• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Dreaming Of The Dead

escargot1 said:
Here's a mad'un.

A relation was recently taken ill. I mean really ill, with a post-op haemorrhage. She was rushed to A&E.

As she was having a very big blood transfusion she saw everything go dark, even though her eyes were wide open, and then a man walked up to her. She couldn't see his face clearly but overall he resembled her late father in law, though taller and with spiky grey hair.

She can't be sure if he spoke to her but he wanted her to go with him. She said, 'I can't come with you.'

He seemed to accept this and walked away.

Later when the blood transfusion had done its job and she was sitting up, she told her husband what had happened and described the man she'd seen.

Her husband was a bit shocked: the description sounded like his cousin, who'd died suddenly only a couple of hours before my relation had been taken ill. She believes that if she'd gone with him she wouldn't have come back.

What about that, then, eh! Eh! Eh! :eek:
Click to expand...
Right after my father died, I dreamed of him coming to me and saying that he didn't know which way to go because another male relative was asking him to come to the light side. He then asked if he could come with me to the dark side. At first I said, "No, because I don't like you." Then he looked so pathetic that I relented. With regards to your relatives case, the dead will try to recruit you to their side of the spectrum. Especially if there was sexual tension between the parties involved.
 
Last edited:
A few nights ago, I dreamed of a late friend and his parents (both deceased). There wasn't much interaction with them in the dream - mainly I was just in a house with them. It wasn't the house they'd lived in, or any one I'd seen before, just a house. I was hanging curtains while my friend and his parents stayed quietly in the background.

I woke up a bit troubled. I'd only ever dreamed of this friend once before (in a much more active way) and wondered if this wasn't really a case of "dreaming of the dead" as they seemed so distant and disengaged. Perhaps hanging the curtains represented guilt feelings. I pondered this, as I did have some guilt feelings.

My relationship with this friend ran hot and cold for years. It seemed no matter how much I made a special effort to be nice to him, it always ended up going wrong somehow, and feeling like I'd bullied him, or made use of him, or something...

Well, the next night, I dreamed again, and this time just my friend's mother was there. She spoke to me, and said not to feel bad, as my friend had arranged all his relationships that way, to seem as if he was put upon and bullied, long before he'd ever met me and afterward. He'd set himself up to be the "loser" because he was most comfortable in that role. She showed me a sort of procession of his relationships, that all had the same pattern.

When I woke up, I realized it was true...all of his friends and girlfriends had indeed fit this pattern. Whether this was my unconscious mind telling me this or really a visitation from my friend's mother, I can't say, but I did feel less guilty afterward.
 
grimnebulin said:
This thread has been really interesting to read. I'm returning after a longish absence and I no longer have these dreams, but it's been great to read everyone else's experiences.
Click to expand...
Good to see you back, @grimnebulin, it was a post of yours from way back when, about a house you were uncomfortable in, that prompted me to take the leap from lurking to posting, although for some reason not on that actual thread. So thank you.
 
A few years ago, when I became pregnant with my first child, I began to have vivid dreams of family members who had died. The dreams were warm and welcoming, and I enjoyed 'spending time' with them. Often the relatives were not people with whom I had had a close relationship in life (for example, my grandmother's late sister) but in my dreams they were all supportive and embracing. Even my old (and much missed) dog came back. It was wonderful!

Sadly, I lost the baby. Before I knew that there was no longer a foetal heartbeat, I had a few days in which I just felt very ill, cold, and tired. During this time, the family dreams all stopped and never came back. When I found out what had happened I experienced an unutterable sense of loneliness that I connected not only to the loss of the pregnancy, but also to the loss of this dream connection with the dead. It sounds very odd to put it like that, but I grieved for these wonderful dreams as well as for my pregnancy. I felt abandoned, and bereft in the most private and painful way. I am not religious and do not believe in any sentient afterlife. I can't really explain why the dreams affected me in the way that they did (other than, obviously the hormonal and emotional storms that were taking place).

Has anyone else experienced anything similar?
 
UnknownUnknown said:
A few years ago, when I became pregnant with my first child, I began to have vivid dreams of family members who had died. The dreams were warm and welcoming, and I enjoyed 'spending time' with them. Often the relatives were not people with whom I had had a close relationship in life (for example, my grandmother's late sister) but in my dreams they were all supportive and embracing. Even my old (and much missed) dog came back. It was wonderful!

Sadly, I lost the baby. Before I knew that there was no longer a foetal heartbeat, I had a few days in which I just felt very ill, cold, and tired. During this time, the family dreams all stopped and never came back. When I found out what had happened I experienced an unutterable sense of loneliness that I connected not only to the loss of the pregnancy, but also to the loss of this dream connection with the dead. It sounds very odd to put it like that, but I grieved for these wonderful dreams as well as for my pregnancy. I felt abandoned, and bereft in the most private and painful way. I am not religious and do not believe in any sentient afterlife. I can't really explain why the dreams affected me in the way that they did (other than, obviously the hormonal and emotional storms that were taking place).

Has anyone else experienced anything similar?
Click to expand...
Sorry for your loss. I never experienced the loss of a child, but I do think I once dreamt of my brother that died still born. I have five bothers and a sixth one died at birth just before I was born. I dreamt of him one night standing in a white robe holding a sword guarding our family tree. Somehow I just knew it was him.
 
Thanks Elsupremo, and condolences also on your loss.

About your experience - can I ask - how present was your stillborn brother in your family, through conversation or shared memory? (Prior to your dream, I mean). And, following your dream, have you spoken to your parents or siblings about your dream-figure? At the time, did you need the protection that your brother seemed to be offering you?

I hope my questions don't seem out of place. I'm genuinely curious about the contexts for these dreams of the dead, and the very different emotional responses associated with them.
 
UnknownUnknown said:
A few years ago, when I became pregnant with my first child, I began to have vivid dreams of family members who had died. The dreams were warm and welcoming, and I enjoyed 'spending time' with them. Often the relatives were not people with whom I had had a close relationship in life (for example, my grandmother's late sister) but in my dreams they were all supportive and embracing. Even my old (and much missed) dog came back. It was wonderful!

Sadly, I lost the baby. Before I knew that there was no longer a foetal heartbeat, I had a few days in which I just felt very ill, cold, and tired. During this time, the family dreams all stopped and never came back. When I found out what had happened I experienced an unutterable sense of loneliness that I connected not only to the loss of the pregnancy, but also to the loss of this dream connection with the dead. It sounds very odd to put it like that, but I grieved for these wonderful dreams as well as for my pregnancy. I felt abandoned, and bereft in the most private and painful way. I am not religious and do not believe in any sentient afterlife. I can't really explain why the dreams affected me in the way that they did (other than, obviously the hormonal and emotional storms that were taking place).

Has anyone else experienced anything similar?
Click to expand...

My condolences for your loss also, UnknownUnknown.

I had an experience a little bit similar but without dreams of dead relatives. In 2005, I was 6 and 1/2 months pregnant when I began to experience the bereft, lonely feeling you describe. I fell asleep and dreamed that I was walking outside in the dark, and came to a long, dimly lit stairway leading below ground. I began to descend the stairs.

At some point, I saw a small child coming up the stairs on the opposite side. He appeared to be about three years old and was very pale. I realized he was blind. I began to feel very afraid that he might speak to me and tell me something I didn't want to know, so felt much trepidation as we came to pass each other on the stairs. When we did pass, he turned and said the word "cold". He then continued on his way. When I woke, I was sure I'd lost the baby, which was confirmed at the hospital later that night.

I assume the child I saw in the dream was some image of my own lost child, though why he appeared at an age of three years, I can't guess.
 
Condolences to both of you. it would be terrible to lose a child.
Thankfully I was spared that. but in a dream about my first child before she was born she was about 3 years old.
 
UnknownUnknown said:
Thanks Elsupremo, and condolences also on your loss.

About your experience - can I ask - how present was your stillborn brother in your family, through conversation or shared memory? (Prior to your dream, I mean). And, following your dream, have you spoken to your parents or siblings about your dream-figure? At the time, did you need the protection that your brother seemed to be offering you?

I hope my questions don't seem out of place. I'm genuinely curious about the contexts for these dreams of the dead, and the very different emotional responses associated with them.
Click to expand...
Thank you as well. I only vaguely remember my mom saying when I was around 10 that I had an older brother who died at birth. No one ever discussed him but my mom and myself. When I did dream of him that one time, he was standing in a high place, spiritually speaking, and dressed in a long white robe and holding a long sword with which he was about to behead my younger brother. Now I was in that twilight state in a dream where one is still asleep but can hear things that are going on in real life, like music on the radio for instance. My brother was in the bathroom. My dead brother from that place was about to behead my brother, when still in the dream, I came up behind my dead brother and grabbed his arm holding the sword and put him in a choke hold. I then woke up. It's interesting that in the dream my dead brother had on a long white robe while I was wearing all black pants and t-shirt.
 
I wonder if you had the usual sibling rivalry with your younger brother and sometimes thought that it would have been nicer to have him there instead of the younger one.
However when faced with the choice you decided to protect the brother you had?
This is just me musing.
 
Iris said:
I wonder if you had the usual sibling rivalry with your younger brother and sometimes thought that it would have been nicer to have him there instead of the younger one.
However when faced with the choice you decided to protect the brother you had?
This is just me musing.
Click to expand...
In a family with six boys and with no civilizing affect of a sister, of course we vied for our parents attention. My mom knew that and played us to keep control.
 
Really interesting symbolically Elsupremo. Is that the only time you've dreamt of him?
And can you expand on what you mean by 'a high place, spiritually speaking'? Sorry, It's not a phrase I've come across before in this context.
 
Ulalume said:
My condolences for your loss also, UnknownUnknown.

I had an experience a little bit similar but without dreams of dead relatives. In 2005, I was 6 and 1/2 months pregnant when I began to experience the bereft, lonely feeling you describe. I fell asleep and dreamed that I was walking outside in the dark, and came to a long, dimly lit stairway leading below ground. I began to descend the stairs.

At some point, I saw a small child coming up the stairs on the opposite side. He appeared to be about three years old and was very pale. I realized he was blind. I began to feel very afraid that he might speak to me and tell me something I didn't want to know, so felt much trepidation as we came to pass each other on the stairs. When we did pass, he turned and said the word "cold". He then continued on his way. When I woke, I was sure I'd lost the baby, which was confirmed at the hospital later that night.

I assume the child I saw in the dream was some image of my own lost child, though why he appeared at an age of three years, I can't guess.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for sharing this Ulalume. It's a very poignant story, and beautifully told, if I may say so. I'm sorry for your loss.
 
UnknownUnknown said:
Really interesting symbolically Elsupremo. Is that the only time you've dreamt of him?
And can you expand on what you mean by 'a high place, spiritually speaking'? Sorry, It's not a phrase I've come across before in this context.
Click to expand...
Yes, that is the only time. Spiritual high places is meant to imply levels that are nonphysical but above in the sense of altitude. For example, my dead brother and I were fighting above my live brother like we in a room above him looking down on him as he was rising to our level.
 
James kindly posted a link to a list of readers' letters to FT. This page features my favourite EVER FT letter.

I can remember reading it at work in the early hours, sitting on some stairs, listening out at the same time for any suspicious sounds. It was that sort of job, y'know. :eek:
FT110: At the age of 14 in 1978, I as trying to settle into a new school and was getting bullied by Karen and her gang. She drove me to tears and distraction by tripping me up, stealing my sandwiches and spitting in my drink. She was a rough girl who swore and I was scared stiff of her.

One day, she tripped me down a flight of stairs and started laughing. I looked up and found that her face had turned into a grinning skull. Instead of crying I stared in astonishment which replaced her laughter with a puzzled expression.

Afterwards, I dreamed that she was standing on a bridge. I did my best to avoid her, but I couldn’t and was instead drawn like a magnet to where she stood. It occurred to me that I could not cross the bridge anyway because there was a line dividing it, and I knew I couldn’t step over. She smiled at me, then turned away and vanished. I remember her hair was a strange purple colour, a colour that is still vivid and fresh in my mind.

Two weeks later she was killed instantly when a car hit her on the way home from a party. Before she’d gone out that night she had dyed her short cropped hair bright purple.
Click to expand...
 
Years ago when my children were small I used to attend a local church.
One day there was a missionary couple back from Africa speaking. The woman had recovered from cancer.
I could see a skull over her face and so could my oldest, and I often wondered if anything happened to her.
 
Iris said:
I could see a skull over her face and so could my oldest, and I often wondered if anything happened to her.
Click to expand...

How spooky! :eek:

When you say you saw a skull over her face, d'you mean it was hovering over her head, or superimposed in front of it?
Either would be pretty creepy.

Also, what did you think it meant? I'm guessing that it's to do with death.

As you'd mentioned that she was a missionary back from Africa though I first thought of witchdoctors and curses... brrrr.
 
I recently had a brief dream about my ex-neighbour, who died six months ago. I was watching TV in the common room, but I sometimes nod off for a micro-sleep. During one of these I dreamed he was walking towards me, and i wanted to say something like "What are you doing here..?", but he didn't seem to see me, and turned away.

Not the most exiting ghost story, I'm afraid!
 
Escargot it was superimposed over the front of her face and slightly above it and I did at the time think that it might signify death.
She had recovered from cancer but I have known other people who have and never seen a skull before or since.
I would have thought it was just my imagination if my daughter hadn't seen it as well.
 
escargot1 said:
How spooky! :eek:

When you say you saw a skull over her face, d'you mean it was hovering over her head, or superimposed in front of it?
Either would be pretty creepy.

Also, what did you think it meant? I'm guessing that it's to do with death.

As you'd mentioned that she was a missionary back from Africa though I first thought of witchdoctors and curses... brrrr.
Click to expand...
When one sees a person with a skull as a face, in real life or a dream it means that person will die soon or they have been or will be responsible for the death of others, knowingly. I think?
 
I have posted this elsewhere but this is probably the correct thread.
My best friend died at 39 and it was a huge, sad shock. A week after he died I dreamt I was a prison guard and was checking on the inmates. I opened a door to find my friend looking very sheepish as he was obviously trying to escape. I told him to carry on and I wouldn't stop him. I shut the door and opened it again to find him gone. I felt really empty as I realised I wouldn't see him again.
When I woke up I had a feeling of him being released, probably all part of my grieving process but it felt right.
 
Thanks everyone for your contributions on this thread, it means a lot. Last night I had a very frightening and disturbing dream, that I still can't seem to shake off.
I was being kept prisoner, along with four or five other people. We were in a huge old Victorian house. There were dead people keeping us there. When I say dead, I mean they were still walking, talking, acting as though they were alive,but they were dead, decaying, their eyes and faces...it was bloody terrifying.
A couple of them, as their brains decayed, were acting demented, but very quietly, which was even more frightening. There was a constant feeling of implied physical violence which permeated everything.
Outside some terrible apocalyptic event was going on. I looked out of a window and saw explosions, lights and bright contrails in the sky. I said "they're dropping missiles" and huge mushroom clouds were building up in the sky.
I was desperate to escape and found a room where the sash window was pushed up a little way. I started to force myself through the gap and some people standing outside and took my hands and pulled me through.
Once I was outside, my fellow prisoners joined me. We started to walk away from the house and we could hear sounds of rage and violence from the dead people. Someone said "they're hurting the slaves" and then, thank god, I woke up.
Sorry, I know other peoples dreams are tedious, but it was so disturbing. Please be kind and no sarky comments, I don't watch any tv with a zombie theme, don't drink etc. I know dreams are really just a type of brain fart, but I wanted to share this with some sympathetic people.Thanks for reading.
 
With the news being what it is these days I wouldn't be surprised if there were millions of people across the world suffering disturbing dreams where helplessness in the face of horror was the main motif, if that's any comfort. No, probably not!
 
GNC said:
With the news being what it is these days I wouldn't be surprised if there were millions of people across the world suffering disturbing dreams where helplessness in the face of horror was the main motif, if that's any comfort. No, probably not!
Click to expand...
It actually is. Thank you
 
GNC said:
Glad to hear it, we're all in this together and all that. Although you'd never know it from some people!
Click to expand...
Have to agree. Watching the political convolutions (is that a word?) of the past few weeks, I'm just waiting for Malcolm Tucker to appear.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top