Recurring chase dream

[Marshall McHiggins]

For the past few months, I have occasionally had a chase dream (about once a month, with minor differences each time). In each of these dreams, I am in my backyard outside my house with my brother, my sister, and my brother's friend, "Joe." Whenever Joe is at my house in real life, the four of us often play hide-and-seek, so I assume we were also intending to do this in my dreams. At some point in the dreams, a man dressed in black appears from somewhere and begins to chase us. I don't know if he ever had any sort of weapon, but we were always terrified and ran toward the front door of my house. Being the oldest, I probably felt some obligation to protect the others, because I was always the last one to get in the house (even though I'm the speediest of us). Once we get inside the house, we are safe; the man never tries to break in. The dreams always end at this point.

I didn't think much about these dreams until yesterday morning, when I had a similar dream with a major difference. (I remember much more detail about my dream yesterday than the previous ones; the others probably had just as much detail.) The four of us were in the backyard at night. We noticed a few cats and a dog, which ran into the bushes. When we went to see what they were doing, we saw that one of the cats had pinned the dog to the ground while the other cats watched. The cat was hitting the dog, but in a playful manner, not to inflict pain. The dog, meanwhile, was helpless. It was only about the size of a poodle. Suddenly, we saw the light from a digital watch next to the animals. I seem to remember the watch reading 9:36. For some reason, this watch alerted us to the presence of the man in black, so we immediately ran for the door as he began to chase us. (I believe it changed to daylight at this time.) I was in the back of the pack, as usual. This time, however, some long, sharp blades grew out of the bottoms of my shoes and sunk into the ground. I could pull them out, but only very slowly. The man in black easily caught up to me. He put his arm around my neck. He wasn't trying to choke me, just to hold me in place. I tried to scream, but it came out as something more similar to a groan or a whimper. At this time, I woke up.

I'm not exactly terrified of this dream; actually, when I awoke, I was only worried that I had screamed in real life and frightened my family. Nonetheless, I am very curious about the meaning of this dream. Does anyone have any ideas?

[Varzandeh]

Hi,


If one dreamt he was running away means he will be forgiven or he will overcome the enemy.
Because Moses dreamt he was running away from Pharaoh and later he overcame the Pharaoh.
If one dreamt men were running away from women means he is afraid of a big man.
To run away if he didn't scream means happiness but if he screamed means a disaster is on the way.

[Plantagenet]

That's an extremely interesting dream, and certainly quite disturbing. Some of the imagery and ideas are fascinating even in just a small dream.

The recurring theme is that you and your friends are playing in a carefree manner outside and a man in black appears, and you all immediately run for the house. This may be a personification/literalisation of danger for children if they are not supervised by an adult. Maybe the man in black represents a stranger, and all children are taught 'stranger danger'.

The detailed dream is at night, and the scene with a cat pinning down a dog and the other cats watching is very odd. The digital watch appearing and reading a specific time could be to draw to your attention the immediate moment and alert you away from what you are watching. I can't think why it changes to daylight.

The theme of trying to run fast but being slowed down or unable to run without exerting much more effort is very common.

There seems to be nothing especially violent in this dream; the man doesn't try to strangle you, and the cat doesn't try to hurt the dog. However the fear element is in the feeling of being controlled or not being able to escape, and with an unknown quantity, (in this case you are afraid of the man in black who is unknown, but also acts threateningly by chasing you).