[DeepSpace9er]

I have been perplexed about this for a while. I have a friend who has had 'group' dreams with her friends, that is, on a regular basis they were dreaming the exact same thing with specific concrete small details. The dreams were very lucid, and were hard to tell apart from memories. The dreams would always occur at night, outside their apartment, and the next morning they would all know what happened without it needed to be discussed much, so much so that she doesnt know if they were dreams at all or if they were blotched memories. She said she would go to sleep and fall into a 'sleep trance' and wake up the next morning sometimes with visible signs that she was outside, but not 100% if it was real or not. What gets me the most is how all 3 of them had specifically identical 'dreams.' Any ideas?

[Mobius]

Well. I predict deaths and car accidents in my dreams. I'm superior to your friends

I heard a couple of stories about "group dreams", but I think that they're just coincidences.

[Snail]

It can't be coincidence. It's one of those unexplainable and freaky phenomena.

[haloboy100]

It can't be coincidence. It's one of those unexplainable and freaky phenomena.

also known as supernatural.

[Mobius]

Oh, come on. "Coincidence" isn't a bad word. Strange things happen. However, if a group of people continuously shares dreams...well, I wouldn't call it a "coincidence" .

It can't be coincidence. It's one of those unexplainable and freaky phenomena.

Should I consider myself a Prophet, then? I had prophetic dreams that went well beyond the concept of "unexplanable phenomenon". But I don't want to talk about them...

[TrashMan]

Their souls touched eachoter...or sumtin like that.

[Mobius]

Their souls touched eachoter...or sumtin like that.

How you can consider it a valid explanation?!?

[TrashMan]

You want a scientific explanation for something that doesn't appear to have one in a 1000 mile radius?

[Mobius]

If it happens one time, I would call it a coincidence. If it happens every single night, well, I would reconsiderate my opinion.

[Scuddie]

It's a glitch in the matrix.

* Scuddie runs away

EDIT:  But seriously, everybody has premonitions in one way or another.  Call it what you will (I call it psychokinetic turbulence ), but often it is just self-fulfilling prophecy.

[BloodEagle]

Sounds like they need to quit drinking. 

In all seriousness, were they together for most of the day? Dreams are supposedly shaped by events that occur earlier in the day, if two people who are somewhat alike share the same experience, they might very well have identical dreams.

Of course, I'm no psychologist. 

[DiabloRojo]

This place needs more skeptics right now.  DEVIL'S ADVOCATE POWERS, ACTIVATE!!

Potential causes:
1. Drug/Booze induced dazes:
"Man, I totally remember going to the bathroom!"  "No, Rojo, you went to the KITCHEN and took a whiz in the trash can."  "Oh."
2. Complete fabrication.
Friends or no, this happens WAY more than you'd like or know.  I don't want to hear that your friend is a saint either.  I had a girlfriend that was a 'saint'.  You don't want the know the depraved acts she would commit... in a completely innocuous situation. 
3. Strong prior stimuli or consistent stimuli between parties while asleep.
Such as multiple people being asleep in the same area with a TV on, especially if said movie or show that is playing is already very familiar to the subjects, multiple people may dream they are somehow connected with the show or the subject of it.
4. Simple semi-conscious sleepwalking.
Lucidity and actual evidence of being outside point directly to this.

*Have an unrelated 3rd party interview each person individually immediately after a dream 'session' asking specific, pointed questions, not allowing the 'dreamers' to ramble about the experience.  If any stories match, then you might be able to entertain the thought that it could be a possibility, even though it would still be entirely probable that they're faking every bit of it, or at best case, that any similarities discerned were a direct result of previously mentioned external stimuli.

Until there's any empirical evidence, it isn't to be believed.  "Brain waves" are not radiated from the skull.  They're not even "waves" at all.  There is no foundation (other than magic and faeries, kinda like the big thing in the sky that watches you all the time, even when you poo) for this kind of occurrence to stand on.  It's nothing but wishful thinking.

Now, once, I had a dream that my as-yet unborn twin cousins were born with duck feet and bills.  Why?  Not a clue.  Maybe I was watching Bugs and Daffy that day.  I do have one hell of an imagination though.  When they really 'arrived' a few months later, oddly enough, the skin between their second and third toes on both feet was overgrown so it almost looked like they had (barely) webbed feet.  Interesting coincidence, sure.  Did I predict the future with my dream?  Hell no.

[Black Wolf]

I suspect that dreams don't lodge themselves in the brain the same way memories do. consider when you wake up - you know you had an awesome dream, and for the first few seconds, you can remember it very clearly. But it slips away, much faster than a real memory would. I suspect this also makes them susceptible to modification by the conscious mind. One friend says one thing, the other instantly "remembers" dreaming the exact same thing, and it contnually reinforces. This'd probably get a lot stronger the more often they meet anfd talk about it,m each expecting to have had another shared dream. Plus I doubt they'd dwell on the differences. It only takes a few coincidences to convince people that there's something supernatural going on, but a lot of errors to convince them that there isn't once they've got it into their heads that they're special.

Of course, they could simply all be possessed by the dark lord Beelzebub. Either or.

[BloodEagle]

Of course, they could simply all be possessed by the dark lord Beelzebub. Either or.

That's a good point. Do their heads rotate 360 degrees at random?

[Topgun]

well if it wasn't the vorlons and it wasn't me it must have been the starborn.

[Mobius]

Of course, they could simply all be possessed by the dark lord Beelzebub. Either or.

That's a good point. Do their heads rotate 360 degrees at random?

That would be a nightmare. Incubus is the contrary of Succubus. The Succubus interferes with your dream, you become an Incubus. The Greeks thought that nightmares were caused by external forces.

But it wasn't a nightmare...it was a dream like any other.

[Flipside]

I've always considered it to be a kind of 'sixth sense', and I don't mean 'paranormal' type senses, I mean that situation when you know that one particular person in a room is looking at you, and before you even realise, you have turned your head and met their gaze. Even more eerie, if you think about it, is the fact that most people know when their pet is 'lurking', even a cat, which is pretty quiet, will still set that 'feeling' off when they are watching you at the computer. I do think there's some kind of empathic sensitivity in our psyche, but I don't consider it to be 'special' and certainly not 'unique' to mankind.

[Bob-san]

My views on this are sort of odd... basically this is what I think of that. They're sleepwalking. If they're claiming to have evidence saying they went outside and have the same exact dreams, here's what I'd say you should do (Without saying anything to any of them)...

Basically, seperate 2 or 3 of them from the rest of their normal group. If you can observe them discretely, they may or may not give you clues on what's causing it. Scientists would likely put them under many cameras and microphones, finding out everything they do for extended periods. Something that I was thinkning about when reading this (after a TV program on the subject) is aliens. I doubt it would be that, but if it is, ask them to say hi to the Vasudans or the Shivans for me!

[TrashMan]

I've always considered it to be a kind of 'sixth sense', and I don't mean 'paranormal' type senses, I mean that situation when you know that one particular person in a room is looking at you, and before you even realise, you have turned your head and met their gaze. Even more eerie, if you think about it, is the fact that most people know when their pet is 'lurking', even a cat, which is pretty quiet, will still set that 'feeling' off when they are watching you at the computer. I do think there's some kind of empathic sensitivity in our psyche, but I don't consider it to be 'special' and certainly not 'unique' to mankind.

I consider it to be something on a spiritual level, not physical.

When you know someone so well, you know his soul so well that you have a level of understanding that is beyond physical...

[BloodEagle]

That would be a nightmare. Incubus is the contrary of Succubus. The Succubus interferes with your dream, you become an Incubus. The Greeks thought that nightmares were caused by external forces.

I thought that Succubi and Incubi devoured souls during intercourse which took place inside of a dream. So... unless they're really ugly, I wouldn't consider it a nightmare. 


P.S.

I still think booze is the cause.