Written by Jonathan Wojcik
NIGHTMARE MENAGERIE 2018, PART IV
Guest Art by Cstalli!
A FAMOUS FIGURE
Posted by Phazon Ultra:
"This dream was set in a pine forest with a lavish renaissance era castle tucked into the side of a valley on the other end of a huge stone bridge almost as wide as it is long. A crowd of a hundred or more vaguely animal-like humans stood on the bridge. Without reason they all started tearing each other to shreds. The cannibalistic orgy became so violent, it morphed into a literal cyclone of gore. This tornado of eviscerated flesh was bent over so the eye of the storm was visible from the ground, looking very much like hurricanes as seen from orbit, only blood red, of course. Floating within the eye was what looked like a set of jagged, light green, holographic teeth. The name I affixed to this fanged gore storm: Cthulhu"
"This dream was set in a pine forest with a lavish renaissance era castle tucked into the side of a valley on the other end of a huge stone bridge almost as wide as it is long. A crowd of a hundred or more vaguely animal-like humans stood on the bridge. Without reason they all started tearing each other to shreds. The cannibalistic orgy became so violent, it morphed into a literal cyclone of gore. This tornado of eviscerated flesh was bent over so the eye of the storm was visible from the ground, looking very much like hurricanes as seen from orbit, only blood red, of course. Floating within the eye was what looked like a set of jagged, light green, holographic teeth. The name I affixed to this fanged gore storm: Cthulhu"
I'm going to say this is the best interpretation of Cthulhu I have ever seen. In fact, I kind of want to say it's the first COMPLETELY good one. Even putting that aside, whatever you want to call it, a giant cosmic horror storm that forms from a violent massacre is just plain incredible as an idea.
DOG
Posted by Barayas:
"Not long ago, I had a nightmare where I was browsing an online forum, and I stumbled upon a topic called "DOG at Disney". It was a bunch of witness recounts (including some very chilling footage and photographs) of this anomaly that would manifest on one of two Disney rides; Pirates of the Caribbean (next to the scene with the man lying with pigs in the mud) and Splash Mountain (in the Laughing Place scene with the fountains and such before the big drop). The entity was dubbed "DOG" by its victims, and it would appear as a normal animatronic of a long, white dog (like a borzoi or an afghan hound). It would only be visible to one person for some reason, as nobody else who rode with the victim saw it or reacted to it. As the boat/ride vehicle would pass it, it would suddenly stretch; it would get taller via its legs extending, its neck would periscope up slowly to an unnatural length, and its tail would follow suite. Then, it would stand up on its hind legs and finish stretching out into elongated, humanoid proportions as its pupils grew to fill its eyes almost entirely. It would look the person dead in the eyes and let out a bloodcurdling scream, with its jaw swinging open to reveal darkness inside its mouth. The witnesses on the forum were convinced that "DOG" was some kind of curse.
I woke up from the nightmare in a cold sweat, which unfortunately turned out to be a case of sleep paralysis (which seems to happen if I sleep on my back) in which I suddenly saw DOG from the nightmare peeking up from the end of my bed before stretching its head face-to-face with mine and emitting the same scream."
"Not long ago, I had a nightmare where I was browsing an online forum, and I stumbled upon a topic called "DOG at Disney". It was a bunch of witness recounts (including some very chilling footage and photographs) of this anomaly that would manifest on one of two Disney rides; Pirates of the Caribbean (next to the scene with the man lying with pigs in the mud) and Splash Mountain (in the Laughing Place scene with the fountains and such before the big drop). The entity was dubbed "DOG" by its victims, and it would appear as a normal animatronic of a long, white dog (like a borzoi or an afghan hound). It would only be visible to one person for some reason, as nobody else who rode with the victim saw it or reacted to it. As the boat/ride vehicle would pass it, it would suddenly stretch; it would get taller via its legs extending, its neck would periscope up slowly to an unnatural length, and its tail would follow suite. Then, it would stand up on its hind legs and finish stretching out into elongated, humanoid proportions as its pupils grew to fill its eyes almost entirely. It would look the person dead in the eyes and let out a bloodcurdling scream, with its jaw swinging open to reveal darkness inside its mouth. The witnesses on the forum were convinced that "DOG" was some kind of curse.
I woke up from the nightmare in a cold sweat, which unfortunately turned out to be a case of sleep paralysis (which seems to happen if I sleep on my back) in which I suddenly saw DOG from the nightmare peeking up from the end of my bed before stretching its head face-to-face with mine and emitting the same scream."
This user has their own illustration of DOG as well! I think this kind of "subtler" nightmare animal is my favorite; as cool as some of the more preposterous and alien ones are, sometimes a really off dog or slightly distorted horse is much more memorable as well as damn near terrifying.
VOID WOMEN
Posted by Vic Minch:
"there was one dream I had a couple years ago where it took place inside of a tower in a black void. the tower just kept going up endlessly, never stopping. the only creatures inhabiting this place were these faceless white-suited women. i don't even remember if they had skin, or if their faces were just more void. The dream just kept looping until i jumped into the void. Its the only dream i've had in years thats truly scared me."
"there was one dream I had a couple years ago where it took place inside of a tower in a black void. the tower just kept going up endlessly, never stopping. the only creatures inhabiting this place were these faceless white-suited women. i don't even remember if they had skin, or if their faces were just more void. The dream just kept looping until i jumped into the void. Its the only dream i've had in years thats truly scared me."
Another take on these instantly popular ladies, now including the possibility of a skinless and eyeless interpretation! Maybe that's their attempt to look normal when they leave the void and go down to the supermarket.
ALLIGATOR
Posted by Rhetco:
"I had a dream a few months ago that I think about from time to time. It wasn't really a nightmare, but I do remember feeling really uncomfortable while it was happening.
At the start of the dream I was working at a zoo, and all the zookeepers were really excited because a new species of alligator had been recently discovered, and we were going to be the first zoo to keep one in captivity. Everyone was really giddy to get to see it, although none of us could remember what the species had been named. Eventually the gator arrived, and everyone optimistically helped out to bring it inside and into its new enclosure, which was when I got my first good look at it.
The alligator was a large adult, and it looked very similar to an american alligator. However, it had no eyes, and in between its two crocodilian pairs of limbs was a pair of what looked like human arms. They were still coloured black like the rest of the gator, but there were no scales on its extra appendages.
It got placed into its enclosure, but there was no water in it yet so one of the staff started filling it with a single garden hose. Since the pool was huge it was going to take a long time to fill, so the guy just left the hose running and left the door slightly open. Eventually he got distracted in a conversation with another zookeeper, and thats when the alligator got out.
I was just casually walking around the zoo at the time, when I turned a corner to see the gator loose and slowly wandering around. The zoo was packed with people and staff, yet no one seemed to notice the gator; everyone was caught up in a conversation with someone else. At this point I started to feel extremely anxious. The strange gator wasn't doing anything other than walking around the building, but I felt helpless at the fact that no one seemed to care. I knew that I needed to get it back to its display, but I was too afraid to bring the problem to anyones attention. Somehow I knew that as soon as I pointed out the problem, everyone would have immediately started a mass panic, and the situation would just gotten worse and worse.
At this point the dream started to shift. We were no longer in a zoo, but instead on a luxury cruise ship. At this point I felt an overwhelming sense of dread, because I knew the alligator was somewhere on the ship, and its weight had caused the boat to crack and start sinking. Despite this, everyone on the boat was still completely nonchalant and just casually mingling. The waiters were also going around handing out free drinks to keep people calm about the situation. The fact that no one was making an effort to get off the boat only made me more distressed, and I frantically started running around trying to find the alligator. I didn't have a plan for what I was going to do when I found it, I just knew that it was what I needed to do.
Eventually I found the alligator in a vacant kitchen, where the floor was almost completely destroyed. It was half stuck underneath the wreckage that it had caused, and its attempt to climb out were only causing more of the room to fall apart. At the end of the dream I was so frustrated with my helplessness that I was on the verge of crying, but before I woke up, the alligator opened it mouth and made the only sound that ever made: with the voice of a woman, it groaned as if it was only mildly upset with the situation it was in."
"I had a dream a few months ago that I think about from time to time. It wasn't really a nightmare, but I do remember feeling really uncomfortable while it was happening.
At the start of the dream I was working at a zoo, and all the zookeepers were really excited because a new species of alligator had been recently discovered, and we were going to be the first zoo to keep one in captivity. Everyone was really giddy to get to see it, although none of us could remember what the species had been named. Eventually the gator arrived, and everyone optimistically helped out to bring it inside and into its new enclosure, which was when I got my first good look at it.
The alligator was a large adult, and it looked very similar to an american alligator. However, it had no eyes, and in between its two crocodilian pairs of limbs was a pair of what looked like human arms. They were still coloured black like the rest of the gator, but there were no scales on its extra appendages.
It got placed into its enclosure, but there was no water in it yet so one of the staff started filling it with a single garden hose. Since the pool was huge it was going to take a long time to fill, so the guy just left the hose running and left the door slightly open. Eventually he got distracted in a conversation with another zookeeper, and thats when the alligator got out.
I was just casually walking around the zoo at the time, when I turned a corner to see the gator loose and slowly wandering around. The zoo was packed with people and staff, yet no one seemed to notice the gator; everyone was caught up in a conversation with someone else. At this point I started to feel extremely anxious. The strange gator wasn't doing anything other than walking around the building, but I felt helpless at the fact that no one seemed to care. I knew that I needed to get it back to its display, but I was too afraid to bring the problem to anyones attention. Somehow I knew that as soon as I pointed out the problem, everyone would have immediately started a mass panic, and the situation would just gotten worse and worse.
At this point the dream started to shift. We were no longer in a zoo, but instead on a luxury cruise ship. At this point I felt an overwhelming sense of dread, because I knew the alligator was somewhere on the ship, and its weight had caused the boat to crack and start sinking. Despite this, everyone on the boat was still completely nonchalant and just casually mingling. The waiters were also going around handing out free drinks to keep people calm about the situation. The fact that no one was making an effort to get off the boat only made me more distressed, and I frantically started running around trying to find the alligator. I didn't have a plan for what I was going to do when I found it, I just knew that it was what I needed to do.
Eventually I found the alligator in a vacant kitchen, where the floor was almost completely destroyed. It was half stuck underneath the wreckage that it had caused, and its attempt to climb out were only causing more of the room to fall apart. At the end of the dream I was so frustrated with my helplessness that I was on the verge of crying, but before I woke up, the alligator opened it mouth and made the only sound that ever made: with the voice of a woman, it groaned as if it was only mildly upset with the situation it was in."
Another in the "just abnormal enough" animal category, and the inability of anybody but the dreamer to care about anything going on really does give this dream a great sense of dread. That's even something I've experienced in dreams of my own, I guess because the total apathy of other people to your problems is a pretty primal fear.
I ADORE the final payoff of this tale.
SLOTH MAN
Posted by Boneless Skeleton:
"I remember I was just traversing this gas choked swamp of some sort and I had this feeling that something was behind me. So I turn and I see what I could best describe as a sloth. It looked more like a human that evolved to be a sloth but it was a human that never saw a sloth and only went off of description alone. It's fur was matted and seemingly crusty with filth and it's face was pretty creepy too. Two wide eyes with pin-prick sized pupils and a wide toothless smile. It didn't pursue me or anything, but it had this rusty bucket. In that bucket was a lot of rancid looking meat. It then started to shovel this meat into its still grinning mouth, not breaking its line of sight with me. That's all this thing did and that was the worst part. It didn't rip me apart or eat me, it just sat there and sort of....existed."
"I remember I was just traversing this gas choked swamp of some sort and I had this feeling that something was behind me. So I turn and I see what I could best describe as a sloth. It looked more like a human that evolved to be a sloth but it was a human that never saw a sloth and only went off of description alone. It's fur was matted and seemingly crusty with filth and it's face was pretty creepy too. Two wide eyes with pin-prick sized pupils and a wide toothless smile. It didn't pursue me or anything, but it had this rusty bucket. In that bucket was a lot of rancid looking meat. It then started to shovel this meat into its still grinning mouth, not breaking its line of sight with me. That's all this thing did and that was the worst part. It didn't rip me apart or eat me, it just sat there and sort of....existed."
This one is just...SO wonderful. So wonderful. Everything about a sloth is truly unsettling as soon as you remove it from the context of a sleepy, smiling leaf eater, and a monster that just stares you in the eye while it eats filthy meat trash really is scarier than any more obviously threatening gesture.
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