Alligator dreams have been a normal part of my life, but this one was by
far the worst. Anyways, straight to the point before I forget. The
dream can be separated into three equally bizarre parts. First I found
myself on a boat with my friend Eric. We were kind of just slowly
cruising up a coast, in fresh water. The scenery on the coast is pretty
creepy. At one point, we pass a dead man lying face first. Eventually
the boat turns to car, and the car is just driving on what I assume to
be shallow water. We stop in a strange restaurant/pavilion and had some
food. I remember there being a huge, dead snake, and the overall
atmosphere was bleak and foreboding. We then planned to take the car
back into the water, and drive further west. I decided to tell Eric
that I didn't want to do it. I reasoned that it was dark, and if the
car broke down we would be stuck out there surrounded by alligators. I
don't remember his exact reaction, but I think he was bitter, and we
separated. I then went by car (alone I believe) and ended up in a small
town called Venus, Florida. The second part of the dream begins here.
Things were pretty unsettling in Venus, Fl. I ended up in a Walmart
type department store, and remember feeling somewhat interested and
excited at first to observe the weird small-town life. I found a note
in a little shopping basket on the floor. The note was from either
Eric, or a third friend that had been joining us, but I don't remember
him, or much of what the note said. It did have a phone number, and was
surrounded by VHS tapes, one titled "Deep Ones", which was the name of
the fish like monsters in a Lovecraft story called "the Shadow Over
Innsmouth". I went outside and tried to call the numbers, but just
got answering machines. One answering machine was very personal and
bitter, like it had been made just to spite me for abandoning the lake
trip...I don't know. So I went back into the store and things got extra
fucking weird. A lady walked by who seemed normal, except her face had
blue, elastic skin. I started walking, and noticed that the store was
very crowded. People were looking at old TV sets, and all of a sudden
the entire dream looked as if I was staring into a news report from the
late '80s or something. Everything seemed blurry, cheap, and really
lo-fi. I walked past a man whos face was completely covered in hair,
like wolf man, but dressed normally.
I don't remember the transition (maybe there wasn't one), but the third
part was by far the worst. I was in some really grotesque swamp land,
but surrounded people. The place was some kind of national
park/attraction, but hideous, and there were these albino alligators everywhere.
People were just walking over these things, and they would occasionally
hiss or snap. They weren't typical albino alligators though. They
actually had this mangy, white fur, and were really scrawny. The place
was swarming with them. At one point I saw a guy try to pet one, and
when I randomly had a piece of raw meat in my hand, I threw it on the
ground, watching one of those hideous abominations almost bite a woman's
ankle. The place was horrid, mud everywhere, lots of gray and white
rocks just protruding from the muck. There seemed to be some kind of public thrill with the danger of the place, and at one point I found myself
straying away with some strangers (a family I believe), on a narrow,
muddy path. I remember them saying things like "oh this part is really
scary", and we walked for a second in the mud, knowingly surrounded by
those nasty alligators. At the far end of the path some animals were
running towards us, they looked like white tigers or wolves, but they were all scrawny and spastic; it was
pretty fucking terrifying. I decided to turn around and run back, and I
could hear this family finally becoming afraid. They just kept
yelling, realizing that they were being chased and having to get away,
but there were children (which aside from making the ordeal more horrific, also slowed everybody down). I ran and ran, and then woke up in my
bed with a racing heart beat. This was a pretty goddamn awful dream.
Fuck.
Notes: Venus, Florida probably came from an article I had read earlier
that day about Venus lining up with the sun. I've also been reading a
ton of Lovecraft lately, so that explains the reference, and may have
quite possibly added to the landscape. I also had a little bit of
scotch, white wine, and red wine before bed.
