Are you dreaming about terrorist attacks?

October 4, 2001 2:41 PM

Are you dreaming about terrorist attacks?
Twice in the past week I have had an incredibly vivid dream where I am speaking with a stranger who is warning me about another terrorist attack to occur tomorrow. Is it just my mind coping with the Current Situation, or is it a premonition? Have you been having dreams like this too?

Well, the site above allows all who are not professionally Ms. Cleo to post their predictions. One from November of last year gave me chills:

November 2, 2000: Had a premonition.. saw a silver plane with red and blue stripes.. American.. international flight.. saw the number seven.. bombing or ?.. problems with the plane..

posted by DragonBoy (25 comments total)

i dreamt this would be posted 3 times on the front page.
posted by jcterminal at 2:55 PM on October 4, 2001

i've been dreaming about vampires hanging out in my kitchen while i sleep.
posted by tolkhan at 2:56 PM on October 4, 2001

Once, I had this dream where I was driving a car and then I wasn't and then I had some ice cream. I guess I should worry about terrorists blowing up my car.
posted by eyeballkid at 2:58 PM on October 4, 2001

As long as there aren't any snakes wearing vests planning to blow up any federal buildings, I think I'm pretty much in the clear.
posted by Kafkaesque at 3:00 PM on October 4, 2001

post hoc, ergo propter hoc---NOT!
I dreamt I went dancing in my Maidenform bra.... Too bad Maidenform doesn't make my size...it was sure fun in the dream.
posted by realjanetkagan at 3:05 PM on October 4, 2001

I have continual dreams of falling and falling and falling. I never land. (Of course, they say that if you land in your dream, it would be so scary your heart would stop and you'd die, but that's another matter.) Maybe these dreams are indicative of plummeting to my death from a hijacked plane? Perhaps I should stick to driving.

Btw, Kafkaesque, where is the vested snake reference from? I know I've heard that somewhere.
posted by Dreama at 3:07 PM on October 4, 2001

"I have a dream...there's this snake, wearing a vest, rolling out a big donut..."

--PeeWee's Big Adventure ...with a tip of the hat to Freud

you DO know what falling dreams mean, dontcha? Ever had one about your teeth falling out?

Or ones about a big black guy walking around Las Vegas?

*in all seriousness I did have a dream that scared the bejeezus out of me the night after the attacks. I woke up, or thought I did, and I swear there was a little homunculus demon-type thing crouching in the corner of my room. It was laughing and just repeating "t-terror...t-terror" with a stutter. I started shaking my head to get rid of the voice but couldn't do it, and I kept hearing it until I physically got up and got out of bed. I'm sure it was related to the Night Terrors phenomena which may explain many alien abduction type things, but I have never been so scared. Yeesh!*
posted by Kafkaesque at 3:21 PM on October 4, 2001

This morning I woke up after a dream in which I was on a catwalk in a tall building with glass sides, on the waterfront. I saw a plane swoop down into the ocean alongside the building and explode, and the catwalk started shaking. At that point, I woke up. And now today there are reports of that Israeli jet crashing into the ocean.

I think my dream was more in response to the original attacks (which I admit have been on my mind a lot) than a premonition, though.
posted by Soliloquy at 3:25 PM on October 4, 2001

I have to share - this comes from my Grandmother, an 89-year old sweetheart. She told me she had a nightmare about the attacks recently:

"I dreamed I was on an airplane near the back galley. I looked up and there was this man all dressed in black with a black ski mask on. I knew right away he was a terrorist."

I smiled and asked "Were you afraid?"

She said, "I was afraid at first ... Then I yelled 'Let's get him, guys!'"

I just about fell down laughing, an image of a dozen octogenarians, armed with butter knives and handbags, beating the Hell out of this guy.
posted by kokogiak at 3:33 PM on October 4, 2001

Last night I dreamt I was eating some donuts...

You guys, on the other hand, are nuts.
posted by starduck at 3:44 PM on October 4, 2001

Can't sleep...clowns will eat me.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:46 PM on October 4, 2001

Funny you should mention that. I don't feel any more unsafe now than I did last year, but I did have a recent hostage-type dream. I stopped my dream logs a while ago so I can't tell you if this is significant or selective memory but the terrorist shot my dog. Cry for me.
posted by skallas at 4:00 PM on October 4, 2001

I had a dream the other morning about two airplanes crashing in a field about half a mile away from me and having trouble getting hold of my parents to tell them I was all right. That's the only attack-related dream I've had, though. Most of the others are about work. Yuck.
posted by Sibyl at 4:09 PM on October 4, 2001

I've had a couple of dreams that I can remember that were inspired by the attacks.....one of which seems to have a time-lapse problem: I was standing on a NY street, looking up at the WTC, and a plane crashed into the building. It sliced through it like a hot knife through butter, and I could hear the passengers screaming. I said aloud: "On TV, it looked like the impact killed them all! I didn't know they were still alive!"
posted by Oriole Adams at 4:09 PM on October 4, 2001

That's what happens when you get exposed to CNN every single hour. I got sick of it all so I just turn off the TV or change the channel, and better yet, go outside for a walk in the park. You'll tell me if those dreams still keep coming.

Call it escapism if you like, but I prefer it a hundred times to be revolving in angst and suffering I cannot control.
posted by betobeto at 4:22 PM on October 4, 2001

I had a dream where Jennifer Love Hewitt thought it would be better if we were just friends.
posted by hellinskira at 4:52 PM on October 4, 2001

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas - just like the ones I used to know! Where the treetops glisten, and children listen: to hear sleigh bells - in the SNOW!

December 24, 2000: Had a premonition.. saw a silver sleigh with red stripes.. Northern.. international flight.. saw the number seven.. bombing or ?.. problems with the sleigh..
posted by rory at 5:07 PM on October 4, 2001

I think it's for the best, hellinskira. You were too good for her.
posted by Doug at 5:35 PM on October 4, 2001

Do you have that dream where you see yourself standing in sort of Sun-God robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?

Why am I the only one who has that dream?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:03 PM on October 4, 2001

last night I dreamt, real arms around me
posted by DragonBoy at 6:07 PM on October 4, 2001

Hrm.

A few nights after the attacks I had a dream where bush got impeached for lying about the attacks, or something. It was really strange. Especialy as I had never had a 'political' dream about anything other then what was going on in own life (or just random crap)
posted by delmoi at 6:07 PM on October 4, 2001

We live as we dream, alone.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:47 PM on October 4, 2001

Dreama ....

Nah...never hitting the ground in a dream is a wives' tale. I almost *always* land. Then either one of two things happens. I bounce back up into the air, or my feet tingle...you know what I mean? Like when you jump and land to hard. Strangest experience.....

As for myself, no terrorist dreams. But my best friend had one where we were all locked up in a classroom with a terrorist. He told us we were gonna die, nothing to be done about it. And we couldn't leave the room or we'd explode....

She said it was the scariest dream she'd had in years.
posted by Windigo at 7:37 PM on October 4, 2001

I think Ms. Cleo should be arrested. Surely she saw the attack coming and did not tell.
posted by bjgeiger at 12:16 AM on October 5, 2001

Back around 1980 or so I had a dream -- hell, let's call it what it is, a nightmare -- about several tens of thousands of people in an enclosed stadium breathing something deadly. I've also had the experience of precognitive dreams, and I sure hope this doesn't turn out to be one.
posted by alumshubby at 6:21 AM on October 5, 2001