Good Morning,
Every child and a few adults I know, including myself have had “Nightmares” or otherwise called “Bad Dreams”, at one time or another. With adults, I would think they would be more prevalent at times of stress or brought on by a traumatic real life experience, relived again in the Land of Nod. Children seem to have them more frequently, which could be because of the separation of reality and understanding of the things around us has not evolved to a point greater than the imagination can conjure. After all, as a child, we are prone to believe in many things fantasy and mystical. Unicorns, Fairies, Easter Bunny and Santa Claus just to name a few and that’s not to mention the plethora of new characters constantly being created by the marketing machines that target the young. I see it as all part of the precious innocence we are loaned before “Adultitus” sets in.
As a child, I had a couple reoccurring bad dreams. One that just seemed to stick around for years well into my adolescence and with very little variation would replay and rear its head much like someone peeking in your window when you least expected it. This particular dream involved a deep cavern with long narrow stone stairs without a railing that descended into the darkness below. For some reason still not understood, I would start walking down the stairs and at the edge of the void of darkness where the light faded from the open door above, coming up the stairs were these strange characters, long arms and legs, quite unique and huge in stature, mumbling something I did not understand, but it was obvious they were angry and intent on catching me. Scared to the point of being immobile, I would have to struggle to get back up the stairs with them closing in behind and shut the door at the top of the stairs behind me. While holding the door closed with all my might, they would be pushing against it and pounding. At that point, I would wake up in a panic.
I had not thought about that dream for many, many years until last night, while watching a PBS Nature special on Clever Monkeys. Quite unexpectedly, it came back, not the dream so much, but those strange characters. The program had a large variety of monkeys from all around the world, but the one that was the “trigger” for me was the Proboscis Monkey. The face of that monkey was so close to the image in my dream that I figured there must be a connection.
Well, thanks to Google, I searched images of characters that looked like the Proboscis Monkey and found “Alice the Goon”.
Bingo! There it was, and the epiphany…I was being chased in my dream by “Alice the Goon” and not the softened- up one either or at least a hundred or two of her cousins that lived in that dark cavern. Well, that only took me about 60 years to discover.
Alice the Goon was introduced by E. C. Segar in 1933 as a character in the Thimble Theater comic strip, Plunder Island. Admittedly, a bit before my time, but somehow the impression was registered in my mind and stuck, only to be featured in my own theater of the unconscious while I wandered through my own Land of Nod in my impressive youth. Fortunately, Alice and her cousins haven’t visited me for quite some time and maybe now that I know their secret, they will remain as part of my past.
As far as analyzing the dream…I suspect it could have been a variation of the impressions of Hell and where I was going to go if I wasn’t a “good boy”. Religion was used as a form of manipulation to keep me on the “strait and narrow” as a child. No pressure there. Nothing against my parents as I know we do what we know when it comes to that kind of thing.
Whatever it was, the very fact that I haven’t had the dream for years, I will consider a good thing. Must be my clean living.
So, how about leaving some feedback on your special “Bad Dream” as a child. I’m pretty sure everyone has had them.
Love, Dad
Images:
- The Scream by Edvard Munch in 1893
- The Proboscis Monkey Photo, I got from here. Could not find out who the owner was.
- Alice the Goon Image came from here.
Hi Jon,
I had recurring nightmares as a child, of Alice the Goon from Popeye. This mindless frightening creature with a lack of human expression trying to kill me. I can still hear her in my head screaming “I LOVE POPEYE” in that dead voice.
I’ve had two recurring themes during dreamscape nightmares as an adult…..One involves plane crashes, the other, is much more complicated, and involves me rooting out evil in houses. I go into a house, its possessed of an unclean spirit, I get out my holy water, cross, and bible and start screaming “Satan Get Thee Out”.
The plane dreams were frightening, and I stopped longing for my wing seat overlooking the friendly skies, the fear being so real I stopped flying as a result. I’d read that if you dream you are in a plane crash more than two times a week for an extended period, maybe you shouldn’t get on a plane. I had occasion to fly on business this November. What was I going to do? Lose an opportunity to promote my company because I had to be drugged to the hilt to get on a plane? Or worse, sit in a sweat, on the aisle, shaking and moaning while an embarrassed flight attendant tried to get me to shut up and stop scaring the other passengers?
I hitched up my boot straps, got on the plane, and had the best experience of my life. I flew during the early winter storms that rocked the midwest. My plane bobbed, bounced and rolled, and I loved every single minute. Its gone. I conquered it.
The other dream? After suddenly departing my nightly scenario abruptly on or about July of this year, I had a feeling that the bad was gone finally. Then one night a few weeks ago, it came back full force. I was so peeved in the dream that the haunting/evil was actually happening I began to sto carry on a dialogue in the dream, saying things like “you’ve got to be joking, NOT this again”, kind of stuff. It became clear I was actually experiencing a lucid dream. Rather than concentrating on this horrid evil, walls pounding, doors slamming, I said to myself in the dream “This house Im in thats haunted is drab brown, lets turn it blue”. The walls suddenly turned blue. I then said “Lets add a little sunlight”. Soon the sun was shining, beaming through the window, and the pounding on the walls stopped.
I feel very fortunate to have been able to lay two huge oppressive and very real fears to rest in the matter of two months. But I am very very curious, what the significance of either or was. I have been anxious to fly again just to feel the weight of my life fall off of me as the plane climbs higher into the clouds.
I’ve often attributed the haunting/demonic possession dream to seeing the Excorcist when I was fourteen. Terrified, I crawled under the seat in the movie theatre, down the aisle and ran out of the theatre. For fifteen years I slept with a light on every night. I would often wait until 5 am to go to sleep, convinced only then, some horrid wretching vile mouthed zombie wasn’t going to show up in my bedroom, and throw me out the window, turning my neck 360 degrees, sending me to my death. I sense, however, the meaning is much deeper.
Im anxious to dream about a house this time, that is filled with love, instead of the horrid evil that lurks around a corner waiting for me to conquer it, daring me to test my own strength. I feel that this was the theme of each dream.
Flying is about soaring, not crashing. The hauntings finally ended with me being able to carry on a running dialogue with myself, and actually change the color and landscape of the dream. Perhaps its a representation that for the first time in a long time, I am learning to control myself instead of letting others lead me down the road to hell while doing nothing about it.
Two very positive things, soaring and being able to control emotional abuse/dependency.
Thanks for your wonderful blog, and for sharing your thoughts. Its nice to have shared these thoughts too.
Janet
Janet,
First let me say that I really appreciate your feedback and such personal sharing. I am quite interested in what constitutes a bad dream in others and if we share similar thoughts and fears. It has become evident that it is very common to have bad dreams even into adulthood.
I found it cathartic that we share a common villain in “Alice the Goon”. Did this character have the same affect on others? I know that they eventually toned down (softened) the character because of complaints from mothers. Wouldn’t it be great to know we are not the only ones?
I do not think I have had many reoccurring bad dreams about flying although I had a few varied ones following the crash that killed Jeanie’s father. I replayed the scenario as if I was in the cockpit instead of him. They were vivid, especially after reading the autopsy. The fact that you conquered your fear of flying is exemplary, as many go through their whole life carrying that one. You could be like John Madden and take the bus everywhere.
The fear of possession and spirits, I shared with you. There was a time when they were a real concern and were now and then part of my nightscape as well. I think more so after The Exorcist and Damien appeared on the scene. More spiritual now and not too bothered with “the dark side”, I look for meaning in living things and relationships. It may just be that my immortality may come from what I leave behind. After all, the only thing I see that will leave this land of the tangible will be our spirit (soul), regardless of what the Egyptians thought.
I think movies at an early age can greatly affect our dreams, good or bad. In 1954 at the age of nine I saw a “Big Bug” movie called “Them”. It scared the “Pee Waddlings” out of me. I had bad dreams for years based on that one movie. I sometimes wonder if it was guilt from all of the ants that I fried with my magnifying glass back then. Who knows.
Not all of my dreams are bad. Actually most of them are good. Some of my favorites involve me flying and soaring like a bird. I don’t have wings, but for some reason, I can will myself to fly much like Peter Pan or Superman. Not so much high in the air, but more like around rooms and hovering above the floor a few feet. Maybe it is my acrophobia that keeps me more grounded.
Anyway, thanks for sharing your experiences here. By doing so we may just help others understand themselves.