Dying In Dreams (Lucid or Otherwise)

[Princess_Dee]

Recently, I have been having dreams in which I somehow end up dead.
The usual fall from a large height or get in a car wreck is popular, and my mind took note. However, I've also been smashed by a boulder, eaten by a swordfish, and blown up in a parking garage; all within the same week!(Sometimes twice a night.)

Now as a practicing lucid dreamer, I am usually able to control my surroundings to avoid dying, "respawn" after my death, or at the very least, wake myself up.
Not the case lately.
After my demise, I go into this ethereal, "Who's Who"-esque free roaming camera situation where I am above my dead body and just get to watch the rest of the dream play out. I do not get to actively participate in the rest of my dream unless someone else dies, then I can talk to them.
Sometimes I realize I am dreaming before I die, sometimes after. But even then, my control seems limited.

So my questions are, does this ever happen to you? What is your "life after death?" Do you have any suggestions for me to avoid this rather annoying nightly occurrence?

 

[Lieju]

When I'm lucid-dreaming, and I close my eyes in the dream, I wake up.
So I guess if I 'died' in a dream I'd wake up too?

I can't really remember that happening a lot... I mean, I've died in dreams in the sense that my body has stopped working. I used to have this dream where I was incapacitated and my body rotted away while I was still in it. (it sounds like a nightmare, but it wasn't, it was a very peaceful feeling)

After my demise, I go into this ethereal, "Who's Who"-esque free roaming camera situation where I am above my dead body and just get to watch the rest of the dream play out. I do not get to actively participate in the rest of my dream unless someone else dies, then I can talk to them.
Sometimes I realize I am dreaming before I die, sometimes after. But even then, my control seems limited.

That kinda sounds like a video-game , maybe something you've been playing is having an effect on your dreams?

 

[Princess_Dee]

Normally, that is how I am as well. I can close my eyes very tightly and wake up instantaneously.
I'm just bored in my dreams now because I literally CANNOT wake myself up. I just have to spectate.

The only games I'm playing right now are CoD and DotA lol....
Not much analyzing for those two :3

 

[JoJo]

I've died once in a dream but I went straight to a purgatory-style medieval town. I don't remember much but I do remember that when I looked over the town walls I could see a shining white building in the distance... paradise, according to a bystander. I was not apparently considered worthy of entry. It was a cool dream.

 

[soren7550]

So my questions are, does this ever happen to you? What is your "life after death?" Do you have any suggestions for me to avoid this rather annoying nightly occurrence?

I don't really know. While I frequently have dreams where I die/am violently attacked, I can't get out of them until he horribleness is over, and even then I'm in a cold sweat and panicking. Best I can say for you to do is to have something (preferably someone) close by to hug tight until you can fall back asleep/calm down.

 

[Princess_Dee]

Aw that sounds terrible
I hope you have a kitty or a teddy or something to make you feel all better!


It's not so much scary or disturbing as it is irritating. I feel like I'm wasting dreams. It's weird.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

I typically respawn, sometimes go to a totally different dream, or (if it's a nightmare) I wake up at the moment of death. That last one isn't fun if you're under mind control and dropping through a trapdoor with-you know what, no, I'm not going into detail. *shudder* I hated those dreams as a kid. Nearly gave me a heart attack when I woke up. Going from the moment of death to waking up with a yell with your heart beating like a jackhammer isn't fun.

There was ONE time it was different, though, where I had an "afterlife" of sorts kick in. Ironically that turned a nightmare into a kickass dream.

-
Basically, the dream went like this: For some stupid reason, I was on the run from some general guy who wanted to kill me (and anyone he wanted, really) on live TV. So I ran. I got cornered by a soldier, disarmed him, reached for the gun and....looked up to see that I was surrounded by gunmen. So I surrendered.

As they dragged me into their base, I broke free and ran into a room...which, coincidentally was a gas chamber. As the guy mocked me and I fell to my knees dying...I got this weird feeling that I didn't need my body anymore.

So I let go of my body.

And turned into a ghost.

Somehow I got my younger brother out of that base and took him to a house with Tifa, Red13/Nanaki and Barret from FF7 so he'd be safe. Then, I somehow got a physical body back, although I was still "dead".

I then went to this restaurant to confront my parents who were somehow responsible for my brother and I getting involved in this whole mess. After telling them to screw off, we were done, the general showed up.

And this is where things got awesome.

He came in going "Alright, runaway I got yo-...*face goes white* I-bwe-wha-but-how-wha"
Me: "yeeesssss?"
General: "But..but...I KILLED YOUUUU!!!"
Me: "Who says you didn't? *I grabbed a knife and cut open my arm, showing that not only was I not bleeding, but the wound vanished the second I pulled the knife out*"
General: "AAAAAHH!!!! *fires gun at me*"
Me: "...*waits until he's out of ammo, then the bullets all fell out of me* Was that your best shot? Let me show you mine..."

And then I went slow-mo martial arts kung fu on his ass as he screamed in terror. It was GLORIOUS.
--

Since then, though, I've become REALLY good at lucid dreams.

I haven't had any full lucid dreams in the last two years, but all my dreams involve me being semi lucid. I basically know I'm in a dream, but play along, making small changes here and there.

Nowadays, if I'm in a dream where I'm in danger of dying (or the dream is "cheating"), I'll typically tell the dream to !@#$ off and that I'm waking up. And then I do.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

So my questions are, does this ever happen to you? What is your "life after death?" Do you have any suggestions for me to avoid this rather annoying nightly occurrence?

I don't really know. While I frequently have dreams where I die/am violently attacked, I can't get out of them until he horribleness is over, and even then I'm in a cold sweat and panicking. Best I can say for you to do is to have something (preferably someone) close by to hug tight until you can fall back asleep/calm down.

I agree.

I'm 24 and I have no shame in grabbing a plushy to hug if I need comfort.

^^ Okami plushy FTW! Oh...and the old badass lion I've had since I was 1 year old.

 

[an annoyed writer]

I've had those kind of experiences before. It's even crazier when your mind somehow puts that into slow motion so the fall is perceived to be longer than it actually is. Think like the Slo-Mo scenes from the movie Dredd.

 

[an annoyed writer]

So my questions are, does this ever happen to you? What is your "life after death?" Do you have any suggestions for me to avoid this rather annoying nightly occurrence?

I don't really know. While I frequently have dreams where I die/am violently attacked, I can't get out of them until he horribleness is over, and even then I'm in a cold sweat and panicking. Best I can say for you to do is to have something (preferably someone) close by to hug tight until you can fall back asleep/calm down.

I agree.

I'm 24 and I have no shame in grabbing a plushy to hug if I need comfort.

^^ Okami plushy FTW! Oh...and the old badass lion I've had since I was 1 year old.

Likewise, though I have Banjo-Kazooie plushies instead of an Okami one.

 

[Dr. Cakey]

I'd like to start having/remembering dreams again, because I haven't for years. I'm never scared about going to sleep, which is good, I guess, but it feels like a waste of sleep-time.

 

[Esotera]

Whenever I die in my dreams I usually wake up as there's quite a bit of buildup to a death. Although I did once get eaten by a dinosaur & then became that dinosaur...

 

[krazykidd]

Wait i thought of you died in your dreams you died in real life . HOW ARE YOU STILL HERE .

Anyways . I never die in my dreams . I can imagin that happening , must be weird.

 

[Lieju]

Normally, that is how I am as well. I can close my eyes very tightly and wake up instantaneously.
I'm just bored in my dreams now because I literally CANNOT wake myself up. I just have to spectate.

That's odd.

Do you have anything you can do very easily in your dreams?
What I mean is, even if I don't have perfect control in my dream I can always (as long as I know it's a dream) turn into a snake and burrow out of that dream.

 

[Dimitriov]

Weird. I've certainly never died in any dream.

I have no control over my dreams (no idea what that would be like), but I still tend to be pretty much invincible in when I am dreaming.

For example I have had falling dreams, but I don't just wake up - or die. I land... maybe I crash... but I always get up and am perfectly fine afterwards. Even if I dreamt I had fallen from like two miles up.



Also... really Escapist? Really!? you don't know that "dreamt" is a word?

dreamt [dremt]verb

a simple past tense and past participle of dream.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

My dreams are so esoteric, sometimes downright frighteningly alien, sometimes absolutely fantastic but death has only been a theme once that I remember... And that time I rose from ashes like a phoenix.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

I've died a couple times in dreams. The most memorable was when I was executed at gun point by a mercenary in what I think was something akin to Rainbow Six: Vegas 2's terrorist hunt. Nothing really happened. The dream just switched to something else.

 

[Living Contradiction]

Wait i thought of you died in your dreams you died in real life . HOW ARE YOU STILL HERE .

We're not. This is, in fact, your dream. *evil smile* Or is it?

Back in the land of topic, I've died while dreaming too many times to count and it usually stems back to something I read recently. Then there are dreams where I was puzzled as to why I didn't die...like the one where I got shot by a terrorist in a subway, then sat with him for a while discussing why he had to shoot me. Eventually, I told him thank you, but I should probably go to the hospital about my wound, which was seeping blood and forcing me to hold the back of my head to keep the mushy bits in. He apologized for it and I told him not to worry before I left the subway.

So maybe you don't need to die, just say "Huh. How annoying. Anyone got some duct tape?"

As for what you can do if you find yourself to be a ghost in your own dream? Tap a still-living person on the shoulder and ask if there's room for one more. If you're feeling nice of course...

 

[nvzboy]

In the rare occasion i do have lucid dreams and I die in them and I am able to remember those; I usually get shot for some reason but as soon as I realize that the dream cuts to black and puts me in a totally different situation...
I don't find that one as creepy as my number one nightmare though: I appear in a room that suddenly starts to fill with water from the walls. There is a hatch in the ceiling and every time I just barely make it to that hatch. As soon as I close the hatch behind me I realize I'm in the same room again and the process repeats.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I can't say I have ever died in my dreams. If it gets close to that, I usually wake up.

I'm glad it hasn't happened in awhile, but what I am more disturbed by is when I wake up and open my eyes and can't move any part of my body and can only very shallowly breathe. Basically, my mind is awake, but the rest of my body isn't.