What do dreams about murder mean? Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night in a panic because you’ve dreamt you have just murdered someone?

Thankfully, these types of dreams are not common, but they do have meaning.

Dream analysis is often used in psychoanalysis as a tool to understanding our subconscious thoughts, in fact, it was first pioneered by Sigmund Freud, who believed that dreams were the ‘royal road’ to the unconscious mind.

It is thought that our dreams can be a way of our subconscious thoughts coming to the surface. But obviously we are not all murderers, so what can it mean if we dream about murder?

Dreams about murder, being murdered or witnessing a murder are more often than not sending a powerful message to our consciousness.

Typically this could be:

  • Something in your life is ending or should go
  • A dramatic change is happening in your life
  • You feel hostility towards another person
  • You feel guilty about something.

Dreams about murder could also point to a release of built-up rage or anger towards a particular person in your life.  Subconsciously, you might feel like ‘ending’ the relationship but don’t know how to.

If you know the person in your dream that has been murdered but you feel indifferent about them in real life, they might represent something in your life you don’t like and want to get rid of.

If you are being murdered, you could feel betrayed by someone that is important to you.

If you watched someone else commit the murder, you might be suppressing your own feelings and anger and denying a personality trait in yourself that you don’t want to see.

It all depends on the actual dream and who was murdered.

If you were murdered

This could mean that something in yourself has to end or die. It could be a way of thinking or acting or a belief. In order for you to move on with your life and become a functioning human being, this aspect has to go.

If in your dream you struggled against your attacker, then it signifies you are not quite ready to let whatever it is you need to go just yet.

If someone you know was murdered

This could mean that you have problems with the person who was murdered and are either jealous of them or dislike them intensely. The person who was murdered could also represent an aspect of your personality that you do not like.

To understand further why this person was murdered in your dream you need to think about what they are to you in real life. What do they represent in real life and why do you want to get rid of them?

As for analysing particular aspects of dreams about murder, theorists believe that if you saw the murder taking place, you are emotionally cutting yourself off from someone important in your life.

If you were being chased by the murder, you are trying to outrun some aspect of your emotional life. And if you were the murderer, you could be feeling depressed at life and are angry at yourself.

Most psychoanalysts believe that dreams about murder signify the person moving on from some old or outdated practice or habit and trying something new. Much as the way the ‘Death’ tarot card does not mean dying, it symbolises an ending and new beginning, so does a murder dream.

Can dreams about murder imitate waking life?

However, there has been an interesting study on people that have recurring dreams about murder. Experts in dream analysis found that those who dream of committing murders are more likely to be hostile and aggressive in real life.

A new study has found those who dream of committing murder tend to be hostile and more aggressive when they are awake. When awake these dreamers were also introverted and found it hard to socialise with others.

The German study stated that dreams were often a magnification of real-life thoughts and feelings. During waking hours, people may find that they are bottling up feelings of hostility and aggression, but when they dream, these feelings are amplified into murder scenarios.

Lead researcher Professor Michael Shredl, of the Central Institute of Mental Health’s sleep laboratory in Mannheim, Germany, said that:

“Emotions in dreams can be much stronger than the emotions in waking life, if you do dream about killing, look at your aggressive emotions in waking life.”

So perhaps when you next dream of a murder you should ask yourself what is happening in your waking life and should you be worried?

References:

  1. https://www.bustle.com
  2. https://www.psychologytoday.com

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This Post Has 28 Comments

  1. Random Stranger Who Dreams Of Being Murdered

    I really like the border you chose.

  2. smdwamfc

    i had a dream, i murdered someone….dont know who but he invaded my home then i stabbed him in his neck back and head around 30 times.smfh… reading this article has confirmed alot for me

  3. jus

    I had a dream about murder that I can barely remember but it was pretty insane and I was only a bystander. The murderer was a man and I don’t remember whom he murdered or why but might’ve been his wife in the dream and then a lady he was with suggested he murder his kids too because he “had no other choice” but at this point in the dream I walked away because I did not want to witness that. I didn’t recognize anyone in the dream from real life. Wonder what it means, i’ve never dreamt anything like it before.

  4. Angella hippolyte

    I dreamed my son in law was stab he was in a fight and someone stab him in the abdomen I was crying

  5. Assumpta

    A course mate called me early in the morning saying she dreamt I was shot dead with one other of my course mate…..I don’t understand this

  6. Santhya

    I dremt that my mom killed someone . I dont remember tha person who my mom killed .then suddenly i woke

  7. Tory

    I dreamed I killed this lady with a pitchfork stabbing her over and over but she was still standing and even talking. Then my brother was trying to help me hide the body and he said to put her in the lobster fryer whatever that is but in my dream I thought it was clever.

  8. Garrett

    Just had a dream that someone i grewup with betrayed me and tried to get me jumped. But i stopped him and gis buddy with a rake i saw and hit both of them and i stabbed one up many times and injured another that got away which i was ok with. I was thinking as long as he got the message and ran.

  9. Jojo

    I just dreamt that me and my ex bf who is now deceased in real life murdered two people who I didn’t know and disposed of their bodies in a trash disposal in two black trash bags. It was below a movie theater and when we came out there were blood tracks everywhere however they were from a different murder and we escaped in front of police as if we were just innocent movie goers. In the same dream I also gave myself a face lift and dated a 20 year old with a Ferrari. Did I wake up confused? You bet!

    1. Edith

      Wow mine is too similar to yours, a woman I didn’t know and the trash bags! Ugh too vivid !

  10. Motoyen

    I’ve never been an aggressive person. I have never had a situation that truly made me angry; I handle my emotions radically different from those around me. I’m not trying to boast, it’s just something I’ve noticed. I’m pretty introverted yet find making friends is a pretty seamless activity.

    The issue that I have – one that I’ve been dealing with since Junior High – is constant reoccurring lucid dreams in which I commit murders or mass genocide. I have stepped in to lucid dreaming in the past, and I happen to have them quite frequently, but I always find myself with some kind of weapon and a handful of bodies in my wake.

    I have had several in which I commit such crimes and then spend the rest of my dreams running from the police. Anywhere from setting up timed bombs to straight up booking it through the woods.

    I have no intention to “fix” these dreams, but I figured it would be decent input to one’s research, if need be.

  11. Jashley

    I had a dream where I was kidnaped with some friends and that the Kidnappers where killing our family one by one he had a wall full with our family pictures and they would end up talking them of when that person was dead, out of nowhere I have my phone and call the police 5 minutes later we get on a bus and move 30 min away from where we were , the police called me again and the Kidnapper kind of saw me so I hung up and acted like I was looking at a picture of my brother which he had already killed the only person that was still alive was my little sister and 4 other more( I saw there picture on the wall)

  12. Amber C

    I dreamed i murdered my child’s paternal grandmother. I stabbed her repeatedly, cut her throat, and hid her in the closet. My child’s father is a mamas boy all means and for some reason he helped me cover it up. I’d wake up and the dream would pick back up where it left off. Over and over. The dream was so realistic. And im not an aggressive person at all in my woken state.

    1. Edith

      Wow mine too, it keeps picking up where it left off and it’s honestly scaring me and making me not want to go back to sleep

  13. Justin Hood

    I have had multiple murderous dreams… In one recently i was a woman (but i am a man) and in this one i had today, i killed a household of family.. but they didnt die… I am a very calm person whos easy to get along with. i have no desire to kill or anything like this. these dreams paralyze me when i wake up from them. even typing this i feel weak. i wish i knew how to stop these awful dreams.

    1. Liz

      Look at who you are killing and why. Did you kill the family because you are trying to put off the urge to have or start one of your own for instance? Did you kill your boss because he didn’t give you a raise and you are hurt by that? Once you analyze your dream and figure out what it’s trying to say- the symbols not the storyline, the dreams will change. When you have recurring dreams it’s a message your subconscious is trying to get across, and once you realize what the dream is truley saying symbolically, they will stop. Dreams want to get your attention and be understood when they keep repeating. Also, you can set an intention for your dreams right before bed, this will direct that nights dreams to be on that subject. This is how we influence our own dreams. Pick a problem you want solved and think about it before bed telling yourself to solve it while you sleep as you fall asleep. Your dream should relate to that topic and offer a possible solution.

  14. Joyce

    Yes I’m very worried I have a recurring dream about my mother being murdered gruesomely, and I wake up shaking and fearful I don’t know what the meaning really I’m very worried and LM scared to the core.

  15. Biswajit

    I saw a murder between two people. One of them femous political leader and another person was unknown people. What does the mean about this dream ¿????

  16. Miley

    i had a dream that i was staying over at my friends house and this guy was taking care of us. so when we were in the kitchen he was threatening us and then he killed this one girl that i don’t really like and then he was just like really aggressive. someone came in and killed him. some nice guy started taking care of us and he got killed by the first guy. we don’t know how he came back to life. my other friend killed him and i made a different move this time (because this dream is reoccuring). i called my parents and my dad said he’ll be in 30 minutes but i knew the guy would be back cuz i’ve seen it. song is next victim was me and i was freaking out. a lot more happened and i don’t remember a lot too but yeahhh

  17. Edith

    I keep having this dream that continues where it left off where my boyfriend killed a woman, I don’t know how or who but I do know that he has left her body or her body parts in my house, and another one full or what he used to either kill her or clean it up, I’m helping him cover it up. I see the blood next to the bag and I won’t let my mom through, the bags stink and I just keep texting him because he wants to run away but I keep telling him to come live with me. It’s 3 AM and I just woke up, I feel scared and anxiety. The dream was too vivid and felt extremely weird. I love my boyfriend so much so this actually hurt to dream about, I woke up very sad and conflicted.

  18. Lolla

    I dream of seeing my family being murdered in front of my eyes since 2016 the same nightmare and sometimes am followed and other times trynna save them.

  19. Bukola

    I dreamt that a child was murdered in my kitchen.

  20. Bukola

    I saw in my dream the person have stopped talking to, we had a little argument and I went angrily to my kitchen, on getting there I saw that a child was murdered in my kitchen and the corpse didn’t look fresh. I am sooooo worried.

  21. Komu

    I dreamed about murdering someone.
    Nothing like this has happened before
    So
    Basically it was me and 2 other people I have no idea who they are but I know what they look like were chased by some lady and ended up going into a house which I believe was mine stuff happened and I ended up choking her to death and I think I also kicked her about after when someone else showed up and I believe were roommates or something as they dont seem to be bothered by this next action which was to burn the house down and leaving her in the kitchen where it all started it looked like a get away but it didnt seem like it was the first time i killed it loomed so real and like as if I’ve killed before it was horrible as fuck and in the end the house burnt down and the lady did too there wasnt a trace of her

  22. Komu

    Thee was no* trace of her

  23. CC

    I have dreamt of saving someone i know from a zombie, where i cut his head off w/ a sword reaching across an abandoned car in a field of weeds & brightest sun.

  24. Chris

    Nightmare of being murdered by 3 female ‘strangers’ who killed many others, resurrected & found clues to killers identities & gave murderers 1st names after i wrote all clues down in a book in a room even asking people to leave my name out the papers, then died in dream from poison after some other lady gave last names. Dream felt real.
    One of the scariest dreams I ever had. Had it just now.

    Another scary dreams I had was when I was a ghost, stopped a murder & got aggressive to the murderer making him scared. Again all strangers in that dream.

    Another dream was when everyone was being murdered by evil spirits & i managed to feel power & defeat the evil spirits. This of the 3 dreams is a little bit less real than the other 2.

  25. Nesha

    I keep having dreams where I kill people. I don’t see them being killed, I just constantly have to deal with the aftermath like hiding the body, running away, mainly ducking the cops. Strangely, my lil brother keeps being at my side to help me cover it up and escape. It’s always him across multiple dreams. Today, I had the similar dream again but instead my lil brother did the killing and I helped him cover it up. I thought this was related to my trying to quit smoking weed. Thoughts ? (My lil bro never cared abt me smoking )

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