I have had this dream, to date, 9 times. This is an explanation of all of them together. Each one was a little different here and there, naturally. They all start out the same. I’m having a party at my house. For some reason I am in the kitchen, when all of my friends are upstairs yelling and dancing and partying. I never know which friends they are, I just know that they are my friends. I remain calm. Then the noises start. I know exactly what it is. I don’t know how I know or why, but I do know. It’s a gorilla, and this gorilla is upstairs beating the daylights out of all of my friends. I can hear grunts and screams and thuds and crashes all at the same time.

Now this is where the dream is a little different every time. The first couple of times I had this dream, I started to panic when I heard all the commotion coming from my party upstairs. Hmm.. fight or flight. I decided to run. Conveniently, my abode was a secluded country house surrounded by thick deciduous forest. How funny it should be in the classic horror/massacre movie setting. It is Fall, and half the leaves are on the ground, making it impossible for me to run quietly. No matter when I leave my house, the gorilla leaves right after me. I can hear him running through the forest. I can hear him grunting and breathing right behind me, but I can’t see him because it’s too dark. This is where the first couple of my dreams ended. They changed after that.

The dream would start up as usual with me in the kitchen and my friends all upstairs yelling and dancing. Then when the noises start, and the screaming and thudding start. I try to remain calm but I can’t. Then one of my friends would come down a staircase, which led from the kitchen to the upstairs party room, and open the door into the kitchen. Each Dream from here on had a different one of my friends come down the steps. I remember them all, but it isn’t relavent who exactly. Well, this friend would come into the kitchen, and he would be beat up and bloody. He would kinda stumble around and then tell me “Mike, you know... there’s a gorilla upstairs.” I’d look at him and say with a very calm appearance, “Oh... Well tell him to leave.” I only appeared calm. My friend would turn around and head back up the stairs, making sure to shut the door behind him. A few minutes after he goes back upstairs, I try to find a hiding spot in the house. I know, rather remember, that if I try to run away, the gorilla will just follow me. I remember once I tried to hide in the closet, under the staircase. That gorilla found me every time though. I never actually got caught, but the gorilla definitely knew where I was.

Now the dream changes again. The last few times I have had this dream, I don’t run or hide. I just wait. I start in the kitchen, with the party upstairs. Enter gorilla, enter noises, thuds, and screams. My friend comes down and tells me, “Mike, you know... there’s a gorilla upstairs.” And every time I respond, “Oh... Well tell him to leave.” My friend would return to the massacre and I would be left in the kitchen alone. I sit at the kitchen table. I am drinking something out of a mug, maybe tea. Just waiting, listening, sipping my tea. I know I can’t get away from it, so I just sit there calmly waiting to die. I won’t just be killed, but rather mauled by the gorilla. I never actually meet my gorilla. This is where it ends...... so far.

-Michael, Age 19, Montreal, Quebec, CANADA

Hi Michael -

I want you to do an experiment. Next time you have this dream, try to remember, in the dream, that the entire scenario is just a dream and that therefore - the gorilla is just an illusion. The trick is to learn how to use this recurring dream to clue you in to the fact that you are dreaming - while you are still in the dream. Once you know that you are dreaming, you will be confident in the knowledge that you can’t really be hurt, and can begin to explore your dream consciously. Then, if you are able to do this - instead of running or flying away from the gorilla - I want you to seek him out and ask him who he is - ask him to identify himself.

The gorilla - the entire dream - is just an illusion. But the gorilla also represents something - which is what you have to figure out. The gorilla, when you ask it who it is, etc., either will answer you verbally or it will metamorphose into a person, a different creature, or it may seem that the dream just ended and that a new one began. Be sure to keep track of who and what the gorilla metamorphoses into - and be sure to write the dream down.

I believe that you will succeed in becoming lucid in this dream because you have had it so many times before. Already you “remember” in the dream that it is pointless to run away from the gorilla because you know he will just run after you. Now you need to remember that you’ve had this dream about ten times before, and that you want to ask this gorilla some questions.

I am as curious as you are - who this gorilla represents. If you are successful in asking this “disguised” representation - the gorilla - to identify his or her self in the dream - you will be at the forefront of lucid dreaming research. You will be using consciousness to explore the mysteries of the unconscious - while you still are in the dreamscape! I look forward to hearing back from you! Good luck!