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Nightmares

Nightmare #168 – The Haunted Booth

(Male, 40’s) This doesn’t sound scary at all in the light of day but I woke up terrified, entirely unable to get back to sleep after this dream.

I was in the house where I grew up, a place I haven’t been in years. I’m an adult in the dream though. It’s the middle of the night and I’m walking down the short hallway by the bedroom I had when I was in grade school. I hear this rhythmic squeaking, like someone is jumping up and down on a spring. I decide to investigate. At first I think it’s just the dog. We had a dog when I was a kid but it was small and furry. The dog in my dream was huge with very short hair. I thought maybe it was wagging it’s tail in such a way that it was hitting something. But the dog was no where to be found. It was hiding — I thought maybe I should be too. The squeak got louder as I turned the corner by the kitchen. It was coming from the kitchen. I entered and flipped on the lights but there was no one in there. The noise continued, regularly squeaking, louder because I was finally in the same room with it but not changing in frequency. It was coming from the cushions of the built-in booth. I pushed the table away. The booth had the same patterned material that it did when I was a very little kid, probably early grade school. But in the place where I used to sit, there was a huge black stain. It wasn’t like something had soaked into the material but more like something had melted or dissolved on top of the booth and there was now this dried puddle of black residue. The sound was coming from there, like a small child jumping up and down on the seat cushion.

In my dreams, I’m always an exorcist for some reason, and I think I can command the demon to leave us alone. It didn’t feel like a ghost — though I wonder why not. It just seemed too large and powerful… and too difficult to understand to be a ghost. I tried to say “In the name of Jesus Christ, leave us alone” but my mouth didn’t work right. I couldn’t pronounce whole words only stray syllables. My lips seemed to melt together. My tongue was numb but I kept trying. I struck the black spot with my hand as I tried again and again to make it stop. I was on my knees hitting this demonic booth when I woke up.