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Nightmares, A-J (K-Z)

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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. Terrorizing my ego for fun, not health! Though some of these practical jokes have serious points I get only later when I wake.

Yet another group seems genuinely symbolic of my inner fears, the classic "issue" dreams of Freud and Jung. But they aren't just expressing pressure, blowing off steam. 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, stupid, or you're gonna DIE!" More recently I've had some that seemed simply inexplicable on waking but turned out to be predictive. For lack of better explanations I label them psychic--whatever that means. They're not just picking up subliminal danger signs; some show details of remote events. You tell me what to call that but ESP.

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 through archives and interviews.

All in all, my view of nightmares has broadened steadily over the years. They don't necessarily mean trouble, though I think recurring ones about imminent danger should be taken 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 nightmares--but not ALL. 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.

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ABORTION, SUICIDE, REBIRTH: by Christine Downing; 1974, a suicide dream preventing a suicide!
I was pregnant with a child not my husband's. I wanted to leave him, but not to join my lover;
I was done defining myself through men. Nor did I want the child. I got a knitting needle, and...
CAUTION: READ THE TITLE!
ACCIDENT: by Jules Engel; c.1970? Nightmare turns to surreal sport, inspiring animated film.
A large dog was chasing me, but somehow we got turned around and began racing.
As I caught up with the dog, any bit I passed went invisible--but the rest of the dog ran on
unfazed. When I won the dog vanished entirely. Awake, I animated the dog running, then...
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 metabolic nightmare.
A hall designed to give your fear-glands a workout, since
muscles aren't the only thing we need to buff...
AELFWINE: by Wayan; 1997/12/4, dreams within dreams... about dreams.
I go to a lucid-dreaming party, meet the Child who Dreams the World, and find the Body under the Bed...
AIRPLANE DISASTERS: by Jack Kerouac, early Aug? 1954, a helpless-witness nightmare
An indestructible camera relentlessly shows me what passengers feel on every crashing plane...
CAUTION: PAINFUL READING
ALL HALLOW'S EVE: by (Mrs.) D. M. Barrett; 1904, a psychic dream
I dreamt ghosts visited us, and for each scream, a relative would die.
Two of us cried out. That morning the first letter came...
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; a Greek myth turns Jungian and Buddhist
I dream of the legendary maiden chained to a rock, and the dragon coming
to abduct her--but neither one is as advertised. They look strangely akin...
CAUTION: NUDITY
ANGELS AND SHARKS: by Wayan; 1975/10/11, a surreal warning dream
I was an angel slipping through matter, who, like a shark, needed to
keep moving to breathe--stop and I'd drown in the world, lose myself...
ANGERHELM: by Wayan; 1994/11/11, a reassuring nightmare.
In one long night I hike out of Frustration Hell, to Inner-Freedom Heaven...
ANNE GOT LOST: by Anne's friend; 1936, a warning dream wisely acted on
She was headed for a rock wall. The brakes faded; she smelled burning.
Then she woke. Her friends laughed, but she asked a neighbor what to do if...
ANTI-LUCID FLIGHT: by Wayan, 2016/8/30, a friendly nightmare begging me to go lucid.
I fear falling? The drop increases. Want a softer surface? The rocks turn to dirt, then water.
Want help? Here comes a flying dolphin. Oh, but I'm not dreaming...
ANTS AT A PICNIC: by Wayan; 1984/11/16, dream-poem from predictive dreamlet
DREAM: Ants invite me to a picnic. But one of the dishes they serve is--other ants!
NEXT DAY: I'm invited to a picnic. And my friend, munching, says...
CAUTION: BUG-EAT-BUG WORLD
ARAGORN'S LIVER: by Wayan; 1983/1/29, a health-warning nightmare.
I'm a hobbit in Silicon Valley, stalking Ring-wraiths down El Camino. But one of them's stalking me...
CAUTION: VIOLENCE, HYPNOTIC GASLIGHTING
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 ARMY ORGY: by Charles Scoy; late Sept. 2008, a recurrent nightmare that changed
An Army nightmare suddenly changes--my enemy kisses me, & we start doing every kind of sex...
CAUTION: GAYS IN THE ARMY? DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL!
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...
AT A BIG 'SWENSON' PARTY: by Jack Kerouac, mid-Sept? 1953, a nightmare on need
A lovely pecan pie, but the guests are cutting pieces, dropping them, hands trembling
in growing hunger desperate the dark voracious guests fighting now to freeload...
CAUTION: NOT ABOUT PIE
AURALESS: by Wayan; dreamed 2017/5/14, a sex nightmare about perfect normality
I'm in bed with a movie star, and it's awful. Why? Because I can only feel
her with FIVE senses--the sixth is missing! So disorienting it's creepy...
CAUTION: NIGHTMARE, BAD SEX
THE AXE OF DEATH: by Catherine McDiarmid Paton; c. 1830, a grisly predictive nightmare.
She dreamt Death attacked her but her youngest kids bravely fought back--and died. 3 months later...
CAUTION: VIOLENCE
THE BABY: by Gloria Reiser; 1991/3/20; a nightmare of a migratory pregnancy
I'm pregnant. I feel abortion's wrong, but can I safely bear a child at 45? But then...
It's my son's ex-girlfriend who's pregnant and my son's the father! But then...
It's my daughter who's pregnant. At least her boyfriend's supportive. But...
CAUTION: THIS FETUS GETS AROUND
BALLOONS: by Stan Brakhage; 1975/5/7, an epic, apocalyptic flying dream after a bad plane flight
I'm a schoolkid again, fleeing an eruption of sewage. We escape in a balloon.
Earth is beautiful, but I know this flood of shit will drown the whole world...
BAND-AIDS: by Bagheera Pardus; c.1985, a lucid re-entered nightmare turned to joy.
Giant snakes chased me. I go lucid, turn & slay one. As I woke, the snakes cried. So I re-entered...
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...
BAT AND UMBRELLA: by David Small; c. 1960/3/1, a nightmare exposing deadly child neglect
I'm an orphaned bat in an alley in a storm. I mistake a broken old umbrella's ribs & flaps
for... my Mom! I unfold Mom, and discover...
CAUTION: LIFE-THREATENING CHILD NEGLECT
BEAR VERSUS CHAINSAW: by Wayan; 2022/4/22; a political nightmare hinting at a solution
Night. Home alone. A huge bear breaks in! To defend myself, I have
a chainsaw. Curiously, an electric not a gas-powered chainsaw...
BEAST BIRTHS: by Wayan; 1989/9/19, a predictive dream of family secrets.
My family has a hidden gene for incest--and griffins.
When I bring the family skeleton from the closet...
CAUTION: RAPE, INCEST
BEAUTY'S CHALLENGE: by Brenda Ferrimani, 1997, a flying nightmare
The beauty parlor on the edge of the canyon crawls with rattlesnakes.
I float in the air above, but even up here, knots of levitating snakes...
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
BERRY DANCE: by Wayan; 2009/12/17; a nightmare turns to go-go-dance
My kidnappers were desperate: no jobs. I fled them down the berry chute, to the underground
strawberry factory where engineers in go-go boots did the berry dance--and the berries...
CAUTION: STRAWBERRY FETISH
BIDENT: by Wayan; 2019/9/29, a punning political nightmare
The Evil Librarians drop a 19th Century book-character on my head--a blue-skinned paranoid!
He tries to kill me with a trident missing one prong... a Bident? Oh, no! He's Joe B...
CAUTION: DIM VIEW OF TWO 2020 CANDIDATES
THE BIG CRUNCH: by Wayan; 1979/5/9, a cosmic nightmare.
I'm a girl being stalked. I get drastic--scrunch up the universe & shake it out! And is THAT enough?
CAUTION: ANXIETY, GUILT, POSSIBLE APOCALYPSE
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; story + 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 at work, Blind Ancestors come smash up our homes...
and we all see zombie vandal relatives as normal...
THE BOAT IS SINKING: by Mrs Griffiths; 1734/8/6, a recurrent warning dream
Mrs Griffiths has the same nightmare three times before she asks her nephew to skip a fishing trip...
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
BREAK-IN: by Andrea McFarland; 2011/4/21; a psychic warning dream
A thief was breaking in. I tried to flee, but my dad got in the way. Woke up, went out to my car, and found...
BROTHER: by Noelle Stevenson; c.2000-2012?, recurring rescue dreams
I kept dreaming of a boy in striped pajamas. I had to save him every night.
Until one night I failed. I just couldn't. I knew who he was--my brother who...
CAUTION: DEATH
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 THE EGGS: by Wayan; 2008/1/20; a magical advisory nightmare with 15 sketches.
Fighting an absolutist theocracy, my dragon-soul burns the
church's dragon-nursery. The cost is terrible: a black vortex...
CAUTION: ROMANTIC THREESOME GETS BURNED
BURN HIS TREE: by Emily Joy; 2007/2/7; two linked nightmares on art
Malevolent artwork terrorizes my baby and me! What's to be done?...
BUT AS YESTERDAY by Nancy Price; 1948, a dream of being sacrificed
Our gods demand sacrifices. I let Mother mutilate me so I'd be unfit. But the priests turn out to be blind...
CAUTION: YOU CAN FEEL PAIN IN DREAMS
BUTLER'S CROSSING: by David's father; 1941/8/24, a (heeded or unheeded?) warning dream
He saw a vehicle coming toward him at great speed. The light was so bright it blinded him. He screamed...
CAR: by Carrie Elizabeth, 1994?, a lucid nightmare--yes, that's possible!
I don't even notice the car until it's hit me and I'm dead. Now I have to lie here
forever, even though I know it's a dream. But if you die in a dream, you die...
CAT WITH A KNIFE: by Wayan, 2000/6/24, a nightmare of a Jungian Shadow changed by patience
A guy threatens me with a knife. I sit on him and wait patiently.
Slowly he turns into a huge black cat! I set him free in a garden...
CATS AND DOG: RECURRING DREAM: by Lee Kennedy; 1994, a parental valuation dream
I kept dreaming demon cats tortured me. At last a vicious dog joined them. He wanted to kill me, but
the chief cat wanted to keep playing with her prey. I realized they were my mum and dad, and said...
CHANDELIER: by a Washington mom, pre-1961, an absurd, lifesaving dream
I dreamt that at 4:35 AM the chandelier over our baby's bed fell, crushing the baby to death. I woke and...
CHEAPSHIP!: by Wayan; 1996/8/6, a nightmare on trained stinginess.
Why did I sign on as a crewman on the Cheapship, a freighter
that's falling apart? And yes, I do mean that literally...
CHRONOPHOBIA!: by Wayan; 1993/7/10, a physicist's nightmare on time's arrow
I find myself driving a speeding car down a freeway--in reverse. No, not reverse 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...
CLOUD WAR: by Wayan; 2012/12/22, a dream of eco-apocalypse on the darkest day of the year
Clouds wake up. Maybe they were always aware, but now they're aware of us. And rage against us all.
Oh, humanity'll survive. But easy times are over...
CAUTION: PARTISAN INTERPRETATION
COLOR OF A BRUISE: by Virginia Brady Young, 1976 or before, a dental nightmare-poem
I stab and stab my pillow. The room rains yellow feathers. The teeth in my head are blue,
growing out of my scalp. A dentist appears, holding a yellow drill. I scream, "No!
It's time to shop for lemons." In the Supermarket my teeth grow wild as tusk...
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
CREEPINESS: by Scottopic; 2001/11/30. A hypnogogic nightmare.
I'm in bed sleepily petting my cat, when I see my cat across the room! What's on my legs? It's big.
My cat chases it off... through the wall? My room is sealed. Where did it come from, where did it go?...
CROCODILE DREAM: by Patagia; 2015/10/5, a nightmare-poem on recklessness
Closer I edge to admire their scales, the glint of their teeth, and shape of their tails. They cast a strong spell...
CRUCIFERS: by Greg Hildebrandt; recurring nightmares 1969-71, painted 1971
After breaking with the Catholic Church, Greg had recurrent nightmares about its history of atrocities
and cover-ups. Out of this came a series of paintings unlike his famous book covers. This was the first...
CAUTION: MURDEROUS MOB
CRUSHED BY NETLEY ABBEY: by a Mr Taylor; 1704? A warning dream.
A carpenter demolishes a ruined abbey despite dreams he’ll be crushed by stones falling from a window...
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
DAD SMASHES COPCAR: by Wayan, 1977/5/26, a warning dream physically enforced the next day
My dad drives recklessly, hits a copcar hard, smashing our front end. I wake
knowing it says "Kay's a batterer. Leave her or I'LL be smashed." That day...
CAUTION: NIGHTMARE, BATTERING ISSUES
DARE: by Catshall; c. 2013/6/13, a haiku on an incubated nightmare
I challenged my dreams to hit me with their worst. And they did...
DATE GHOST: by Wayan; 1983/11/26, nondream surreal painting of a shyness fit
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.
Climbing a Mayan pyramid in Yosemite with Deanna Troy from the
Starship Enterprise, we meet a gunman who wants to sacrifice...
"DEATH! DEATH!" by William Holman Hunt; 1854/1/20 (or so); a one-year predictive dream
DREAM: Hunt's mother points at a tall figure in the shadows and shrieks "Death! Death!"
ONE YEAR LATER: in Jerusalem, his hostess finds her young son dead, and shrieks...
CAUTION: BEWARE THE IDES OF JANUARY?
DEERMAN'S CHALLENGE: by Melissa McClanahan, 2002?-2007?, a recurring nightmare figure
I used to dream of this violent anthropomorphic being. At times I'd put on his deer-skull head
and become him, inflicting and inciting violence. Naming him gave me some control...
DEMON BUDGETING: by Wayan, 2011/9/27, a nightmare on letting things blow over
A demon invades our police station, takes over our captain and lieutenant, and pushes them to fight.
But I know demonic possession can't last long. Our copshow's special effects budget is too limited...
DESERT SLAVERS: by Wayan; 2015/5/29; a grim dream replayed a bit better
A gang of slavers catch my family. I flee on a bike but it breaks down. Stranded. Replay! This time I have a gun...
CAUTION: GANG, SHOOTING
THE DESTRUCTION OF HAWAI'I; 2004/9/2 by Anonymous #37; a short apocalyptic nightmare
I was a small boy living on Oahu. Out my front door I saw a 20-mile-tall wall of flames stretching across the horizon...
DESTRUCTION OF THE NIGHTMARE TOWERS: by Dustin Shuler; c.1955-1965, recurrent nightmare made performance art
As a kid, when I had a fever I always had the same nightmare: a high brick or stone wall
shaking apart, faster and faster. This scared me very much. Finally, in my teens, I...
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 backstabbing that came true
My sister & her new guru tests me psychologically--only it looks like a 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 lovable BBC alien, grows a sappy flower-face and
allies with Death. An alarming turn-around! What's he up to?
CAUTION: GOOD DOCTOR GOES BAD?
DOG HORROR: by Wayan, 2023/1/21; a nightmare--but not the dreamer's!
I'm cold, tired and wet, and I have to take this dog to college. But when I touch him,
he howls in horror. I'm not having a nightmare, I am a nightmare. His nightmare...
DONE FOR: by the Reverend Francis Kilvert; 1872/10/14, a nightmare within a nightmare
I dreamt a friend poisoned me. I "woke" and slew him in fury. But guilt gnawed me. I confessed and was due to hang...
CAUTION: NOT A CALM GUY
DON'T CRY, IT'S ONLY A DREAM: by a Massachusetts mom; pre-1961, a dream not predictive but telepathic!
As soon as I gave birth I had a nightmare my brother would be in a serious auto crash. When I warned my mom...
DON'T GET UPSET: by Wayan; 1996/4/10; a warning-nightmare comic (small screen, slow loading? Illus. text)
A mob chases me chanting "Lyin' Wayan!" I get dizzy, fall off a bridge, and wake. Then comes REAL trouble!
CAUTION: FATAL FALL
DOUBLE DREAM: by "Anonymous #23 & 24"; pre-1963, two linked false-predictive dreams
Mother & daughter both dream Mum runs over a little girl. Next morning she
spots the girl in the road--warned, she swerves. But bystanders see no child...
DRAGONFLY BUS: by Wayan, 2023/3/28; four dreams on halting runaway feelings
A girl writes a whole movie to get a shy boy to hold her; I stupidly summon a monster dragonfly-bus;
a devil-suited jerk hogs a musical's stage TWICE; leeches crawl from the treasure-box I opened...
CAUTION: FURRY NUDITY, SEXUAL FEAR/GUILT
DRAMA IS HELL!: by Thomas Hood; 1824?; a comic nightmare
When my first play failed, I tried to console myself by reading Paradise Lost.
But drama and devils don't mix...
DREAM CAUSED BY THE FLIGHT OF A BEE AROUND A POMEGRANATE A SECOND BEFORE WAKING
by Gala Dalí 1943? painted by Salvador Dalí 1944; a supposedly instantaneous dream.
Dalí's wife Gala naps, but a bee wakes her--and her dream instantly magnifies
bee into tigers! After all, both have fur, sharp bits, black & gold stripes...
CAUTION: BREASTS; BAD DREAM THEORIES.
(THEIR) DREAM HOUSE: by Wayan; 1986/1/1, a New Year's nightmare.
A house with a fire-ghost infestation. Worse than termites!
And the ghosts tell me it's all my fault....
A DREAM OF HELL by Herbert Palmer, 1919; recurring nightmares of loneliness
I'm in Hell. No fire, no guilt. Just endless forests under the moon. My mother paints
endlessly but never gets it right. A sunny day, but I can't go out to play. Cut off...
CAUTION: DEPRESSION
A DREAM OF HEREDITY: by John Calvin Rezmerski, 1986 or earlier, a shape-poem of a comic nightmare
I'm in a tower of men, each son on his father's back, down to a patient overburdened ape.
His savanna's full of angry women who can only see him to yell at. Standoff. We can't escape.
I wake saying "Ease off, let the ape breathe. Let me down...
DREAM OR REALITY?: by Ben Torter, 1994?, a (subliminal? psychic?) lifesaving nightmare
I'm in a small pond. A monster goldfish stalks me. I seem trapped in place, and
wake in panic, sheets drenched--to find my pet goldfish gasping on the floor...
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?"
DREAMS EXPLAIN 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...
CAUTION: MALE NUDITY
DREAMKU, APRIL 2007: by Roswila; various dates up to April 2007; 30 dream-poems--mostly haiku
Dream haiku laid out like a calendar. Roswila's favorite is the pirate, but mine is the were-salamander...
DUCK HUNT: by Craig, age 4; 1950/11/18, an ignored predictive nightmare
"I dreamed you were in the water, Daddy. You kept trying to come out of the water to me..."
DUMP: by Thom Gunn, between 1993 & '99, a nightmare about legacies
His literary afterlife was just six inches of shelf space. But then friends brought more, trucks more, til I slid down hills of paper...
CAUTION: DEATH'S AFTERMATH
EBON EBON THALUD: by Samuel Coleridge; 1800/11/28, a nightmare struggle leaving physical traces.
Ebon Ebon Thalud, a woman blended with darkness, tries to gouge out my right eye. I wake screaming. My right eyelid...
EDITORS: by Gavin Ewart; late 1970s, recurring nightmares of censorship.
My new editor starts rejecting my poems. My new new editor rewrites them for me. I feel lucky not to be arrested...
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?)
ENCHANTED GLASS; before 1983, by Charles Gullans, a recurring nightmare of shapeshifters done as a poem
Their bodies shift, and alter. Antlers sprout... much has been taken, and something terrible is grafted...
CAUTION: RAMPANT PHILOSOPHIZING, HUMAN SUPREMACISM
ENTER, NERO!: by Emperor Nero; c. 58 CE, a series of guilty surreal nightmares.
After murdering his mother, Nero dreams he's losing control: ships drift, statues chase him, and his own tomb says...
EVERLASTING AND PERPETUAL NIGHTMARE: by Shawn King; c. 2009/2/10; two bits of a lifelong nightmare
Lucifer throws firebolts from a Montreal tower; monsters stalk us; next comes the flood...
THE EXPOSURE OF HUMANITY TO THE VACUUM OF SPACE; 1999/6/5 by Anonymous #37; a brief apocalyptic nightmare
One patch of the night sky had a huge number of stars compared to the rest; there was no atmosphere in that portion of the sky...
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
EYES IN THE BLACK SQUARE: by Mark Varitz and Wayan; dreamed 1985/1/14, telepathic or shared dreams
WAYAN: I wake deep in the night. From the black square of a curtainless window, eyes are peering in at me...
MARK: I wake to find a black square trapdoor in my bedroom ceiling. From the dark above, eyes peer in at me...
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...
A FACTORY FIRE: by J. W. Dunne; late 1903, a predictive nightmare.
Dunne dreamt of a fire with smoke so toxic it killed people on
a balcony in open air! Then came the evening newspaper...
FAKE IT!: by Electra Johannes and Patagia; 2007/9/22 and 2007/9/23, linked dreams.
Patagia dreams she fakes a Hindu rite, causing Electra to dream she fakes leadership in a refugee band. But are they faking?
FALCON AND FÜHRER: by Miriel; 1985/7/31, an epic flying/transformation dream
A mysterious "Führer" hypnotized all my companions. So I become a human-sized falcon and hunt him...
FALL INTO FEAR: by Brenda Ferrimani; 2001/9/12, a 9/11 nightmare transformed by lucidity
I’m falling into endless darkness. I feel like screaming, but then I remind
myself I’m dreaming. “What is for me here?” I demand. “SHOW ME!” I begin
rising toward the stars. Huge metal discs with alien writing rise with me...
A FAMILY ALBUM: by Wayan; 1981/3/9, folio of nightmarish dysfunctional family.
A series of family shadows, as I saw them then. These scenes are NOT literal, do I make myself clear?
But the tensions they show were very real...
CAUTION: GRIM! SEXUAL VIOLENCE, INCEST, MUTILATION
THE FEARFUL INSECT by Nancy Price; 1948, an episodic circular nightmare unified by a leitmotif
A bug with a horse-skull face reappears all through this nightmare of betrayal. I only know I feared it...
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'm slow to call 9-1-1, and...
FETAL SLIDESHOW: by Rachel; c.1973, a misinterpreted recurrent diagnostic dream
I dreamed at least weekly I had to view a slide showing something wrong with my fetus.
I assumed the dreams expressed doubts about motherhood--until my miscarriage...
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
A FILM-ORIENTED DREAM: by William Desowitz, spring 1980; dream collaging four diverse movies
I fondle the noses of two masked girls in red leotards--parodying part of a Clockwork Orange...
I'm excited to see Last Year at Marienbad, but either the actors mumble or the sound is bad...
Night. I fly, as in Fellini's , but out of control. The wind takes me, I'm terrified...
My grandmother attacks me with her crab-claw, then retreats, chanting the film title Shoeshine!
FINALLY I'M AN OLD WHORE: by Jack Kerouac, Jan/Feb 1953, a burnout dream... or his fears for the future
Finally I've turned into an old whore... a silly Jack Kerouac whore with that same old tired old gasafaycagoo...
FIRE-CATS: by Wayan; 1981/10/10; twin dream-poems on over-discipline
For mere disobedience, I EXECUTE a forest-fire-fighting cat! So next
I'm trapped in a security-obsessed job; how do I like it? I flee...
FIRST NIGHT IN FIJI: dreamed May 1980 by S---; an unheeded warning dream
Far from home, about to wed a man I barely knew, I dreamed I was a lion in an open cage I dared not leave...
FISH BIRTH: by Katherine Metcalf Nelson; c.1978/11/15; a nightmare
My little son accidentally tears the tail off our goldfish. The wound
looks vaginal. The fish, moaning in pain, turns into my daughter...
FIVE HOUNDS, FIVE DEFENSES: by Wayan; 2015/9/18, an explicit advisory dream
Five agents hound me. Literal hounds--in trenchcoats. They stand for my five worst life-troubles. Luckily,
they can't cooperate--they're from rival agencies! And the dream spells out what works against each one...
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
FLAYED COLUMN: by Antoine Lavalette, fall 1815; a time-compressed nightmare
In prison, the midnight bell chimed. I dreamt I saw a cavalry column of men and horses skinned, gory, still marching.
Wagons of the dead passed for hours. As the guard changed, the gate crashed, waking me--just minutes after midnight!
CAUTION: PROVES NOT ALL DREAMS ARE REALTIME
FLIGHT, MARGARET, MOUSE, DOG: by Paul Nash, dreamed 1895-9 + Feb. 1913; art by Dave McKean
As a child, landscape artist Paul Nash dreamed of flying over the countryside
of southern England. But he was threatened by the legendary Black Dog...
FRANKLIN'S NECK: by a dying Kansas grandmother; 1953/7/5, an unheeded warning nightmare
"Oh no" she moaned. "I don't want Frankie to go to that camp. He must not go there." She began to cry...
FREDDY KRUEGER'S POLITICS: by Wayan; 1992/8/20, a dream of... ambition?
Freddy has plans for me and Telly Savalas's daughter. But to lure us in, he must know what
we want. But what does Freddy want? If we can find out, we might just lure him, too...
GARDEN OF SWORDS: by Louis MacNeice; 1937, a dream foreseeing World War II.
I'm at a garden-party when They attack. I flee through a garden of swords, but a guard with a bayonet...
THE GENERAL: by Wayan, mid-December 1975, a nightmare warning of real danger
I'm a child in a Latin American city who's murdered on the street. Then I'm my brother,
seeking my own murderers. I find the General behind it! Unfortunately...
CAUTION: DYING. DYING TWICE. AND THEN NEARLY AGAIN, AWAKE...
GESTAPO, OPERA by a 30-year-old woman, 1933; a dream of isolation & vulnerability
I'm at my favorite opera, The Magic Flute. When I hear the line 'That is the devil certainly,' I think
of Hitler. The Gestapo have a device that reads my thought, and come for me. Bystanders spit on me...
CAUTION: NATIONAL NIGHTMARE
GIFTSHOP OF THE DAMNED: by Carmen Knoke, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a comic nightmare
It was Christmas and we needed to buy gifts. But the shopping dragged on
and when at last we went to the register, the sales clerk laughed...
THE GIRL IS ARMED: by Wayan; 2009/1/28, three diagnostic/advisory dreams.
An abused girl survives grotesque situations to become a job/health counselor with a talking sofa...
CAUTION: BUTT-SNIFFING GIANT
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 career 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 from my nosy, sneering parents.
But they find us during oral sex, and their scorn melts my girlfriend into a goat...
CAUTION: SEX, HUMILIATION, FAMILY VALUES
GODEVILLE: by Wayan; 2013/9/1, a nightmare of that Old-Time Religion
I'm at a vaudeville for gods. Cthulhu the squid-god nearly tramples me--and then gets horny...
CAUTION: GROSS GOD, GROSS GOO
THE GRALA: by Eugene Jolas, c. 1934, a nightmare written as a surreal prose-poem
I was having dinner with friends when I saw on the wall a huge skullbone
spider. But I lost the word for spider, and my friends seemed not to see it...
GRAVESTONE: by "Miss S."; late 1930s-1946, a recurring clairvoyant/predictive nightmare
I'm walking up a churchyard path. My hair clings to me, damp. Horses wander. I'm drawn to one graveside...
THE GREEN GODDESS: by William Archer; 1919/9/1, a playwriting-idea dream that paid off
I was held hostage in India by courteous revolutionaries who avoided spelling out that we were soon to die...
THE GRIFFINS' LESSON: by Wayan, 2018/6/1, a pair of predictive dreamlets
I live through two teens' nightmares, then "wake" with them to find they were drugged by a third party! Why?
Then I'm with a cheery wagon-crew of flirting griffins & talking horses, pulling a cart made of grammar or logic.
Six days later... detailed images from both dreams appear on TV!
CAUTION: CREEPY, THEN SAPPY, THEN FREAKY
GUILTY! (Around #3): by Wayan; 1998/7/21, digital sketch of recurrent nightmare.
I tried a Redon theme: huge, floating eyes. His are scary, but mystical; mine came out as guilty terror...
GURU IN BLUE: by Wayan, 1990/5/10, a dream-poem of BEING a nightmare
I want to meet my friends' spiritual teacher, but he cowers, runs from me in horror.
I chase him yelling "BOO!" Why am I acting as his nightmare? I don't know...
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
Day: my dad's paralyzed, and my car's stolen.
Dream: a 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...
HE SAW: by Jeffery Beam; c.1983, a nightmare with three selves
I, sleeping me, watch dream-me find a third me who saw too much
in the kitchen. Unconscious or dead? I just don't know...
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...
HELL-BOUND TRAIN: by Franz Jaegerstetter, summer 1938; a political dream
I was ordered to join Hitler's army. I dreamt a booming voice proclaimed, "This train is going to Hell!" So I...
HELL HALL: by Anonymous #3; c.1920?, a dream of initiatory cannibalism
A revival meeting goes bad--suicides, 'long pig', a hell-pit. If you sup with the devil, carry a long fork!
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...
HER HAND ON THE MANTEL: by Frederick Greenwood; before 1894; a disowned predictive dream
Greenwood dreams he finds a severed hand on a mantelpiece. The next day
it happens! But he sees no moral, so he dismisses it...
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
HERE IN MY IMPOVERISHED PSYCHE: by Tracey West, 1987? 88?, recurring nightmares
I'm Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island. But the theme song repeats endlessly--not the later version with
my name, but the early one dismissing me and the Professor as and the rest. I wake up screaming...
HIDE THE LIST!: by Anonymous; c. 1550, a recurrent warning dream.
A London Protestant dreamed Bloody Mary would find the congregation's member-list and burn them all...
HIS MINE: by Wayan; 1985/12/2, an epic Wild West dream
I'm a hobbit seeking Henry Fonda's haunted gold mine. And find it. Or is that chocolate?
But then I'm caught in a shamanic showdown in a bar where they serve real spirits...
HITLER'S GETTING CRISPR: by Jennifer Doudma; fall 2015, a nightmare on CRISPR by one who'd know
It was Hitler. He had a pig face, and he was taking notes. He said
'I want to understand the uses and implications of this amazing technology'...
THE HOG AND VIBRATOR SHOW: by Wayan; 2014/11/7, an obscene comic nightmare
The gameshow has two old men humping sextoys on the floor as the audience
watched. That wasn't the gross bit. It was when they released the hogs...
CAUTION: OBSCENE GAMESHOW. EVEN MORE THAN USUAL.
HOMO REDUX: by Winston Weathers, 1988 or before, a nightmare of revenants
All his guilty dead were coming home, begging to be let in...
And then he was on the outside, looking in at the lone living man...
CAUTION: GUILT, GRIEF, THE LIVING DEAD
HORSE-DOG: by Wayan, 1982/2/1, a rambling, scattered but predictive dream
I cross the Mushroom Desert, meet a blue-tailed squirrel & a horse-size dog, then zombie-vampire suburbanites.
NEXT DAY: an artist sends me a flyer with a new dream painting--a huge dog whose fur-patterns depict a horse...
CAUTION: SYNCHRONICITY
HOT FEET: by Patient 2 of William Hammond, c.1868, a nightmare--but subliminal or mystical?
I'm in the Rocky Mountains. Gold-hungry Mexican bandits capture me and put my feet to the fire,
demanding "How do you transmute copper into gold?" I scream "I don't know!", waking to find...
CAUTION: TORTURE PLAYED FOR LAUGHS
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. I end up fleeing...
Next evening, a TV movie--Goldie Hawn marries into a clannish world and ends up...
HUNTERS' FIRE: by Wayan; 1987/9/8, 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!
I, MEATBALL: by Vladimir Cole, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a warning nightmare?
I'm chased by spaghetti, snared, sprinkled with parmesan.
My hungry classmates loom, and my best friend says...
"I WANT YOUR DREAMS": by Mark Varitz; 1995/11/17; a shamanic nightmare; predictive?
At an amusement park, big 3D letters appeared in the air, saying
"I WANT YOUR DREAMS". Terrified, I dived underground...
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...
IMMOLATION MAZE: by Richard Turner; 1973, a nightmare expanded into both sculpture & story
Saigon, 1973. Lost in a fabric maze. I find, wearing Buddhist robes, the skeleton of a dog.
Years later I write of Buddhist monks burning themselves, and build an ominous maze...
CAUTION: SUICIDES BY FIRE
IN A REHEARSAL ROOM: by Wayan; 1982/10/20, a sexy dreamlet on shyness.
I dreamed my fears faded like ghosts, as we made love in the rehearsal room. But invisible is not gone...
CAUTION: UNDERAGE SEX
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
IN THE STAR; 1988/9/12 by Wayan; an epic, out-of-body, intrastellar quest-dream
I tour the heart of a red supergiant, where dreaming souls explore
their fears and heart's desires, unconstrained by solid matter...
CAUTION: SWEDENBORGIAN VISION, UNICORN NUDITY
INANNA'S RIVER OF BLOOD: by King Sargon I; c. 2335 BCE, a call-to-greatness nightmare
Sargon, a delivery man, dreams the Goddess drowns the King in a river of blood. He wakes and tells the King...
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 IS THE ONLY WAY!: by Rick Veitch; c.1960; a child's career-predicting dream
My bedroom window is choked with dirt. I dig up to the surface
and find a man reading comics. He says 'It is the only way!'...
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.
IT'S TOO LATE!: by Rick Veitch; 1994 or before; a surreal apocalyptic dream
I'm in World War II, asking a reporter to keep quiet about our secret weapon.
But it's already gone off, melting and distorting the whole cartoon world. It's...
J.F., T.B. AND ME: by Dream Junkee; 2008/1/24, a lucid nightmare-comedy
Lucid, I summon a sexy literary character. But he tries to take over my personality and make it his lucid dream...
CAUTION: VAMPIRE-SLAYING
JASON: by MariNaomi; 1989, a romantic-warning nightmare
The Mummy chases me, then unwraps his bandages to show the mutilated face of my boyfriend.
"I'm getting out of jail!" he says. Then the phone wakes me. My boyfriend. He says "I'm getting out of..."
CAUTION: CODEPENDENCE, MUTILATION, GUILT AND GRIEF
JUNG'S DRAGONS: by Carl Jung, 1917/1/17 to mid-1922; recurring dream/trance figures
Jung's visions of dragons evolve from fiery destroyers
to thieves who can be forced to give up treasure
to peacful, luminous guardians of the sacred...
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...
JUST BEFORE 9/11: by Patti Viscardi; 6 AM 2001/9/11, a predictive nightmare
I was on a plane... It was almost graceful, the plane actually entered the building before everything dissolved into flame...
CAUTION: DEATH. DEATH TWICE.


See also Nightmares K-Z
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