I Visit The Same Two Houses In My Dreams
I have always been a vivid dreamer. Every dream I have is in full color and in full-narrative. They have beginnings, middles, character development, and most of the time, an ending. Because I have a photographic memory, I always remember them in extraordinary detail. I get a lot of ideas for short stories from my dreams!
I don’t remember when it started, but I began dreaming about the same house. It was a four-story, Victorian brownstone. I was only outside of it once, it looked like it was in Brooklyn. I am always in modern-day time and the house is being renovated but the uppermost floor is a greenhouse. In it, all of the former-owners belongings are there, spilled out on tables, and crammed in this space.
I’ve dreamt of a few scenarios while I was there. One time I discovered a master bedroom suite through a tiny door hidden in a closet. (Very Narnia). Another time there was a mysterious bald man in the house in a trench coat and I didn’t feel threatened but I didn’t want him there. One time I even dreamt the front windows on the bottom floor were blown out by some kind of bomb or explosion. Never got that whole story!
The last time I was there, I was walking around the upper floor looking at the former-owners belongings. There were antique bird cages, books, furniture. Everything was dusty and brown. I remember trying to look out of the windows but there was nothing outside, even though I had been on the ground level outside of the house. I woke up before I could really dive into it and I haven’t been back since.
I also dream of a gothic manor. This one is enormous and even more detailed than the brownstone. When you walk in, it is a library/foyer/ballroom kind of room, two or three stories high, with books along every wall and balconies to reach the highest ones. The ceiling has a rotating painting where you can crank it to look like daytime or the night sky.
Off to the left is another library, full of contraptions like telescopes, microscopes, globes, science kits. There is a three-story high hallway off the main room that goes to the rest of the house, and I know what it looks like, although I’ve never seen it in my dreams.
Last night I dreamt this house was being sold. I was there with a great group of people, I think the current owners and staff of the house (I think I’m one of the owners) and we were lamenting about what will happen to the books when it is sold. J. Robert Oppenheimer was there, and when I noticed it was him I realized we were in the 1950s. He and I both cried over the books. It was strange and very sad. I woke up in the middle of a conversation with him.
I have absolutely no idea why this happens. I never analyzed my dreams or even thought they were worth digging into. I am, however, so interested in why I go to these same two places. Often, too! At least once or twice a month I dream I’m there. Now I am eagerly awaiting the next time I visit. What happens after the gothic manor gets sold?
What are some of your strangest dreams?
I am a full-time community manager and a writer of dark fantasy short stories and novels. My current project is a three-part short story series called “The One-Horned Heretic” with part one available on Amazon for $.99. I write on Medium mostly about writing advice, with the occasional one-offs on other passions of mine. If you’d like to follow along on my writing journey, you can learn more about it on my website.
