The Craggy Child

by The Man In Black

When I was just a mere Boy in Black, I had the only nightmare I can remember. The family was getting ready to move to Korea where daddy was being stationed. The dream was me lost in a darkcave with lots of jagged edges. I knew I was being followed and watched by… something. This paranoia grew and grew as I wandered in the cave. Just as I was approaching the cave mouth and about to exit into sunlight, I turned around and saw a horrible stone creature made of black or grey (the color was indeterminate) jagged edges. I woke up with a frightful start while staring into it's glowing red eyes.

The very next night I dreamed that I was walking in a rusty steel tunnel and was being followed again. When I turned around I saw the same huge creature as before. This time however, it had brought a smaller version of itself. A granite jagged child of the dreamlands. I realized that the creatures were nothing to be afraid of.

***

A Maze of Twisty Passages, All Alike.

One week in 1995 me and Adam were into Marathon (a superior version of Doom for the Mac) and were goofing off by doing eight hour sessions until 3am every night for a week at our personal polisci lab (yes, our clique got office space at the University of Hawaii - donation of a Silicon Graphics Indigo works wonders on the bureaucracy).

Anyway, the weekend before we had to start doing real work, I had this dream:

I was running through a maze of twisty passages, all alike. Frequently, aliens would pop up in ambush and I would incinerate them with my trusty plasma flamethrower. Then I came to the Vampire room. The Vampire Room was in all black and white. The Vampire inside was holding a small androgynous child and a claw-end hammer. The Bloodsucker said to drop my weapon, which I did. Then he said "Time to pop the top" and busted open the child's head and began drinking up the glowing orange brains. These brains were the only color in the room.

I immediately picked up Mr. Flamethrower and incinerated the area with glowing orange plasma. Then I woke up in a sweat.

Strangely, this was similar to an AD&D scenario I DM's years before, where Nelson's Paladin had to give up the sword Wishbringer to a demon, the Chaotic Evil Archmage, and the undead conspiracy. They had captured a child and used her as a hostage. When Nelson gave up the sword, they vampirized the child and let her loose on the party, teleporting away.

They lost a few experience levels that night.

Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 13:40:00 -0800

From: "Mark McFadden

Notes on patient "Blues Brother":

The Craggy Child:

The dream was me lost in a darkcave with lots of jagged
edges. I knew I was being followed and watched by… something.

Fairly standard vagina dentata imagery, interestingly juxtaposed with some resentment of maternal oversight. These themes should subside when the patient finally graduates to sex with a partner.

Just as I was approaching the cave mouth and about to exit into sunlight,

Birth trauma.

I turned around and saw a horrible stone creature made of black or
grey (the color was indeterminate) jagged edges. I woke up with a
frightful start while staring into it's glowing red eyes.

And spends his life dressed in black as some sort of bene gris gris against his fear. Significantly, he always wears sunglasses, perhaps to protect him from the red eyes?

The very next night I dreamed that I was walking in a rusty steel
tunnel and was being followed again.

Tunnels and caves again. Significantly, no phallic imagery.

A Maze of Twisty Passages, All Alike.
One week in 1995 me and Adam were into Marathon (a superior version
of Doom for the Mac) and were goofing off by doing eight hour
sessions until 3am every night for a week at our personal polisci lab

Note: the tunnel/cave motif is no longer straight like a vagina, but twisty like an intestine. Anticipate similar warping to gender role.

Giving his penis a nickname (Adam) is a good sign, it shows that he is comfortable with it, if somewhat obsessive in his attentions to it. His reference to the basement of his parent's house as "our personal polisci lab" I dismiss as whimsy/wish fulfillment.

I was running through a maze of twisty passages, all alike.

The singles scene isn't kind to the deeply neurotic.

Frequently, aliens would pop up in ambush and I would incinerate them
with my trusty plasma flamethrower.

Well, at least it's phallic imagery.

The Vampire inside was holding a small androgynous child and a
claw-end hammer.

Fairly common imagery during episodes of bed-wetting. Replacing the standard ball-peen hammer with a claw-end is either significant, or not.

The Bloodsucker said to drop my weapon, which I did.

Castration anxiety.

I immediately picked up Mr. Flamethrower and incinerated the area
with glowing orange plasma. Then I woke up in a sweat.

Or some other sticky secretion. I'm not sure if "Adam's" transformation into "Mr. Flamethrower" is simply adolescent hyperbole or yet another sign of deep rooted malignant psychoses.

Note: look into his cryptic references to a Senor Sock.

Dr. Richard Skinner, MD, PhD, FOAF, LSMFT