On Monday's show David Booth shared his ominous vision of the near future. Here is a sampling of listeners' responses, detailing their own dark dreams of what is to come.
Life off the Grid
I am a psychotherapist with a master's degree in clinical social work. I have a private practice and do most of my work with people who have suffered from traumatic events...war trauma, child abuse trauma or sexual assault... The dreams [I have been having are] disturbing and on some level I emotionally tie them into an approaching catastrophe. However, I do not believe that my dream scenario was as catastrophic as the event that David Booth talked about. It seems to me that they were more like dreams of a future in which the climate has changed dramatically and in which there is no visible infrastructure.
I have had several different dreams of what seems to be a future time. In these dreams, there is no electricity, the roads have not been kept up and are falling into disrepair, and everyone is living a frontier-type of life while trying to keep up the traditions of a past time. For instance, one of my dreams involved trying to celebrate someone's graduation from high school and the celebration planned was a community or extended-family feast and bonfire. The weather turned bad (in my dream), and so we had to move the celebration inside, into what was a primitive-looking shelter. There were lanterns in this structure for light. The walls consisted of old boards and rugs, etc. Everyone was doing his or her best to have a good time. This dream was not a 'nightmare'; life was difficult but people were banding together and attempting to hang on to social conventions. There were not many people, there were no automobiles or machinery of any sort evident.
I have had other dreams that I can only remember parts of. There was one in which I was trying to drive a vehicle down a highway that has not been maintained and eventually realized that I would have to abandon the vehicle, that cars were no longer something I could use. There was one other dream of living in a sort of log cabin-type of house with no electricity, no heat, other than a fireplace, and of having to do many things outdoors because of the lack of light in the house. These dreams all had a common 'feel' to them. To me they felt like dreams of the future and in them I 'knew' something had happened to shut the infrastructure down. I've had these dreams in approximately the last two years, give or take 6 months.
--Michele B.
The Green Fire
I had this very brief dream of being in my childhood room. It was a small room with a window overlooking my front yard and the beach. Well, I looked out the window and this time I saw a cityscape. Didn't see any noticeable monuments showing what city it was, but all of a sudden I saw spires of green fire erupt from the ground. That's what got me, because I always thought an attack would maybe come from the sky, not from the earth itself. The spires kept coming harder, and they were advancing towards my area.
It's funny, because in any dreams apocalyptic like this, I'm always in a safe place. In this case I'm high up in the air in my childhood room. I could literally feel the vibrations of each eruption as they made their way towards me. When I started to panic, that's when the dream ended.
--James K.
Deceiving Appearances
For the past five years I have had a recurring dream that is quite different than what most recurring dreams present. For one thing, the same events do not happen repeatedly as the gentleman who saw the airplane crashing, etc. What is similar is the place. I arrive in what I (and my psychologist husband) can only describe as an alternate universe. It is always Kansas City and I know it is Kansas City, but in my normal awakening state it is definitely NOT Kansas City-I lived there once for about a year back in the early 70s. But in my "dream" state I arrive and know that I am in Kansas City!
My next-door-neighbor is ALWAYS a friend of ours-a retired funeral director who died in late 1998! He seems quite happy to see us and as happy and "chipper" as ever. We all live in modern, neatly-kept split-level houses with manicured lawns, gardens, etc. Everything on the inside looks marvelous and well-kept as well. Then something always happens-I drop something, or sit down somewhere, etc. and I notice the bricks, floorboards, etc. and everything IS ROTTING AWAY FROM THE BOTTOM UP!
I am always surprised that no one else notices this and that everyone continues as if everything is just peachy! If I walk out into the yard, the sunset is a bizarre color and almost frightening yet everyone seems totally oblivious to this and they are all saying how nice it is and what a wonderful day it is! I usually notice some worms, spiders, or something really disgusting at which point I awaken!
My interpretation? Things are not what they seem. Sylvia Browne told Montel Williams the other day that she expects the economy to "tank" next year! I think my dream reflects this. Everything on the surface looks like business as usual and even beautiful! But if you look closely, Everything is really rotting away! The people in my dreams seem unable to even admit this dichotomy to themselves much less one another! I think Americans are in denial as well. If you listen to CNN or the major networks everything is just marvelous! But if you look at websites sponsored by the BBC or other European news networks, you see a lot of fear and uneasiness.
--"Cornhusker"
The Red Headed Girl
I've had a dream over and over for 57 yrs. When I was 8 yrs old, I dreamed that 3 redheaded girls were standing on a hill watching dazed and filthy looking people walking past struggling and holding on to each other. The people came through and around and over a man-made tunnel. Part of the tunnel was blown away and I could see the "ribs" of the tunnel frame. The ribs of the tunnel look like the ribs of the WTC building on 09/11 but the ones in my dream are curved over not straight.
Everything was smoky and acrid smelling and the people were crying. It was total destruction, total despair. I thought the three girls were my sisters and me, but through the years the smallest, who is about 6 yrs old, would turn her head and I saw it wasn't me. As a child I never realized that because I was looking AT the three girls that I couldn't have been one of them.
Over the years I would look at children born in my family to see if it was she. I never saw anyone who resembled her, then in October 2002 my latest grandchild was born, she has strawberry blond hair and even as a baby she resembles that child. If this has any significance it would make her 6 yrs old in 2008. I have never told her parents this. I felt that I wasn't having this dream anymore then someone would look or say something and trigger a memory that I did have the dream again. It's a worry.
--S.T.