It has been hypothesized that dreams signify deep cerebral activity and can potentially reveal concealed thoughts and desires that elude consciousness. Sometimes, however, dreams seem to be a random composite of memories and objects that make little to no sense together. Either way, dreams entertain.

Creating sprawling narratives that encompass multiple days in the span of a couple minutes, dreams can inspire storytellers and invigorate minds. Paul McCartney wrote the famous Beatles song “Yesterday” upon remembering echoes of a melody from a dream he’d had the previous night. Stephen King once wrote an entire novel based on a recurring nightmare.

It’s clear that meaningful dreams have the potential to manifest into important art and become impactful in a permanent sense. At the same time, most dreams are fleeting and confusing, only occasionally presenting meaning upon later reflection.

Several Pali students shared stories about their dreams.

Weird Dreams That Meant Something

Lyric Latshaw, 11th Grade

What was the weirdest dream you’ve ever had?

A few years ago, I had a dream that my aunt was being poisoned by her husband, slowly, until she was absolutely ruined. Months later, we found out that he had been cheating on her that whole time, starting the month I first had that dream.

When did this dream happen?

I was nine when I had this dream.

Do you think there were any symbols in it or any deeper meaning?

My dad neglected to find any meaning in it when I first told him. He later credited me for being the first one to truly know what was going on.

Chris King, 12th Grade

What was the weirdest dream you’ve ever had?

I was stuck in a room with infinite doors and every door I opened led me into a different but familiar place with another set of doors.

When did this dream happen?

Last year.

Do you think there were any symbols in it or any deeper meaning?

It was basically a tour of my life and past.

Loren Jacobs, 11th Grade

What was the weirdest dream you’ve ever had?

I recently had a dream where I wanted to say things to people all day but all I could talk about was tacos. It was actually really stressful because I couldn’t make it to my carpool but couldn’t tell them about it and at school I could only answer questions with statements about tacos.

When did this dream happen?

This dream happened last week.

Do you think there were any symbols in it or any deeper meaning?

Maybe I just really wanted tacos or maybe my dream was alluding to the possibility that I haven’t been saying what I mean.

Jordan Kupfer, 11th Grade

What was the weirdest dream you’ve ever had?

I had a dream where my friends summoned math problems to suffocate me.

When did this dream happen?

May of 2015.

Do you think there were any symbols in it or any deeper meaning?

I think it had to do with my fear of Algebra 2.

Weird Dreams That Have No Explanation

Elizabeth Rene, 10th Grade  

What was the weirdest dream you have ever had?

I was swimming, and ran into a scary Japanese shark.

Where were you in the dream?

I was at the beach, with my brother and sister.

What were they doing?

My brother had just bought French fries for my sister and I. While I was walking by the shore line (where she had seen the shark), my sister dropped one of the French fries into the sand, which really made my brother angry.

When did you have his dream?

I had it during finals week, last year (2016).

Janna Offenberger, 10th Grade

What was the weirdest dream you have ever had?

I was at my friend’s house, cooking with her grandmother.

What made this dream so weird?

What made the dream weird was that I really only met the grandmother once and it was months before the dream.

What happened during the dream?

While I was cooking she got really mad at me because I had a cold. She started to yell at me, telling me to get out of the kitchen because she worried I would pass my cold onto others.