What are following dreams about?

Hi all,

My name is Michael Hoefer, I’m with a group of researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder conducting a survey on dreaming and dream tracking practices. The purpose of the survey is to learn about individual’s relationship with dreaming, including dream tracking practices, which will inform the design of new technologies to help individuals connect with their subconscious through dreaming.

We would appreciate getting your response to the survey. The survey will take approximately 5-20 minutes to complete and can be accessed at the following link:

[https://cuboulder.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV\_d5z2HBk03YS3bKt](https://cuboulder.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d5z2HBk03YS3bKt)

**Compensation:** by completing the survey, you will have the option to provide contact information and be entered to win one of two $100 gift cards. In addition, you will also have the option to opt in to a pool of participants who will be contacted to participate in a remote interview over Zoom. Interview participants will be provided $10. Opting into this pool is completely optional.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Thank you for your time,

Michael

(cross posted in the lucid dreaming subreddit)

I went through such a long period in a dream it was so hard. In the dream I was a stay at home dad and my wife was a journalist. She had been investigating gangs in a prison. At one point point a riot had broken out and the leader of a gang was willing to do an interview during a transport. During this one of the gangs had a prison break plan, and my wife was in the middle, during which she was shot in the stomach. My consciousness was teleported there while gun fire rained down around us. She died in my arms. The following weeks after the funeral her parents wanted custody of our daughter because I refused that it was real. I would say things like “ill wake up soon” and “you cant take my anchor to this world” when it was all said and done I lost. So I hung myself from the balcony of the stairwell. As soon as I began to slip in and out of death I saw myself sleeping in a bed and I screamed “WAKE UP, PLEASE WAKE UP. THIS ISN’T REAL” when I woke up I scrambled into my kids room to make sure she was there. I called my wife to ask if she was ok and begged her to come home. To this day that still haunts me and causes me to not want to sleep.

So it was a pretty normal dream, taking place in my hometown in present time. I was walking home like any other school day, but something was off. There were weird things around, like certain roads that weren't supposed to be where they were, and most notably, a Sakura (cherry blossom) tree outside of a house I always walk by that doesn't have a tree in front of it. I didn't notice it though, cause it was a dream. Anyway, I must've taken some kind of detour, because I ended up in a field, that's usually on the other side of my neighborhood. This is where the weird shit goes down. So throughout the dream I was occasionally seeing this (yes it's hilarious thinking about it) really off-putting man in a banana costume, hiding in weird places (now that I think about it, only the ones that were out of place). He had a new expression each time, and he looked more and more deranged as time went on. So when I reached the field, the sky had already turned dark, so It was night time. The field is surrounded by houses (it's in the middle of the suburbs), and the playground that's usually there is no longer present. All that was there was the washrooms, in a building in the center of the field. I don't know why, maybe to hide from the banana guy (I was starting to get the idea that he was following me). I walked in, and went to wash my hands, when to my left, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him. He was laying limp on the toilet in the stall across the floor, with his head hanging in front of him. He had the most deranged and twisted face I'd ever seen, and he slowly turned his head to look at me. In classic SCP-173 fashion, I tried not to break eye contact, but I couldn't look at it for much longer because I felt like I was going insane. Making sure not to make any sudden movements, I slowly began walking towards the door. The banana man (stop laughing) was starting to half cry half laugh, slowly getting louder and louder. He was no longer in my line of sight, and I felt like any second he could've just gotten up and started chasing me. I felt SO threatened. Terrified, I started to crack the door open, and I was sure that he was going to run up behind me at any moment, but he didn't. He just sat there. Once the door was halfway open, I flung it the rest of the way open, and made a break for it. It was pitch black out, and I was alone. I was too scared even to scream for help, so I just kept running. The laugh/crying transitioned into angry screaming, still laughing all the same. I didn't look back to see if he was giving chase, because that would've slowed me down. The houses around the field were gone. All that was left was an endless open field. I stopped running and turned around, to find that the screaming was gone. Still, I felt no less afraid. All of a sudden, I heard footsteps behind me, and I turned around again, but nothing was there. The screams were coming back. I fell to my knees, panicked to the point where I couldn't keep running. The screaming faded in quickly to the point where it was deafeningly loud, and I started screaming too. That was when I woke up.

Bananas freak me out now. Thanks, brain.

Forgive me if this doesn't make sense i don't remember all the details of the dream

I was lost in the middle of nowhere when tgese creepy kids began to follow me i tried to run away but they started to chase me i kept running but they eventually caught up to me and then i woke up and when i woke up i saw a person standing next to my bed for a second it scared me

I just had a dream where I was watching some horror movie about satan or something. then something in my room started acting up, moving on its own. it started following me. i called my dad and showed it to him. it didnt stop. It sort of kept following me. it wouldn't even break. so after giving up i decide that it will end only after i die.
but then theres this voice that says that even after i die i will be owned by him in after life or something like that. Like the Devil.

This creeped me out so much i wokeup with so much anxiety. im a hindu and I dont really believe in this. what could this mean?