Along with my update from the break, I wanted to share a document with you that I believe relates to some of the others I have planned to share with you this season.
Now, we all dream. Sometimes we remember our dreams and others, not so much, but science tells us it happens despite our recollection, or lack thereof. We speculate, but I can’t help but wonder if we know the true purpose of dreams. Are they simply our subconscious trying to find a way to interpret or rationalize the things we go through in our hours of being awake? If so, are there varying levels of success? Or… are our dreams some kind of makeshift window into other realities? Or maybe something in between? You can go dizzy listening to armchair philosophers who like to argue that perhaps we’re all living in some kind of a simulation, and that during the hours we sleep, we achieve a distorted glimpse into our actual environments.
All of this is admittedly entertaining to think about, but you have to wonder if there is any truth in those thoughts. Have you ever had a dream where, within that dream, you realized you could control what happens, and even manipulate the environment and outcomes of different scenarios? What if it were possible to dream about whatever you wanted to dream about? That sounds pretty close to heaven in my book. But what if there was a way to enter another person’s dream? You would have insight like no other into that person’s life, what’s on their mind, the struggles they’re dealing with, and so much more. One might even say you had the power to manipulate them… after all, even if they remember their dreams, they’re “just dreams,” right? Nobody is going to believe that anything occurring within them is actually based in reality.
Today’s document may cause you to question all of these possibilities. It appears to be a notes from a conversation between Ron and someone who’s name has been redacted. Why would Ron redact someone’s name in his own records though? I need to remember to ask him about that. Either way, it reads as though it may have been a recorded conversation. There’s no dates listed either, but I can tell it’s local because of some of the details mentioned.
It reads:
I met [redacted] outside of the Emergency room on Sunday after he was discharged. He called me from the ambulance during transit from his motor vehicle accident to the ER, insisting that I meet with him before he got home. He wouldn’t explain anything on the phone for fear that his phone was “bugged,” and he believed that his accident was directly related to his research at work. While I’m trying to put the pieces together to figure out how to best help him, I’m struggling with the legitimacy of some of his claims.
I waited by his car for him to come outside, and he asked if we could find somewhere private to talk, so we agreed to meet at a local 24-hour diner off the 5 and Encinitas Blvd, which was conveniently on the way home for both of us. Once we arrived, we found a quiet booth away from the other two parties present. After all, it was after 2:00 a.m. and crowds weren’t going to be a problem.
When the waitress arrived, we both ordered coffee, and he ordered breakfast. Then he started telling me about this recurring dream he had over the preceding 11 days, which I thought was odd. Why was he counting?
He described not knowing if it was a dream vs. reality the first night he had it. This guy was an early riser his whole life, and usually got into work around 4:30 a.m., so his bedtime was generally between [7:30] and 8:00 p.m. So when this dream starts, he’s actually lying in bed awake, and he rolls over to see the time on his alarm clock, which reads 11:11 p.m. He stops telling me about the dream already to inform me that he believes the number 11 is significant. But he continues.
He swears he’s lying in bed looking at his clock for more than 10 minutes within the dream, but the time never changes on the clock. So within the dream, he is conscious that the number 11 is significant as well. He suddenly feels compelled to get out of bed to check all of his other clocks in the house, just to see if they all say the same time, or if the one on his nightstand is simply frozen.
It takes him 11 steps to get to his bedroom door, and then another 11 steps to enter the living room, where he plans to first check the time on a grandfather clock that was in his grandparents’ home when he was a child, but in reality, he does not actually possess this clock. He just knows it’s there in his dream.
When he takes his 10th step toward the grandfather clock, his attention is drawn toward movement on his left side. By the time he’s finished with his 11th step, he’s never able to actually look at the time on the grandfather clock because he’s always getting a first glimpse of what’s causing the distracting movement to his left. There’s a second-floor landing visible to him at this position in the room, and he sees a woman’s feet at the top of the stars, but they’re not facing the stairs. They’re facing the opposite way, heels at the edge of the top step.
He says, “hello,” but there’s no response, so he takes one step toward the bottom of the stairs. As he does this, the woman’s right foot steps backwards and descends one step on the stairs. As he stops, she stops. He says, “hello?” again, but the woman doesn’t respond. The only thing he can see is her bare left foot, and now her bare right foot and calf.
He takes another measured single step, and as he does, her left foot now descents to the second stair from the top. She stops when he stops. He starts to panic now and he doesn’t understand why, but he decides to test a theory. He takes one step backwards toward his bedroom. The woman matches his movement by taking one step with her left foot forward, up the stairs where it previously was. He substantiates the rules… that for every step he takes forward, she takes a step backwards, and vice versa. But he doesn’t know if she’s just someone playing a game with him, trying to mirror his movements, or if this woman is bound to these rules and doesn’t have any choice but to follow them.
He explains that his mind is as sharp as ever, as if he were awake, so he figures he’ll try another test. If he runs three or four steps forward, and the woman is just trying to play some kind of game, she’ll lose her balance trying to move that quickly going backwards down the stairs, and likely won’t be able to keep up if he moves quickly. He tests his hypothesis.
He takes four running steps toward the base of the stairs, but she doesn’t lose her balance. Her movements are as quick as his, and her movements look unnatural, like watching a film in reverse. Now he is even more scared, but he can’t figure out why. In his dream, he recognizes that his fear is irrational, as he seems to have full control over where this woman moves, and knows how to get away from her at any time – by simply walking back toward his bedroom.
After taking a moment to muster up some courage, he takes a few more steps and watches her match his movements in reverse down the stairs. As he approaches the bottom of the stairs, he begins seeing more features. The woman has very tan or brown skin, and is wearing what appears to be a long white coat that is tattered with holes in it. She doesn’t appear to be wearing anything underneath it. She has long, dark hair, but her face can’t be seen through it, at least from the side angle he has. He tries turning his head to his right, and her head moves to the left when he does, causing her to face him… but his head is turned just far enough so that her face is outside of his peripheral vision, and when he turns his head back toward her, she of course turns her head away so that he can never really make out any details. All of her movements are perfectly mirrored to his.
He takes a couple more steps forward and she reaches the lower landing where the stairs turn near the bottom. At this point, he realizes if he takes an additional three steps, he’ll be at the base of the stairs… and so will she. He cautiously contemplates his next move, and in doing so, recognizes that those three additional steps would total 11 steps from where he entered the room. Instead of moving more, he looks around the living room. He can see a reflection of the grandfather clock, which reads [11:11]. Also within view from where he’s standing, is the microwave clock, which reads the same time.
He stands there for another moment, then looks back at the woman, who is still on the lower landing, and now has her back facing him. She’s so still that she looks like a mannequin, but he can’t help but admire her long, dark hair, which extends below her waist. He pinches himself in an attempt to wake up, but has no such luck. After a few moments pass, he doesn’t really know what else there is to do in this dream except go forward, both literally and figuratively. So that’s what he does.
His first step forward is her first step backward off the lower landing. They take another step, and then the third. She is now on the ground floor within arms reach. His eyes focus on her hair, and he’s tempted to move it to the side to see if he can see the side of her face. He takes his left hand and raises it slowly toward the left side of her face, seemingly entranced by how beautiful her hair is and fully planning on pulling it aside to see if he can recognize her. He has a gut feeling that he knows her somehow, or that she at least knows him. There’s a sense of familiarity that increases the closer he gets to touching her.
When his fingertips are nearly touching her silky hair, he notices something. She is no longer mirroring his movements. He thinks to himself, “if my left hand is reaching up toward her, then her right hand shouldn’t still be by her side.” He starts breathing rapidly, heart racing, and begins to second-guess his plan of moving her hair aside. “What if she was sleep-walking and is now awake? What if she knows I’m there?” Thoughts race through his mind. “What if she has free will and can do anything she wants to in this dream? Why is she here?”
He prays to God that he can reverse this whole situation by simply taking a step backwards, but when he does, she flinches just a bit at the sound of his foot meeting the hardwood floor. He freezes and she cocks her head to the left, then slowly begins to turn around. She now stands facing him, arms down by her sides and head tilted to the left. She’s motionless, and he realizes he stopped breathing a long time ago.
He tries to make out details of her facial appearance, but it’s simply too dark, and there’s too much hair covering her face. Some time goes by and he begins to breathe again. She doesn’t move at all, so he begins to feel more comfortable in this situation, trusting that she’ll hold still. What’s interesting here, is he described her as “having established a good rapport, and an element of trust, so he had no reason not to trust her.” I’d like to pursue further questioning later.
Having established trust, he begins closer examination of her face, and soon realizes she doesn’t have a face at all. It’s just smooth skin, void of eyes, a nose, or a mouth. For some reason, even though in waking thought it doesn’t sound logical, he assumes that because of this, she is harmless. He reaches up with both hands to feel her hair, and that’s when he realizes how wrong he was.
She grabs him by the throat with her right hand and lifts him completely off the ground, causing him to choke and gasp for air. His eyes start to bulge as she tightens her grip and pulls his face closer to hers. He attempts to loosen her grip with both hands, feet flailing about, and it only gets tighter. He begins to see dim red illumination where her eyes would have been if she had a face. As the seconds go by, the lights get brighter, and she begins forming somewhat of a mouth.
Small holes begin to appear where her mouth should be, arranged in a horizontal row, and as her chin gets lower, the holes stretch and tear the skin, causing some of the holes to connect, and make more of an appearance like a mouth. As it opens wider, he begins to hear a noise that he can’t quite make out at first, but the louder it grows, the more he begins to recognize it’s the sound of screeching tires. The instant he recognizes this, the sound stops and the red glow dissipates from the eyes. All goes quiet and she goes back to not having a face, but he’s still dangling by the neck in her grasp. Then he hears a clear woman’s voice say, “Now count backwards from 11 and relax,” followed by a horribly loud crashing sound, with the bending of metal, and it’s almost deafening. And that’s when he wakes up.
“The pisser of it all,” he says, “is that the clock by my bed always says 11:11 p.m. every time I have this dream. It’s a real mind-fuck because I’m wondering if I should get up and go check my other clocks, but I never do… at least until tonight.”
“So, before I went to sleep tonight, I knew it was going to be the 11th night I’ve had this dream, so I told myself, I’d actually get up, check my other clocks, and look around the house. Of course, I’m looking at the stairs when I do, but there’s no woman, no clocks stuck on [11:11]. I watched my microwave clock turn to 11:12 p.m. and you know I don’t have a grandfather clock. So knowing I’m not going to be able to sleep much, I decide I’m going for a drive. I didn’t really know where, but I just started driving.”
[Name redacted] proceeds to explain how he just hops on the 5 freeway and drives North for a while until he feels compelled to get off in Del Mar. He says he has an itch to see the ocean, so he drives around looking for beach access, but then he starts getting paranoid. He feels like he’s being followed and sees a set of headlights behind him following each turn he makes. So he decides to speed up and make a series of erratic turns at each intersection he reaches, until he finally stops at a red light.He’s looking in his rear view mirror and doesn’t see a set of headlights, so he thinks he’s lost his tail. But a few seconds later, he sees a car turn a few streets back and he’s not sure if the car is coming from the same street he just turned from. In order to get a better view than the rear view mirror provides, he makes sure the traffic light is still red, then he puts his right arm behind the passenger seat in order to help swing around and turn to look behind him. He watches the car behind him, still a couple of intersections away, but it makes a right turn down one of the streets, and no one is behind him as far as he can see now.
So he turns to see if he’s got a green light when he starts hearing the screeching of tires. It takes him a moment, but he sees a black SUV in front of him driving in reverse at high speed. The red tail lights are approaching quickly, and before he has time to react, he hears the collision and is knocked unconscious.
So he wakes up in the back of the ambulance on the way to the Emergency Room, and decides to call me. He can’t remember any license plate number. In fact, he can’t remember seeing any license plate on the vehicle at all. Apparently it was a hit and run. Someone actually intentionally reversed their vehicle in an attempt to harm him. A local resident heard the collision and ran outside. They also described a black SUV, but didn’t get a license plate. The intersection where the collision occurred was at Camino Del Mar and 11th street.
He said it took him a little while after arriving in the ER to gather his thoughts, but he’s 100% confident that [name redacted] did something to his head when he allowed her to hypnotize him. He says she did it in the name of therapy, but now he’s sure that she just did it to screw with his head. He called out sick for work while he was eating his breakfast with me at the diner.
Notes: I followed up with him the next day to see if he had the dream again, and he said he hadn’t. I also went down to the Sheriff’s department and was able to get a copy of the report. They were able to get a decent picture of the tire tread on the SUV, and estimated the vehicle had been going between 50 and 60 miles per hour at the point of impact based on the distance [name redacted] car was moved from the intersection. Of course, there was black paint on his bumper, grill and hood. Looking at images of his car though, it’s a wonder the impact didn’t kill him.
I’ll need to consider whether or not to question [name redacted] the next opportunity I get. I’m not sure it’s worth risking at this point in time, but perhaps under different circumstances in the future, I can revisit my notes here when there’s not so much at stake.
I have just a few takeaways from this document. Obviously Ron knows the name of the man that was having the dreams, but it appears he not only knows the name of this woman that he refers to, but he might actually know her, like in-person. How is this possible though? Do these guys work together? Or did they in the past?
I have to wonder what “risks” he was referring to, and when this was actually written. I’m wondering if it wouldn’t be wise to sit on this one, just as Ron did, until I can see if there’s any more to learn about this situation. Maybe there’s some small detail in the upcoming documents I’m going to release here on the podcast that one of the listeners may catch and I miss… if that’s the case, please let me know. Until then, I’ll be back in two weeks with more of the papers.
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