Peculiar, that.
Some years ago, I spent some consecutive nights having a string of absolutely terrible nightmares that involved my execution. The thing is that each night I would be executed in a different way, with all the details excruciatingly vivid and correct. It got to be so that towards the end I feared going to sleep. These dreams are indelibly etched in my mind.
One night I would be hanged. I would be led to the gallows with my hands tied behind my back, have the rope put around my neck, and the trap would open under my feet.
Another night I would be sent to the electric chair. Same story, have the wet sponge put on my head, the electrodes set, the belts tightened, everything.
Yet another night I would be sent to the guillotine: Tied to the board, the board would tilt forward, my neck would rest on the lunette, the metal piece would rest on the back, the executioner would pull the release…
The next nightmare would be of me being shot by a firing squad. Tied to a post, half a dozen soldiers aiming at me, the order to fire would be given, I would feel the bullets slamming against my body, and I would feel my body sliding to a crazy angle, and see the officer in charge of the squad walk towards me while drawing his pistol.
Another one had me being thrown to the lions in a Roman arena. That one was particularly bizarre, because I dreamed it in Latin, of all things.
And now, for the interesting part. I didn’t wake up just before I was executed. Nope. In all and every nightmare, I was executed at the end, and would feel everything about it.
I was hanged, and would fall through the trapdoor, and would feel the brutal stop as the rope broke my neck with a snap and indescribably sharp pain, followed by what can only be expressed as the unspeakable feeling of rapidly diminishing consciousness. Only at that point I woke up sweating and out of breath.
At the electric chair I felt the jolt go through my body. I think that my mind must have recycled memories of being shocked by a faulty lamp, because it is the most vivid feeling of electrocution I ever remember. It was utterly hideous, it burned all over to extremes for which words are inadequate, and then I died. Yes, in my dream I died. I woke up after that with a horrendous awareness of death.
At the guillotine the blade fell and then I felt the weirdest feeling. Sounds frivolous, but the only thing that could compare to it would be a kind of roller-coaster, only it lasted for a mere second or two. I ended up looking up at a patch of sky, the guillotine itself looming at a corner of my view, fuzzy figures moving around. A horrendous feeling of asphyxiation overcame me and everything became dark. Only after that I woke up, this time actually screaming.
In front of the firing squad, after being shot, as a wave of pain flooded my entire being, my limp body being supported by the ropes that tied me to the post, the officer approached with his pistol already drawn and pointed it against my temple from real close. There was an unbearably bright flash of light followed almost instantly by my awakening. I was crying.
And when I was in the Roman arena, I was taken by some men. We were actually speaking in Latin (I remember my high school Latin; it was mandatory in Spain when I was a teenager). I had been dressed in some fantastic clothing and was going to be representing some sort of historical-mythological figure who was going to be eaten by the beasts. And the beasts ate me. It was as gruesome as you can imagine it. I woke up on the verge of a nervous breakdown/heart attack/you name it.
I was absolutely terrified and about to go visit a psychiatrist by that time… Those nightmares were hideous in extreme, and they had all come in consecutive nights. I talked to my family and they decided that if I still had that problem that night, the very next day we would go consult some mental specialist. For some reason, and I still don’t know why, I went to bed the next night and … that was it. I slept like a log that night.
They have never repeated since. But I still remember them.
Just my 2 eurocent!
JoseB
