Old Houses

[Wondercookie]

I often dream about old, dusty houses that are crumbling apart with rotten wood. In these dreams, there is sometimes nice, new rooms to explore. I generally own these houses in my dreams (I just bought a new house four years ago). Some rooms are made-up to look like rooms out of catalogues or magazines. But other rooms...they're dreadful! Spiderwebs in the corners, windows frosted with films of age. The floors are creaky, sometimes with huge holes in them. The wood is rotten. Sometimes, I'll be exploring my new house, and I'll walk up to a door that looks like any other. I'll open the door, and on the other side are these horror-rooms. Sometimes I'm outside the new house, and I see a window that I've never noticed before...so I go up and take a look. It's a secret room, filthy. There are sheets over the furnishings. There's usually an old bed in one corner, an ancient desk with an inkbottle on it in another corner. The floors are riddled with mouse-droppings and plaster fallen off the ceiling. The feeling that I get when I look into these rooms is: That's creepy! Who used to stay here? How did they get into this room? What happened to them? How did they die? Sometimes (not often), there's someone staying in these rooms that I didn't know about. They're people that I don't know. They're usually surprised to see me when I find them, as if to say: "You're not supposed to know about us!" We talk, and I tell them they can't stay. They agree to leave, usually. These dream houses are usually huge. Two or three stories. Once, one of these houses was as big as your average mall! I was walking past doors and doors and doors. The house was a Victorian in one dream, three stories tall. In another dream, it was an old brick dormitory. Sometimes I find hidden basements. In one of these homes, there was something like a landfill located in the sprawling basement. There were old things stacked neatly by category - kitchen appliances, rugs, household cleaners, etc. All of these things were used. When I'm in the "new part" of the house, I get a happy feeling. It's mine. I can decorate and invite guests over without feeling embarrassed. But when I open a door and find one of those horror-rooms, I feel sad. Even afraid. Is this going to affect the rest of the house? The foundation? How am I going to fix this? Just seal the room off? In one dream, I was in a very large house, and there were people in just about every room. They were all trying to hide from something horrible. They all knew it was coming. They were scattering, running, screaming. It was my house, so I knew just where to hide. I found a staircase, looked under it, and saw an old well, the type my grandmother used to have on her farm, with the wooden door on top. I climbed into the water and shut the door. The water was cold and clear, green. I knew I'd be safe there from whatever everybody was running from. Thanks - just found this forum today. I've been wanting to ask about these things for a loooooooong time. Appreciate any response. Just remembered...in one of these rooms, I was outside looking in. There was one of those old, antique wheelchairs in the corner. ...and oh yeah: I have these "old house dreams" as I now call them, about once a month.