Chronicles of a Dreamer:

Dreams can be frightening, fascinating, and sometimes funny. I don't usually remember my dreams, but some of them are too weird to forget! This article is part of a series not on dream INTERPRETATION, but about the dreams THEMSELVES. They can be crazier than anything you'd see on science fiction channels.

The following is a description of a dream that I had when I was about thirteen:

I was in a large square room. On the floor was a purple circle about eight feet in diameter. Dotting the surface of the circle was a group of smaller white circles. A group of cavemen stood threateningly, facing me. Each man stood on his own white circle and carried a club in his right hand. The group of men wore nothing but loin cloths. Their unkempt hair fell in tangled locks halfway down their backs. The cavemen growled. Their knees slightly bent, they leaned toward me with menacing, hungry looks, as though they meant to devour me.

I trembled, painfully aware that I was hopelessly outnumbered.

Suddenly, the floor began to shake, sending the cavemen into a startled frenzy. Wherever they had come from, earthquakes must not have been a common occurrence. They were so busy grunting among themselves that they forgot all about me.

The cavemen looked up, terrified, as heavy cement pieces of ceiling began to fall, crushing them one by one.

My adrenaline pumping through my veins, I sought a quick escape. I glanced around the room and saw a door that hadn't been there before. The wooden door stood slightly ajar. If I timed it just right, I could probably push the door open the rest of the way and dash to safety before the cavemen saw me again.

The ceiling continued to fall around me, one heavy block to my right narrowly missing me and landing on the floor with a sickening thud.

I ran toward the door in slow motion, my legs barely able to move. After what seemed like an eternity, I reached the knob and pulled back on it, stepping into what I hoped was relative safety on the other side of the door.

At least there wasn't an earthquake going on!

I found myself in a long, dark, narrow hallway lit only by a line of tiki lamps positioned near the ceiling. Along the left and right sides of the dimly-lit hallway were closed post office boxes, about chest level to me.

I was suddenly aware that there was a large burgundy sack on my back. It looked like something that Santa Claus would carry. I pulled the sack around to the front of me and reached into it, pulling out a full, unopened can of cold Bud Light. I twisted a knob on the first post office box to my right. It opened easily. I happily laid the cold Bud Light inside the box and closed the little door, moving on to the box across from it, to my left. I repeated this procedure for every post office box in the hallway. I never grew tired, even though I was carrying what had to have been about a hundred cans of cold Bud Light in the sack.

I finally reached the last post office box, which was on my right. As I closed the little door after inserting the beer can, I glanced down and discovered that I was standing directly on top of a large trap door. It unhinged itself, collapsing beneath me. I fell immediately into a small, dimly-lit room.

The room had cement walls, and I remember the damp mildew smell that permeated it.

Sitting on my rear on the floor of the room, I glanced down and realized to my horror that I was chest-deep in a crawling mass of live tarantulas. My arms felt like lead at my side. The entire army of oversized arachnids unhurriedly climbed up my chest as I sat unable to move, watching them with eyes as big as saucers. Higher and higher they climbed. The hair on their legs and bodies brushed my arms, my shoulders, and finally my neck. The whole mass of tarantulas was now headed toward my chin. In a desperate call for help, I let out a bloodcurdling scream . . .

And woke up in a cold sweat in my bed.

I've never forgotten the vivid details of that strange dream. Have YOU ever had weird dreams? Leave a comment and tell me about them!