I'm horrified of Paris.

I'll first start by saying that as my username indicates, I generally have a pretty skeptical, scientific, and logical standpoint for paranormal or "unexplainable" phenomena. I'm posting this irrational fear of mine in the paranormal section because it simply isn't normal. I'm open to supernatural explanations and scientific ones -- I simply figured I'd share this experience with you all.

When I was a small child, I was plagued with a consistent dream of being in a park in Paris. It was night time in this scene, and I saw two individuals, a man and a woman, sitting on a bench in the park I was in. I approached them in the dream and they both stood up, said something to one another in french, and proceeded to stab me to death, violently lunging at me with their blades in and around my abdomen and chest.

As a child, this dream was very common, I had it multiple times a month. By the time I reached around age 10, I no longer dreamt of the two french people murdering me in a park. What was left however was a bizarre fear of anything related to Paris, France. When I see a movie that takes place in Paris, for whatever reason, I start sweating and feeling nauseous. Hearing the french language makes me uncomfortable, and I would never ever travel anywhere near France.

For years now as I lay down to sleep, I've found myself clutching onto a pillow around my abdomen area for comfort because I find myself fearing that someday the dream will come back and I'l feel what it's like to be stabbed there. It sounds completely irrational, and I am fully aware of this. I'm interested in hearing some of your explanations.

All I can think of is that maybe there's a chance I saw a movie involving the scenario in my dream, and it stuck in my subconscious. I've heard of people being traumatized by nightmares -- maybe that's what occurring. Either way, no croissants for me.

There is no way i could resist; go to Paris already!

That's pretty weird. It is a good thing that you don't live in my neighborhood. It seems every foreclosure has been bought up by the French. I may need to learn a new language just to be able to communicate with my neighbors.

It could be a past life memory. I don't know much about it but I do believe in them.

Wow, interesting situation!

Past life regression therapy would be something I would consider in the same situation. Face the fear, find its cause, and heal it I guess.

Im trying to think of a film that might match your description as maybe seeing it again with an adults eye would help you get over it

The only one I can think of that comes kind of close is "The Tenant" A Roman Polanski film from 1976,

I'm horrified of Paris too. There are no French people there anymore.

Originally posted by lokin
It could be a past life memory. I don't know much about it but I do believe in them.

I agree, perhaps OP should consider a registered past life hypnotherapist. I know it sounds weird, but it works. A friend of mine had a thing for anything placed around her neck.. choker necklaces, turtleneck sweaters, you name it,... it would make her gag and feel like she couldn't breathe. Her session was recorded and she played it for me. Turns out she was hung in a past life. Once her memory was confronted and discussed in session in a non-stressful way, but she got better. It took a few months to fully get over it, bit it did work.

I agree, perhaps OP should consider a registered past life hypnotherapist. I know it sounds weird, but it works. A friend of mine had a thing for anything placed around her neck.. choker necklaces, turtleneck sweaters, you name it,... it would make her gag and feel like she couldn't breathe. Her session was recorded and she played it for me. Turns out she was hung in a past life. Once her memory was confronted and discussed in session in a non-stressful way, but she got better. It took a few months to fully get over it, bit it did work.

I think I'll look into this out of curiosity. If anything, it'll be entertaining, and who knows, maybe I'll get some answers. Thank you for the feedback. This has sparked my interest.

reply to post by Invariance


I agree. Past life regression hypnosis would be of benefit to the OP, because if it isn't a past-life memory, then he can put the whole thing down as perhaps having saw a movie as a small child which gave him nightmares.

reply to post by Skepticesque


I have experienced something similar when I watched the movie 'SAW' when I was younger and I saw a girl open a guy's abdomen with a knife and I would feel like I am getting stabbed in there all the time I would go to sleep. I think it's just your mind playing tricks on me. It took me years to forget about it and I still sometimes think of it.
Don't worry.

reply to post by Skepticesque

Interesting, could be a strong clue to reminiscent past life.

By chance, did you noticed in your dream anything that can help to define the period? (middle ages...mid-Victorian...etc)

im horrified of the price of beer in paris

reply to post by Skepticesque


Bon Jour, Comment vas tu ?


Ha ha, only kidding. Just wanted to see what that would do.

Do you even live anywhere near France? Have you even been to France?

First of all I must say that me too I am horrified of Paris. As a resident of la ville lumière since more than 10 years now, I've never come across a higher concentration of rude, agressive and arrogant pricks in my life. Crossing a street in Paris is about the most dangerous thing you can do after fighting a flock of famished lions with your bare hands, they don't seem to understand this thing with pedestrian crossings and stopping at red lights... with other words a place you can easily meet a violent death.

Getting that off my chest, I understand where you're coming from with your sceptic luggage. As a professional university academic, I'm steeped in rational, logic reasoning. It was through quantum physics that I discovered that what we experience as 'reality' is nothing but an illusion, and what is often referred to as mysticism or paranormal studies is simply dealing with 'realities' that falls outside of what science can measure or reproduce.

Anyways, shamanism and past life regression both work with the concept that the energy referred to as soul or spirit pass from one body to the other. Traumatic deaths can lead to emotional scars that express themselves in new incarnations.

It wasn't really my case, but I did a past life regression anyway, just for the heck of it.

I found myself living in ancient Egypt as a scribe. The name I subconsciously drew from I don't know where turned out to be a name that existed in the region of Thebes at the era I described, so was the name of my wife in that life. A few other details from my regression also checked out, which of course is proof of nothing, I'm the first to admit it. Still, I would say this is the way to go if you're ready to open the hidden drawers of your mind.

WOW! I have the complete opposite when it comes to Paris, Im obsessed with the place. So much so I have the Eiffel Tower tattooed on my lower back and my apt is decorated in a Parisian style with pics of the city all over. I have no idea how my obsession started either but my mom says I have loved France esp Paris since I was a kid.

Now as for the re-ocurring dream. I had one that involved a man with a mustache in all my dreams in the distance following or watching me. These dreams freaked me out because he had no face. Well long story short I only knew my dad til I was 5 and after that nothing til about 20yrs later. I contacted my dad after a nice long internet search and those dreams all stopped.

To me it was my dad in my dreams but I didn't know cause he had no face. Just a blur with a mustache, which my dad had. He wasn't in my life but for some reason he appeared faceless in my dreams but when i got in contact with him the dreams stopped. I haven't spoken to my dad since that time and I am fine with that. I got what I wanted at that time. It was a nice talk but he had obviously moved on with his life and I was fine with that. I guess I needed closure myself.

Maybe your dream has some kind of deep subconscious importance to you. Have you ever looked up either online when it comes to dreaming and what they could mean.

I know for me my dreams say a lot and sometimes they scream at me.


Well good luck in your search for answers

Originally posted by elevenaugust
reply to post by Skepticesque

 

Interesting, could be a strong clue to reminiscent past life.

By chance, did you noticed in your dream anything that can help to define the period? (middle ages...mid-Victorian...etc)

Thank you everyone for your responses.

In the dream from what I could see the couple were dressed quite elegantly, the woman wore a fur hat and long scarf and gloves and the man wore clothing that reminded me of the time period between 1900 - 1920.

Very strange dream. I admire your approach to all of this.

Past life regression would be interesting. You sound highly intelligent though, so I question your susceptibility to hypnotism. I feel like I'm beating a dead horse by always bringing up the subject, but I really feel OBE/Lucid Dreaming would be a good way to explore this. I've only ever had accidental experiences with both phenomena, but mastery of both(whatever they truly may be) would probably yield interesting results when looking into our subconscious. I personally would rather spend time attempting to induce those experiences than pay a self professed psychic to guide me through a regression session, which regardless of their credentials, in all likelihood would take place on a massage table in their dining room in a home that smelled strongly of cats and cigarettes. If you do end up going to one though, give them nothing to work with. No indications of what you suspect your past lives may have been, what your interests are, don't even give them your real name.

You say the dreams tapered off around 10 years old. May I ask how old you are now? How old were you in the dreams? Do you know your ancestry? I'd look into that before I'd go to a regression therapist. I've never really checked out any of those genealogy resources but I hear in some cases they can be very thorough. If indeed there is some paranormal explanation, it may not be your past life, but some kind of shared memory with a long dead relative.

Either way, whatever you decide to do, keep us updated, and good luck.

Well sounds pretty weird. I notice you chose a handle here that has a french sort of sound to it, too.

Just for fun, I can offer a hypothesis? That's all it is.

Lets consider that dreams may be mostly symbolic not literal memory, and that the symbols represent parts of ones own psyche- which conflict with each other, and interact with each other in various ways.

Symbols vary more or less in different cultures.

An interesting commonality that I find about the associations people have with France, and with Paris in particular, is - sensuality.
All the five physical senses- beauty, food, perfume, sex..... as opposed to the intellectual part of being which is sometimes in conflict with this part of our "animal" being, for dominance of the body and in choice making.

This is rational because the french DO value highly these things, they trust the social animal within, as a cultural value, more so than the powers of the intellect in making good choices and effective actions in the world.
The person who described the streets of Paris and the way it is somewhat like being in a jungle is correct. I have relatives visit me here in France and ask me how I ever learned to drive on the streets, how to get through a round-about! I basically had to embrace that animal side of me that just "feels" how to take my place in the social workings and do it instinctively. Then it is not only easy, it is also quite comfortable!

I had to struggle at first though because I too, come from a community which values higher intellectual pursuit and dominance, and all my sensual appetites and skills were seen as the source of sin...LOL.. or at least the source of stupidity. I couldn't understand why the french will call someone who thinks a lot "stupid"- until I realized that stopping to think about things makes you fall out of sync with your environment and you lose- you'll get hit by a car or something. Evolutionary wise, it is inadaptve- therefore stupid.

There is the Paris Syndrome, which strikes tourists to Paris and other places, but so very often it is Paris that it was named after it. It happens more to Asians than any other nationality. It is interesting to note that Asians have super high values stressed upon intellectual dominance over body, in general.

So..... taking my first idea here- Paris, France, symbolizing the body, it's senses, appetites, and drives....
which doesn't use linear language, liek the intellect, but rather it uses image and association- clumping together associations of sensual memory with no order (no cause-effect positions, just "together"), it (the subconscious) is often unintelligable to the conscious awareness and intellect.

The conscious intellect also sees these drives as a threat, because they often contradict what our intellect has decided is right to do, or shall do, and can have a strong force.

This may have been a dream about your own fears of your sensual animalistic drives and appetites taking over control of your mind and intellect completely.

reply to post by Skepticesque


Skeptiesque, have you ever heard of James Leininger? Hes a little kid that was constantly having nightmares about crashing in a fighter plane in WWII. Look it up on youtube.

I am convinced in past lives, something I never used to. But energy cannot be destroyed, this is a law of physics....

I had a dream of being stabbed to death, as well. I was in some ancient market....Jerusalem or something. Dusty. People attacking me, wearing robes like in the old Bible movies. They all had daggers, stabbing me, i raised my hand to protect my face, and felt it go through my hand. Im on my back looking up at people stabbing me, I feel the stabbing, but no pain. I then woke up from one of the most vivid dreams I ever had. Only time I dreamed that one, but I have dreamed of other past lives....