'Nightmare' doesn't cut it.

Yes.

-There was the time I stepped through a door/portal which was really another world but looked just like my town. When it was discovered that I wasn't one of them(flesh eating aliens who looked human), they tried to skin and kill me.

-There was the dream about the end of the world. With zombies everywhere, I still managed to do something silly like let them into the house and get eaten alive.

-I've felt what it was like to drown in the back seat of car, including the stinging water going up my nose and the taste of river water in my mouth(the car careened off a bridge).

-I was stabbed for no reason like fifty times and died.

-I've been buried alive(I was really dead) but nobody knew. And when in the ground in the dark, I realized there was no heaven or hell and this was what eternity was about. Talk about panic attack!

These are just a few. I have many more!

ETA: When I was a kid, I had the same nightmare over and over. It was just darkness with something grabbing for me. *shrugs* That one was more like a night terror since I would literally fly from the bed screaming when I would wake.

Victoria, what's worrying you lately?

Obviously, you don't have to tell us but if you can work out what it is, it helps to take away the power of the dream. Kind of an 'aha!' moment.

What a horrible dream. I had extremely vivid dreams like that when I was pregnant with my son, and they are awful. They feel so real! But they fade with time.

What I hate more than horrific nightmares and waking up with a sickening dread/nausea and I can't for the life of me remember why.

It's happened three nights running and I now dread going to sleep.

I had a super-weird dream that was almost exactly like the movie "Fallen," which came out several years later. I was in a funk for almost a week because it haunted me.

We, who are used to thinking in metaphors, may be more prone to such things, but I can't vouch for the rest of humanity!

I had a double dream. I was lying in bed - as it was in real life, not a fantasy/dreamworld bed, and somebody leapt at me from one side and held me down. I kept saying, "This is a dream, this is a dream, it's okay, wake up..."

And I did.

So I sat up in bed, got my breath, and lay down again.

The same guy jumped out at me from beside the bed and held me down by the throat this time, and I knew it was still a dream, but I thought, "If I choke, I won't be able to wake up." So I kept saying to myself, "Wake up, wake up, quick, it's a dream, wake up."

And I did.

This time I knew I was really awake, but I got up, put the light on, walked around the house for a bit.

You know. Just to make sure.

Oh, and there was the dream when I was still living at my parents', where the door went, and I looked out of the spyhole at the front door, and it was two guys just pulling masks off their faces. One turned to the other and said, "Don't worry. We'll come back when they're asleep."

Oh man, scarletpeaches, that second one is chilling.

I had a couple when I was younger that have really stuck with me. There was a really horror movie-esque took place in a cabin in the woods with dozens of bodies hidden under the leaves. But that one didn't scare me much as the one where I was out in my yard with my dad, and watching him cut the grass. As I watched the house, another version of my dad started walking past the window. After a few seconds, he turned towards me with the most terrifying smile, and the dad outside with me said I needed to go in and meet him. Simple as it was, it really got to me.

Yeah, it woke me the shit up and damn if I didn't lie awake for the rest of the night after that one.

At least once a week I have night terrors so real I wake up screaming.

scarletpeaches said:

I had a double dream. I was lying in bed - as it was in real life, not a fantasy/dreamworld bed, and somebody leapt at me from one side and held me down. I kept saying, "This is a dream, this is a dream, it's okay, wake up..."

And I did.

So I sat up in bed, got my breath, and lay down again.

The same guy jumped out at me from beside the bed and held me down by the throat this time, and I knew it was still a dream, but I thought, "If I choke, I won't be able to wake up." So I kept saying to myself, "Wake up, wake up, quick, it's a dream, wake up."

And I did.

This time I knew I was really awake, but I got up, put the light on, walked around the house for a bit.

You know. Just to make sure.

Click to expand...

Scarlet, you've just describe a special kind of dream, known as Night of the Crusher, or The Hag. Only about 10% of people have them (I do).

What happens is, there is a normal "paralysis" or hypotonia we all have in REM sleep which prevents us from acting out our dreams. Some people will become partially conscious while their body is still in this "paralyzed" state. It's called sleep paralysis. The mind sort of fills in the blank of "why can't I move?" with something between a dream an a hallucination, usually that there is an intruder in the room, grave danger, or a demon (or a "hag") sitting one's chest. It feels very real and is terrifying.

The common denominators seem to be consciousness of your surroundings, inability to move, overwhelming terror and a strong sense of a threatening "presence" in the room or holding the dreamer down.

It's been said that this type of nightmare is what accounts for otherwise sane folks swearing they were visited by aliens, ghosts, an incubus or other supernatural beings.

Most people fight these dreams, just as you did. I used to, but after fighting these off for years I learned to cope by surrendering to them. You'll feel like you're dying, turning inside out or falling off a 100-story building. It's freaky and takes a lot of guts. But then you go into an extremely deep sleep and experience a lucid dream. At least, that's how it works for me. Believe it or not, I welcome them now. I've trained myself to recognize them and experience terror only momentarily, then I think, "oh, it's that thing" and let it overtake me.

Sounds like 'Footfall', a book my moms been telling me to read for years. Suppose to be about elephant looking aliens I think.

I've had one so terrible I woke leaping from bed and literally scrambled on hands and knees to the door... Don't tell anyone k, thanks

My "suspense" dreams are always fun for me. Apparently I enjoy being chased by dudes with knives or guns or whatever... it's an adrenaline rush. Probably because I was really into scary stories when I was a kid.

My nightmares are dreams where I'm having huge fights with my mom or my husband. I get so emotionally worked up in my dream that I'm crying and practically hyperventilating. The other night I dreamed my husband poured cheerios in our bed and then refused to clean it up because he claimed it was my "duty" to serve him. The intensity of my anger was beyond anything I've ever experienced in real life - I was so furious I actually woke myself up at 3 in the morning. As I was regaining consciousness I remember thinking, "Wait... is this a dream? Is this real? I'm dreaming, aren't I. Oh, thank goodness."

Makes me wonder if dream types are hereditary, since my mom experiences the same sort of thing.

Stop sleeping. Problem solved.

Devil Ledbetter said:

Scarlet, you've just describe a special kind of dream, known as Night of the Crusher, or The Hag. Only about 10% of people have them (I do).

What happens is, there is a normal "paralysis" or hypotonia we all have in REM sleep which prevents us from acting out our dreams. Some people will become partially conscious while their body is still in this "paralyzed" state. It's called sleep paralysis. The mind sort of fills in the blank of "why can't I move?" with something between a dream an a hallucination, usually that there is an intruder in the room, grave danger, or a demon (or a "hag") sitting one's chest. It feels very real and is terrifying.

The common denominators seem to be consciousness of your surroundings, inability to move, overwhelming terror and a strong sense of a threatening "presence" in the room or holding the dreamer down.

It's been said that this type of nightmare is what accounts for otherwise sane folks swearing they were visited by aliens, ghosts, an incubus or other supernatural beings.

Most people fight these dreams, just as you did. I used to, but after fighting these off for years I learned to cope by surrendering to them. You'll feel like you're dying, turning inside out or falling off a 100-story building. It's freaky and takes a lot of guts. But then you go into an extremely deep sleep and experience a lucid dream. At least, that's how it works for me. Believe it or not, I welcome them now. I've trained myself to recognize them and experience terror only momentarily, then I think, "oh, it's that thing" and let it overtake me.

Click to expand...

When I woke up (for real) I had my own arm across my throat.

I'd heard of the hag and succubi/incubi and the like, and this was the only time in my life that it happened (that I remember).

You can tell I'm a writer. I realised it would make for an incredible spooky story.

ETA: And you know those "Do you dream in colour?" and "Can you lucid dream?" conversations you have with friends as a kid? (After you've explained what 'lucid' means that is...) My answer was always, "Um...yeah. Can't everyone?"

Last week I dreamt that I was being chased by a knife toting murderer. I was running through a building (abandoned of course) as I was running for my life I happened to pass a reflective surface, and even though the murderer was only a few doors away, I stopped to admire my beautiful eyelashes...

Okay, I'll weigh in.

The "crusher" dream (or "sleep paralysis") has happened to me once. I woke up laying on my side, in pitch black darkness, able to see on top of me a guy I was living with at the time, but as a very solid, physical darkness. He was trying to put his tongue through my ear and into my brain. Death wasn't what scared me - disgust is what scared me. This was the most disgusting person I'd ever met (I regret ever living with him for more reasons than this) and he was basically trying to ear-fuck me. And I couldn't move, or scream. It wore off after about 10 seconds (very long seconds) and then I couldn't see him anymore, and I lay in bed (on my back now, to protect my ears) panting and scared stiff.

That's only happened to me once (the "crusher" thing) thank Goddess!

As per lucid dreaming: I've almost had lucid dreams dozens of times, all in the last 4 or so years. Basically, I'll have a (rare) nice dream, where I'm the sort of person I want to be and there's a beautiful woman who is interested in me. Suddenly my mind will go "You're dreaming - just go with it!" And I try to, and it's great - for about 5 seconds. Then someone else enters the dream (basically me stopping being lucid, though still a very vivid dream) and I spend the next half an hour going around in a logic circle. Like: "Hey, to get rid of him I need to X." "I do X." "He's back again, now I need to do Y to get rid of him." "I do Y." "Oh, now he's over there, do X again." For half an hour or so, every time. And yes, it's the same guy as the Crusher dream.

My theory is that my mind doesn't want to give me free reign in dream world because I'd be 100% disappointed that it wasn't real upon waking and not be able to function for a few days. So my mind instead tries to delete the memories of that bastard disgusting guy, which is why I spend a solid half hour trying to get rid of him, with the promise in my mind of great things if he ever leaves. But he never does.

I'm reminded of that movie "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind" - if I could pay someone to delete that guy from my mind, I would.

/ramble

Only 10% of people experience 'The Old Hag'? Everyone in my immediate family has had it including myself, and I know many others in my social circle have.

ETA: Here is a documentary on it for anyone who would like to take a look http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stJn1576-to

brainstorm77 said:

Only 10% of people experience 'The Old Hag'? Everyone in my immediate family has had it including myself, and I know many others in my social circle have.

ETA: Here is a documentary on it for anyone who would like to take a look http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stJn1576-to

Click to expand...

My understanding is that it can be hereditary, which would explain the frequency in your immediate family. The video you linked to said it was 30%, but that's the highest estimate I've heard.

I felt sorry for the lady in the video. I wish people understood that almost as soon as you quit struggling against the hallucination/nightmare visitor it ends (although it does feel like you're dying) and you go into a deep sleep. It goes against self-preservation to surrender, but as long as one understands it's a dream state and not a real threat, it's doable.

That's the sad thing about all of the info sites I've read on this kind of dream: no one ever says "just let it happen, don't fight back, you'll be fine." But that's the key to ending the terror.

I started having these when I was 19 but didn't figure out how best to cope with for maybe another 10 years. I get them when I'm under a great deal of stress or am dealing with a bout of insomnia. Always I am lying flat on my back when they happen.

I love being able to lucid dream.

And yes, before anyone asks, I do get those kinds of dreams too. To a finish.

scarletpeaches said:

I love being able to lucid dream.

And yes, before anyone asks, I do get those kinds of dreams too. To a finish.

Click to expand...

Me too!

Devil Ledbetter said:

My understanding is that it can be hereditary, which would explain the frequency in your immediate family. The video you linked to said it was 30%, but that's the highest estimate I've heard.

I felt sorry for the lady in the video. I wish people understood that almost as soon as you quit struggling against the hallucination/nightmare visitor it ends (although it does feel like you're dying) and you go into a deep sleep. It goes against self-preservation to surrender, but as long as one understands it's a dream state and not a real threat, it's doable.

That's the sad thing about all of the info sites I've read on this kind of dream: no one ever says "just let it happen, don't fight back, you'll be fine." But that's the key to ending the terror.

I started having these when I was 19 but didn't figure out how best to cope with for maybe another 10 years. I get them when I'm under a great deal of stress or am dealing with a bout of insomnia. Always I am lying flat on my back when they happen.

Click to expand...

The last one I had left an impact on me. It was in the house that I owned that was haunted. Needless to say, I sleep with a small light on every night.

I never sleep on my back anymore. I think that can have something to do with it. Everytime I have ever had it happen, I have been on my back.

I used to have a lot of flying dreams. And I wish I had them now because I loved them. They felt so real I would wake up convinced I could fly. I would stand up and try and lift from the floor and be really disappointed when nothing happened.