This was a terrifying dream, and at the end of it, I had extreme difficulties getting back to bed.

In the first part of the dream, I was an observer, watching what was happening through others' eyes.  The dream was in a small village in the middle of the countryside.  There was a massive pit of mud in the middle of the town, with lots of people herded into it, and some townsfolk standing around the outside of the mudpit.  I heard some chanting and all of the people in the mudpit changed into various farm animals--sheep, pigs, etc.  The townsfolk standing outside of the mudpit were carrying chainsaws, and they fired them up.  They then went to the grisly task of slaughtering the transformed people.  It was some sort of illusion, the people who were "changed" still saw themselves as people, but the townsfolk under the enchantmant saw them as farm animals, and it was slaughter day. 

In a horrible scene, a mother in the town was going after her son.  She thought that her son was a farm animal, had always been a farm animal, for such was the nature of the evil power over her mind.  Her confused son begged for his mom to stop, snap out of it.  She didn't.... and an unspeakable thing happened as he was killed by her.

After this, the townsfolk snapped out of it.  They couldn't remember clearly what had happened, or what they had just done.  They were all herded into a church by a small middle aged woman who told them - "That's right.  Follow me.  Gotta know Jesus.  Gotta get right with Jesus."  She sat everyone down and started instructing them.  Except her "Bible" was actually a book of dark spells and hexes.  Apparently whatever dark forces were at work in the town, they used religion as a cover to instruct and brainwash the people.

In the next part of the dream, I was myself again(the dream switched back to first person).  I was back in town from Tokyo(I currently live in Tokyo, but I'm originally from Buffalo, NY).  I volunteered to help out at a hardware store that I used to work for.  While I was working there, the mother who had killed her son came into the store.  She explained that she was from the village of Galveston, NY, and strange things were going on in her once-happy village.  People were getting sick, disappearing, and a pall of fear began to hang in the air. 

An FBI agent, who happened to be in the store at the time, overheard her story and decided to investigate.  Even though I was on vacation, I decided to investigate as well(foolish me).  So I jumped in my car and drove to the rather creepy village.

The FBI agent showed up first and went into a church there.  He talked with the pastor there, and she explained that she didn't understand what was happening, or why people were disappearing.  The FBI agent questioned her a bit further, and then decided to leave--he couldn't find any good leads yet.  As he was leaving, one of the children in the church began coughing up blood, lots of blood.  The FBI agent looked a bit skeptically at the parents, but they told him that they didn't know what was wrong. 

Some speculation here: They never actually said so in the dream, but it seems like people in the village were divided between the sacrificers and the sacrificed.  The sacrificers learned the dark arts, and were trained to sacrifice the others.  The sacrificed were taught to be obedient, and to accept their fate quietly. 

Anyway, I showed up in town after this.  I took a look around the village, and decided that it was quite spooky alright.  I then noticed something--crows.  Lots of crows, so many in fact, all making all sorts of strange noises.

I looked up and noticed, "Those things aren't crows, are they?"  They were some sort of strange creatures, that looked like a cross between a bird and a lizard.  They had teeth and tongues, but crawled through the trees, darkly consuming other strange things that also were in the trees.

It was enough to convince me to leave.  I got in my car and drove for the bridge out of town.  The town was on an island, and there was one bridge out of town that they raised at night.

I had to take a whiz, so I stopped by a pitstop on the way.  As I was leaving the bathroom, one of the children there said to me, "I wonder what they're going to change YOU into?  Maybe a carrot?"  This kid creeped me out, so I decided to get the heck out of dodge.

I was driving towards the bridge.  I realized that the sun was rapidly dipping behind the trees, and I also remembered that they raised the bridge at night.  If I didn't get over that bridge soon, I was going to be trapped on the island during the night, and I didn't want to be there.

I was whipping down the streets as fast as I could.... and then the dream ended.  Bummer.  I don't know if I got off in time, or what happened to me if I didn't.  Good idea for a horror film I think.

I had this dream the night of May 22nd, 2006