Hedgehogs and Abduction

In this double bill, I had a sweet and innocent dream, followed by a not so sweet and innocent one. I was watching my daughter sleeping, her bed next to open patio doors to let in some air, when I noticed a hedgehog snuffling into the room. It was a big old specimen, the largest I've ever seen, with a similar body shape to the one pictured below. It climbed onto the bed, towards Lulu's sleeping head, then disappeared into the dark nook behind the pillow and headboard. I called Li over to take a look, shining my torch into the blackness behind the headboard. Three pairs of white eyes reflected back at us, indicating that there was a whole pickle of them nestled back there. I decided to leave them be, as they didn't seem interested in disturbing our daughter. This dream was clearly symbolic of the fact Lulu has recently started school and is in the 'hedgehogs' reception group.

In the second part, I was catching an Uber home to Cooksbridge when the driver, a balding Ukranian man called Dimitri, overshot it. I asked him to turn around when he could. Inexplicably, even after reaching an obvious turning point at the Rainbow pub car park, he carried on driving. I asked him to let me out, but he put his head on my shoulder and began snuggling into me whilst driving, telling me that he liked me and wanted me to stay. I began to hyperventilate, realising it was a hostage situation. I tried to open the door but he had control of the locks. After driving a bit further, to an unfamiliar estate, he stopped in a quiet car park and made his advances. I fought my way out of the uber, shouting for help, as he chased after me. He grabbed hold of me and tried to pull my trousers down, at which point, roused by my shouts, some residents appeared and I was able to run away. This was no doubt triggered by watching the Netflix series about the gay serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer.

Leatherface Attacks

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) has held a special place in my psyche since I saw it for the first time at the ripe old age of 15. I was getting into horror films in a big way, but TCM had always eluded me due to it being banned in the UK. On an historic night, it was aired on Channel 4 for the first time in the UK, in the summer of 2000. I remember it well. I had just to moved to Essex and was renting a house with my family, at Chaney Road in Wivenhoe. It was a sweltering hot summer's evening, crickets were chirping (before crickets went virtually extinct in Britain), and I was still in a state of discombobulation after the move, my anxiety levels at a natural high. The film scared me senseless. Halfway through, during an advert break, I joined my sister in her room to watch the rest. We had taped it on VHS and watched it every day for weeks after. I had never been so terrified and delighted by a film in equal measure, and I doubt I ever will again. It swiftly became my favourite horror film, perhaps my favourite film of all time.

I ignored the first Leatherface dream I had this year, as I didn't believe it held any great significance. But when another one happened a few months later, I thought I'd better take notice. The first dream happened during daylight hours, in a western town in Texas. It was all dusty saloons, barns with hanging corpses on meathooks, weathered old men with shotguns, and Leatherface running rampant from house to house with his chainsaw, leaving a trail of destruction. Enough time has passed that I forget the finer details, but it was part 2 in a dream about threatening hillbillies. The first section had been a scenario with Straw Dogs ne'er-do-wells with rifles, who were intent on using my wife and I as target practice as we ran across a field to escape the village hall where they were shacked up.

In my latest Leatherface dream, he was wearing the pretty lady mask (pictured below) and was stalking me through a rambling farmstead at night. The lights of the house were all on, as it was populated by teenagers having a party, but it was black as pitch outside, a sweltering summer night. The dream had me running up staircases, setting booby traps Home Alone style, hiding in cupboards, and jumping through windows to escape. The relentless buzz of the chainsaw rung through the house, pursuing me wherever I went. There was nowhere to go and I was running out of hiding places. Occasionally I would hear the screams of other people in the house as they were murdered, and would later find their mangled corpses and trails of blood. I don't remember how the dream ended, but it was a white-knuckle ride.