Recurrent Dream Character 'Elliot'/'Elliott'

On 13 September 2016, I had a dream which involved a dream character called 'Elliott'. This is Dream 696 ('Elliott' - NIGHTMARE). In this dream, I had a 'memory' of an earlier dream involving this dream character. Before I had a chance to research my Dream Journal to find out if I did in fact have an earlier dream about a dream character called Elliott, I had a further dream on 14 September 2016 during an evening nap - Dream 697 ('Elliott's Return') which featured the same dream character Elliott - and again referred to the fact that this dream character had appeared in an earlier dream.

Therefore this post is dedicated to the dream character Elliott. I will reproduce all of the Dream Journal entries involving Elliott below:

Elliot/Elliott Dream #1

'My Daughter' - click HERE to open the original Dream Journal entry

Date: 14 August 2016

Time: 04:00 - 10:45 (I woke up from this dream due to an alarm)

Type of dream: Vivid dream
Dream recall: Moderate recall

Scene 1: A Domestic Interior  - Time Unknown
This dream seemed very vivid when I was dreaming it, but because a few hours lapsed between me waking up with a good memory of this dream and then recording it, I have forgotten a lot of the action and detail. 

In the dream I had a baby daughter - I do not recall her name. I was surprised to discover that I had an even better, slimmer body than I had before - i.e. before I had a baby. 

The father of the baby was a white male, but I didn't recognise him - I am not sure who it represented. I was not in a relationship with him in the dream. I was anxious about giving him the baby for the day - the baby was swaddled in a pink blanket and I was talking to my Mum, voicing my concerns about handing the baby over. 

The father of the baby arrived at the house and I had a conversation with him about our daughter, before eventually deciding to trust him with her for the day. I cannot recall what else happened at this stage, but I know that I felt comfortable at the end of the interaction. 

I then saw someone's customised Myspace page - it was very glittery and had a galaxy wallpaper background. The name of the person was 'Elliot' and I recalled - in the dream only, not a real life memory - that 'Elliot' was the name of a character created by DL. I wondered if 'Elliot' meant 'Technology' and decided that it did, because 'Elliot' was the name of the main child character in ET (1982) - although in this movie, Elliot contracts to 'ET' meaning 'extra-terrestrial'. I wondered if the owner of the Myspace page was copying DL in using this name. 

I cannot recall anything else about this dream.

Extra Information: 
None of note

Recurrent Dream Themes: 

• My Mum as a dream character

Dreamsigns: 

• I had a baby daughter
• I 'remembered' facts about DL which were not true in real life, only the dream

Day Residue: 

• On the day of this dream I had been watching Youtube videos on the SomeOrdinaryGamers channel - where Mutahar has a series 'Exploring the Deep Web' where he shows and comments on random websites he has found while surfing the deep/dark web. Many of the sites he referred to had reference to aliens. I saw one which had a galaxy wallpaper. The majority of sites had very bad, outdated designs - which led me to think about how Myspace pages used to be customised

Elliot/Elliott Dream #2

'Elliott' - click HERE to open the original Dream Journal entry

Date: 13 September 2016

Time: 02:00 - 08:40 (I woke up from this dream naturally) 

Type of dream: Normal Dream/Pre-Lucid (questioning dream state)
Dream recall: Normal recall

Scene 1: An Unknown Interior Location  - Day

I was in an interior location - a house, but I am not sure who lived in this house (it may have been me). My Mum and other dream characters - such as DL, who I realised was present a short while into the dream - were around me. We were anticipating a terrible catastrophe - a kind of apocalypse, which was not quite clear in the dream. Basically, I was aware - and I discussed with the other dream characters - that something dramatic was planned to happen - perhaps by the government? It felt like there might be a nuclear war or some danger coming and we had to wait in this house until we were asked to go to the shelter. I wanted to get to the shelter quickly and was packing bags to get ready to leave when we were called for, or picked up, or got the signal to go (I did not know how we were going to be brought to the shelter or where it was). No-one else seemed to care about packing and they were trying to joke, saying I was being over-dramatic. I felt very uneasy and frustrated. 

I then got a telephone call on my mobile phone. It was RBA. I remember leaning on a table while I spoke to him, and the lights being very bright yellow in the room. RBA called me 'Comrade' and told me that I could get to the shelter quicker (so be more safe) if I adopted a person and took him with me. I suddenly saw that I was holding what looked to be a playing card, which had a photograph of Elliott on it. I have made an image (below) to illustrate what Elliott looked like. He had blonde-brown messy hair and big blue eyes. He had a very smug expression on his face. Just seeing Elliott made me angry and scared. I remembered that I had met him in a previous dream and that he had been evil. I said to RBA that I knew Elliott from another dream and I did not want to meet him again, telling him that Elliott was evil and dangerous. RBA said I could not go into the shelter unless I adopted Elliott and protected him, 

I then saw - either on a screen in front of me, or maybe in my mind's eye/imagination - a huge explosion of light, which looked like an atomic bomb blast. I knew that this was a preview of what was going to happen in the apocalypse. I was frantic with the fear of having to meet this awful Elliott again, or risk being killed or harmed in the bomb blast (or whatever catastrophe it might be). I decided that I might be able to sweet talk RBA into changing the rules for me (i.e. letting me go into the shelter without having to adopt Elliott). I said to him (trying to be casual): 'You never told me whether you know who Francis Bacon is' to which he said something along the lines of: 'Why are you so obsessed with knowing if I know who that is...is it someone you're fucking?' I said: 'No' and then called him 'ignorant' because I felt like he was being judgmental and rude. RBA laughed at me and said that as a comrade I was unable to refuse to take Elliott into my care. He said he would send a car.

I came off the phone and told my Mum and DL about what RBA had said and about Elliott. I was really upset and scared, and also panicked because I knew the apocalypse was coming and it would be terrible and kill us all. I was trying to tell them both that Elliott was evil and DL kept saying: 'It's Elliott from Star Wars' (but in the dream Star Wars meant ET (1982) - so I knew which film he meant. I was showing them the paying card which had Elliott's photograph on it (I also noticed that there were decorations drawn around the outside of the photograph, on the white border). My Mum and DL referred to the photograph as a 'party invitation' and did not seem to accept that Elliott was evil, saying I should be pleased to 'go to the party' (in the dream, 'go to the party' was interpreted to mean 'go to the shelter'). DL kept talking about 'Elliott from Star Wars' which annoyed me. I was trying to tell them that I had met Elliott in a previous dream so I knew what he was like. DL said: 'You need to trust RBA about Elliott or you'll die'. I felt trapped in a nightmare. 

Extra Information: 
None of note

Recurrent Dream Themes: 

• RBA as a dream character
• 'Elliott' as a dream character

Dreamsigns: 

• The catastrophic event which was going to happen
• The conversation and scenario involving 'Elliott'
• The fact I remembered I'd dreamed of Elliott before, which should have been a sign I was dreaming now 
• I saw a preview of the apocalypse 
• Language had a different meaning in the dream

Day Residue:

• It was recently the anniversary of 9/11 - so references (and conspiracy theories) about this event has been in the media recently A few days before this dream I watched a video which illustrated what happened to Earth when the meteor/comet which led to the extinction of the dinosaurs would have looked like - I then saw a news story online which stated that a meteor/comet was heading towards the Earth (I am not sure of the validity of the article, as I did not click on it) 
• In recent Dream 689, I dreamed of something which reminded me of a Francis Bacon painting. RBA was a dream character in the dream and I asked him if he knew who Francis Bacon was (I was lucid), to which he replied that he did not. I did not find this surprising because I don't think RBA is interested in art history. I was then filming a Youtube video about this dream and a few other recent dream experiences, and in the video mentioned the fact that my subconscious clearly thought RBA was ignorant about art. I then scrapped the video because I thought that was a bit rude and I wasn't sure if RBA did know who Francis Bacon was. I messaged him to ask him, but he hasn't answered the question yet.

Elliot/Elliott Dream #3

'Elliott's Return' - click HERE to open the original Dream Journal entry

Date: 14 September 2016

Time: 18:30 - 20:00 (Evening Nap - I woke up from this dream due to an alarm) 

Type of dream: Normal dream/Pre-Lucid Dream
Dream recall: Strong recall

Scene 1: An Airport - Day
I'm in an airport - I know it is daytime, because I can see through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows. The sky seemed a pale, dusty yellow. The window showed a view of the runway, and I could see one airplane.

My Mum. other members of my family and DL were present in the airport, which seemed to be pretty empty. We had a lot of luggage with us, but I did not know (or recall) where we were supposedly travelling to. I felt left out of something, like I wasn't invited to something about to happen, or I was missing something which everyone else was involved in. There was conversation between my family while I stood beside the window. 

My Mum then said we were waiting for Elliott to arrive. This made me feel weird and I recalled that Elliott was someone I had dreamed about (Dream 696 - and perhaps an earlier dream, as referenced in last night's dream). I said to my Mum: 'I dream about Elliott' to which she said: 'You created him on The Sims'. I then saw an image of Elliott - looking as he did in the earlier dream I had of him, the night before, but as a Sim, so cartoony and animated-looking rather than a real human. I felt relieved that he wasn't a real human-being and did not question that (real life) fact that I had not actually made Elliott in The Sims. My Mum then shattered this relief by saying: 'He's been around since the 1970s', which meant (in the dream) that he was actually alive. My Mum said: 'He's your responsibility now' and I was aware that the apocalypse from the earlier dream (Dream 696) was still going to happen and this was why we were in the airport with bags. 

Extra Information: 
None of note

Recurrent Dream Themes: 

• Elliott as a dream character - and events of previous dreams 
• Feeling disconnected or left out of events

Dreamsigns: 

• This was a continuation of a dream from the night before - I seemed aware that the events of this dream were related to my earlier dreams (Pre-Lucidity)

Day Residue: 

• At work I have been assigned to supervise a journey to Heathrow Airport, London next week - to collect new international students and transport them to university
• I cannot recall what I watched a couple of days ago, but there was a reference in a TV show/video to someone jumping out of a plane without a parachute. A male said he would not jump out of a stationary plane while it was on the runway (for £5 million) if it meant he would be injured - this is a vague memory, but I think I wasn't really paying attention to the video which was playing in the background, hence I cannot recall the specifics
• I had a dream about 'Elliott' last night - Dream 696, which referenced an earlier dream which also involved this dream character, although I have not yet researched this earlier 'Elliott' dream - this dream seemed like a continuation of last night's dream

Do not take notice of the fact that Elliot's name is spelled differently in these Dream Journal entries - at no point in any of the dreams did I see how to spell the name of this dream character, but when writing up the dreams, I Googled the spelling of the name, and these were the two most popular spellings. 

This is a very interesting dream experience, because the first Elliott dream took place exactly one month prior to the recent dreams. That dream was also called 'My Daughter' (in which I had a baby) whereas, in the later Elliott dreams, I was being told that I would have to adopt the dream character. I also find it strange that in the second (and third) dreams about Elliott, I was certain that he was evil, but there was no indication in the first Elliot dream that he was evil. In fact, he was character allegedly designed by DL, another fact that was not referenced in the later Elliott dreams. In the third dream I was told I had created Elliott. There was also no indication of what Elliot looked like in the first dream, but I saw this clearly in the second and third dreams. 

I wonder if I will have any further Elliot/Elliott dreams?

Dream Characters

A couple of years ago, I wrote an introductory article on the topic of dream characters - if you would like to read this post, please click on this title (article will open in a new window): 'An introduction to dream characters'. The order in which you read the articles is not important.

For me, meeting dream characters - either in a normal non-lucid or a lucid dream - is one of the most fascinating aspects of dreaming. Robert Waggoner refers to dream characters as 'dream figures' - suggesting that instead of being fictional beings who merely exist within our dream narratives. they are important aspects of our psyche who can provide us with deep and meaningful insight into the meaning of our dreams and our subconscious, even if they seem to be symbolic.

Often, dream characters will be people we know or are familiar with in our waking life - family, friends or celebrities/public figures. How often certain recurrent dream characters appear in our dreams may be determined by the level of contact we have with such persons in our waking hours - so someone we see/speak to/think about everyday is more likely to frequently appear in our dreams. 

Sometimes day residue (the aspects of our recent waking life which are reflected in the content of our dreams, perhaps in a symbolic or altered form) causes us to dream of someone we may have had a fleeting waking interaction with - such as noticing them post on social media, or seeing a public figure mentioned in a news article, or watching a movie/listening to music, triggering the appearance of that celebrity in our dream. On occasions, we may not even be aware that we have seen/heard of that person, because the waking experience didn't seem significant enough for us to think deeply about it until after the dream.

While dream characters are often assumed to reflect an aspect/characteristic of our self, or may simply be the result of day residue, sometimes we dream of random public figures/celebrities without any clear trigger or influence. To interpret what the appearance of this dream character means, consider what associations you make in relation to this figure - what traits/characteristics/qualities/values/behaviours do you associate with them? The same exercise can be used when we dream of fictional characters.

Some dream characters may be 'stock' stereotypes - such as 'boss', 'leader', 'teacher', 'enemy', 'lover' etc - so they are not necessarily identifiable people we recognise from real life, but we can ascertain their 'role' or 'purpose'. Again, consider what traits/characteristics/qualities/values/behaviours you associate with persons linked to these roles and then ask yourself how these relate to your waking life - if you dream of a 'boss' dream character, does this reflect a waking situation linked with your career or employment? Or is there some other aspect of self/waking life you can link to the appearance of this standard dream character?

What/Who are Dream Characters?
This seems like a strange question - dream characters are just the people who appear in our dreams! But there are many theories about the reason why certain dream characters populate our dreams and what they may represent. 

The most common theory is that dream characters are manifestations/projections of some aspect of ourselves - our subconscious or our personality. Dream character are not necessarily human, although often dream characters take on the form of people known to the dreamer in waking reality. 

When dream characters are based on real people known to the dreamer, often their behaviour reflects what we expect in real life, because much of our dream content is drawn from our waking experiences. However, sometimes, dream characters may act oddly or completely differently to what we expect, which can be a powerful dreamsign used to trigger lucidity or at least make us question the nature of the dream. 

Sometimes dream characters might be composites of people we know or are familiar with. This may be confusing (we may ask ourselves 'who is this?') or we may recognise that the dream character is a composite, but identify who they are supposed to be in the dream. 

Shadows & Anima/Animus
Some dream literature refers to 'Dream Guides'. These can be separated into sub-categories of dream characters. 

Shadows
Shadows are the 'inner nemesis' of the dreamer - this of the metaphorical 'devil' on the shoulder, who is able to whisper into the ear of it's host, and sabotage plans and cause personal chaos, even when the individual knows better or has other intentions. This is how Shadows are depicted. Some oneironauts believe that the personal Shadow connects to the collective Shadow of all people, and therefore should be handled carefully when they appear in a dream as they represent 'evil' or the 'dark side'. 

Shadows are therefore seen as the dark elements of the psyche which we are unaware of - they should be conscious and controlled by the ego, but are not. These elements of self might be projected as a distinct dream character, but some say that the Shadow has many personalities and guises which it can hide behind. These are often thought to reflect the stereotypes, perceptions and fears of the dreamer. Oneironauts who believe in this interpretation, suggest that when the ego becomes overinflated (hubris), the nemesis has more capacity, because the conscious awareness of the dreamer is overshadowed. This can lead the Shadow to influence the dreamer in negative ways and this represents the self-sabotaging aspect of the psyche, that acts against the best interests of the dreamer.

Apparently, the Shadow is made up of the positive and negative aspects of the self which are undeveloped and have become split off from the ego and may affect the relationship between the ego and the subconscious.

Anima/Animus
The Anima/Animus are derived from various traditional cultural norms, which emerged in an era where there were much more strictly defined gender identities and roles - women being linked to the feminine, nurturing, maternal, intuitive. cooperative, sensitive and domestic; and men to the masculine, aggressive, decisive, independent and commercial. In order to comply with these gender ideals, we supposedly subsume conflicting aspects of the self, and these can be reflected in our dreams. Therefore, while our physical gender may be well-developed (because we are taught how to identify and fit into the gender roles expected of us by society),  we may be out of touch with the other aspects of our self. This theory of dream characters seems grossly out of synch with our modern understanding of gender and sexuality. It does not take into account non-heterosexual cis-gendered identities or gender fluidity and therefore appears to be outdated, normative and limited.

Anima/Animus are depicted as the middleman/woman between our egos and our subconscious and are sometimes referred to as a 'face of the soul' (I would prefer 'face of the psyche' given my particular worldview). They are the face of the subconscious mind. 

Anima represent the 'ideal' female face of the male dreamer, and Animus represents the 'ideal' male face of the female dreamer, allowing the dreamer to connect to their latent femininity/masculinity. Their purpose is to spark personal development and unify the conscious and subconscious aspects of self. 

Dreamers may find the dream characters representing the Anima/Animus attractive, because they represent the opposite sex which is unconscious within the dreamer's self, but have the potential to become conscious. The Anima is the female sub-personality in men and the Animus is the male sub-personality in women.  

The Anima/Animus dream characters have something the dreamer wants and needs in order to feel fully complete and balanced. Often, the Anima/Animus presents as our ideal (heterosexual) partner - the personification of feminine or masculine ideals which when recognised as part of our psyche, create a union and leads us to our higher, deeper selves. 

Typically, in a dream the Anima/Animus will not normally engage in sex with the dreamer - they are distinct from the types of dream characters a dreamer may find themselves having sexual activity with in a dream, although there may be a strong sexual attraction to the Anima/Animus. 

Summonsing a Dream Character

Many lucid dreamers seek to summons a dream character into their dreams - the dream character may be someone known or identifiable to the dreamer in real life, or it may be a creation of their imagination. However, sometimes dream characters fail to be summons into a dream, or may appear transformed or somehow different to expectations. At times, a benign dream character may appear nightmarish or ugly. This may be a conflict between what the conscious wants and what the subconscious is projecting. The advice of some oneironauts - such a Waggoner - is to allow your dream characters to be what they wish and letting them choose how they interact with you on their own terms, without trying  to interfere or exert concious control. 

My preferred method of summonsing a dream character - either known to me, or created for the purposes of the dream, is to expect that they will be just out of sight - round a corner or behind a door. I use my mind's eye to picture them just out of my sight. The key is to manifest a strong expectation. I sometimes call out their name to check if they are behind the wall/door yet - and sometimes they reply, letting me know they are ready to meet me.

If you are imagining the dream character just round a corner, out of sight and have manifested a strong expectation that they will appear, you can walk around the corner and often, they will be waiting for you. If you are imagining them behind a door, treat the door as a 'portal' to the dream character. Manifest the expectation, as above, and then open the door. You might try to reach into the doorway to 'pull' your dream character through to your side. Additionally, using a mirror as a portal can have the same effect. 

Waggoner recommends asking questions of the 'awareness behind the dream' when it comes to summonsing dream characters. This simply means calling out to the dream with your wish or desire - for example you might call out: 'Show me my dream guide' or 'Show me myself' or 'Show me my secret fantasy'. This allows your subconscious to produce dream characters with a purpose.

You might to paint a picture - this can be done using your mind's eye (or imagination!) - or you may actually use your hand to 'paint' a picture of the dream character you wish to summons. Using this method to form a vivid 'image' of the dream character may help them actually appear in the dream.

Another way of summonsing a dream character is to morph something which is already present in the dream - a different dream character or an object. Use your imagination to will this character/object into morphing into your chosen dream character. 

Telling Dream Characters they are not Real

Often, I have tried to tell my dream characters - ones based on people I know in my real waking life, or ones I have created for the purposes of the lucid dream - and the dream characters refuse to accept that they are in my dream. I have tried to 'prove' it to them - for example, by performing a reality check (which sometimes fails, even though I am lucid) or doing something which is only possible in a dream. Sometimes, my dream characters still refuse to admit that they are in a dream and try to convince me that we are in waking reality. 

If you do manage to convince your dream character that you are in a dream, it can often result in them changing somehow - in some circumstances, they may change in appearance, or they may become aggressive or undergo another drastic behaviour change. 

Are Dream Characters Rational Beings?
A phenomenological study by Paul Tholey, 'Consciousness and abilities of dream characters observed during lucid dreaming' (1989), Perception & Motor Skills,  68(2), 567- 578 aimed to test whether dream characters were rational and conscious beings and what types of cognitive accomplishments they were capable of. Tholey selected 9 male subjects, who were instructed to set various different tasks to a dream character in a lucid dream - such as finding rhymes, solving puzzles or arithmetic. The study found that the dream characters who willingly performed the tasks were least successful at arithmetic. Nothing in the study contradicted Tholey's hypothesis that dream characters possess a specific form of consciousness, and it was concluded that in lucid dream therapy, the dreamer should engage with dream characters as if they are rational beings. 

Dream Characters & Sex
The important thing to remember is that sex dreams are rarely about the actual act of sex itself. Dream very rarely have a superficial, simple meaning, but are multi-layered, condensed and symbolised in many different ways which need to be unlocked and decoded before their true (potential) meaning can be deciphered. 

Some dream analysts suggest that sex dreams are the union of two conflicting aspects of your own psyche. Dream characters are typically assumed to be subconscious projections of parts of your own identity or ego. I do agree to some extent with this notion, but I also think that sometimes a dream character who is based on someone you know in real-life, is just that - a representation of that person, or at least your subconscious perception or attitude towards them. This does not suggest that a sex dream involving someone you actually know in real-life means that you want to have sex with them. The sexual act may represent something completely different - a union, or a power-struggle or a assimilation of characteristics associated with that dream character, for example. There is no one definite interpretation, just a range of possibilities.


In lucid dreams is it very common for a dreamer to approach a desirable dream character only for them to transform into a hideous, repellent being. I interpret this to be a sign that what you are faced with on the surface (beauty. desirability) may actually be very different to the realisation of what is hidden beneath, once the layers are stripped away. Often we have a very different perception of a person who we admire from a distance from what we actually 'see' when we become intimate with that person. In lucid dreaming, experiences are streamlined, condensed and distilled into a more symbolic narrative - so subconscious awareness that a person may appear superficially 'perfect' only to be revealed as flawed or 'ugly on the inside' is projected onto the lucid dream sex act. 

Interacting with Dream Characters
Here is a list of suggestions for ways in which you could experiment with interacting with dream characters in a lucid dream:

• Ask your dream character a fundamental question, such as 'Who am I?'/'Tell me something about myself'? or 'What do I want?'/'Why do I feel like this?' - the answer received will come from your subconscious and may potentially reveal some 'truth' about yourself or offer enlightenment or deeper understanding on a certain issue or aspect of self. Even if the answer from your dream characters appears to be meaningless, it is still a fun exercise
• Interview your dream characters - again, this exercise sheds light on the inner workings of your mind can be seen as a 'conversation' with your subconscious
• Attempt to summons or transform a dream character (see above for instructions)
• Try to meet your dream guide/spirit guide in a dream
• Attempt to establish intimacy or romantic interaction with an attractive dream character
• Ask a dream character if they are real - or tell them that they are just a dream character in your dream and witness their response!
• Ask a dream character to take you on an adventure - and allow them to take control. It will be exciting and fascinating to see where you are taken and what activities your dream character will involve you in!

Dream 655 (LUCID DREAM)

'Drug Rehab School' (LUCID DREAM)

Date: 17 June 2016

Time: 22:00 - 08:45 (I woke up from this dream naturally)

Type of dream: Vivid non-lucid dream with lucid dream
Lucidity: Dream-Initiated Lucid Dream (DILD) with no induction techniques & no Reality Check
Lucid dream control: No control attempted
Lucid dream clarity: Good
Lucid dream stability: Good - hand rubbing technique used
Period of lucidity: Approximately 3 minutes 
Dream recall: Strong recall

Scene 1: Drug Rehab School, Sheringham - Time Unknown
I was in a drug rehab school for heroin addicted young people, which seemed to be located where the train station is in Sheringham. It was dark, but still daytime and I cannot recall much about the location. The school was run by a middle-aged woman, with black hair in a bun at the back of her head. She was white, and tall and skinny. She didn't seem to like me much, and told me that I did not belong at the drug rehab school, because I was not a drug addict. All the students/junkies in the school appeared to be young women or girls. I wanted to stay, but was forced to leave. I decided to go home to my Nan's house in Sheringham, annoyed that I had been forced out of the school. While still in the school, I saw a screen - a TV screen or laptop screen, which had a silvery sparkly image on it - I cannot recall what this image was of, but I wanted to stay to find out what it was, because I was mesmerised by it. I recall sitting outside the school at this point, near the shelters where passengers wait for the train to arrive, so the screen may have been outside. This scene is a little vague, but it seemed significant when I dreamed it. 

Scene 2: A Bedroom (Location Unknown) - Time Unknown
I was then in a bedroom, which was not my own in real life, or one I recognise from real life, but was mine in the dream. There was a double bed in the room, with white sheets and a TV screen. I received a message from EG - someone I had a short, unsatisfying relationship with in the past. I was surprised that EG messaged me out of the blue (on Whatsapp) and explained that he had not been in touch recently because he had been busy. He asked if he could come over to my house and I said he could. When EG arrived, he was no longer a tall black man, but instead looked like a Chinese version of Harry Potter. He looked young and seemed very shy. He sat next to me on the bed. I noticed that the TV screen was now a mirror. 

I instantly became lucid with no need for a reality check - by using EG's altered appearance and the change to the TV screen as dreamsigns.  The lucid dream was clear and fairly stable. EG and I were sitting on the bed, sideways, but leaning back on our elbows, so that our faces were close. I said to EG (consciously, intentionally): 'This is a lucid dream, and you are a dream character!' I was expecting him to deny this, since many dream characters will not accept that they are dream characters within a dream. EG said: 'I don't understand'. I said to him, 'Look!' and poked my finger (index finger) through his forehead - it went through the skin and bone of his skull without problem, like it was made with clay. I said: 'You are a dream character in my lucid dream. I can control what happens to you if I want. You don't even look like EG'. EG then accepted the situation, agreeing with me. He said: 'What should we do in the lucid dream'. I actually wanted to leave the bedroom and EG and go off and have a more interesting lucid dream adventure, but I started losing my clarity at this point, I think because it was taking me a while to decide what to do, just sitting on the bed. I decided to do some lucid dream stabilisation techniques, and decided to get EG to perform some as well. I started rubbing my hand together quickly (my preferred method to stabilise the dream) and instructed EG to do the same, telling him that this was a stabilisation technique. He started copying me. The lucid dream temporarily stabilised, and EG started laughing, telling me that he 'had never had to stabilise someone else's dream before'. I said: 'Most lucid dream characters deny they are in a lucid dream' to which EG responded: 'But you showed me your dreamsigns, so I believe it'. His eyes were very dark and large behind the Harry Potter glasses he was wearing - abnormally so. I just stared at him for a while, wondering what to do next and trying not to get too excited by the fact I was lucid. The lucidity was then lost, and I went back into a normal non-lucid dream.

Scene 3: My Nan's House, Sheringham - Day & Evening
I was at my Nan's house in Sheringham and my Mum and Nan were also present, in the living-room. The doorbell sounded and I came down the stairs to open the door. It looked to be a bright sunny day outside, but I was aware it was nearly Christmas time. On the doorstep was a fat white woman, with shoulder-length black hair. I did not know her. She said she was 'Mandy' and was my cousin HM's aunt (I assumed that she must be HM's aunt on her father's side of the family - a person I may not have met, such as the wife of her father's brother; or perhaps an aunt of her husband). I said I was HM's cousin. My Mum came through then, and seemed to know 'Mandy' (my Mum's best female friend is actually called Mandy). She invited her through to the living-room. There was conversation and time passed. I was sitting on the floor of the living-room, beside the TV, which was on. There was conversation about ice cream and limbs - prosthetic limbs.

I was trying to hum a tune to my Mum, hoping she would be able to recognise the song and tell me what it was called and which band performed it. I kept humming(well saying 'der der der' in what I thought was the right tune) what I thought was an obviously accurate version of the well-known song, but no-one could guess it. My Mum said: 'That sounds like a country and western tune', but I was arguing, saying it didn't - it sounded like a classic song she should know. As I was waking from this dream, I became 'aware' that the track I was thinking of was 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' by a band called 'Knights in White Satin' - of course, it is a composite of 2 different songs - 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' on the album Procol Harum (1967) by Procol Harum and 'Nights in White Satin' on the album of the same name (1967) by Giorgio Moroder. It is completely coincidental that both of these tracks were in my mind, and happened to be chart hits released in the same year, as I was unaware of the release date of either, and would have guessed they were written and released in the 1970s. I am not sure what prompted me to think of either. I had wrongly thought of 'Knights in White Satin' as the band name, maybe because I associated it with sounding more like a band name. I have listened to the instrumentals of each song now I am fully awake, and it seems that I was thinking of 'A Whiter Shade of Pale'. 

I then thought I had lost some emerald and diamond earrings - which in the dream were of great value to me. I feared that I had accidentally sold them. I cannot quite remember what else happened at this point in the dream, as I was waking up and feeling the dream fragment. I found the earrings, and started thinking about the song (see writing in blue text above) that I had not been able to get my Mum to recognise.

Extra Information: Possible REM Rebound Effect from recent cannabis use

Recurrent Dream Themes: 

• My Mum & Nan as dream scene characters

Dreamsigns: 

• The drug rehab school in Sheringham
• EG was a different age, ethnicity and personality - recognised as a dreamsign within the dream and used as a lucidity trigger
• The TV screen in Scene 2 became a mirror - recognised as a dreamsign within the dream and used as a lucidity trigger

Day Residue: 

• I am in the process of moving into temporary accommodation while renovations are done to my current home - the first option for the temporary housing was awful - a tiny space I was expected to share with a male colleague, the kitchen being so small you could only fit one person in it, with no storage facilities. My colleagues and I complained, and got a better deal. I had described the first, inappropriate accommodation to one the staff in the office where I work as 'smaller than a council bedsit given to a junkie on housing benefit'
• My colleagues had been using Whatsapp to communicate about the problems with the temporary accommodation
• I saw that EG is still on my social media - I noticed this the day before the dream
• The day of this dream, I saw a reference to the Harry Potter movies on the thumbnails of the CinemaSins Youtube account. I also watched an episode of Peep Show (S08E02 - Episode 44 'Business Secrets of the Pharaohs') in which Jeremy describes Mark as JK Rowling and himself as Sigmund Freud
• The day before this dream I made 2 new Youtube videos about dream characters and the dream self/dream ego - and about how to use dream characters and perception of self in the dream to trigger lucidity
• The day before this dream I read a news article about a university student who was appealing for a prosthetic arm she had lost while out clubbing - she uses it for aesthetic reasons when going out at night, so didn't realise she had forgotten to put it back on after using the bathrooms. I also read a news article about paralympian, Oscar Pistorius, who has been back in court 
• The day before this dream, I was packing my belongings and I dropped my (fake, cheap) emerald/diamond earrings while trying to put my jewellery somewhere safe

Waking Reactions: 
I love being able to record a lucid dream experience, even when the lucid dream is quite short or dull. I think if I had tried to exert control earlier in the dream, it may have lasted longer, but I sat around on the bed talking to EG for too long and lost lucidity, even after performing lucid dream stabilisation techniques successfully.

Have You Seen This Man? (Debunking the 'Dream Hoax')

'This Man'

You might have seen online posts asking 'have you seen this man in your dreams?' with accompanying images of a photofit drawing of an unattractive, but relatively commonplace male face. These posts tend to be accompanied by editorial text, explaining that this man has been appearing in the dreams of people across the world, and often give explanations such as 'astral projection' of a dream character - or other equally implausible, and un-empirically testable phenomena. This article aims to expose the urban myth and provide an explanation for why it has proven to be so popular. 

The website www.thisman.org, dedicated to the myth claims in its headline that hundreds of people dream of this man every night. The website claims that in January 2006, a mentally ill client of a New York psychiatrist sketched an image of 'This Man' after he appeared repeatedly in her dreams, often giving her advice on her personal life. She was certain she had never met the man in her waking life. The psychiatrist circulated the image amongst other clients and subsequently, a number of clients, who saw the image, also claim to have been visited by This Man in their dreams. 

In 2009, the thisman.org website was launched, stating that it was exploring the mystery of This Man and asking people to submit accounts of their own dreams in which This Man appears.

Since then, over 2000 people - none of whom appear to share any relationship or common trait - have reported also being visited by This Man in their dreams. A number of the dreams - some romantic, some nightmarish - have been recorded on the thisman.org website, which also includes sketches of This Man produced by dreamers (see below). All anecdotal 'evidence' of This Man dreams on thisman.org is recorded anonymously.

On the thisman.org website there are also a number of photographs of posters/flyers appearing in public places around the world, with the original photofit image, asking if anyone has 'seen this man?' I have posted some of the images, below. 

Often, when This Man 'appears' in a dream, he gives strange, almost prophetic advice to the dreamer. In some instances dreamers have had relationships with This Man - falling in love with him, even if they identify as a heterosexual male in their waking life; or alternatively, have been subjected to a violent act or murder by him. All dreamers reporting the appearance of This Man in their dreams claim that they do not know or recognise him from waking life.

Here are some of the submitted accounts of This Man dreams from the thisman.org website:

'I have had this recurrent dream for some years now. A tall, dark man shows me a picture and asks me if I can recognise my father in it. The man in the picture is this man I have never seen before, he looks nothing like my dad, nevertheless I inexplicably answer that I do recognize my father. At this point I usually wake up feeling very peaceful. Other times the dream continues, I am standing before my father’s grave, I place some flowers on the ground and I realise the photograph on the tombstone is missing.'

'I fell in love with him from the very first time I saw him in my dream. Even though if I think about it I must admit he’s really ugly. And yet each and every time, he sweeps me off my feet with his romantic gestures and sweet words. He buys me flowers, jewellery, he takes me out to dinner or to the beach to watch the sunset.'

'I have always had this dream of flying in the sky over my city and observing my friends from up there. Since I moved to another house I started meeting this man while flying. Not every single time that I have this dream about flying, but often enough. He flies too, but he never speaks.'

'The first time I had a dream about this man I was having a hard time at work. I had a dream about getting lost in a huge and deserted shopping mall. Suddenly this man appeared and I started running away from him. He chased after me for what seemed like an hour until I found myself against a wall in the kids’ area in a supermarket. At this point he smiled at me and he showed me the way out towards the cash desks and I woke up. Ever since that night this man has appeared in all of my dreams and he always gives me directions to get out of the dream and wake up.'

'I dreamt this man…was Brazilian and very handsome. He was a schoolteacher type with 6 fingers on his right hand. He said if the US had a nuclear disaster: go North!'

'I have seen this man in 3 completely different dreams. He was slightly different from the picture, but I recognized him immediately. He appeared suddenly and disappeared in the same manner. His message in all 3 of my dreams was: 'It’s all over'. That was repeated 3 times in each dreams. The differences in the picture and the man in my dreams are: his hair was a little longer in the top; his eyebrows were not as bushy. Other than that, he is identical. I had no fear of him, but many questions.'

The thisman.org site also includes a section addressing potential theories for the appearance of This Man in dreams. These are reproduced below:

ARCHETYPE THEORY

According to Carl Jung's Psychoanalytic Theory, This Man is an archetypal image belonging to the collective unconscious, which can surface in times of hardship (emotional development, dramatic changes in our lives, stressful circumstances etc) in particularly sensitive subjects. 

RELIGIOUS THEORY

According to this theory, This Man is the image of the Creator i.e. one of the forms in which God manifests himself today. This is the reason why his indications and the words he utters during the dreams should be decidedly followed by the dreamers. 

DREAM SURFER THEORY

This is the most interesting theory and the one that has the greatest implications, but it has also the lowest scientific credibility. According to this theory, This Man is a real person, who can enter people's dreams by means of specific psychological skills. Some believe that in real life This Man looks like the man in the dreams. Others think that the man in the dreams looks completely different from his real life counterpart. Some people seem to believe that behind this man there is a mental conditioning plan developed by a major corporation. 

DREAM IMITATION THEORY

This is a scientific psycho-sociological theory which claims that this phenomenon has arisen casually and has progressively developed by imitation. Basically when people are exposed to this phenomenon they become so deeply impressed that they start seeing this man in their dreams. This works on the basis of day residue (i.e. experiencing the image of This Man in waking life - and the image/theme emerging in a subsequent dream, because it has been imprinted on the subconscious mind of the dreamer. 

DAYTIME RECOGNITION THEORY

This theory states that the apparitions of This Man are purely casual. Normally we do not remember precisely the faces we see in our dreams. The image of This Man would therefore be an instrument which, in the subject's waking life, facilitates recognition of an undefined oneirical image.

THE HOAX, DEBUNKED

However, the real explanation is a lot less scary than the thisman.org website suggests - although equally as interesting. You see, the This Man myth is just that - fake. It was a hoax, created by sociologist, journalist and online marketer, Andrea Natella. Natella runs an online viral marketing company, Guerriglia ('Guerilla') Marketing, which specialises in 'subversive hoaxes' and 'weird art projects exploring pornography, politics and advertising' in the avant-garde tradition of the Situationists. The hoax has been reported on Vice (who initially believed the hoax, but then published a retraction article, highlighting the fact they had been scammed the very next day) and also the knowyourmeme.com website. The latter site debunked the myth, claiming that its popularity is due to internet 'copypasta' and inclusion on a number of websites who bought into the hoax. In fact, Natalla's site was briefly acquired by horror movie production company Ghost House Pictures, in promotion for an upcoming film titled This Man, written and directed by American filmmaker Bryan Bertino - which, according to imdb.com - is still 'in production/development'.

So - it seems that Natalla's viral marketing campaign was very successful indeed! However, the fact that this was a worldwide hoax does not mean that everyone who thinks they have met This Man in their dreams are lying. I tend to believe that the beauty of this hoax is the fact that once you are aware of it, it is possible that you experience This Man in your dreams, as a result of imprinting on the subconscious or the effect of day residue (our waking experiences which shape and influence the content of our dreams). There is also another theory - which would explain why some people claim to have met This Man before having seen his image (or learned of the story) online. This is the EVERYMAN THEORY. The theory works on the principle that the face of This Man is an amalgamation of many common male facial features, - it was cleverly designed as a kind of 'catch-all' which rouses an impression of familiarity in those who believe they have seen him in their dreams. Consider the following, for example:

• His hair is full and yet also balding
• His eyes could be any color at all
• His lips are partly full (bottom lip) and partly thin (top lip)
• He has no distinctive race/ethnicity
• His face shape is simultaneously angular and round
• Cover the lower half of his face and he looks old; cover the upper half and he looks young - so his age is non-distinct
• Cover the right half and his eye is hooded, his nose large and his lips full; cover the left half and his eye is smaller, his nose petite and his lips thin - it's a very different face altogether 

These myriad common features mean that many people, from all over the world, might find familiarity in his face and therefore seek to perpetuate the viral nature of This Man, thereby furthering the goal of Natalla, in making this a highly popular and ubiquitous campaign based on free publicity.

'This Man' - Around the World

Cantalupo, Sabina, Italy

Senta, Serbia

Uiwang-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

Vilnus, Lithuania 

Finland

San Ramon de Alajuela, Costa Rica

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Los Angeles, California, USA

Berlin, Germany

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Stockholm, Sweden

Zacatecas, Mexico

Hluhluwe Reserve, South Africa

Mc Allen, Texas, USA

London, UK

San Francisco, California, USA

Hamilton, New Zealand

Barcelona, Spain

Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Bilbao, Spain

Austin, Texas, USA

Auckland, New Zealand

Milan, Italy

Puerto Piritu, Venezuela

La Habana, Cuba

Rome, Italy

New York Psychiatric Institute, New York, USA

Rostov, Russia

 Washington, Virginia, USA