How we review material

Evidence labels

These appear beneath a section heading and describe what kind of claim the section below is making.

• Scientifically supported

  Backed by published, peer-reviewed research.

• Psychological theory

  An influential interpretive framework. Explanatory rather than demonstrated. Most classical dream theory is not testable in the way a sleep-lab finding is.

• Historical dream belief

  What people in a particular time and place believed about this dream.

• Cultural dream tradition

  A living tradition of interpretation. Described as that tradition describes itself, without being asserted as fact.

• Religious dream interpretation

  Drawn from a religious text or practice that directly discusses dreams.

• Community-reported experience

  What people using this site and others describe. Testimony, not evidence of a cause.

• Repeated independent reports

  The same description has arrived from people with no plausible connection to each other.

• Sleep-paralysis associated

  Strongly linked to the sleep-wake boundary rather than to dreaming proper.

• Modern internet dream report

  Sourced from forums, social platforms or comment threads. Easy to find, hard to verify, and prone to copying.

• Fictional adaptation

  A film, game, story or creepypasta that came AFTER the reports and has since coloured them.

• Interpretation disputed

  Specialists in this area actively disagree, and the page says how.

• Evidence currently limited

  Included because it is widely asked about, not because it is well supported.

Confidence in a shared dream figure

• Widely reported

  A substantial body of independent reports across different communities, platforms or time periods.

• Repeated pattern

  Multiple independent reports sharing a consistent cluster of characteristics.

• Sleep-paralysis associated

  Reports occur mainly during the boundary between sleep and waking, where a well-described physiological mechanism already accounts for much of the experience.

• Emerging pattern

  A small number of independent but notable reports. Interesting; not yet a pattern.

• Internet-influenced

  Reports may have been shaped by prior exposure to an existing image, name or story. Later accounts cannot be treated as independent.

• Insufficiently verified

  Interesting, but currently too weak for any strong conclusion. Published so the reasoning is visible, not because the case is made.

One entry deliberately fails the standard. The black dog is one of the best-documented figures in British folklore and has a thin dream record, so it is published and marked insufficiently verified. An archive that only shows its convincing cases cannot be audited, and if every entry were “widely reported”, the labels would mean nothing.

Kinds of source

Sources are listed at the foot of every page, with a note saying what each one is being cited for. A bibliography tells you citations exist; it does not tell you which claim rests on which work.

• Peer-reviewed research
• Academic book
• Sleep medicine
• Psychology literature
• Anthropological source
• Historical dream record
• Cultural material on dreaming
• Religious or philosophical text
• Recorded oral dream tradition
• Interview with a dreamer
• Modern community account
• Archived forum discussion
• Drawing made from a dream report

The core library

The foundational works this database draws on. Citations reference this library by key rather than being written freehand. A source has to be added here, once, where it can be checked. A page citing a work that is not in the library fails the build.

1. The dream narratives of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament (Genesis 20, 28, 37 and 40 to 41; Daniel 2, 4 and 7; Matthew 1 to 2 and 27; Acts 10 and 16)

   Various, compiled

   Cited for: What the biblical texts themselves record about dreams: that they are treated as a channel of divine communication, that interpretation is presented as a gift rather than a technique, and which specific dreams and readings appear. Cited for what the text says, never as evidence about dreaming.

2. Ta'bir al-Ru'ya and the dream manuals attributed to Ibn Sirin

   Attributed to Muhammad ibn Sirin (died 728 CE)

   Cited for: The symbol readings of the classical Islamic dream-interpretation tradition as they circulate. ⚠ Authorship is disputed: Ibn Sirin was a real early figure renowned for dream interpretation, and the large manuals sold under his name are later compilations that gathered material from several hands. The tradition is genuine; the single-author attribution is not, and the pages say so.

3. The Early Muslim Tradition of Dream Interpretation

   John C. Lamoreaux · (2002) · State University of New York Press

   Cited for: Scholarly treatment of how the Muslim dream-interpretation tradition formed, who its early figures were, and how the manuals attributed to them were assembled.

4. Regularly Occurring Periods of Eye Motility, and Concomitant Phenomena, During Sleep

   Eugene Aserinsky and Nathaniel Kleitman · (1953) · Science

   Cited for: The discovery of REM sleep and its association with dream recall, the founding observation of modern sleep science.

5. The Brain as a Dream State Generator: An Activation-Synthesis Hypothesis of the Dream Process

   J. Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley · (1977) · American Journal of Psychiatry

   Cited for: The activation-synthesis model: that dream narrative is partly the forebrain making sense of brainstem-generated activity.

6. The Reinterpretation of Dreams: An Evolutionary Hypothesis of the Function of Dreaming

   Antti Revonsuo · (2000) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences

   Cited for: The threat-simulation hypothesis. That the over-representation of threatening content in dreams may be functional rather than incidental.

7. Nightmares: A New Neurocognitive Model

   Tore Nielsen and Ross Levin · (2007) · Sleep Medicine Reviews

   Cited for: A model of nightmare production combining affect load and affect distress, and the distinction between bad dreams and nightmares proper.

8. Thematic and Content Analysis of Idiopathic Nightmares and Bad Dreams

   Geneviève Robert and Antonio Zadra · (2014) · Sleep, 37(2)

   Cited for: That nightmares and bad dreams are the same phenomenon at different intensities rather than separate things; that physical aggression is the most frequently reported theme in nightmares while interpersonal conflict predominates in bad dreams; and that 35% of nightmares and 55% of bad dreams have a primary emotion other than fear. From 9,796 dream reports kept by 331 adults, yielding 253 nightmares and 431 bad dreams.

9. Sleep Paralysis and the Structure of Waking-Nightmare Hallucinations

   J. Allan Cheyne · (2003) · Dreaming

   Cited for: The three-factor structure of sleep-paralysis hallucinations (intruder, incubus and vestibular-motor experiences) which accounts for the recurring "presence in the room" and "pressure on the chest" reports.

10. Lifetime Prevalence Rates of Sleep Paralysis: A Systematic Review

    Brian Sharpless and Jacques Barber · (2011) · Sleep Medicine Reviews

    Cited for: Prevalence estimates for sleep paralysis across general, student and psychiatric populations.

11. Lucid Dreaming Verified by Volitional Communication During REM Sleep

    Stephen LaBerge, Lynne Nagel, William Dement and Vincent Zarcone · (1980) · Perceptual and Motor Skills

    Cited for: The eye-signalling experiments that established lucid dreaming as a verifiable state rather than a self-report.

12. Gender Differences in Dream Recall: A Meta-Analysis

    Michael Schredl and Iris Reinhard · (2008) · Journal of Sleep Research

    Cited for: Dream-recall frequency as a measurable, individually stable trait, and the factors that move it.

13. The Content Analysis of Dreams

    Calvin Hall and Robert Van de Castle · (1966) · Appleton-Century-Crofts

    Cited for: The standard coding system for dream content, and the normative frequencies that later studies are compared against. The reason claims like "aggression is more common in dreams than friendliness" can be stated numerically at all.

14. The Scientific Study of Dreams: Neural Networks, Cognitive Development and Content Analysis

    G. William Domhoff · (2003) · American Psychological Association

    Cited for: The continuity hypothesis (that dream content largely reflects waking concerns) and a sustained critique of symbolic dream interpretation as an evidential method.

15. The Typical Dreams of Canadian University Students

    Tore Nielsen and colleagues · (2003) · Dreaming

    Cited for: The cross-population consistency of "typical dream" themes (being chased, falling, teeth, flying, being unprepared for an exam) and their relative reported frequencies.

16. The Interpretation of Dreams

    Sigmund Freud · (1900)

    Cited for: The wish-fulfilment model and the manifest/latent distinction. Historically decisive, and largely unsupported by later empirical work, cited as the origin of an idea, never as evidence for it.

17. Man and His Symbols

    Carl Jung and others · (1964) · Aldus Books

    Cited for: The amplification method, the compensatory function of dreams, and the archetypal reading of recurring figures such as the shadow.

18. Oneirocritica (The Interpretation of Dreams)

    Artemidorus of Daldis · (200)

    Cited for: The earliest surviving systematic dream dictionary, and evidence that dream interpretation has been organised by symbol and by the dreamer's circumstances for at least eighteen centuries.

19. The Terror That Comes in the Night: An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions

    David J. Hufford · (1982) · University of Pennsylvania Press

    Cited for: The central finding behind this entire archive: that the "old hag" experience shows a stable core description across cultures with no prior exposure to the tradition. That is, the experience generates the folklore rather than the other way round.

20. Sleep Paralysis: Night-mares, Nocebos, and the Mind-Body Connection

    Shelley Adler · (2011) · Rutgers University Press

    Cited for: How culturally specific interpretations attach to a physiologically consistent sleep experience, and what happens when they do.

21. Functional Neuroanatomy of Human Rapid-Eye-Movement Sleep and Dreaming

    Pierre Maquet and colleagues · (1996) · Nature

    Cited for: PET evidence that limbic and paralimbic regions are strongly active during REM while parts of the prefrontal cortex are relatively deactivated.

22. Regional Cerebral Blood Flow Throughout the Sleep-Wake Cycle: An H2(15)O PET Study

    Allen R. Braun and colleagues · (1997) · Brain

    Cited for: That REM is not uniform activation: visual association areas are active while primary visual cortex and executive prefrontal regions are not.

23. Dreaming and the Brain: Toward a Cognitive Neuroscience of Conscious States

    J. Allan Hobson, Edward Pace-Schott and Robert Stickgold · (2000) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences

    Cited for: A synthesis of the brain-state differences between waking, REM and non-REM, and what they predict about the character of dreaming in each.

24. A Review of Mentation in REM and NREM Sleep: "Covert" REM Sleep as a Possible Reconciliation of Two Opposing Models

    Tore Nielsen · (2000) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences

    Cited for: That dreaming occurs in non-REM sleep as well as REM, and that reports from the two states differ in length and vividness rather than in kind.

25. What Are the Memory Sources of Dreaming?

    Tore Nielsen and Philippe Stenstrom · (2005) · Nature

    Cited for: That dreams draw on episodic fragments rather than replaying whole memories, and that recent waking material is incorporated on a delayed schedule.

26. Resting Brain Activity Varies with Dream Recall Frequency Between Subjects

    Jean-Baptiste Eichenlaub and colleagues · (2014) · Neuropsychopharmacology

    Cited for: That people who recall dreams often differ from rare recallers in measurable resting brain activity, rather than in how much they dream.

27. The Dreams of Blind Men and Women: A Replication and Extension of Previous Findings

    Craig Hurovitz, Steven Dunn, G. William Domhoff and Harry Fiss · (1999) · Dreaming

    Cited for: That congenitally blind dreamers report no visual imagery but rich non-visual sensory content, while those blinded later may retain visual dreaming.

28. Alcohol and Sleep I: Effects on Normal Sleep

    Irshaad O. Ebrahim, Colin M. Shapiro, Adrian J. Williams and Peter B. Fenwick · (2013) · Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research

    Cited for: That alcohol suppresses REM in the first half of the night and is followed by a rebound in the second half.

29. Clinical Management of Chronic Nightmares: Imagery Rehearsal Therapy

    Barry Krakow and Antonio Zadra · (2006) · Behavioral Sleep Medicine

    Cited for: That rehearsing a rewritten version of a recurring nightmare while awake reduces nightmare frequency and distress.

30. A Study of Dreams

    Frederik van Eeden · (1913) · Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research

    Cited for: The origin of the term "lucid dream" and one of the earliest systematic first-person records of the state.

31. Lucid Dreaming: A State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming

    Ursula Voss, Romain Holzmann, Inka Tuin and J. Allan Hobson · (2009) · Sleep

    Cited for: EEG evidence that lucid REM sleep is a distinct state, with frontal activity in higher frequency bands than non-lucid REM.

32. Neural Correlates of Dream Lucidity Obtained from Contrasting Lucid Versus Non-Lucid REM Sleep: A Combined EEG/fMRI Case Study

    Martin Dresler and colleagues · (2012) · Sleep

    Cited for: Imaging evidence that becoming lucid is accompanied by reactivation of prefrontal regions that are quiet in ordinary REM.

33. Induction of Lucid Dreams: A Systematic Review of Evidence

    Tadas Stumbrys, Daniel Erlacher, Melanie Schädlich and Michael Schredl · (2012) · Consciousness and Cognition

    Cited for: That no induction technique has strong evidence of reliable effectiveness, and that the better-supported ones are cognitive rather than external.

34. Reality Testing and the Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams: Findings from the National Australian Lucid Dream Induction Study

    Denholm Aspy, Paul Delfabbro, Michael Proeve and Philip Mohr · (2017) · Dreaming

    Cited for: That MILD combined with reality testing and wake-back-to-bed produced measurable lucidity rates, and that falling asleep quickly after the MILD rehearsal predicted success.

35. The Cognitive Neuroscience of Lucid Dreaming

    Benjamin Baird, Sergio A. Mota-Rolim and Martin Dresler · (2019) · Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews

    Cited for: A review of what is and is not established about lucid dreaming: its neural correlates, prevalence, induction evidence and open questions.

36. Smooth Tracking of Visual Targets Distinguishes Lucid REM Sleep Dreaming and Waking Perception from Imagination

    Stephen LaBerge, Benjamin Baird and Philip G. Zimbardo · (2018) · Nature Communications

    Cited for: That eye movements in a lucid dream track dreamed objects smoothly, as in waking perception rather than imagination.

37. Real-Time Dialogue Between Experimenters and Dreamers During REM Sleep

    Karen Konkoly and colleagues · (2021) · Current Biology

    Cited for: That lucid dreamers can perceive questions from outside and answer them from within REM sleep, demonstrating two-way communication.

38. Über das Elektrenkephalogramm des Menschen

    Hans Berger · (1929) · Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten

    Cited for: The first recording of the human EEG, and the identification of the alpha rhythm: the origin of every frequency band later named.

39. The AASM Manual for the Scoring of Sleep and Associated Events: Rules, Terminology and Technical Specifications

    Conrad Iber and colleagues, for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · (2007) · American Academy of Sleep Medicine

    Cited for: The current clinical standard for how sleep stages are scored, including the EEG frequency criteria that define each stage.

40. International Classification of Sleep Disorders, third edition

    American Academy of Sleep Medicine · (2014) · American Academy of Sleep Medicine

    Cited for: The diagnostic reference clinicians classify sleep disorders against, and the source of the domains any insomnia screen asks about: difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, waking too early, daytime consequences, and how often and for how long those have been happening. Cited for what the categories ARE, never as a basis for telling a reader which one they have.

41. A New Method for Measuring Daytime Sleepiness: The Epworth Sleepiness Scale

    Murray W. Johns · (1991) · Sleep

    Cited for: That daytime sleepiness is measured as a propensity to doze in ordinary situations rather than as a feeling of tiredness, and that the Epworth scale is the standard instrument for it. Cited to name the tool a clinician is likely to use. The scale itself is proprietary and is deliberately not reproduced on this site.

42. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index: A New Instrument for Psychiatric Practice and Research

    Daniel J. Buysse and colleagues · (1989) · Psychiatry Research

    Cited for: That sleep quality is assessed across several components rather than as one number, including latency, duration, efficiency and daytime dysfunction. Cited to name a standard instrument; not reproduced here.

43. Validation of the Insomnia Severity Index as an Outcome Measure for Insomnia Research

    Célyne H. Bastien, Annie Vallières and Charles M. Morin · (2001) · Sleep Medicine

    Cited for: That insomnia severity is tracked with a short validated index, and that such an instrument is validated as a whole rather than question by question. Cited to name the tool and to support the point that a paraphrase of it is not it; not reproduced here.

44. STOP Questionnaire: A Tool to Screen Patients for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

    Frances Chung and colleagues · (2008) · Anesthesiology

    Cited for: The features used to screen for obstructive sleep apnoea: loud snoring, daytime tiredness, observed pauses in breathing, and high blood pressure. Cited for which features screening asks about, and to name the instrument. Not reproduced here.

45. Meditations on First Philosophy

    René Descartes · (1641) · Michel Soly, Paris

    Cited for: The dream argument, that no internal mark reliably distinguishes dreaming from waking, as originally posed.

46. Dreaming: A Conceptual Framework for Philosophy of Mind and Empirical Research

    Jennifer M. Windt · (2015) · MIT Press

    Cited for: A modern philosophical treatment of what dreams are, including the immersive-spatiotemporal-hallucination account and the status of dream reports as evidence.

47. Dreams and Experience in Classical Antiquity

    William V. Harris · (2009) · Harvard University Press

    Cited for: How dreams were recorded, classified and used in Greek and Roman practice, including temple incubation and the interpretive traditions around it.

48. Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light

    Chögyal Namkhai Norbu · (1992) · Snow Lion Publications

    Cited for: The Tibetan Buddhist dream yoga tradition as described from within it, including its aims, which are contemplative rather than recreational.