The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-04
THE NIGHTMARES TERRORS
QUEER DREAMS THAT RfCUR AGAIN
AND AGIIN TO PEOPLE

visions of Death in Various Forms-Drcnm
Houses Never seen In Waking Hours
Sensations OF riight-Kipiing's Night
! mare md Another Mans Dream Like 1t.
Probably no one has ever wholly escaped tho
| terror OF tho nightmare. Certainly Coleridgo
knew 1t in ali its intensity or he would not have
| described it as tho Goddess OF Utter Terror in
| the lines:
| Her akin was white "a leprosy.
The Nightmare Life in. Death was she.
Who tn cks mems blood with cold.
| We have all OF us gone abroad with the
| spectre steed through the dim regions OF the
middle world when she carried us whittier she
would through scenes Of terror that made the
heart stop. the scalp tighten and the throat
choke with dry terror till we woke painting.
dripping with cold sweat and lighting desper-
ately for light and reality.
One Of the most interesting features OF tho
nightmare to psychologists is not 10 much the
popularity OF the more grotesque dreams. Tut
the fact that tho same dream will rccur to an
individual time and time again with no npru-
rcnt reason, With most people the rccurrent
dream dates from childhood. decreasing in fire.
qurucy as the subject grows older and seldom
persisting past majority. The terror that the
recurring dream inspires seldom diminishes
in intensity. but simply grows less frequent In
It's NlSltB, Hnaly disappearing dtCRctner III
quite u number Of cases when the recurring
dream had been absent SO long that it was al
most forgotten. 1t has required in spell Of
severe sickness along with other unpleasant
but wholly unfamiliar dreams.
The societies for psychological research have
dealt long and abstruselv with the recurring
dream. and probably every one who has made
deductions on the subject is satisfied that his
own conclusions are the only real thing; 50 it
Is unnecessary to discuss the why's and where
forcs CT the case. But with the fact established
that dreams do recur, it is interesting to SEQ
some Of the queer forms they take. The COM
monest form of the recurring dream with
children is that Of jumping or falling out Of
a window or downstairs. This dream
usually ends before the crash at the
bottom, though sometimes there Is an i'm
preston OF sustained flight which has led
small children to made the actual attempt
from the top Of a table or the head Of n flight Of
stairs in their waking hours. being firmly con-
WINGED that they can fly II they will only try.
The following examples OF the recurring dream
were oil picked up from conversations with
! little more than a score of individuals Out OF
twenty-three persons questioned there were
only two who did not have childhood night
mare of their own which they remembered
wildly The instances cited are given simply
on account Of their oddly and without any
wish t. speculate on their psychological sig
nhcancc.
One OF the most peculiar is the property OF a
young woman who has nothing else very
peculiar about her. Her dream always begins
with her imagining herself in bed one OF her
hands. which is stretched out on tho cover.
begins to- grow. II grows till it is too large to
remain on the bed and slips down to the floor.
Here it continues to swell till it reaches Gigau-
. ia Dpnlly al h. IN la
ole space in the room. and when It begins to
i press against the walls and ceiling 1t hurts.
because it cannot grow nnY more. Then she
{ wakes up. Her mother has seen her wake
/ crying a number OF times after this night
mare, and on uquiring whether her hand Was
asleep. as the saving is, mas always been
assured tina. it was not This seems to ndi-
cate that the dream is not to be accounted for
on the ground Of cXtraneouS influence.
An even more unpleasant dream is the prop
erty of a young man. 1t. too. has been his
companion from childhood. He dreams that
he IS lying near the foot OF q great inclined
plane. sleeper and infinitely higher than any
toboggan slide ever built. He lies on his back
at the foot Of tn" slide with his feet pointing M
hill. From the upper end OF the slide. so far or
as to hc almost lost in the distance. there como
rolling down great masses OF rock. huge bar
rcls bales and cannon balls. They come with
great sw!ftucss and he has to give each of
them push with his foot when it reaches
him to keep it from rolling over and
| crushing him. AS he kicks each one. no mat
ter how arg" il is or how swiftly il IS coming.
it bounds into tn" air and passes over him.
lighting behind him down the slide. He has
| shunted of tens Of thousands OF these projec-
tiles in the course Of his various dreams and
has never vet IN ssed one. He saws in all serl-
BUSINESS that II he ever did miss one he thinks
/ il would kill him. The dream nearly always
ends In tn" same way. Tho slide is finally
! cleared Of its rolling freight all save one i'm
! mcu SO boulder, a thousand times bigger than
! any of the others. 1t is poised Just n til" u.,-
/ per end Of the slide and Is starting down when
he wakes. so tired with his cXertions that he
| can hardly move
There is enough to pque feminine curiosity
! in q dream that frequently rrcurs to a WASH
! iuEton girl. There Is 4 particular house which
| -h" visits during her sleep but which ,Sh" has
] never seen in her waking moments. There is
! nothing remarkable about the house eXcept
the fact that there is one room in i which she
entered the house from the street. So She does
/ not know what 1t looks like from the outside.
She always finds herself inside on the lower
as though she had lived there all her life. She
. walks throughi 1t from room 10 room, recognizes
What she is cHmi"s t" next a. Wen - though
she were at at honr, Tn" only change that has
! acquaintance with II began j. that some years
ago sn" found that particular mahogany
set!ec had been added to the furniture in the
! library between her visits. The sctee has
! been there ever since. There Is never any one
else in tn" house, and one Of the recunrittrs
! OF the place IL the air Of d"sOa'iOn md lone
illness over everything. She always makes for
room at tn" md Of an UPPER hall, Intending
to 60 into it for some hing. Just what she has
never been able in her. waking moments to
decd" When she reaches the door and puts
( her hand on the knob the dream always ends.
. Either sh" wakes M or else tho house with
4 everything in = silently m"itS and vnnishes
away She is firm " convinced she W III never
/ get into that room, bur she always walks down
m" han with the full intention ~ going in and
: never remembers that Nh, won't get in III the
7 phantom dOorknoh melts under her fingers
/ Ihcrn Is another inside house dream good
deal worse than the preceding. Its p0sNrssVr Is
, milI. aged man who works for his living az
book k""p"r, and "qucntIy would not he
cr"lit", with n very vivid or romantic ima9in-
I alton. II" finds himself at the beginning Of
, the dream wandering through the interior OF
. a hig Oriental hunSc. with soft Turkish rugs
. on the floor, marble columns, arches Of irCttrd
stuucwOrk ana the Ike. such as he probably
never troubled himself TO read about since he
mdulEmI in be Arabian Nights, in his hoy
hood. Tho dream always unfoLis itself , him
| rs something fresh each time and hr never