I have been having some experiences lately that are really starting to weird me out. I don't know if it's just me or if others are experiencing similar things. I have previously posted about having more vivid dreams / nightmares lately, but things seem to have taken a bizarre turn. Has anyone out there ever had a dream in which they have false memories of things? This may sound a little crazy, but I've had a few dreams lately in which I seem to have actual memories of things that have never happened to me. I dreamed one night that a friend and I were in his car driving down a strange road beside a chain link fence. This itself is not cause for alarm, but in my dream I have a VERY vivid memory of hitting the fence and ending up badly injured and bleeding all over the place. I remember thinking to myself (in the dream) "oh no. Here we go again" I have had other dreams also in which I also seem to have memories that are definitely not mine. Here's the question... Is the mind capable of creating false memories in dreams, or is something more going on here?

[edit on 22-1-2008 by subliminaut]

Who ever said the memories were not yours?

Be glad that sort of stuff just happens in your dreams. Stuff like that happens to me while I'm awake, sometimes it's just places I go to, other times, like when I was fishing, I'll wove a certain way and get this vivid memory of getting bit by a snake, though I hadn't been. Can be a bit disorienting at times.

I've had some pretty weird dreams like that too.

My most vivid one was about love, and I was Russian

-Will

THIsendsNowoldKings: What are you saying? Perhaps they are memories of a past existence? Why, then, do they include a friend from this life? Are my wires getting crossed up? I am quite certain that the memories I have experienced in my dreams are not mine. I'm pretty sure I would remember being skewered by an aluminum fence post, not to mention having the scars to remind me. While I am dreaming the memories are so clear that I just accept them as being part of me, but when I wake I know they are not from this life. At least not yet...
RuneSpider: It sounds like you are experiencing some kind of deja-vu. I encounter this quite often while awake also, and yes, it can be quite disorienting. My dream memories, however, disturb me significantly more. Deja-vu happens when your mind perceives an occuring event as having happened previously. I know none of these events in my dreams have actually happened.
Here's another question: Is it possible to experience deja-vu while dreaming?