. I was totally aware I was dreaming and if I didn’t like the way the dream was going, I would literally rewind the dream. I actaully saw the dream rewind, complete with the static, etc. that you commnly saw when rewinding a VCR tape. Then the dream would resume. Some time sthe exact same dream would occur and I’d have to rewind multiple times in order to get the dream to change. The dreams were always very mundane and nothing spectacular happened. They were just normal life circumstances, and involved family members and friends. Another interesting aspect was that I could see myself watching myself dream. It was as if I was standing outside of myself, watching myself – watch my dreams. I existed in 3 different realities…the dream, the person watching and controlling the dreams and myself watching the person watching and controlling the dreams. This happened several times a week for about 10 years. I can’t remember the last lucid dream I had though. Maybe the invention of DVDs put a stop to it! LOL I did work in a video store for a while and I am definately a control freak.
posted by Karen on 10-14-2007 at 9:48 am
I had a dream that I was eating a giant marshmallow and when I woke up my pillow was gone! (old, old joke)
For several weeks I kept having a dream where I was being chased by zombies from outer space. They looked like something from a cheap horror movie but in the dream they were real. I was running from them as they were grabbing people and throwing them into big vats. Then the people would crawl out as zombies themselves. I ran into a building that looked like the auto showroom where I used to work. I would yell to the people there, “Run for your lives, there are zombies from outer space attacking people!” The people would laugh and sarcastically say, “yeah right, zombies from outer space.” They got grabbed and thrown into the vats, that were always nearby. I would run to the glass door and it wouldn’t open. I could see freedom through the door and the glass front of the showrom but I couldn’t get to it.
A guy on the radio said you can control dreams if you tell yourself, at bed time, to remember that it’s a dream while you’re in the dream. It worked. I had the dream again. When I was in the show room part, I remembered, I stopped running, looked at a zombie and said, “This is a dream and you can’t hurt me, if it’s not a dream, well, I give up.” The zombie got a surprised look on it’s face and I woke up. I never had the dream again.
posted by Tdave on 10-15-2007 at 4:32 am