Dear Sasquatch: If we dream we die, do we actually die?
Dear Sasquatch:
Is it true that if you die in your dreams, you will die for real? Like have a heart attack or something?
—Pari S.
Dear Pari:
I’ve heard this one before too, but I’m not sure how it ever got started considering you can’t ever ask person who dies in their sleep what they were dreaming about!
But really, many people have dreamed they died and are still around to talk about it. I’ve dreamed many times that I was killed by Jason from the Friday the 13th movies. (This was during my horror movie marathon phase back in the eighties.) I usually then wake up or just go straight into another dream. Once, after Jason killed me, he turned out to be my grandpa, and we flew (with our bodies, just willing ourselves up in the air) to Paris for his wedding, where he turned out not to be my grandpa but my son, and we weren’t in Paris for his wedding but working at Burger King—and that’s pretty much when I woke up screaming.
This is anecdotal, of course, but the burden or proof here is on the person making the claim that we do actually die if we dream about it, and there’s no evidence to suggest this is true.
I think it’s plausible that someone with, say, a heart condition could have a heart attack in their sleep during a nightmare, but that’s about as close to any truth I can see in this myth.
————————————–
Do you have a question for Sasquatch? Need advice? An answer to a question that’s been puzzling you? Beauty tips? Ask in the comments section or send an email to SkepticalSasquatch@gmail.com. Skeptical Sasquatch is now on Twitter (@skeptisquatch) and Facebook.
Image credit: Adapted from photos by Gerard Stolk and Creative Tools.