THE WORLD DREAM BANK: TOPIC: NIGHTMARES

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NIGHTMARES

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A list of great nightmares!

CAN nightmares be "great"? Even, in a weird way, enjoyable?

My own dreams suggest that some nightmares (not all) come just to give your glands a workout--an idea first proposed by trance channeler Edgar Cayce back in the 1930s. In these nightmares, the content is essentially artistic, not symbolic--for the content isn't the point--your panic and outrage is. Nightmares can do for your feelings what hot peppers do for your digestion--stimulate like a tonic. Why shouldn't emotions (and the hormones that drive them) need a workout just like muscles?

A suspiciously high proportion of my worst nightmares appear around Halloween, suggesting my unconscious sees some nightmares as play. Scaring the ego as entertainment! Or at least as practical jokes, ones I only get later when I wake.

Yet another group seems genuinely symbolic of my inner fears, the classic "issue" dreams of Freud and Jung. Often these nightmares explore those fears intelligently, analyzing strategies. There can be serious thought behind the horror... and hints at solutions.

Not all, though--still others seem to be surprisingly simple, practical warnings: "Fix those brakes, or you're gonna DIE!"

And a few recurrent nightmares (mostly in childhood) that I took as symbolic turned out to be fairly literal memories I was only able to verify years later.

All in all, my view of nightmares has broadened considerably over the years. They don't necessarily mean trouble, though I think recurring ones about imminent danger should be taken very seriously--and literally. Dreams can be psychic, and nightmares can be warnings. Don't get trapped into any of the current boxes: "What deep inner conflict does this symbolize?" and "It's just a dream. My shoes are NOT carnivorous!" and "It's a warning to change my flight, that plane's gonna crash!" Each approach is valid for many individual dreams--but not ALL nightmares. Usually, you know in your gut if a nightmare's a warning or not--but these one-size-fits-all models of dreaming interfere with your own good sense.

RELATED TOPICS: general dreamwork - false waking, and dreams within dreams - dreams about dreaming! - recurrent dreams - shadow figures - bullies and threats - topdogs: cops, authoritarians, and rule-enforcers - saboteurs - warnings and advice - fear - shyness - guilt - self-defense - assertiveness - death - violence - monsters - You Are Lunch!: man-eatin' dreams - hunted! - disability and deformity - madness - dream diseases and dream surgery - See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

The World Dream Bank has 1500 dreams and dream images plus 500 other pages on dreamwork and shamanism, creativity, genius, art, surrealism and fantasy. Unless otherwise noted, all material copyright Chris Wayan, 2001-2006.

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	THE ADDICTION: by Wayan; 1988/1/26, a thoughtful nightmare I'm addicted to faraway trains. I quit cold turkey, but I shake the house down! Junkie poltergeists... CAUTION: DRUG ADDICTION. SORT OF.
	ADRENALINE HALL: by Wayan; 1992/2/3, a useful nightmare. A hall designed to give your fear-glands a workout, because muscles aren't the only thing to buff...
	AELFWINE: by Wayan; 1997/12/4, a dream on dreams. I meet the Child who Dreams the World, go to a lucid-dreaming party, and find the Body under the Bed...
	ALONE IN THE DARK IN THE WILD: by Wayan; 1980/7/24, a vision-quest nightmare. A nightmare of a killer who I let torment me because it's better than being alone...
	ALPINE GUINEA PIG & SEXLESS CHILD, or, I'M EITHER A GREAT MOM OR A TERRIBLE MOM: by "Veronica Franco"; 2006/8/19, a dream of penned creatures and those who love them. Alpine deer-hamsters, pigs, birds, children, even fundamentalists' daughters grow up and want to fly free...
	ANDROMEDA: by Wayan; dreamed 1987/12/30, crayon, 14x17" I dream of the legendary maiden chained to a rock, and the dragon--but they weren't as advertised... CAUTION: NUDITY
	ANGERHELM: by Wayan; 1994/11/11, a reassuring nightmare. In one long night I hike out of Frustration Hell, to Inner-Freedom Heaven...
	THE ARMS POLICY: by Wayan; 2000/4/7, a nightmare. The government has a harsh policy on armed dissidents. Not the kind of arms you think... CAUTION: VIOLENCE
	THE ARTERIA: by Wayan; 1994/5/24, a raw, personal tale of three nightmares. Hypnotherapy provokes nightmares of body-part shops, secret libelers, and madmen in space...
	BAND-AIDS: by Bagheera Pardus; c.1985, a lucid re-entered nightmare turned to joy. Giant snakes chased me, but I went lucid, turned and slew one. As I woke, the snakes were crying. So I re-entered the dream and... CAUTION: SNAKES, BEHEADING, REHEADING
	BARN BURNING: by Denise Levertov; 1929?; a childhood nightmare I'm in a barn full of peaceful animals lit by a golden glow. And then they all blacken, crinkle, and corrugate like burnt paper...
	BEAST BIRTHS: by Wayan; 1989/9/19, a dream of family secrets. My family has a hidden gene for incest--and griffins. When I bring the family skeleton from the closet... CAUTION: MENTIONS RAPE, INCEST
	LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI: by John Keats, April 1819, a sexy nightmare poem A knight falls in love with a fey woman, until her previous victims warn him in a nightmare that she is... CAUTION: GOTH TO THE MAX
	THE BIG CRUNCH: by Wayan; 1979/5/9, a cosmic nightmare. I'm a girl being stalked. I take drastic measures--scrunch up the universe and shake it out! And is THAT enough? CAUTION: ANXIETY, GUILT, THE POSSIBLE DESTRUCTION OF THE UNIVERSE
	BIKE FROM A BOMB: by Wayan; 1981/3/14, a bikemare. Idiotically, I bet I can escape an atomic bomb on my bike. Maybe if I ignore stoplights... CAUTION: IRRESPONSIBLE WEAPONS USE
	BIRD CRASH: by Emily Joy; 2007/3/12, a set of didactic nightmares Such pressures there are on the sick to act well! I implore you, ignore them all... CAUTION: EXPLODING TEACHER
	BLACK WINTER: by Jeff Knabel; 1997, a dream-song from a possibly predictive nightmare I dreamed a large meteor had struck the Earth. I found my Dad just as the shockwave hit... CAUTION: APOCALYPSE
	BLESS MY PHOBIA: by Wayan; dreamed 1992/8/15; text and silk painting. I was Eve's guardian angel the second time round, and I blew it again. But this time, it came out right.... CAUTION: BREASTS AND BEASTS
	BLIND ANCESTORS: by Wayan; 2007/8/6, a nightmare poem about all of us While we’re off at work, blind Ancestors come smash our homes--and we all take zombie vandal relatives for granted...
	BONES DON'T LIE: by Emily Joy; 2006/12/13, a gruesome nightmare on guilt. I know I'm a murderer; what isn't so clear is what I killed and why... CAUTION: DISMEMBERMENT, GUILT, DREAD
	THE BURBS: by Wayan; 1990/7/1, a true-story poem. A perfectionist gardener builds perfect planterboxes while his seedlings starve. And so I left the burbs...
	BURMA SHAVE: by Wayan; 1982, a poem on dreams. If you dream, don't drive. If you drive, don't dream. A public safety message from the other world.
	BURN: by Sierra Loucks; 1990?, a five-year-old’s nightmare I was at the beach with my friends. It was fun. But gradually they were laughing at me, not with me. Then they picked up burning sticks... CAUTION: GRUESOME
	BURN HIS TREE: by Emily Joy; 30 K, 2007/2/7; two linked nightmares on art Malevolent artwork terrorizes my baby and me! What's to be done?...
	CHEAPSHIP!: by Wayan; 1996/8/6, a nightmare on my own stinginess. I'm a crewman on a ship that's falling apart, and I do mean that literally...
	CHRONOPHOBIA!: by Wayan; 1993/7/10, a physicist's nightmare. I find myself driving a speeding car down a freeway--in reverse. And I don't mean the gear...
	THE CHUTE: by Wayan; 1993/11/10, a dream transforming fear. I'm warily crossing an avalanche chute in winter, when my worst fear happens. Then the slide speaks up...
	COSMOLOGIST: by Wayan; 1994/12/2, another physicist's nightmare. A mad gunman breaks in and shoots at me, but I start him talking, and learn what's eating him...
	COUNTERSUE GOD: by Wayan; 1995/8/5, a sacrilegious dream. God flames me for putting pagan stuff on the Net, and we end up suing each other. Then the riots begin... CAUTION: HITMEN AND HERESY
	CRYSTAL AND GUNSEL: by Wayan; 1997/7/2, a nightmare--psychic or not? Gunsel kills my friend Crystal in a flaming aircar crash. But that's not enough--he comes back, and... CAUTION: VIOLENCE
	CUBIST CHARLIE BROWN: by Wayan; 1977/4/1, a cubist nightmare. We're Cubist cartoon characters, trapped in a strip gone mad. But my dad stays calm! Too calm... CAUTION: SEAS OF BLOOD... OR IS IT RED INK?
	CYCLOPS, or, THE ANSWER TO MY PRAYER: by Wayan; 1993/8/24, a spiritual nightmare. In the far future, I relive Odysseus' tale. To save my life I must give up realistic hope, and focus on... CAUTION: CANNIBAL MONSTERS
	DATE GHOST: by Wayan; dreamed 1985? (exact date uncertain); acrylic. I tried to date a nice young butterfly but was stopped by a monster who was... my own wings? CAUTION: UNDERAGE BUG
	DAWN'S DIVORCE: by Dawn Z; 2002/3/1-21, an outrageous dream sequence While going through a painful breakup, I kept having sexy, lucid, psychic dreams...
	DEANNA ON THE MAYAN STEPS: by Wayan; 1992/7/8, a nightmare poem. Deanna Troy and I meet an alarming man atop a Mayan pyramid. Who will be the sacrifice?...
	MY DEWCLAW: by Wayan; 1997/6/30; dreams within dreams within dreams Body after body is peeled away revealing truth inside truth... CAUTION: GROTESQUE
	DIAGNOSTIC BATTERY: by Wayan; 1988/4/20, a nightmare of sorts. My sister's new guru tests me psychologically--only it looks like an engineer's test to destruction... CAUTION: EMOTIONAL CRUELTY
	DISSECTING PESSIMISM: by Wayan; 1997/4/14, a stubbornly educational nightmare . A serial killer stalks our office, and our bosses deny it. When we defend ourselves, things turn weird... CAUTION: VIOLENCE
	DOCTOR VENTRIL: by Wayan; 1978/9/22, a nightmare where I'm the nightmare. A doctor lures me into his office. What he turns out to be scares me less than how I defend myself... CAUTION: VIOLENCE, ARACHNOPHOBIA
	DOCTOR WHO AND DEATH: by Wayan; 1984/6/30, a hopeful dream of betrayal. Dr Who, that BBC perennial, allies with Death. An alarming turn-around! What's he up to? CAUTION: NICE ALIEN GOES BAD?
	THEIR DREAM HOUSE: by Wayan; 1986/1/1, 1 illus., a New Year's nightmare. A house with a fire-ghost infestation. Worse than termites! And the ghosts tell me it's my fault....
	DREAM ON DREAMS: by Wayan; 1994/5/31, a dream in a dream in a dream. I'm the composer Schumann, till a nightmare jumps me and I wake. And wake. And wake...
	A DREAM SESTINA: by Donald Justice, late 1950s? A nightmare-poem. "But what is wrong with my friends' faces? Why have they changed that way to wood?"
	EEL TOWER: by Wayan; 1981/4/23, a dream of longing. I dreamed living in a body of flesh is like being trapped on a sinking cruise ship... CAUTION: NUDITY (but she's just crying, not giving that guy a blowjob, okay?)
	EYELASH GUY: by HareTrinity; 2003?4?5?, a fortunately nonrecurring dream A coach-driving vampire seemed kind of cute until he raped me. If that's even his real face... CAUTION: LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE
	FACE-BEETLE: by Wayan; 1982/2/13, a nightmare with career advice. A monstrous Kafka beetle grows gradually out of my face. And it's a MESSAGE...
	FAKE IT!: by Electra Johannes and Patagia; 2007/9/22 and 2007/9/23, linked dreams. Patagia dreams she fakes a Hindu rite, provoking Electra to dream she fakes leadership in a band of refugees. Or are they faking?
	A FAMILY ALBUM: by Wayan; 197K total: ink, digital tints; 1980ish; overview of family nightmares. A series of family shadows, as I saw them then. These scenes are NOT literal, do I make myself clear? But these tensions were real... CAUTION: GRIM! SEXUAL VIOLENCE, INCEST, MUTILATION
	FETAL PAUSE: by Wayan; 2008/8/31, a nightmare-poem, Dreamverse #17 As I write a sad sex dream, a madman curls up fetally in the road outside my window. I put off calling 911 too long, and...
	FEVER DREAMS: by Wayan; 1993/9/8, a set of wild feverdreams. While my body expels a kidney stone, weird scenes happen on the astral plane. At least I get to dip the pope. CAUTION: PAIN, PEE, POPE
	THE FLASHBACK: by Wayan; 1985/11/28, a dark dream-farce. I'm a monster working in a shopping mall in Stockton, California, when I smell smoke... CAUTION: FILM NOIR SEX
	FREDDY KRUGER'S POLITICS: by Wayan; 1992/8/20, a dream of... ambition?. Freddy has plans for me and Telly Savalas's daughter... but what can he lure us with? What do we want?
	GITANA AND REX AND KIT: by Wayan; 1988/12/11, a comic nightmare. My friend Gitana has a grim view of men--a view that materializes, and starts chasing us... CAUTION: BURGER FRANCHISE DEMOLITION
	THE GIVE-AWAY: by Wayan; 1982/6/7, a short nightmare. My parents pray for my success, and arrange a great learning opportunity for me. Really.
	A GLUM BAR: by Wayan; 2000/4/12, the quietest of nightmares. My house is a bar that never closes. You know what a gay bar is. Well, we're the opposite: a.... CAUTION: BAD VIBES
	GOAT DARE: by Wayan; 1984/8/22, a sex nightmare. A girl and I climb a half-built tower to get some privacy. What can we do before my nosy parents find us? CAUTION: SEX, HUMILIATION, FAMILY VALUES
	GUILTY! (Around #3): by Wayan; 1998, digital sketch of recurrent nightmare. I tried a Redon theme: huge, floating eyes. His are scary, but mystical; mine came out as guilty terror...
	HAND ME THE MATCHES!: by Wayan; 1984/9/25, a predictive dream. My sisters and I try to kill kidnappers by setting fires. Dumb, huh? The next day I fight a virus--with fever!
	HARPY: by Wayan; 2000/6/2, a stylized nightmare My dad's paralyzed, my car's stolen. So I dream a stylized harpy made of steel, like a living Calder statue, holds three girls hostage...
	HAWK AND CAT: by Wayan, 1981/6/2, a dream of ethics and terror. My best friend is a cat. Problem is, I'm a rare hawk--a Cat-Eater. I never, ever would, but...
	HEADING FOR A FALL: by Wayan; 1993/11/2, a dream of drastic shortcuts. I crash my car on the way to therapy. I ask my dream why. And it tells me! Deliberate, but not suicidal...
	HELPLESSLY LUCID: by Alder; 2007/6/23, a lucid dream in which I’m powerless! I’m a homeless elf. We’re a persecuted minority group. I know I’m dreaming and try to change it but...
	THE HERBIVORE'S EXCEPTION: by Wayan; 1999/12/6, a dream of snapping. A beautiful herbivore suddenly eats one of its friends! Bloody. Who or what is this warning me about?... CAUTION: YUCK, MEAT REALLY IS MURDER
	HIS MINE: by Wayan; 1985/12/2, a wild dream epic. I'm a hobbit seeking Henry Fonda's haunted gold mine, who ends up in a showdown in a shaman's bar...
	HUNG BY ELDER: by Wayan; 1997/7/30, a nightmare. A disowned heiress and I sneak onto the family estate, but they'll go pretty far to hide their skeletons... CAUTION: VIOLENCE
	HUNT OF THE UNICORN: by Wayan; 1989/5/18, an overlooked psychic dream. I marry, just to get into a clannish world where I'm seeking symbiotic unicorns. But I end up hunted too...
	HUNTERS' FIRE: by Wayan; 1997/9/8, a nightmare that may be a memory. I'm an orphan shot at by hunters. They shoot my sister! But no one believes me... CAUTION: VIOLENCE
	I CAN'T JOIN THE TRIBE: by Wayan; 1997/8/12, a nightmare on madness. After the eco-crash, I try to join a tribe in the jungle that was Oakland. But they reject me, for good reason...
	I LET RATS: by Wayan; 1994/4/22, a nightmare on appeasement. A bold rat comes right up to me. I don't want to provoke it, so I stay quiet. And let the rats... CAUTION: UGH!
	ICERINK: by Wayan; 1980/8/23, a warning dream. Psychodrama seemed like a way to meet cool people. But when I dreamed they were ice-skating rioters...
	THE ILL-FORMED TALE: by Wayan; 160K, 1981/4/7, a wild dream anti-epic . To reach the Peak of Happiness on the Isle of Dreams, I must pass four Perils--but they're all backwards... CAUTION: RELIGIOUS NUTS, KNIVES, NUDE ALIENS, BACKWARD PLOT...
	IN EL RIO: by Wayan; 1994/5/14, a singles nightmare. My family runs a bar. I walk through, after hours. Who are all these silent figures? CAUTION: UNHEALTHY READING FOR SINGLES
	THE ISLAND FURIES: by Wayan; summer 1975, a dream of self-control. When warring Greek isles kill a peacemaker, her three best friends start a vendetta! But she wanted peace... CAUTION: HATE NURSED TOO LONG
	IT'S A DEAD MAN'S PARTY: by Wayan; 1988/10/18, a nightmare of identity. I find myself at a creepy party supporting a dead man who's running for office. And am I Dan Quayle? CAUTION: HORROR BEYOND HORROR. YOU ARE DAN QUAYLE.
	JUNG’S PREMONITIONS OF WORLD WAR I: by Carl Jung, 1913-1914; five ignored warnings. Jung was told in dreams and visions that Europe would soon drown in blood. But he just couldn’t believe it...
	KICK HER: by Wayan; 1994/8/9, a gameshow nightmare. I'm a blonde gameshow bimbo. Each week, I'm beaten up. Ha ha ha! But my bruises are real. At last, I... CAUTION: GAMESHOW FROM HELL
	LAMPREYS: by Wayan; 1974/6/27, a dream of assimilation . Pretty much everyone in my school is a bloodsucking alien, but, come to think of it, so what? CAUTION: SEX, VAMPIRES, SEX WITH VAMPIRES, BUT NICE VAMPIRES
	THE LEMON SEA: by Wayan; 1982/2/22, a dream warning. I wake up as someone else. I go through her working day, till Captain Kirk comes to take me to...
	LINCOLN’S ASSASSINATION DREAM: by Abraham Lincoln, ca.March 31 1865, a predictive nightmare. Lincoln dreamed his body was lying in state in the White House. A guard said he’d been assassinated. Two weeks later, he was...
	LITTLE BAD DREAM CHARM: by Kathy Fagan; 2001? A slip-filled dream-poem Half asleep, I scrawl a nightmare of trying to rescue gasping boyfish, but my dreamwriting goes wrong too...
	THE LONGING TO BE SAVED: by Maxine Kumin; 1980? a poem based on recurring nightmares I save our horses from a fire, but they run back in. Then it's my family I must save from themselves. At last, it's my turn...
	THE LORD CHANCELOR'S NIGHTMARE: by Gilbert & Sullivan; 1882, a comic song-lyric on insomnia The Lord Chancelor can't sleep, and when at last he does, he drifts through nightmares full of baby lawyers and potted tradesmen sprouting fruit, and cutthroat corporate scheming. But that's Victorian dreaming!
	LUCID LIMITS: by Wayan; 1990/2/13, a lucid nightmare. Yes, they're possible! A nightmare. I go lucid as the bullets tear through me. Yet I go on with the dream! Why?... CAUTION: NIGHTMARISH VIOLENCE
	LYIN' WAYAN: by Wayan; 1996/4/10, a warning nightmare. A mob of kids chases me chanting "Lyin' Wayan!" I get dizzy and fall off a bridge... THEN comes trouble! CAUTION: FATAL FALL
	THE MAD DATER: by Mark Varitz and Wayan; 1996/10/29, linked (telepathic?) nightmares. Always ask permission to throw rocks at your date. No, not those big ones! Where's the nearest hospital? CAUTION: SURREAL DATE ABUSE
	THE MAN-EATER: by Carl Jung, 1879; a precocious formative nightmare. Jung (at age three and a half) sees a terrifying god deep underground, and is told “That is the man-eater!”...
	MARE PASS: by Wayan; 1999, crayon sketch of daydream or hypnogogic image. Climbing a meadowy pass between wooded spurs, I found I'd been climbing a mare's mane...
	MATILDA, or, HITLER'S GIRLFRIEND MULTIPLIES: by Wayan; 1998/10/1, a dream of math and courage. I'm Hitler's girlfriend. Not Eva Braun, just me--gentle, weak, thrown in among killers. What can I do?
	THE MELTING POT: by Wayan; 1982/7/30, a nightmare on fitting in They were swimming in the glowing, molten pool of the Melting Pot, and beckoned me to join them... CAUTION: SUICIDE SOUP?
	MEMORY SNIP!: by Wayan; 1999/5/15, a dream on the cost of kindness. My friend Mark does something I thought impossible: removes a snippet of my memory. Disastrous! CAUTION: VIOLENCE... SORT OF
	MINOR SURGERY: by Wayan; 1999/2/2, a dream misinterpreted. A man goes in for minor surgery and wakes up changed. I feel creepy, but for all the wrong reasons...
	MOM THE ALIEN: by Wayan; 1981; a nightmare on family Many kids have nightmares that their parents AREN'T their real parents. I dreamed my parents ATE my real parents... CAUTION: HUNGRY MONSTERS
	THE MOUSE BANNER: by Wayan; 1986/9/4, a dream fable. I'm a mouse with a protest banner saying "FREEDOM!", having a slight argument with a cat...
	MOUSE WORKOUT: by Eric, ca. 2005/9/28, a nightmare for my own good? I'm a mouse trapped and tortured in a maze/machine who gets killed four different ways at once... CAUTION: OW, OW, OW, OW
	MULTIPLEX: by Wayan; 1987/1/9, a dream on multiple dreamselves. Inside my brain's a fractured legislature--a hive-mind where all de beez disagreez...
	THE MUMMY: by Wayan; 2003/10/13, a Rarebit Fiend nightmare. A horror film and Rick Veitch's dream-comix provoke a nightmare warning me that guilt about my dad is wrecking my life...
	THE MURDERS: by four Wayans! 50K, 1971/7/14; a family has simultaneous psychic nightmares. Nearly everyone in my family dreams of a mass murder as it happens nearby. But my dad's sure it's his own evil id, and my mom clams up, and my sister forgets. And me? I doubt the whole thing for ten years, until... CAUTION: NIGHTMARE VIOLENCE
	MY LIPS ARE SEALED: by Wayan, 1989/6/3, a moody, psychic, epic dream. A two-part dream: I'm a Romantic poet who defeats the curse of the fountain, to marry; but when our daughter's grown, a new curse strikes me mute, paralyzed. And I mistake it for old age! Then, in real life...
	NAIAD AND GOD-DOG: by Wayan; 1980, a manipulative dream-tragedy. I love a Naiad who's lost her God. Tragedy strikes us. I'm devastated till I meet the aliens who explain...
	THE NEPALESE DROP: by Wayan; 2000/4/20, a predictive nightmare. I climb a crumbling slope to a cliff with a Himalayan view; I slip, and no one lifts a hand to help as I...
	A NIGHT ON MOUNT DIABLO: by Wayan, 1984/6/8, an allegorical four-phase dream. I'm attacked by a narcissist firebird, a rabid rattler-manticore, a masochist bear, and a sexless succubus... CAUTION: INEPT DEMONS
	NIGHT MARE: by Wayan; 101K, 1991; digital painting inspired by a friend's dream . I dreamed I was a feral mare: gentle, affectionate, sensual, but gone wild, wary of being tamed again...
	THE NIGHTMARE EFFECT: by Emily Joy; 2006/12/14, an anti-nightmare. My own fear creates a field of time/speed distortion; can I use it against my attackers?
	NOT OUR HAWAI'I: by Wayan; 2008/8/20, a dream poem; Dreamverse #10. My sister and I swim and wade round a weirdly shrunken Pacific, until, near Fiji, we reach the Drain...
	THE NOTE: by Wayan; 1977/1/1, a psychic nightmare. On New Year's Eve, I dream my college no longer welcomes me, and wake to find it's true...
	ORDEAL BY INFRASTRUCTURE: by Wayan; 1987/11/22, a Clintonian dreamtale. I want to join the inner circle of America's political elite. But to do that I have to survive the Ordeal...
	OVERKILL: by Wayan; 640 x 680, 1991. Digital picture-poem-poster. Now the Evil Empire's dead. We're all safe, safe at last. And all the bombs are gone... right?
	PEGGY’S CAKE: by Jenny Badger Sultan; l998/10/26 , a nightmare plus surrealist painting. At a party I meet a friend I thought was dead. She’s become a small talking rabbit made of cake, and I... CAUTION: UGH
	THE PLAGUE-CURE: by Wayan; 1996/1/1, a diagnostic dream. A quick, fatal, mosquito-borne plague. Humanity looks doomed till my friends come up with a folk recipe:
	THE PROWLER: by Wayan; 1997/2/4, an illustrated dreamtale. My sister hears a prowler. I go out blind in the dark, and learn she's right. But what a strange intruder!
	PULLED UNDER: by Wayan; 1976/4/15, a nightmare. One by one, we're pulled under the water, the earth... eaten. That's the fate of all flesh. And we're flesh. CAUTION: HORROR
	A PULP MYSTERY: by Wayan; 1997/5/7, a nightmare. A detective talks all his suspects into suicide. But they still bury me in wood pulp and beat me to death... CAUTION: BAD POLICE PROCEDURE
	PURSUED, I RAN INTO THE BARN: by Dorothea Tanning; 2003? A nightmare-poem A monster's out to eat my dog--and maybe me. We get cornered in the barn...
	QUIT THAT LAB!: by Wayan; 1999/5/2, a deductive nightmare. I'm working alone in the lab at night, when the lab gear wakes up and tries to kill me...
	RAIN OF WOMEN: by Wayan; 1999/6/11, a warning nightmare. Women rain out of the sky. People shrug "Suicides." I don't believe it--and what if one falls on me? CAUTION: VIOLENCE
	RATTLER BANQUET: by Wayan; 1993/1/29, a farcical nightmare poem. My parents invite me to dinner, but my mom chases a rattlesnake up my leg. Then I wake to find two holes in my...
	RAZOR GHOST: by Wayan; 1974/5/5, a nightmare posing a problem. A man slowly walled in by neighbors till he died, is now a mad, murderous ghost. And he's me! Can I exorcise MYSELF? CAUTION: VIOLENCE
	THE RED SPHERE: by Madeline; 2006/12/13, twin (diagnostic? psychic?) nightmares Calmly, I watch a girl trapped in a lab try to escape, and die; and watch a man lose his head to a hungry thing... CAUTION: GRUESOME
	(IN THE) REHEARSAL ROOM: by Wayan; 360 x 600, 1982. A dream on shyness. I dreamed my fears faded like ghosts, as we made love in the rehearsal room. But invisible is not gone... CAUTION: SEX
	RESCUE FEVER: by Wayan; 1994/2/3, a dreamtale on rescue fantasies. A refugee girl crawls into my bed. We become lovers. I protect her. But over time... am I holding her back? CAUTION: ABUSE? OR NOT?
	RUNNING BIRD: by Alder; 1953, a kinetic nightmare with double selves. I'm a flightless bird hopping down a line of marble columns rising from the sea, as they topple behind me...
	SADDLED WITH AUTISM: by Wayan; 1999/10/1, a dreamtale. I'm autistic; a TV host encourages me and another autistic kid to have sex on the air... CAUTION: UNDERAGE SEX ON NATIONAL TV; SERIOUS FINGER-POINTING
	SATANIC LION’S WARNING: by Eldon B.; 2007/1/19, a nightmare with poltergeist activity I fled a demon into a shadowy construction zone where an even worse telepathic lion-devil lured me in with soothing flattery. I woke shaking--and then things in my room began to move... CAUTION: DEMONS, POLTERGEIST PHENOMENA
	THE SEA WOLF'S BRAIN: by Wayan; 1999/11/21, a psychic dream. For years the Sea-Wolf enslaved me. He said I had to fight him and win to be free. I'm ready at last...
	THE SECURITY GUARD: by Wayan; 1994/12/30, a nightmare on anger. A crazy security guard with a deadly squirt gun kills freely over and over, for the cops keep paroling... CAUTION: VIOLENCE
	SEWING ADVICE FROM CANNIBALS: by Elias Howe, 1845, an inventor's helpful nightmare. Howe's sewing-machine design didn't work until, one night, warriors stuck him in a soup-pot, jabbing him with needle-sharp spears... CAUTION: OUCH!
	THE SHADOW OF LIBERTY: by Wayan; 1989/7/8, a psychic nightmare. My sisters get bored with the game of power, so I watch TV instead. But it melts, and a huge terrifying figure rises...
	SHAPESHIFTER FEVER: by Wayan; 1989/1/30, a dream poem. A summer love affair with a shapeshifting alien turns awkward when she gets a high fever, and... CAUTION: UGH!
	SHE CRASHES AND BURNS: by Wayan; 2005/5/7, a diagnostic nightmare. I ask my dreams how to find love. I dream of a 1920s bohemian girl teasing stuffy folk. But her pranks turn dangerous, then deadly...
	SHOCKWAVE: by Wayan; 1996/7/27, a predictive nightmare. My childhood home explodes into a vast pyroclastic cloud that comes boiling toward me, miles away... CAUTION: DOOM
	SOME THINGS ARE DARK: by Edna St Vincent Millay; 1948??, a poem narrated by Nightmare Millay, suffering from nightmares, decides to speak from Nightmare's point of view...
	SPIRAL LAUGHTER: by Alder; 1953, a child's feverdream The world is a whirlpool, a black and white spiral pulling me down toward a black hole, and it’s laughing...
	SPORECOUNT: by Wayan; 105K, 1990/1/5, a dreamtale on change-phases. I'm a hot archeology student till I open the wrong tomb. A plague turns us into green moldy monsters... CAUTION: DISEASE, DEATH, GRIEF, SHAME
	A STAB OF ANGER: by Wayan; 1997/5/24, a Jurassic Park dream. By a midnight lake, I comfort an abused girl in the mud. But then two figures with long knives appear...
	STOP ME!: by Wayan; 1994/2/22, a nested nightmare. I kill with an angry wish! I hide the bodies, but secretly pray someone'll catch me before I snipe again... CAUTION: VIOLENCE, GUILT
	THE STROKE: by Lesa; 2005/6/1, a predictive dream A vivid nightmare that turned out a week later to be devastatingly true ...
	THE TAKEOVER: by Lee Olivier; 2004/6/28, a triple diagnostic nightmare An alien is taking over our world, and I feel so helpless that even when I wake I want to just forget the dream...
	TARTAN ACID SPIDER TORPEDO: by "Thomas Mountain"; 2008/1/31, a cliffhanger dream. I get speared by Irish warriors, slipped an LSD dose, chased by giant spiders, torpedoed--but hey, I'm not bored!
	TIMESHOT!: by Wayan; 1999/1/2, a warning dream. Wandering through time, I forget how much other cultures fear witches. I think I provoke a shooting!...
	THE TORTURER: by Wayan; 1997/7/13, a predictive nightmare A traveling torturer chooses me for his victim. He has the right. I bluster, but when at last I have to sleep... CAUTION: NO PAIN, BUT GORE
	TWAIN’S BROTHER: by Mark Twain, 1858?, a premonitory nightmare. Twain saw a coffin with white and red flowers. Inside lay his brother Henry. A few days later the riverboat Henry worked on exploded...
	UNCORK A SUB GOD: by Wayan; 1998/8/11, a warning dream. Exploring a sunken sub, my buddies salvage a live bomb. Toss it back, but the next find may just toss us...
	VAMPIGS AND SMILES: by Wayan; 1991/12/9, an advisory dream. Our landlady was a friend, but now breaks her word, ups our rent. Talk, compromise, or rent strike?
	THE VIDEOGRAPHER'S APPRENTICE: by Wayan; 165K, 1994/7/29, a predictive/warning dream. Blondie Wiggle builds a Video Igloo. But I'm allergic--TV kills me! A BAD omen for our video project... CAUTION: TV KILLS (BUT YOU KNEW THAT)
	VOW, CHOP, DOOR: by Wayan; 1997/1/26, a psychic dreamtale. I make a weird vow--while I absent-mindedly slice up other people's cars! The next day... CAUTION: DREAM VANDALISM
	WHERE'S MY MUM?: by Pauline Ramsey; 1972, a possibly psychic nightmare. I find my mum under my bed, unconscious, her head cracked. And I wake knowing it means she’ll lose her mind...
	WHO IS OUTSIDE MY WINDOW?: by Krista G.; 2008/6/25, a recurrent false-waking dream. Someone's prowling outside my window. I'm paralyzed in bed, but I force myself into action...
	WIRES: by Wayan; 1999, 14 x 17", crayon, resolving a recurrent childhood nightmare. I was bodiless but trapped. All I could see were these moving wires. Whenever a knot drifted by... CAUTION: MADNESS, TORMENT, TELEPATHY, SEXUAL REBELLION
	WITNESS: by Patagia, 2006/2/16, a poem of a redemptive nightmare A woman I had wronged set her pit bull on me! Hand in its jaws, I gave in, and we both began crying...
	THE WORM: by Emily Dickinson, 1870s?, a nightmare-poem Emily Dickinson ties up a worm she mistrusts. Bad move! It grows into a talking snake with a score to settle...
	WORM WIZARD, or, TITMAN'S CHAIR: by Wayan; 1997/4/23, a dream of bamboozlement. In the castle of a wizard who's a were-worm, I let myself become my best friend's chair! Generous, huh?
	THE WRAITH OF KHAN: by Wayan; 1982/6/2, a dream on brains I'm being stalked by Ricardo Montalban, playing Khan, from Star Trek. Why him, why me? I know why.
	ZOMBIE RUSH-HOUR: by Wayan; 1993/12/14, a predictive nightmare. I'm in an apartment co-op in Silicon Valley where people share their skills--till rush hour begins...