Everything Under the Moon

This happened years ago but is one of those dreams that sticks with you. I have had nightmares, even some with the same outcome and ones that should have scared me more. But this one in particular stands out to me because I have had the exact same dream twice in my life.

Like I said I have a lot of nightmares, waking up certain the only reason I woke up was because someone was standing over me or touched me, but they all fade away after a few days.

The first time I had this dream I was in fifth or sixth grade, and this nightmare scared me of course. After some time like all the other nightmares it faded. Then years later in my last years of high school, I had the same nightmare again. Exactly what I remembered from before. I had completely forgotten about this nightmare, but when I had it again I instantly remembered that I had had that same dream before. I don't know how to describe the fear of this nightmare. I think because when I think about most bad dreams I have, it's just something I remember dreaming. But when I think about this specific one, it feels more like a memory. Like I don't want to put myself back there. I know it does not sound too scary, but how I said it feels more like a memory not just a dream. This is the only time this has happened, and the only nightmare that makes me feel uneasy.

It starts with me outside of a car in a very dirt area outside of a warehouse in the middle of no where. I know I was told by some unknown person to go there, but I didn't know why. I feet very scared, and I have no reason to go in there, but something in me is telling me to go inside. When I walked inside I knew I was being watched by someone, but for some reason the fear of that was not enough to stop me from going inside. When I fully went into the warehouse I noticed a black furnace thing. It was a movable black cage on wheels that you would put things inside of and start a fire to melt things, or cremate things (I do not know if these exist, but in my dream I knew exactly what it was) I noticed it was on, and as soon as I looked at it I heard my dad screaming from inside. This thing was very small, and he barely fit inside. I ran up to it and he kept telling me to leave but I was trying to get him out. There was a lock on it and I kept trying to get it open. And all I remember was watching him burn more and more hearing my dad screaming in pain, and begging me to leave him and get out. I just remember ignoring him and trying to get him out and then I woke up. Both times the dream was exactly the same and ended the same.

My dad and I have always had a great relationship, and nothing out of the ordinary. He is alive and well.

I cant describe the fear, but when I think about the nightmare, I feel like I watched my dad burn alive. I can still see the fear in his eyes when he saw me, as if the fear of knowing I was there was greater than the fear that he knew he was going to burn alive. I can still hear him begging me to get out, and the feeling of the person who I knew was watching the entire time from close by, but not even caring. The panic or knowing I was going to have to watch my dad die, but not being able to stop trying. When I really think about without distraction, my eyes start to tear up and it has even made me cry quite a few times.


I know dreams can have hidden meanings thats why I tried to make it as understandable as possible. Is there any meaning to having the same dream or nightmare twice? Especially feeling the same fear, and having a nightmare that sticks with you for years and makes you feel the same every time I think about it? I have had many that would be much scarier, but they dont stick with me. I can think about them and find them silly. But this one.

Wow. That is an awful nightmare. I have to admit I'm stumped for any direct symbolism & it goes way past separation anxiety (example: when I was between 3-5 my mom was hospitalized on & off & I had horrid nightmares - let's not go there.) A sense you'd mentioned of having the feeling of a memory about the 2nd dream might be a thin (fragile) tip; the dream had been repeated as a means to create a memory-sensation for the purpose of pointing at a memory; albeit a past-life association depicting some past event; the loss of the parent-figure thru unimaginably tragic circumstances, like in the holocaust. Maybe. Ugh.

I can't get a grip to apply my stand-by ploy that generally everything in a dream is the dreamer. Setting? Nope. Action? Nope. Objects? Nope.

Just an aside, that sudden waking with the sensation someone had been standing over you could possibly be an out-of-body experience - your astral-body hovering above your physical body. We often don't recognize ourselves & it's not unusual to float in our sleep.

Thank you! It can be hard to really put into words the fear a nightmare can be, when you say it out loud they always sound silly and make no sense. But with this one too, it flowed so perfectly. There was no, suddenly I was in this other room, and this thing appeared, it was like a perfectly flow of events, and even how I got there made perfect sense. I knew I had went to that warehouse because I was called there by someone. I think it scares me so much too because there was no part that didn't make sense, if that makes sense! There were no missing pieces or questions that didn't make sense.

And to the out of body thing, that is crazy to me! I have never experienced anything like that that I am aware of. But the waking up feeling like someone was standing over me was very often, but I always felt like I was being watched at night. I could never sleep good, and would lay there for hours in fear. The only way I could sleep was if I went to bed before everyone else, knowing someone was awake. But since I moved out of that place I have been sleeping great, and no feelings of being watched, or waking up swearing someone touched my leg, thank goodness!