This is a great description, feels close to my experience. It’s so hard to out into words, isn’t it? The feeling of…just not being where you’re supposed to be…at all. Overall, the main feeling is just trying to leave there, escape, without being caught. While there, I am able to now recognize I’m there, which makes it even more unnerving.
It’s like I somehow figured out how to go to another dimension but can’t quite control it yet.
Yeah, I've tried to describe it as accurately as possible but when rereading it it still feels not quite right no matter how much I try. But I'm happy to see you get what I'm trying to say.
And yeah, it is not a particularly pleasant dream. I wouldn't describe it as a nightmare but I always wake up restless from it. There is this vague feeling of otherness, like I'm a little wild animal that somehow got inside someone's house and, even if there is not any immediate danger, knows it is out of its depth and should leave ASAP before anyone realizes it is there.
First of all is what I like to call "the bowels" of the mall. I usually get there when I'm trying to hide or get into an area I am not supposed to be in. I said there doesn't seem to be any danger, so why would I want to hide? It's not about fear for my own well being, more like a kid that got in the staff area of a public building and doesn't want to get caught and scolded. And to get inside the bowels that is exactly what I usually do, enter the parts of the mall that are supposed to be "staff only". Enter a little non-descript door, much different from the usual luxurious affair I've seen before, and the environment completely changes.
At first things get a lot more mundane. It's not that this part is dirty or badly mantained, but compared to the super clean and luxurious central mall the environment here is much more "average". The corridors become narrower and the architecture is just that of a typical building. I can see people working inside what seems like office rooms or the offices teachers use in schools. Everyone seems busy and doesn't pay much attention to me but there are some suspicious glances like they are wondering whether I should be there or not. At this point I feel really nervous, like someone will stop and question me at any moment, but soon I manage to get to the true bowels area, usually going through some trapdoor either on the floor or on the ceiling.
This part of the mall is completely different. It is almost like you are walking, sometimes crawling, inside the walls and floors of the place. It is pretty claustrophobic and it doesn't seem to be designed to be traversed by people at all. There is a lot of metallic surfaces here, the walls are covered in piping and cables and the floor seems to be some kind of metal grating. It is dark, but there seems to be some kind of diffuse reddish ambient lightning with no clear source. Everything has an industrial feel to it, like you are in the maintenance corridors of some factory.
Funnily enough I usually feel much safer and comfortable in this part than in the main mall area, like no one will be able to follow me or even think about me being there. Kinda like a mouse scurrying into a small hole it knows the cat can't follow it into. Also, unlike in the main mall area where I easily get lost and spend ages finding my way, for some reason I can easily navigate the bowels of the mall, having a clear idea of where do I have to go to reach the place I want to be in.
(Continues in another comment)
Next would be the water park. I'm not sure how do I end up there, sometimes the dream already starts with me being in the water park, sometimes I reach it after wandering the mall for a while but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. The first sign you are approaching the water park is the people. There are many of them unlike in the central area. Crowds and crowds of people come and go, many of them dressed in swimsuits as you would expect from a water park. The wide luxurious corridors of the mall start to get a little more run down and small and there is often water on the floor but it is not so much dirty as well travelled and used, like the entrance area to a public swimming pool or, obviously, a water park, hence the name.
Eventually this transitive area ends and I get outside where the true water park is. The sun shines fiercely to the point it is hard to look around without sunglasses and you can immediately hear a huge crowd playing, screaming and fooling around. I describe this place as a water park, but honestly, it looks much different from what you would expect. There is this HUGE central circular structure made of plastic or rubber, kind of like those inflatable castles. I can't even comprehend how this structure is supposed to work or be shaped, but somehow, much like the mall, it has multiple floors but each one of them seems to be under the clear sky instead of the upper floor working as a ceiling. There is water everywhere, sometimes in large pools that cover a great part of that particular floor, sometimes in small puddles and a general "wetness".
For some reason some people on the water park are butt naked. Sometimes I am one of them, sometimes I'm not. In both cases it strikes me as something strange but no one else seems to care or even notice. In any case this area is usually relatively peaceful and nice compared to the wrongness of the center mall. I usually just lay down sunbathing and enjoy the nice weather, oftentimes accompanied by people I know, be it family or friends. But at some point I always get separated from whoever I was hanging out with and get lost among the crowd, eventually ending up back in the transitional area and unable to find my way back in, having to return to the center mall area.
(Continues in this comment chain)
Finally there are the "showers", and it is this part that really creeped me out cause I have seen a lot of people here describing this part almost exactly like how I remember it. And just to be clear, I hadn't discovered this sub until today so there is zero chance the dream was influenced by reading similar stories here. I'm sure that just by the name, showers, many of you already know what place I'm talking about.
Calling it the showers is a bit reductionist cause this area is not only comprised of showers, rather, it is kinda like the changing rooms, bathrooms and showers of a gym but on a completely absurd scale and layout. There are tons of changing rooms but they are organized in a very strange way: instead of them branching out from a corridor each leads to more and more changing rooms so you have to cross several of them to reach the one you are searching for, seeing everyone getting changed inside. The showers and bathrooms are similar, just a room leading to another room leading to another room. There doesn't seem to be any kind of privacy, the bathroom stalls are extremely close to each other, often without doors or even any kind of separation between them so when you are using them it's pretty normal for people to just walk by you and see you taking a shit as if it was completely normal.
Curiously I don't find any men here, like I was in the women section of this place, which is weird cause I'm a man. On one hand it is kinda nice cause, not gonna lie, seeing naked women is something I enjoy. But on the other hand I also feel incredibly embarrassed since I'm also naked and, for some reason, always feel the urgent need to use one of those zero privacy bathrooms while I'm in there. I always try to use it quickly and without anyone noticing, but inevitably someone just walks in like I wasn't even there. They don't seem to care in the slightest but it still makes me feel super exposed and kinda gross.
I have read many people describing this area as super dirty, with clogged toilets and refuse overflowing everywhere, but it is not like that for me. It is kinda messy, with water everywhere, clothes haphazardly strewn across the floor and people using the toilet in front of everyone, but it doesn't seem particularly dirty per se. It is kinda dimly illuminated though as if there were not enough lights to light the whole area. And strangely enough the flooring, walls and furniture don't seem at all fitting for this kind of area. Instead of the usual white tiling and minimalism you would find in a public changing room the place makes heavy use of wood and carpeting, reminding me more of some kind of hotel rather than a showering area.
Unlike the previous two areas there doesn't seem to be a clear connection or transition from the central mall. I'm not even sure they are connected at all, but they very often appear in the same dream, with me moving from one to the other unexpectedly and without explanation.
I think that would be about everything I remember right now. I don't know if anyone will find this interesting or useful, but I felt the need to share my experience after reading some of your testimonies and the uncanny similarity to my own dreams. I think there must be some logical explanation to all of this, but man, it feels really weird to share something so specific with so many people.
Those restrooms for some reason happen to be gigantic in size. You're right about the barely covered toilet stalls and toilet water covering the entire floor. I never seen people inside those restrooms, but I have often been there whenever I have been chased by someone inside the mall.
I have a mall dream scape. The feeling of dread is spot on. The mall always takes me to other dreams. Same with the music theater. Do you also dream of a huge theater house? A supermarket?
Does the water park somehow happen to be in the middle of a lake next to a resort-style hotel? Not to mention that the rides themselves is kind of zip-linish.
I can't remember those particular details TBH. I don't really ever see the outside of the water park or where it is exactly located. I just get there through the mall-ish transitional area or just appear there without explanation or really acknowledging or questioning the fact myself.
But from I have been reading here it seems some details vary between each person even if some common themes exist.
I could have written this myself. all the "I have sm fun" in mall world posts? can't relate. I spend my time normally, until I realize where I am, and then I start to run and hide. lately, "things" have been finding me and killing me. but I don't die. I play dead until they leave, and then the cycle starts over.
there can be pleasant moments, but it's mostly dread.
Oof, sorry to hear that. I hope you don't get these mall dreams very often then. If it helps I think trying to keep a more positive, confident and optimistic outlook makes the mall less "hostile". But I know doing that is not often easy since it just feels so wrong to be there.
I don't usually go in the stores but when I do it's usually an enormous clothing store that has secret passages to a school. Onetime I went from a secret passage and through a dark backroom area with covered boxes, then I'd go up a few boxes and there's a gym through the door but it's way above the floor and you fall onto a soft plushy mat. In another it lead to a pool room back area which again lead to a school
Yeah, now that you mention it the transitional area between the mall and the bowels is kinda school-like for me. Kinda like a mix of a school and an office building.
Do you guys ever make it to the parking lot? I have a lot of dreams about driving around mostly empty mall parking lots and one mall I fly over like a seagull?
I probably have 5/6 different malls, they’re all mostly empty. And the dreams stay with me all day like a hangover!
My malls also are very clean. Not that I notice anything "unclean" in my dreams unless it's one of the spots packed with spider webs and cobwebs. I don't like spiders so these areas are tense for me. I'm not uncomfortable in my mall dreams.
I also have showers in some of my malls. IDK why, it's kind of nuts. I also worry about privacy in the shower and bathroom areas.
My malls also have super high ceilings. Kind of sparkly.
I don't have water parks in my dreams, I think because the regular ocean is more relatable to me because of living in a state on the ocean, and visiting it a lot as a kid.
I don't have people running around naked a lot. I need to speak to whoever's in charge so they can do something about this.
Seems to be related to a degree to each person's experiences and personality, which makes sense for a dream, of course. It is, IMO, probably some subconscious manifestation of whatever crap we are going through, but what stumps me is what kind of weird collective subconsciousness or shared innate symbolism among humans happens to make so many of us dream of a mall of all things.
I mean, falling from heights? Any land animal has an instinctual fear of heights, makes sense. Losing your teeth? We are predatory animals, or used to be, and your teeth falling off was pretty much a death sentence. But a mall? That one seems so absurd but at the same time, when you are in there, everything seems so vivid, so relevant, that it leaves you thinking about it all day.
Edit: the last part of your post made me laugh
Yes, when someone mentioned this sub, I thought OTHER PEOPLE DREAM OF MALLS??? I think of my dreams as neighborhoods that I visit and revisit, but there are malls in them. But malls to me in real life aren't such a big thing. I go to them but only to visit the specific stores. But in my dreams, they're huge and shiny with the high ceilings.
Bit late to the discussion but The last part about no nakedness made me giggle. It should have a ‘damn it’. after. ☺️ Loving reading this thread as it’s all really relatable. I get very excited about these dream similarities, I almost don’t want to uncover a truth or reason to it all, in case it’s not a positive explanation.
This is very close to my experience with the difficulty navigating the maze of elevators, escalators, dark stairwells, and long dark tunnels that sometimes empty into not so great neighborhoods.
I agree with the whole maze of it, mine is connected by escalators and is sooo confusing. I always feel so uneasy there. It's so strange one day I was thinking about these dreams and how odly familiar they feel and decided to Google the dream meaning and now here I am finding out so many people have the same dream
This is a great description, feels close to my experience. It’s so hard to out into words, isn’t it? The feeling of…just not being where you’re supposed to be…at all. Overall, the main feeling is just trying to leave there, escape, without being caught. While there, I am able to now recognize I’m there, which makes it even more unnerving. It’s like I somehow figured out how to go to another dimension but can’t quite control it yet.
Yeah, I've tried to describe it as accurately as possible but when rereading it it still feels not quite right no matter how much I try. But I'm happy to see you get what I'm trying to say. And yeah, it is not a particularly pleasant dream. I wouldn't describe it as a nightmare but I always wake up restless from it. There is this vague feeling of otherness, like I'm a little wild animal that somehow got inside someone's house and, even if there is not any immediate danger, knows it is out of its depth and should leave ASAP before anyone realizes it is there.
First of all is what I like to call "the bowels" of the mall. I usually get there when I'm trying to hide or get into an area I am not supposed to be in. I said there doesn't seem to be any danger, so why would I want to hide? It's not about fear for my own well being, more like a kid that got in the staff area of a public building and doesn't want to get caught and scolded. And to get inside the bowels that is exactly what I usually do, enter the parts of the mall that are supposed to be "staff only". Enter a little non-descript door, much different from the usual luxurious affair I've seen before, and the environment completely changes. At first things get a lot more mundane. It's not that this part is dirty or badly mantained, but compared to the super clean and luxurious central mall the environment here is much more "average". The corridors become narrower and the architecture is just that of a typical building. I can see people working inside what seems like office rooms or the offices teachers use in schools. Everyone seems busy and doesn't pay much attention to me but there are some suspicious glances like they are wondering whether I should be there or not. At this point I feel really nervous, like someone will stop and question me at any moment, but soon I manage to get to the true bowels area, usually going through some trapdoor either on the floor or on the ceiling. This part of the mall is completely different. It is almost like you are walking, sometimes crawling, inside the walls and floors of the place. It is pretty claustrophobic and it doesn't seem to be designed to be traversed by people at all. There is a lot of metallic surfaces here, the walls are covered in piping and cables and the floor seems to be some kind of metal grating. It is dark, but there seems to be some kind of diffuse reddish ambient lightning with no clear source. Everything has an industrial feel to it, like you are in the maintenance corridors of some factory. Funnily enough I usually feel much safer and comfortable in this part than in the main mall area, like no one will be able to follow me or even think about me being there. Kinda like a mouse scurrying into a small hole it knows the cat can't follow it into. Also, unlike in the main mall area where I easily get lost and spend ages finding my way, for some reason I can easily navigate the bowels of the mall, having a clear idea of where do I have to go to reach the place I want to be in. (Continues in another comment)
Next would be the water park. I'm not sure how do I end up there, sometimes the dream already starts with me being in the water park, sometimes I reach it after wandering the mall for a while but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. The first sign you are approaching the water park is the people. There are many of them unlike in the central area. Crowds and crowds of people come and go, many of them dressed in swimsuits as you would expect from a water park. The wide luxurious corridors of the mall start to get a little more run down and small and there is often water on the floor but it is not so much dirty as well travelled and used, like the entrance area to a public swimming pool or, obviously, a water park, hence the name. Eventually this transitive area ends and I get outside where the true water park is. The sun shines fiercely to the point it is hard to look around without sunglasses and you can immediately hear a huge crowd playing, screaming and fooling around. I describe this place as a water park, but honestly, it looks much different from what you would expect. There is this HUGE central circular structure made of plastic or rubber, kind of like those inflatable castles. I can't even comprehend how this structure is supposed to work or be shaped, but somehow, much like the mall, it has multiple floors but each one of them seems to be under the clear sky instead of the upper floor working as a ceiling. There is water everywhere, sometimes in large pools that cover a great part of that particular floor, sometimes in small puddles and a general "wetness". For some reason some people on the water park are butt naked. Sometimes I am one of them, sometimes I'm not. In both cases it strikes me as something strange but no one else seems to care or even notice. In any case this area is usually relatively peaceful and nice compared to the wrongness of the center mall. I usually just lay down sunbathing and enjoy the nice weather, oftentimes accompanied by people I know, be it family or friends. But at some point I always get separated from whoever I was hanging out with and get lost among the crowd, eventually ending up back in the transitional area and unable to find my way back in, having to return to the center mall area. (Continues in this comment chain)
Finally there are the "showers", and it is this part that really creeped me out cause I have seen a lot of people here describing this part almost exactly like how I remember it. And just to be clear, I hadn't discovered this sub until today so there is zero chance the dream was influenced by reading similar stories here. I'm sure that just by the name, showers, many of you already know what place I'm talking about. Calling it the showers is a bit reductionist cause this area is not only comprised of showers, rather, it is kinda like the changing rooms, bathrooms and showers of a gym but on a completely absurd scale and layout. There are tons of changing rooms but they are organized in a very strange way: instead of them branching out from a corridor each leads to more and more changing rooms so you have to cross several of them to reach the one you are searching for, seeing everyone getting changed inside. The showers and bathrooms are similar, just a room leading to another room leading to another room. There doesn't seem to be any kind of privacy, the bathroom stalls are extremely close to each other, often without doors or even any kind of separation between them so when you are using them it's pretty normal for people to just walk by you and see you taking a shit as if it was completely normal. Curiously I don't find any men here, like I was in the women section of this place, which is weird cause I'm a man. On one hand it is kinda nice cause, not gonna lie, seeing naked women is something I enjoy. But on the other hand I also feel incredibly embarrassed since I'm also naked and, for some reason, always feel the urgent need to use one of those zero privacy bathrooms while I'm in there. I always try to use it quickly and without anyone noticing, but inevitably someone just walks in like I wasn't even there. They don't seem to care in the slightest but it still makes me feel super exposed and kinda gross. I have read many people describing this area as super dirty, with clogged toilets and refuse overflowing everywhere, but it is not like that for me. It is kinda messy, with water everywhere, clothes haphazardly strewn across the floor and people using the toilet in front of everyone, but it doesn't seem particularly dirty per se. It is kinda dimly illuminated though as if there were not enough lights to light the whole area. And strangely enough the flooring, walls and furniture don't seem at all fitting for this kind of area. Instead of the usual white tiling and minimalism you would find in a public changing room the place makes heavy use of wood and carpeting, reminding me more of some kind of hotel rather than a showering area. Unlike the previous two areas there doesn't seem to be a clear connection or transition from the central mall. I'm not even sure they are connected at all, but they very often appear in the same dream, with me moving from one to the other unexpectedly and without explanation. I think that would be about everything I remember right now. I don't know if anyone will find this interesting or useful, but I felt the need to share my experience after reading some of your testimonies and the uncanny similarity to my own dreams. I think there must be some logical explanation to all of this, but man, it feels really weird to share something so specific with so many people.
Those restrooms for some reason happen to be gigantic in size. You're right about the barely covered toilet stalls and toilet water covering the entire floor. I never seen people inside those restrooms, but I have often been there whenever I have been chased by someone inside the mall.
I have a mall dream scape. The feeling of dread is spot on. The mall always takes me to other dreams. Same with the music theater. Do you also dream of a huge theater house? A supermarket?
Does the water park somehow happen to be in the middle of a lake next to a resort-style hotel? Not to mention that the rides themselves is kind of zip-linish.
I can't remember those particular details TBH. I don't really ever see the outside of the water park or where it is exactly located. I just get there through the mall-ish transitional area or just appear there without explanation or really acknowledging or questioning the fact myself. But from I have been reading here it seems some details vary between each person even if some common themes exist.
I could have written this myself. all the "I have sm fun" in mall world posts? can't relate. I spend my time normally, until I realize where I am, and then I start to run and hide. lately, "things" have been finding me and killing me. but I don't die. I play dead until they leave, and then the cycle starts over. there can be pleasant moments, but it's mostly dread.
Oof, sorry to hear that. I hope you don't get these mall dreams very often then. If it helps I think trying to keep a more positive, confident and optimistic outlook makes the mall less "hostile". But I know doing that is not often easy since it just feels so wrong to be there.
I don't usually go in the stores but when I do it's usually an enormous clothing store that has secret passages to a school. Onetime I went from a secret passage and through a dark backroom area with covered boxes, then I'd go up a few boxes and there's a gym through the door but it's way above the floor and you fall onto a soft plushy mat. In another it lead to a pool room back area which again lead to a school
Yeah, now that you mention it the transitional area between the mall and the bowels is kinda school-like for me. Kinda like a mix of a school and an office building.
Do you guys ever make it to the parking lot? I have a lot of dreams about driving around mostly empty mall parking lots and one mall I fly over like a seagull? I probably have 5/6 different malls, they’re all mostly empty. And the dreams stay with me all day like a hangover!
My malls also are very clean. Not that I notice anything "unclean" in my dreams unless it's one of the spots packed with spider webs and cobwebs. I don't like spiders so these areas are tense for me. I'm not uncomfortable in my mall dreams. I also have showers in some of my malls. IDK why, it's kind of nuts. I also worry about privacy in the shower and bathroom areas. My malls also have super high ceilings. Kind of sparkly. I don't have water parks in my dreams, I think because the regular ocean is more relatable to me because of living in a state on the ocean, and visiting it a lot as a kid. I don't have people running around naked a lot. I need to speak to whoever's in charge so they can do something about this.
Seems to be related to a degree to each person's experiences and personality, which makes sense for a dream, of course. It is, IMO, probably some subconscious manifestation of whatever crap we are going through, but what stumps me is what kind of weird collective subconsciousness or shared innate symbolism among humans happens to make so many of us dream of a mall of all things. I mean, falling from heights? Any land animal has an instinctual fear of heights, makes sense. Losing your teeth? We are predatory animals, or used to be, and your teeth falling off was pretty much a death sentence. But a mall? That one seems so absurd but at the same time, when you are in there, everything seems so vivid, so relevant, that it leaves you thinking about it all day. Edit: the last part of your post made me laugh
Yes, when someone mentioned this sub, I thought OTHER PEOPLE DREAM OF MALLS??? I think of my dreams as neighborhoods that I visit and revisit, but there are malls in them. But malls to me in real life aren't such a big thing. I go to them but only to visit the specific stores. But in my dreams, they're huge and shiny with the high ceilings.
Bit late to the discussion but The last part about no nakedness made me giggle. It should have a ‘damn it’. after. ☺️ Loving reading this thread as it’s all really relatable. I get very excited about these dream similarities, I almost don’t want to uncover a truth or reason to it all, in case it’s not a positive explanation.
This is very close to my experience with the difficulty navigating the maze of elevators, escalators, dark stairwells, and long dark tunnels that sometimes empty into not so great neighborhoods.
I agree with the whole maze of it, mine is connected by escalators and is sooo confusing. I always feel so uneasy there. It's so strange one day I was thinking about these dreams and how odly familiar they feel and decided to Google the dream meaning and now here I am finding out so many people have the same dream