When I was a young kid, I had a terrifying dream that I was staying at my grandparents for a few days, and some criminals entered my grandparents house, tied us all up with ropes, and then were about to execute me when I woke up from the nightmare. Weird!
Giving birth at the bottom of an elevator shaft. I have no idea where that came from, as I've never been pregnant.
Probably my best friend dying and being powerless to help. Two of my fears in one minute of hell; fear of failure (didn't help her out) and fear of being powerless.
Years ago when I was a kid, I had a dream that I was in a van and a gorilla was coming at me. That's when I woke up.
This one followed a series of lucid dreams, where I looked into some information on websites about lucid dreaming, like the Lucidity Institute. They've conducted studies on as many people as they can. They are far from objectively scientific, but they do report their findings in the form of dream stories. Their methods work. I learned a fair bit from them. I was having dinner in what looked like a big old fashioned church soup kitchen, but was apparently my place of work: Walmart. We'd cooked a meal for ourselves since we lived there. Then we got to the cleanup. I was put in charge of cleaning out a big pot of something I hadn't seen yet. I took it outside with me. But "outside" was really just a big underground dome, floodlit by fluorescent light. It was all gray stone and brown dirt. I went to pick up some containers but they were full of bees. I knocked them over and started running. I was taking great leaping strides, gliding over the ground with each one and feeling like an astronaut, but I was not in outer space (or maybe I was). I saw my dad sitting on a bench with a 6-pack. I hadn't talked to him in months (this is true) and didn't want to start up a conversation. I slid to a halt, looking right and left at a three-way intersection. I started to think about synchronicity, when one event leads to and/or coincides with another; I never would've seen my dad if I hadn't knocked those containers full of bees over. My dad said something nasty at me and I walked back to where I was working. I had a weird song stuck in my head. I saw my coworkers working over by a baseball field fence. I felt strange, and started wondering if I was dreaming. I was supposed to look for something strange. I apparently did not find my surroundings bizarre at all. They are much like what I imagined life in the world of The Dirt Eaters by Dennis Foon was like. I climbed to the top of a pile of garbage and grime and opened the pot to scrape out all sorts of warm cottage cheese. Off in the distance, one of my coworkers (an actual coworker) stood in an imitation of Christ on the cross, singing in a crazy voice the exact song that was playing in my head, the exact line and verse. I went over to the fence and started talking to my other coworkers (all actual coworkers). I blacked out at some point, seeing nothing but warm darkness and hearing silence. I came to and saw the fence once more. My coworkers were now on the other side of it, walking into the dugout area. I ran after and asked them if I had just been talking to them. They said that I had. I started to worry that I was turning into Cobb from Inception. I was desperately worried because I felt like my blackout was really just waking up. I lashed out at my former boss, punching him several times. His head traded places on and off with a can of pea soup. Just as I was about to stomp on his head, another coworker intervened. I awoke panting. My heart was racing. That I had been convinced I was awake while actually dreaming, and even noticing the dream-like sensation, I didn't clue in to all the strangeness around me. The dream might not have been lucid at all if I hadn't recognized synchronicity in the mix of it. I was looking at the structure of the dream and noticed the feeling. It's a slight difference in perception that you don't notice at all as you have it. It's made me fascinated, and a little nervous, of any further lucid dreaming.
I have so many. From being a crash test dummy, and getting chased around by maniacs trying to kill me. Got shot once in a vivid dream, and my stomach burned so bad. Been chased through some weird building filled in waist high water on every floor, by bizarre looking people with machetes. That one was like being in a surrealist painters demented mind. When I was really young about 6 or 7, I was being hunted in a forest by giant teddy grahams that wanted to turn me into a cheese burger and eat me. This one took place in an endless forest at either dawn or dusk, I can't remember. And the most common occurring theme in my nightmares: Being tortured mentally and physically in clinical or laboratory settings, and unable to escape.
I've only had a couple of nightmares in my life, and only one really stands out. I had it years ago now, so I don't remember a lot of details. I was crawling through a very dark tunnel, only just big enough to fit through. There were other people infront of me and behind me, so I had to keep moving. I think it was a network of tunnels, like some sort of maze. Every once in a while we would come out into large chambers, with a bizarre monster that looked like a pile of fur with a bunch of grey tubes flailing around in the air. I'm claustrophobic, so the scariest part of the dream was being trapped in those tunnels. It might have been inspired by tube slides, which I couldn't go down as a kid. I was worried that I would get trapped in one, and people would just keep sliding down and pilling on top of me. And then it would start getting hot in there and I'd have to wait hours while they cut through the plastic to get me out....
Horrifying, but in a different way: Several years ago I had a nightmare where I was sitting in the dining room in my childhood home (one of them) with my mom, sisters, and brother. All of a sudden my mother starts cussing me out, accusing me of the most nasty and vile things, and my siblings just sit there agreeing with her. I'm shocked and horrified, but more than that, I'm angry, literally speechless with rage. The anger in me is so fierce I fall to the floor paralyzed, unable to move or speak. I'm hoping desperately that my mother will feel sorry and take back the terrible things she's said, that she'll come help me, but she says to my sisters and brother in a very haughty, self-satisfied voice, "She's faking it. That just goes to show what a terrible person she is." And they all step over me and go out to a movie or something, leaving me to stare helplessly at the pedestal of the dining room table. I woke up from that one shaking, but I got over it pretty quickly. My mom wouldn't do such a thing. But about five years later, I had a couple more dreams of the same sort. This time, my accuser was a certain professor in the college where I was going to grad school. I would walk into her classroom, and in front of my fellow-students and other teachers she would begin to attack me, charging me with perversion upon perversion and crime upon crime. This time I was able to scream back, "It's a lie! You're a damned liar!" But the end result was always the same: I'd be so overwhelmed with anger and fury that my legs would buckle under me and I'd crumple to the floor helpless. Again, my accuser would take this to mean that everything she'd said against me was true. The scariest thing is that there were real life issues between me and that particular professor, and the fact I was having these dreams made it seem all the more likely that sometime before graduation I would lose my temper and blow up at her. Then bye-bye, degree!
I got hit by a plane. Yes, hit. By an airplane. I'm at my grandma's house on what I think is a normal day. I walk outside to get some fresh air and see a tornado across the field, heading straight for us. I run inside, grab my grandma and two cousins, then go outside to wake up my grandpa (who fell asleep on the porch). By the time we get everyone together and start heading for the cellar, it's almost right on top of us. The wind is so strong, it's lifting me off my feet. If it wasn't for my cousin holding my hand, the tornado would've swept me away. I make it to the cellar first. I go downstairs and head as deep in as I can go. I watch everyone file in behind me, but after the last person comes in, I realize the door is still open. So I start yelling at them. "Someone close the door! The door!!" But they just stand there staring at me, looks of horror and fear on all their faces. So I run to the door, lean out, grab it. And just as I'm about to pull it closed, I see a tiny speck that is an airplane in a break in the clouds. A quick thought passes through my head: I wonder if the people on board can see the funnel all the way up there. Then a different plane, one taken down by the storm, appears directly in front of me. A huge 747, all gleaming white, inches from the ground, barreling towards me. I duck, pull my hands up over my head. But the plane is too low. The back wheels catch in the ground. I feel them hook onto the stairs of the cellar and rip them from the earth, slamming into my shoulder. Then everything goes black. It stayed black so long, I had enough time to think, "That's it. I'm dead." And then I woke up. Crying hysterically. lol
Aaaaggghhhh!!! Tornado nightmares! When I was a kid we lived in a house with a walk-out basement/garage. The doors faced southwest, the direction I learned tornadoes typically came. I had nightmares of us all taking shelter in the basement, and a tornado sashays through those double doors and GETS US ALL.
Yeah, I have tornado dreams pretty regularly. I've read that they represent you feel that you aren't in control over your life and things are "spiraling." My husband just thinks it's because I'm afraid of tornadoes.
I have two: The world was about to end, either by collision with another planet or the planet simple about to explode. I forget exactly. There were searchlights shining everywhere and people were in a frenzy. The last thing I remember before waking up was that my family and I were heading over to the home depot to get supplies. The other was that my sister and I were locking down the house because we thought someone was breaking in. The last place we had to seal up the basement. We were closing up the basement door some armed assailant pushed the door open, shot up the place. I pretended to be dead while the gunman had his gun aimed at the both of us. Then I woke up. I really wanted to see what happened at the end, not to sound too morbid.
For a long period of time I had hypnopompic hallucinations. Those are, for a short explanation, are when the mind can not tell the difference between the end of a dream and the beginning of the waking world. and when the dream is a nightmare, a terror of the mind and soul, then those ten seconds or so were to most terrifying moments I have ever felt in my life. To have a blood thirsty murder next to you or your baby disappear in front of your eyes or to experience yourself hurting someone you love and to know that is happening while you are awake... I am glad that fort he most part I have not experienced this in a while and I hope I never do again.
@DeadMoon That sounds absolutely horrifying. If that happened to me I think I would piss myself, cause that is some scary stuff you speak of.
It was some bad times but at least they only lasted ten seconds or so and have not happen in a long time.
(This is going to be wordy, but heads up) I remember this terrifying dream from when I was about five. My brother and I were playing outside in the playground in front of the five story apartment(?) that the family was stationed in at the time. Nothing unusual. Then this sleek black vehicle pulled up, I think that it was a limo. We continued to play, unconcerned, until a woman with shoulder-length, light brown hair came out. We stopped then, and gave her our full attention. She was acting all nice at first, but I felt pretty wary of her when she had her full attention on my brother. She suddenly snapped and tried to grab him, to pull him into the car. Me, being the overprotective big sister that I was, attacked her. I kept screaming for someone to help, that a lady was taking my brother. But no one came. She pushed my brother down once she had had enough of my antics, and she grabbed me by my forearm. Terrified, all I could do was kick and scream helplessly as she lifted me up. She tucked me under her arm. My brother chased her as she walked to the trunk of the car with me, but he couldn't stop her, and I was thrown into the trunk. The slam of the trunk being shut, and the complete and total darkness... that was what sealed it for me. I really lost it, and I burst into tears, calling for Mom, Dad, anyone to help me. But I heard the rumble of the vehicle, and I could no longer hear my brother screaming for her to let me go. She peeled off, and I could feel that god-forsaken lurch when she turned the corner. I curled up, whimpering, knowing the despair that I'd never get out... And then slowly, I realized that it was getting lighter because the sun was coming up, and I wasn't trapped in a cramped space in the dark; I was on my own bed, sniveling and whimpering. I had never felt so much relief upon realizing that I was perfectly safe. Thing is, I wondered for a while if I was actually kidnapped at some point, and as a five-year-old, I quickly dismissed it. Now that I'm remembering it again, though... how did that nightmare capture that so well when I know that I had never been kidnapped at any point? I'm anxious now just thinking about it.
For years I had this recurring nightmare that I was walking by some random street and all of a sudden bodies would start dropping from the sky. I would look up there were thousands of people atop of buildings, jumping to their suicide. As I walked I could actually see their skulls hitting the ground and hear the cracking noise they made. So much blood...
It's hard to pick honestly. I had this recurring dream of a flooding submarine. I think it's a submarine anyway. Instead of the narrow hallways and dark red lighting, it's large with wide open halls, big round metal doors that look like vault entrances. They are well lit areas, filled with a chrome scheme. I'm running away from the water, trying to open and close doors, but the water never stops flooding and eventually I drown. end of dream. I have another recurring dream where me and several other I know are being chased by man eating dinosaurs. I end up running to a park where there are many traps set to catch them. There are usually so many of them that I have to run to several locations filled with traps to try and get them off my tail. It feels like I'm running through the longest Ninja Warrior course. Only once I managed to actually shake the dinosaurs in my dream. I don't really remember much that happened after that lol. In a simliar scenario I'm next to a glass dome that serves as a barrier to the outside keeping werewolves out. I'm near the border, looking for a way in, while trying to avoid the attention of the werewolves that patrol the area. I eventually find a way in but I'm always followed and end up trying to hide in a trash can or something. Instead of running, I'm too scared to even do that against these super fast monsters and end up cuddling in the corner until they find me anyway. My dream is spent listening and carefully watching my surroundings for any signs of them, only moving from hiding location to hiding location. I always feel betrayed by the glass dome that was supposed to protect me. Lots of running and hiding, just what you'd expect from your nightmares. I had something very similar happen to me, but only once when I was staying at a friend's house. I'm not sure it is the same because I can't remember the dream. It's weird because I'll never forget waking up my friend's entire family when I woke up screaming hysterically. I was throwing all my limbs around and fell onto the ground. It only lasted five or ten seconds but it was so shocking I literally forgot the entire dream as I screamed. Have not been able to recall any bit of that dream since and nothing like that has ever happened before again.
It was dark and dreary. I was walking in the middle of this wheat field, and it was like watching a black and white movie. The rain was coming down worse than cats and dogs. I got this sense I was looking for signs of life. As I got free from the wheat field, the ground I walked on began to turn into this sloppy muddy terrain, and the rain that was falling at this point had turned to red and became a bloody substance. Each step became harder than the last, and slightly up ahead was a horse and its rider which was clothed in a cloak. The ground was now submerged with this water/blood mixture. Now the rain transitioned into dead bird corpses falling in pieces. For example: Wings, feet, torsos, tail feathers and heads. The horse neighed and began to use its upper body to buck upward, trying to rid itself of its rider but to no avail. My pulse ticking like a time bomb easing my way through the gunk that kept rising, inwardly I knew it wasn't going to stop having flesh pelt me along the way. The last thing that transpired, was seeing myself get enveloped by the deadly mixture swept away with the horse and its rider. I remember gasping awake that night... I proceeded to comfort myself with a few spoonful scoops of ice cream. It was definitely not a feel good dream. Doom and gloom.
I have that problem a lot. At first I just called them uncontrollable lucid dreams, but then I learned about sleep paralysis, and this is a form of it. I've had other experiences with sleep paralysis, but thankfully I've been lucid enough to understand that my dream world was intermingling with the woken world. I have them when I'm really stressed out, and since I'm in a state of pretty much constant stress, I never know when that will be. Lol. Most recently I had one that was continual. I was having a nightmare that there was an intruder in a house I was staying in, and the woman who lived there was somehow involved and it was actually a conspiracy to murder my family. I kept waking up in the middle of the dream, only able to open my eyes but completely powerless to rouse myself enough to keep from falling back into the nightmare. Every time I fell back into the nightmare, I didn't realize that I was dreaming again. It's this terrifying situation where you're unsure which world is real and which one is the dream. Every time I roused, I thought that I was able to wake enough to start screaming. In fact, I heard myself screaming but when I was finally able to call for my husband, he told me that I hadn't screamed at all before, so that was apparently a part of the dream too. It's just so scary to try desperately to move your limbs and not be able to. Add to that the terror of not knowing whether someone is trying to murder your family or if you're just dreaming ... There's actually an awesome documentary on sleep paralysis called The Nightmare. It's on Netflix if anyone is interested.
I have had a lot of dreams involving demons, monster, life-or-death situations and the like, but the scariest one I've ever had was when I dreamed I was pregnant with twins. I do not like children.....
Argh! I've had those! Interestingly, my conscious brain usually steps in, like some sort of dream referee, before it all becomes a bit too Cronenberg. I can remind myself that it's just a hypnopompic state, and I can put a stop to it. I don't tend to remember my dreams, and those I do remember are far too odd to be of any use as stories, probably because I have a very visual memory so I spend too much time looking at the scenery to notice any narrative. My unconscious is really into architecture.
