Was it a dream or did it really happen?
 

Ever had one of those?

I went to bed around 11:30, exhausted as hell from my first week of class. Okay, so I snacked on a handful of Raisinets shortly before I went to bed. :paranoid: Maybe that's the culprit?

Fell asleep fairly quickly but was in a half-awake state where I became aware that the arm under my pillow was asleep. I closed my eyes for what felt like a second but I did dream something I can't remember and heard the doorbell ring. My doorbell has a somewhat distinctive sound. And it wasn't one of those moments where, say, a sound in your dream turns into the sound of your alarm or your phone ringing. So I checked my phone (it said 1:00 a.m. on the dot, BTW) which is on the nightstand next to the bed. No pins, no messages, nothing ringing. My heart starts pumping and I grab this hunting knife from my nightstand and look outside the front door. I check the back windows. Nothing. Not a sound, not a peep. I turn on a couple of lights inside the house, thinking if they came to burglarize the house, that'll scare 'em away. I don't want to call anyone and wake them up; those I love and trust are very old ;)

So I'm killing time at TFP until my heart slows down and I feel safe. No kids this weekend, so I'm all alone, being ever so brave with the knife beside me.

At this point, I doubt that anyone rang the doorbell. But it did seem so real. Ever have a dream scare the bejesus outta ya like that?

I don't understand why your doorbell ringing scared you so much.

But yes, dreams do that sometimes.

A woman, alone, is an easy target for rape or murder. So yeah, I can see why she'd be concerned. Don't know if it's a big concern up there, but down here it's somewhat expected that you're in trouble if someone rings your doorbell at 1AM.

I've had instances when I heard a loud BANG! and snapped awake, but everyone else was sound asleep. Always makes me wonder, and sometimes chuckle. I woken up to alot of weird things and wondered what was real and what wasn't. Obviously the time I saw zebra striped bats coming out of the ceiling and going back in after flying a couple of circles...that wasn't real, but I was definitely wide awake and nearly pissing myself. Worst drug I'd done in my life at the time was some spraypaint huffing around that year, nothing recent to the event....I was a teenager, don't hate LOL.

The time I walked around the yard and saw myself in bed. Kinda cliche, but very real...depends on your beliefs. Don't analyze, I know the pros and cons for that subject. Now the time I got up to piss then wet myself, in bed, as I stood at the toilet, that was just funny. I was 8 at the time.

Firstly, I was sleeping.

I'm not expecting anyone and I'm alone in a house that's located in an area that might be defined as somewhere between "the country" and "suburbia". Not enough reason to be scared? :oogle: I don't usually scare easily.

And lastly, I was sleeping and, I can only assume, dreamed about something that made the idea of someone at my door very scary.
-----Added 15/11/2008 at 02 : 45 : 54-----
Now, that is very strange. *insert Twilight Zone music here*

Maybe this is one of those times where Canada and the US are different. If someone were to knock on my door at 1 am I might be slightly confused and, if it woke me up, slightly annoyed. I don't think I'd be scared, if only for the simple fact that I assume that anyone with malicious intent is unlikely to ring the bell first.

I can dig the dream explanation, I guess.

Oh I can do better, but that is another topic for another day, and..well, probably not easiest to talk about here.

My abruptly awakened brain somehow thought that they were checking to see if anyone was home before they started breaking windows. At least that was the rationale when I started turning on lights. But you're probably right; thieves and rapists wouldn't think like that.

I thank you for the thought, though, Martian. Somehow I find what you said comforting.

I hate to be "that guy". I really swear I do. But they do think like that. I've known and lived with many thieves, and worse. Better safe than sorry. It sounds so negative, but I just have something wrong with me where I can't candy-coat anything. My mom hates that LOL.

Jewels, one more thing. Don't be the odd one out and bring a knife to a gunfight ;)

Dreams on regular occasions incorporate what is happening around you, whether you left the radio on faintly, the conversation will in some manner, be manifested into your dreams' story and scape; or if the relatives are over and cooking while you are napping, what is going on the present area, and your ambient senses can pick up upon, other than your vision obviously, will more than likely, affect the scenario playing out in your mind.


I have had dreams like those I'm sure, but I'd be lucky if I can recall precisely what any of them were roughly about in nature... my dreams tend to translate like a sliding reel, story to story, only loosely being associated to the previous one. The really strange things that occur when I am semi--conscious and intuitively-aware of my surroundings are that items tend to appear/disappear. I have awoken to find valuable keys missing, where I recall a shadowy figure in my room, but when confronting family and friends, they deny that it ever occurred, claiming I lost it instead. Other times I have arised to find odd things in my vicinity, of which there is no suitable explanation of why it's there, or how I came to find it—the most notable experience is where I took a quick nap during Halloween a few years back, where I was gathering a cold and decided to rest before inviting trick-or-treaters. I awoke to a phone call from my family saying they were nearing home, and should be there within 15 minutes; so, after a couple hours' rest, and taking care of the festivities' to come, I notice on my nightstand a "Pokemon Red Gameboy Cartridge". Now, I was home alone, resting, in the downstairs' guest room, where we rarely occupy and venture to other than to dust & clean monthly, and I happen to discover a kid's videogame not two feet away from my eyes. I'm obviously groggy, but then quickly shift to distraught because I have no idea how it arrived in my general vicinity, who could have placed it there in an empty house that was locked (I checked afterwards, with the phantom item in hand), and what the message behind it was. My household hasn't owned a Gameboy since 1995. :orly:

Not really dreams, but the house creaks and settles, and sometimes when I'm half asleep it sounds just like someone walking down the hallway. One time I was in bed and wide awake when I heard whispering in another room (I sleep with my bedroom door open). I knew I was the only one home. I'd had auditory hallucinations like this before, so I wasn't too worried, but I still grabbed a knife and checked out the rest of the house.

I think they might - in my experience, Canadian's are polite - maybe that applies to criminals too? :paranoid:

all the time, it's called Mescaline. it's the only way to fly

Yup. I hate, hate, hate being alone at night, especially in our old house that was at the end of a long, dead-end dirt road, with neighbors several acres away, and trees all around. Growing up, every night alone there traumatized me. I have never been at ease in a big house by myself at night.

The other day, I had been up late working on a grant application and I slept in while my husband left for a work. A couple of hours later, I woke up and the front door was ajar. It freaked me out, though not as much as it would have in some other places (this is Iceland, after all--and there are only 4 apartments in our building, and another locked front entryway door, so it was relatively safe). He hadn't quite closed the door all the way when he left, on accident, so I had to remind myself that it wasn't anything more than that--our apartment is small, so it didn't take long to check everything out and make sure that no one was there.

I don't know how it is for other women, but when I'm alone, I'm always, always listening and watching around me (like when I'm walking at night) because I basically assume that I will be a target of assault/rape/robbery, as a woman. I hate having to think that way, but it's the only thing that keeps me safe. I also took a defense class and run through those scenarios in my head when I'm really anxious, to calm myself down.

strange.... here's my 2 cents...

I live in a high rise... when someone rings the front door they have to punch in a coded number which rings my phone. Someone did that at 10PM which I answered and someone asked for someone who I don't know who the fuck they mumbled. Skogafoss was wondering who was ringing our house at that hour.

At 12:30AM or later it happened again, I didn't answer the phone.

We were not sleeping but we both wondered "WTF???? Who's ringing us up this hour of the night?"

glad you are okay...

If odd things happen when you're in a "half-asleep state" you should read up a bit on sleep paralysis. It explains away a lot.
I'm always keeping aware like that even though I'm a huge guy. Situational awareness can only decrease your chance of being a victim.

That's wise, and I agree. I tend to notice that more guys walk around at night with headphones on than women do... I can't imagine blocking off one of my senses like that, knowing my vulnerability.

/sorry, threadjack.

i suppose i'm fortunate in that i often don't quite know if i'm dreaming or not. this morning there was a 12 tide in the saltmarsh behind my place. fog hung across the tops of the trees. the horizon was very close. stripes of yellow and red reflected everywhere. it was strangely quiet. i couldn't tell.

I don't even do that during the day. I used to at A&M sometimes, but that was the only place.

Toltec

Oh why did I take the red pill?

Actually I was on some medication that this was one of the side effects. It was problematic in that since your dreams where so real, you really didn't know if you had done something in real life or just dreamed it.

Did you recently move? I noticed that my tendency to have 'bad dreams' increased with my relocation from suburbia to a city apartment. My eldest brother tells me that moving in to a new place comes with attendant bad dreams since your subconscious is uncomfortable with the new surroundings.

Otherwise, I get bad dreams all the time. Being shot, dying, fighting zombies, it's interesting to wake up and realize it was REALLY JUST A DREAM.

It's similar to how I felt the night I ate two pot brownies after leaving our college radio station's annual picnic. I made the mistake of leaving the dorm suite where I ate them and walking, alone, several blocks back to my empty apartment. I couldn't tell whether I was awake or asleep for the next fifteen hours or so, and it freaked the shit out of me.

This was the second of three experiences where I've felt the effects of marijuana... and none of them had been good. If you're wondering, I ate two because I was hungry and had no idea if/how they would affect me.

I spent several days thinking the delta flyer from ST:VOY was a dream until i saw the tv advert again.

Does that mean i'm a nerd? lol

Yes. Even I had to look it up to see WTF you were taking about LOL

It's a good thing you haven't seen the movie "The Strangers" before your doorbell might have rung at that time :)

Gahhh, It's in my dvd player right now from Netflix. Hubby and I watched it twice in the last week and he just left yesterday morning until thurs. night for work. I'm living on pins and needles. I totally believe something so senseless could happen (not that I think the movie was based on reality).

We have moved 4 times since 2000 and I feel like I haven't slept well since, I am constantly sleeping with one ear open to any noise that might be someone breaking in. Like Jewels it can lead to a lot of strange dream states where I'm in that inbetween place and will hear a noise in my head that sounds real. I'll sit bolt upright with my ears craned, listening for the slightest sound or footstep. I have to talk myself into believing it was a dream when it turns out nothing was there, sometimes an hour and kinked neck later.

This all stems from a show I saw years ago about a woman who was asleep when a man broke into the apartment. The first thing she was aware of was her fiance being shot in the head and killed, then the man raped her, shot her in the head and left her for dead (she lived). The sheer base terror for me at the helplessness of losing my husband like that (moreso than my own safety) led to my nightime neuroses. I don't think I'll ever sleep peacefully until we can someday afford an alarm system.