Effects/Nightmares

[sutrix]

Hey, kittee, don't mess with Chinawhite. She's an old timer. She could squash you.

[electricwolves]

I'm on my first read of house of leaves and ive felt alot more paranoid about things. I've been having the same nightmare every night for the past while due to hol ( I assume anyway ).

I find myself trapped in a very tall dark box (house?) in which there is no windows or ceiling. There is a desk in one far end of the box(house?) with a person sitting behind it. A very clean looking buisiness man, he then begins to talk. I can never make out what he's saying but its in a very deep voice. He grows in size and his voice gets deeper. I can then hear myself yelling to myself from the outside of the box(echo's?). I usually end up waking up at this point in nightmare sweat.

It's almost somewhat lucid really. I can feel the fear inside of my dream like its really happening. I can also hear myself talking outside of the dream from within it and i'm aware of whats happening.

Oh, by the way i'm new to the forums. My name is Rian.
.r.

[kittee]

Hey, kittee, don't mess with Chinawhite. She's an old timer. She could squash you.

Haha I know! I should be scared, Im sure buffy has been teaching her some really cool moves.
Im sorry china, please dont hurt me

If you are wondering who I am, check out sutrix's list under Number 5

[Admiral_Shanks]

As for me... check out NUMBER ONE!

Ooooh yeah...

[kittee]

As for me... check out NUMBER ONE!

Ooooh yeah...

Shanksie stop rubbing it in Damn you.... you.... you Pirate :cry:

Edit: sorry that was the best I could do.

[Ellimist]

*bump*

I keep having nightmares that involve odd houses.

My dreams used to only include house layouts I have lived in before.

The more recent ones are bizzare combinations of known or completely new and changing layouts. Speaking of which... 1am... goodnight.

[modiFIed]

A few days ago, I noted somewhere here that I have never had an HoL-related nightmare.

Time to amend that statement.

I'll note that I have had a vicious cold for several days, and consequent lack of sleep (or rest, if you will) may be a factor.

In any case, last night my family and I stopped in at our neighborhood rock and roll Chinese restaurant for dinner. My wife is suffering from the same cold, so we hardly felt like dealing with dinner, but figured a quick almond chicken family style, some tea, and egg drop soup would serve as a restorative, perhaps a curative, repast.

As I sat waiting for the main course, somewhat miserable and stupefied, sipping green tea and watching my wife dip rangoons in sweet and sour sauce before absently dismembering them, I couldn't help hearing snatches of converstation from the nasally-voiced college student sitting behind me.

Earlier in the day, I had been reading a review in the Village Voice on Spielberg's Munich. It had stuck with me, the whole idea of vengeance and its fruits, sweet and bitter. Now the kid behind me was discussing his running career, and was talking about the 1972 Munich olympics. Specifically, he mentioned his admiration for Steve Prefontaine.

So what? We finished dinner, paid the tab, ambled on home and vegged out in front of the TV for a couple of hours before attempting sleep.

My attempt fell short. At about 1:30 I found myself scrunched up in an easy chair, a blanket over my cold body, a brandy in my right hand, a lozenge in my mouth, trying to quiet, or at least deaden, an unquenchable cough.

I eventually managed to sleep, but was jolted from this restless slumber in a kind of shock, my heart racing, having had a brief but clear vision of the HoL Index, listing

Prefontaine, DNE

For some reason this caused a feeling of unspeakable horror.

I couldn't figure it out at first, but have decided my horror was at the idea of someone who existed so fully to be relegated with mere words to non-existence. I mean, if "the Pre" DNE, then what did it matter if anyone exists? What is my existence--what is yours--if one of the most driven individuals in the world can be relegated to non-existence by a listing in an index? What is this power of "the word" that we worship it so, let words define our lives, define our very existence, from birth announcement to resume to obituary?

And of course he is dead, dead at 25 from a car accident, cut down in his prime--an athlete dying young. But how he lived in those short 25!

And what of Munich? What of the Israeli athletes--what would their existence have been without the corrupting power of the Word, the Word that deceived their killers into believing their actions were justified? And what of the Mossad men--what made them believe that the non-existence of the Palestinians would somehow validate the existence of their dead countrymen?

"In the beginning was the Word," John said. "And the Word was with God, and the Word was God."


Forgive me. My mind is clouded with illness and fatigue.

[erased]

This is the first time I've posted on here. I haven't even read of Leaves. However, last night, I was at the local Borders and picked it up and read the Introduction. I eventually went home, and went to bed. Nothing out of the ordinary from any other night....

What I experienced while I slept last night was unlike any other dream or nightmare I've ever had in my life. I normally don't dream very much. When I do, it is usually not very vivid, and it's very hard for me to recall. This was an extremely vivid dream which covered an extremely long period of time (months). It was almost like watching a horror movie while I slept. I woke up several times in the night, startled awake by something that happened in the dream. Then I would go back to sleep in a short amount of time, and the dream would seem to pick up right where it left off. This happened at least 3 times, possibly 4. When I finally opened my eyes and woke up for the last time, I decided I needed to get up and write everything I could remember down. It was so long, and plotted - like I said, it was like watching a movie - but it was me in the dream.

Anyway, it was so realistic, and had such a dark overtone to it - it's really affected me. I've been thinking about it all day long. All this from only reading the Introduction. I was thinking about going back and buying it, but I don't know. God knows what might happen to me in my sleep next if I do.

[HenryAskew]

You'll wake in a cold sweet and your eyes will immediately be drawn to the book in terror as you wonder why you can't breath.

[OriginalIdea]

I'd actually be quite interested in reading your dream.

Finish the book and you'll either have more of same or none at all. It's pretty clear in that fashion.

Observation of most people indicates you either love the book or don't think it's all that special, with smatterings of people thinking it's worth a flaming bag of poo.

I have nothing but curiosity for how people like you—reacting the way you did to just the introduction—would think of the entire work.

I say buy it. No harm in having something else to tell a friend about.

[ShatteredVanity]

...completely new and changing layouts.

On topic of interesting layouts.

Yesterday, I moved into a new apartment. The floorplan is kind of spooky. There is a "window" in the bathroom that opens into an air shaft- and a lengthy drop to the ground level. There is a door that you have to bend completely over to get threw, and a closet that shrinks into itself. Only one room in the apartment has windows and the sunlight won't spread from it. Also, a hallway that goes, well, nowhere.

I hope I get used to it soon. It is a lot creepier than I had anticipated.

[HenryAskew]

...completely new and changing layouts.

On topic of interesting layouts.

Yesterday, I moved into a new apartment. The floorplan is kind of spooky. There is a "window" in the bathroom that opens into an air shaft- and a lengthy drop to the ground level. There is a door that you have to bend completely over to get threw, and a closet that shrinks into itself. Only one room in the apartment has windows and the sunlight won't spread from it. Also, a hallway that goes, well, nowhere.

I hope I get used to it soon. It is a lot creepier than I had anticipated.

I believed you at first... drat.

[ShatteredVanity]

I believed you at first... drat.

I was going to offer up photos if they were requested.

[HenryAskew]

I believed you at first... drat.

I was going to offer up photos if they were requested.

I almost asked... if you take them, I'll pass your story on

[AlanR]

I haven't even finished the book. I'm on page 250. After reading for 2 hours today, I drifted into a 4 hour nap.

I don't have nightmares. I can't remember my dreams. But I fear the book has had a much dreadful effect.

Dreams and nightmares grab hold of you during sleep, usually, but my lack of such encounters during shut-eye has brought them into real world realizations. I am afraid of the dark.

Again.

How long has it been since I've had this fear? Since years and years ago. Now, when I woke from the 4 hour nap, which followed after the 2 hour sit-down with of Leaves, it has returned.

I walked out of my room after noticing it was 8PM and there was no way I was going to get all my homework done without losing sleep and being late for school for the 4th time in a row. I headed towards the kitchen in complete darkness, to get a drink, to ease down.

Only this was different from before. My heart raced, My eyes widened. I was no longer sleepy, dazed. I was alert. At first I thought I was just overcome with some weird stimulus, it'd be over in a second. I was being stupid.

But I jumped for the lightswitch, stubbing a toe.

Again, I'm afraid of the dark.

[weforgottenuno]

I wanna see pictures of this apartment.

I've never had any serious paranoia, or nightmares. I just get scared when I'm reading it late at night.

Actually, when I was reading a couple weeks ago (2nd time), my cell hpone was charging next to my TV. The TV was off, but every so often, there'd be a weird click/static noise, and the screen would briefly shimmer. I guess it was just interference from the phone (whatever waves that uses) but it was creepy nonetheless.

[Ellimist]

I had a dream the other night in which I had traveled back in time to what seemed, to me, to be the 1990s, in a shopping mall. The current clothing styles and design of things tipped me off. However, upon looking at a newspaper for a year, I found it was 1472 (AD, presumably)... This meant that everything I was experiencing was anachronistic.

Anyway, there was a bookstore in the mall. And, like I do in real life, I looked for of Leaves. I found two copies. They were softcover, but different than the ones we all know. So, I picked one up, and for some reason just knew this was a special first edition or something like that. The title on the spine was white with black background and in Courier New font. The pages were black, not white, and the text was different shades of grey, often very dark. It was quite difficult to read. I had to tilt the book a lot to get the light to reflect off the letters sufficiently.

Taped to the back of the book was a $100 bill and a note. The note said something about using the money to buy the book. So, I did. The clerk gave me the book, but kept the change and said something about the change being mailed to me later. So, I left the bookstore... There were kids skating in the open areas of the mall... Then I woke up to find there was no black-paged copy of HoL sitting in a bag in my room.

[HenryAskew]

Then I woke up to find there was no black-paged copy of HoL sitting in a bag in my room.

Maybe you left the bag at the mall.

...

[Ellimist]

Maybe you left the bag at the mall.

Yes... I should go check... thanks!

[MarchTowardsDawn]

i recently started dreaming. ever since i was young, i cant ever recall having a single dream. but lately, things have been changing and ive started dreaming for the first time ever. i think this one might have been a little HoL influenced...

...i remember entering a large hallway made of black marble. in the hallway are rows and rows of animal statues also made of black marble. there are people around and some are either leaning, sitting, or standing on the statues. as i walk down this hall, i stay close to left hand side so that i dont have to manuever in between the statues and people. but coming out of the walls are more images of animals. they seem so lifelike and they're just frozen in their leap through the wall. i remember the first statue coming out of the wall wasnt even an animal, but a large human skull and the next one was a snake. so i walk down this hallway and an opening appears on the left hand side that i am walking against. it's a med sized room with black couches. people are sitting down so i join them. just then, the couches start shaking and trembling but the people sitting down are laughing and smiling while i'm scared out of my mind. i guess, it's some sort of amusement park ride to them. then one of the people sitting down says "this is the scary part". and black hands come from under the couches and grab hold of everyone so they cant move or get up, including me. then these black speakers on black cables come from under the couch and cover everyone's ears and starts emitting a horrible scream. i see this happening and attempt to cover my own ears but my speakers grow and fit over my hands while i'm trying to cup my ears. instead of a scream, my speakers sound like a man yelling "Dementia!" really loud. over and over again. and it justs gets louder and louder...

then i wake up.

[OriginalIdea]

Damn, MarchTowardsDawn, that's pretty fucked.

Quite interesting, though.

I've had some weird dreams, lately, but all of them long and without point.

I read Naked Lunch recently, so that was responsible for at least part of one of them.

[FasTBird232]

My girlfriend says I've started screaming in my sleep. Since it hasn't happened before, you could say I was startled when she told me this morning that it's been going on for a couple days now (she bought me HoL as an anniversary present two weeks ago).

I haven't so much as snored my entire life.

[FasTBird232]

Does anyone have any vivid experiences with lucid dreaming they could talk about? Anyone ever been able to make themselves fly, anything like that?

Yes, actually. In most lucid dreams I remember (there have been about seven or eight in my life), I simply force my eyes open (which is an odd sensation, "feeling" your dream eyes opening then actually feeling your eyes opening). However, in one dream, I found the nearest person and started punching him repeatedly. Thing is, even though I know I'm dreaming and have taken control of my actions in the dream, I wasn't using my power of control over my own mind to make the blows actually do anything. So I'm hammering away at this guy's face (just to see what would happen), but nothing happens to him.

In another dream, I was standing in a dog kennel next to a garage when I suddenly became lucid. I looked around and decided I'd give flying a shot (no other way to get out of the cage...), so I stretch my arms up and...well, I dunno what I was tyring to do. Will myself to fly I guess. Well, that didn't work. But after a few minutes of hopping up and down and getting frustrated, I remembered my previous dream about punching the man, and how I should try not only controling my own actions, but the environment around me (after all, my mind was creating the "world" around me just as much as it was my dream-body). So not only did I try to will myself in the air, I also began to imagine that the ground was falling away from me at the same time, and since all the dream was was imagination in the first place, it worked! I did a few laps around the barnyard before I began thinking too hard about it and woke myself up.

There have been a few others where I attempted to convince the people around me that the were in my dream and would cease to exist once I woke up, but you can imagine that it didn't get too far. Most of the time, it goes something like:

Wait...I'm dreaming aren't I? Yes, holy shit, it's a dream! I can do anything I want now!

*wake*

[evermary]

I have had exactly two lucid dreams in my life. Both took place in my own house.

The first was long, complicated, and difficult to remember was a dream. Shortly after I realized I convinced myself that I had died. A conversation with a beautiful man told me I had "nothing to fear, my child" shortly before falling through the floor of my own living room.

The second lucid dream was the typical example and the most enthralling. I woke up, looked down, saw no body, and began floating. I looked in a mirror and saw nothing. It was the most comfortable I'v ever been.

I can't remember my dreams as well since I finished HoL, late to the party as ever, about a week ago maybe. Not exactly sure.

What I remember is water. I was in a pool, just a regular old Parks and Rec pool, and I was having a conversation with a number of different people at once, each conversation entailing completely different topics and emotions.

I've noticed that a number of people dream of water after this book. Is it our only concept of weightlessness? Of a void filled with something?

Sleeping has been difficult. Body tense, joints achy, appetite diminished. My old fears of sudden nuclear annihilation have come back, as well as my intense aversion to the sound of planes overhead. Frequently other sounds will ring in my ears: the squeaking of truck tires, the waves of house heaters, the beeping of cash registers. This is all typical of me but not to this extent.

Sounds like I caught the bug (grin).

[poco locomotive]

fastbird....my son's named Anthony and he has night terrors, too. It is a very scary thing as a parent to see my son sleep walking, or sometimes I wake to his screams in the night. The first couple times I actually got mad at him, and yelled at him to go back to bed. It is very strange because he is up walking around with his eyes wide open, but I came to realize he is actually sound asleep. After researching it, I started applying the notion that he may be somewhat lucid, and his dad and I now talk to him soothingly, redirecting him. SOmetimes one of us takes his hand and walks him back to his room. He is quite easily directed in this state, and seems to appreciate the help. He never wakes up, nor remembers any of these night time events...I find them terrifying. My research has said one of the worst things you can do is to wake a person in the midst of a night terror because they get too upset by it. Perhaps your girlfriend can help you this same way, and also she'll feel better knowing there is something she can do and that you are normal and healthy--just having a bad dream.
Another thing that freaks me out about night terrors, is those famous criminal cases where the perp claims to have been asleep in the course of committing their crime.

[marsjams13]

I've noticed that a number of people dream of water after this book. Is it our only concept of weightlessness? Of a void filled with something?

If i'm not mistaken water usually symbolizes the unconscious.

(. . .and what about a return to the womb.)

[Themnoria]

i dreamed this forum didn't suck anymore

[Rotary]

I dunno if you would call this a dream, because it wasn't, nor would I think of it as an effect. But one night, about a week after finishing HoL, I woke up, and as I woke up I sat up at the same time. I remember sitting up really fast to see that (I sleep with music playing and all the lights off) my room was lit by a really dim yellow-ish colour, it was like celluloid. It wasn't so much as a light, but it was floating everywhere, and when I looked around, my head was turning extremely fast, and the music in the backround (Megadeth) was going at a really fast tempo. I was freaking out so I lied back down, and as I was looking around my room, I was still looking around very fast. My head felt elevated from my neck, and my hair wasn't hitting my face as I was looking left and right really fast (i have long hair). I closed my eyes and tried to keep my head still, but I could still feel it in my head that it could move so easily. This all happened around 2:43am. I woke up at 6am and my music was at its normal tempo, and my head didn't feel like it did 3 hours ago [at the time].

[Invisible Kid]

Just wanted to say that I'm new here and I finished reading of Leaves probably a little less than a month ago. I haven't had any exceptionally strange or vivid dreams since then, but there was a dream I had two years ago, before I ever heard of this book, that, now that I think about it, very closely resembles the story:

I remember being in some house, more like a basement, like the entire house was a basement...and everything was in black and white, which, for me, is very weird, because my dreams are always very vivid and almost photorealistic. But anyway, it was really, unbelievably dark. And I had a constant feeling of dread as I go through this place. And it's hard to remember everything now, since this happened two years ago, but I remember there being someone, or something in the very bottom, who I know posed a serious danger and threat...yet for some reason, I felt myself drawn to it/him. The last thing I remember is finding myself on a street in my neighborhood, like nothing happened.

I know this probably sounds kinda like BS. I mean, after all, that is really similar to HoL, but I only heard about this book 4 months ago and this dream happened 2 years ago. Maybe I DID hear about HoL a few years ago and don't consciously remember, but subconsciously I do...I dunno, But there it is. Glad to be a part of this board!

[Van der Houwen]

I have finished the book and am currently allowing a friend to read the book. I have almost snatched it a back a couple of times to spare him the nightmares I have gotten but have also thought about it again and decided not to take it away from him when he is so deeply amazed by it...just as I am.

I have run across many repeating nightmares...I dont know if you could call them nightmares because I do not necessarily wake up afraid.

Nightmare #1:

I'm in complete darkness, I cant tell which way is up or down, there is nothing under me and there is nothing above me...nothingness in the vast darkness that surrounds me. I let out a soft and almost insane seeming giggle at this prospect, inspite of trying to tell myself that I shouldnt giggle or laugh in the first place. Suddenly I look up and I see a small speck of light falling towards me, I reach up towards it, a piece of paper that is burning. My fingertips touch it gently, an almost welcome heat against the cold but just as my fingertips touch it some undescribable flame shoots through my soul in pure form, hurting every milimetre of my body, inside and out. Within that instant I wish I would hit the ground or something solid so that I wouldnt have to hurt from all the things that I have done anymore.

Nightmare #2:

I'm within a building (or ) and I am running briskly from something. I look over my shoulder to see what it is but I can hardly see what is in front of me, let alone what is behind me. As I feel my way along the walls and through the doors of the place as fast as possible I get a growing sense that I won't ever survive from this experience and I begin to cry silently as I try to excape an almost inevitable fate. Pausing for a moment after I rush through another door and shut it behind me. I hold the door firm as suddenly the door begins to bang so hard I can hardly even imagine anything besides my guts splayed out over the floor in this god-forsaken building (). Suddenly the banging stops and my heart leaps into my throat in panic, obviously rathering to have the banging than not knowing where this creature...thing was in this building (). Suddenly I hear something clatter and roll behind me...something that sounded much like a metal shell for something. Turning around slowly while keeping my weight on the door I find myself staring straight back into the clouded eyes of my own death.

Nightmare #3:

I am standing in a pool of light that comes from a small lightbulb a couple of feel above my head. It just manages to surround my body in light but it is weak and I constantly fear that it will go out, leaving me without light. I constantly turn in circles, trying to find the creatures that are looking at me, waiting until that light goes out...until I cant defend myself against them. I spin! The light flickers out for a moment and my eyes are shocked by the pure darkness of this vast room enough so that I cant see anything until the light comes back on again and even then I can only see within a foot outside of the light pooling around me. I shiver and close my eyes against my own horrid thoughts of being torn apart, flesh from bone. I spin again! The light flickers out for longer but I dont open my eyes, attempting to not face my fate. Trying to convince myself that if I cant see it it cant see me which I can easily tell you is false despite my desperate attempts to make it not so. The light comes back on and I crouch down for a moment, craddling my face in my hands before slowly raising my face out of my hands and opening my eyes. Once my eyes open completely I hear the pingk of the lightbulb dying and I slowly stand, attempting to face my fate bravely just as a piercing pain sinks into my chest.

I spent the night at my friend's house just after I handed the book over to him and he said that he could hardly sleep due to the fact that I was crying, constantly moving, and yelling mumble that he couldnt understand. It worried him but made him more excited to read the book.

I've also woken up a couple of times and found myself listening to Poe's Haunted cd (I also listen to music while asleep) and also found myself staring straight into the face of my boyfriend whom had heard my yelling from the other room. Trying to ease me awake but more or less dropped my heart halfway through the bed because of being more scared than anything else. hahaha I enjoy these nightmares and such. They give me inspiration.