Night-Mares
I’ve had this reoccuring nightmare for over 37 years, I can’t figure it out and don’t try. I first had this when I was around 7 and just had the same one a couple of nights ago.
I start out walking in a forest as a 7 year old and I get this wierd feeling I’m being followed. I walk faster and then I feel this hot fetid breath on my neck, the smell is like that of an open grave. I don’t turn around because I don’t want to see whats behind me so I walk faster, and faster then I start running all the time feeling the hot breath on my neck. I can’t seem to run fast enough, and thats when I see a tower at the edge of the woods and I make a bee line to it. I make it just inside the door and slam it closed just in time and hear a heavy WHUMP! as something hits the door behind it and the door creaks loudly but holds. As I catch my breath I start to smell burning wood and look just in time to see smoke coming from the door and a second later the door catches fire and I stumble back to a long spiral staircase leading up, I turn back to the door and as the door comes apart I see it, the biggest blackest horse I’ve ever seen. It had glowing red eyes, tendrils of flame coming from its nostrils, smoke on its hooves. It rears up and as it comes down it blows flames right at me, I dodge the flames and start running up the staircase for my life with the horse right on my tail. I can hear the hooves on the stone stairs but it can’t climb as fast as I can run, around and around, up and up, I stay just out of reach till I run out of stairs, I run at dead run right off the top of the tower and fall, down and down and just before I hit I wake up, covered in sweat. I have no idea where this comes from but after all these years it is just something I deal with. Oh well, maybe one day I’ll get back to the good dreams..:-)
hava great day….Ed
July 2, 2009 at 5:47 am
ed, you can write! wow, not that i didn’t think you could, it’s just i don’t think i’ve ever read aynthing quite like this on your blog
unfortunately i’m pretty hopeless at making sense of dreams. sounds scarey though!
apparently our dreams are things that are on our minds & although they don’t always make clear sense; like your dream about being chased by a horse & being stuck inside an unknown place & suffocated (my interpretation here..)
usually, i can peace mine together & figure it out
when i was a little girl, around 5 years old
i had this dream until i was about 15
to cut a long comment/story short: i used to dream my family was arguing, loud & angrily; it was my parents & my brother (he’s a “recovering” drug addict)
& in my dream, i used to be about the size of a pea in comparsion to them & i used to try to scream & make noise but nothing happened & they would keep arguing
for 10 years i dreampt this & i finally sat down with a psychologist at 17 & this dream i was having was because i was going unheard & unnoticed in my home, the focus was always on clint & his troubles, because i was the good kid, the quiet achiever so, he got most of the attention
since then i’ve stepped up, let my voice be heard & things are so much better in every way
perhaps, this is something from your childhood, i think it’s referred to as a suppressed memory
(?)
<3
i hope i haven't bored or freaked you out with my long comment lol
July 2, 2009 at 5:56 am
wow ed you can write!
i’m fairly hopeless at making sense of dreams, so i don’t know if i can offer up any useful advice
your dream sounds scarey & it’s been going on for a while now!
when i was a little girl, about 5 years old
i had this dream until i was 15 roughly;
my parents & my brother (he’s a recovering drug addict) would be arguing at home, loud & angrily
i would dream that i was about the size of a pea in comparion to them & i would try to hell & shout & nothing would come out
eventually i’d wake up in a cold sweat & cry until i fell back asleep
to cut a long story/comment short; i was a psychologist at 17 & she helped me work through some of my childhood troubles
one of them was this recurring dream
the reason for my dream was because i was going unheard & unnoticed at home, by everyone
because i was always the good child, quiet achiever etc & my brother being the trouble he has/is been, he got all the attention
since then, i have no trouble voicing my opinions & making myself heard
& since then everything has been better in every way
my psyc. called these things “repressed” memories of some sort, perhaps your dream is the same(?)
hoepfully my comment hasn’t creeped you out or bored you
lol
<3
July 2, 2009 at 6:52 am
That is really spooky sweetie. Maybe you need to talk to a psychologist as well?
July 2, 2009 at 6:53 am
I forgot to tell you that I thought the way you put this all into words was fantastic!! You could write a book! Anymore hidden talents?
July 2, 2009 at 7:32 am
Interestingly, the only animal I ever see in my dreams is a bear. Never horses, sheep, cats, dogs… Just bears. And only a few times over my lifetime (so far) and even more interesting is one very vivid dream involved a long stretched out bear chasing me up and around a long spiral staircase. Hmmmm….
July 2, 2009 at 10:08 am
Being chased in dreams usually represents your fears- for me, it is usually a bear that is chasing me. The spiral staircase lets you know that there is a way to get away from evil; biblically, that would be Jacob’s ladder, which the angels, messengers of God, travel in their errands to help mankind. Falling and awakening means that you still haven’t found the way.
Keep climbing; one day you’ll hit the head of the staircase, and turn around and say “Get away!”- and that raging black horse will vanish!
By the way, Beamer says, some black horses are really sweet!
July 2, 2009 at 12:38 pm
You can look up all of these in online dream analysis – that’s what I do!
July 2, 2009 at 4:05 pm
creepy dream, your story reminds me of this horse sculpture with glowing red eyes, http://www.denvergov.org/RecentInstallations/LuisJimenezMustangFebruary2008/tabid/428802/Default.aspx
July 2, 2009 at 6:41 pm
I hardly ever dream…………..if I had anything like yours that’s good that I don’t.
July 3, 2009 at 5:33 am
A post that breaks the photographic regularity, I like it! Although I’m not sure what to say… I used to read about dreams and why we dream, and will echo Chloe’s and Shirley’s thoughts about them being repressed memories – the fact it’s recurring suggests a certain reflection on real-life, a fear/insecurity you haven’t overcome (although actually being chased by fire-breathing horse won’t be ‘it’!).
I used to always dream about feeling like I was always running through water whilst going about everyday life – walking was energy-sapping, and when I tried running, my feet would lift from the floor and the air was like treacle. I figured this was because up to a couple of years ago (when the dreams stopped), I never felt I was getting anywhere cos of my own negative outlook on life. I never thought I achieved anything no matter how hard I tried and had a ridiculous lack of self-confidence. I think the correlation is there.
Hmm enough about me, I hope you figure yours out. Be sure to keep posting about yourself. Anyone can take photos, but not everyone can write this good!
July 3, 2009 at 8:59 am
Ed,
Try to find the movie Equus and watch it… the lead character has the same dream about black horses.
July 6, 2009 at 1:12 am
Hi Ed, I have a similar recurring nightmare..and I have had two of the same dreams since I was a small child. For me they seem to come in unison, and when I am feeling particularily stressed. I also have a strange sleep disorder that allows me to move about at will..when NORMAL people are paralized in their dreams and can’t move, I have no trouble moving, running, and have ended up outside on occasion..YES my husband is used to my antics..which all happen while I am sound asleep!
I am a very vivid dreamer, color, smells, sounds etc.. and it sounds like you are too..lucky you. I have learned over the years that playing simple video or word games just before bedtime..calms the dreaming part of my brain. I also write my dreams down, a dream diary of sorts. You could see a shrink, I just have learned to live with what ever childhood repressed memory is there, it only bothers me in my dreams:)
July 10, 2009 at 12:16 am
Wow….your words made me feel like it was me being chased by that demonic black horse, Ed. Just wow!
I have no idea what a dream like that means, though.
I had a very vivid dream while taking a nap today. I was considering buying a used saddle from a saddle dealer, but was worried that it wasn’t a good deal or had something wrong with it. I got him down $200 cheaper and I really wanted that saddle. When I sat in it I felt like it was hugging me tight, like I could never fall of any horse again. The cantle was so high in the back that it felt like a chair.
I woke up before I made the decision to buy it. Bummer. I wonder if I’ll ever have that dream again, so I can follow through with the purchase. lol!
Lisa
ps, thanks for sharing your dream. It was fascinating…and oddly exciting, too.