Now and then, we experience terrifying nightmares, waking up in a cold sweat, and being affected by the night terrors for days. One of the most common types of nightmares is a murder dream.
These dreams are extremely terifying, and whether you witness a murder, someone murders you, or you’re the one doing the killing, it can leave you feeling distressed as soon as you wake up.
Because a murder dream can cause negative emotions, it is best we try to understand their meaning. By doing so, we can avoid overreacting to strange and vivid dreams and reduce their negative impact on our daily lives.
A dream signifies the emotional consequences of the events and experiences we have in our waking life. Because of this, a murder dream could tell us something we already know but are afraid to admit.
In this article, we’ll explore the general symbolism of dreaming about murder and provide the most common interpretations of the most common types of murder dreams.
General Symbolism of Dreams About a Murder
Dreams about murder are intense and disturbing, but once you know what murder represents, you’ll understand they are mirrors of your emotional state.
Here are the general symbolism of dreams about murder:
Biblical Meaning of Killing Someone in a Dream
The Biblical meaning of killing someone in a dream is martyrdom and sacrifice. In many Biblical stories, murders often involve envy, thirst for power, and sacrifice. When it comes to dreams of murders, there is often mention of some sacrifice to achieve a goal, such as a new life, truth, and spiritual awakening.
Transformation or Rebirth
In line with the Biblical meaning of killing someone in a dream, transformation or rebirth is often associated with dreams about murder.
Death doesn’t always mean a bad thing, and death can mean the end of an old life and the rebirth of a life meant for you. A dream about someone dying can represent a part of you you want to end to make way for a new beginning.
Shadow Self
Every person has a shadow self or a dark side, and dreaming about murdering someone or being murdered violently can represent your shadow self. Because we can’t freely express this side of us in waking life, it manifests in our dreams, where anything is possible.
Repressed Anger
Like our shadow self, anger and rage can sometimes be bottled up inside us. A loved one may have betrayed us, a co-worker may have spread lies about us to get ahead, and a stranger may have done us wrong. However, because of our values and general morality, we must control ourselves from expressing anger.
In our dreams, however, these intense emotions can manifest themselves. And thus, resulting in dreams about murder and violence.
Lack of Safety and Security
To dream that you’re being murdered or someone stabbing you can reflect your feeling of lack of safety and security in an area of your life. You may live in a home or environment that’s abusive and dangerous, and you dream about being murdered because of a fear of being in danger in your place of dwelling.
The context and details of your dream can tell a lot about the meaning behind them. There are no cookie-cutter interpretations of dreams, but the symbolisms we discussed are the most common general meaning.
However, accurate interpretation is always subjective based on your personal experiences. If you want to know more specific details of your dreams about murder, the following section talks about the particular dreams about murder and their possible interpretations.
Common Dreams About Murder
Here are the most common dreams about murder and the meaning behind them:
1. Dreams of You Being Murdered
If you dream of being murdered, that can make you feel disturbed upon waking, and it can have you feeling terrified that someone will kill you soon. You may also spend your days being cautious and jumping at the slightest sound and movements around you.
However, there’s no need to worry, as dreams are merely symbols. They are not premonitions; though in rare cases, they can be used as predictors of future events.
In the case of a dream of you being murdered, it could imply that you want to kill something in yourself and make way for something new. You may hate that you’re lazy or can’t accept rejection, but you want to end this character of yours. And so you dream of being murdered, but it signifies an end to bad habits and toxic things about you.
2. Dreams About Committing a Murder
Dreams about committing murder can be about repressed aggression and rage. If you find yourself killing someone in your dream, it could mean you want to express this anger.
If the person you murder is part of your life, you may have intense hatred or bitterness toward this person in real life. The murder may be a catharsis of your anger so that you won’t act it out in real life.
3. Dreams About Being Killed Violently
Violent dreams are never a good sign, and they can cause your blood pressure and heart rate to spike while sleeping, disrupting your sleep. You may also feel exhausted when you wake up.
This could mean you have a colleague, friend, or someone you’re uncomfortable with in waking life. Or you may have sensed this person doesn’t like you. Because of this, you dreamed of being murdered violently by this person because you feared they might do something to you in real life.
4. Dream About Someone Murdering Someone Else
This dream is a sign that someone in your life is trying to ruin your reputation by spreading lies about you. You may have felt someone trying to eliminate your social support, so they smear your name. It could also be a recurring dream of a traumatic event you witnessed.
5. Dreaming of Someone Being Killed in Front of You
If you witness a murder, it could be a reflection of feeling powerless or vulnerable in real life. You may have a problem, or you know someone is having trouble, and you want to help. However, you can’t do anything about it and feel helpless.
6. Dream About Family Being Murdered
Dreaming about a family member being murdered can mean you are afraid of losing that person. However, you also know you can’t do anything if they die of an illness or an accident because you’re away or their condition is terminal.
It can also mean you resent your family and want to get away from them. They may have abused you when you were young, and you wish they would disappear from your life.
7. Dreams About Being Tortured and Murdered
Dreaming about being tortured and murdered is brutal and can have you feeling deep emotional pain when you wake up. However, you only need to see it from a metaphoric lens. What aspects of your life are happening repeatedly, even when you want it to stop?
Are your bills piling up? Are you living from paycheck to paycheck? Is your partner always cheating on you? It can mean you’re being hurt repeatedly in life, and the pain is overwhelming; it feels like you’re being tortured.
8. Dream About Murdering Someone and Hiding the Body
Murdering someone and hiding the body can mean you are at the point of losing your self-control. You may have suffered in silence for too long, and now you’ve had enough. You may have the desire to confront a person who’s hurting you or disrespecting you and want to release all of your rage into this person.
Hiding the body can mean you also have the desire to forget about the pain and anger once you’ve unleashed your rage. You want to let it go once it’s over.
9. Dreaming of Murdering Someone and Covering It Up
To dream of covering up a murder you orchestrated could mean you are fully aware of your bad habits. You may be cheating on your partner, stealing money from your job, or gambling your hard-earned money, and you feel guilty.
Dreaming of murdering someone and covering it up can be a reflection of your negative actions in real life and your general feeling of guilt over these actions.
10. Dreaming of Being Murdered by a Knife
Murder through stabbing is an intimate act of violence. Stabbing someone multiple times until that person is dead involves rage and extreme hate.
You may dream about being murdered by a knife because you sense that your spouse, family member, or good friends are angry at you. You may fear that they will hurt or leave you because of something you did in real life.
11. Dream About Being Chased by a Killer and Murdered
To dream of being chased by a killer can mean you are running away from a problem in life, but it’s catching up to you. You may have avoided this problem for so long that it has finally overwhelmed you.
However, if you fought back in your dream, it could mean you are ready to confront these problems.
12. Dream About My Child Being Murdered
If your child is being murdered and you have children in real life, this dream can have you screaming in terror, and it can leave you with a heavy heart upon waking up and even cause you to shed tears for something so terrifying.
However, it may merely be a symbol of your guilt. You may worry you’re not doing a good job as a parent. The dream represents guilt that you don’t want to face or admit, so you’d rather kill this guilt.
It could also mean you are so afraid of losing your child that your deepest fear is manifesting in your dreams.
13. Dreaming About Fear of Being Murdered
Dreaming about the fear of being murdered means you do not feel safe at work, at home, or neighborhood. You may have heard on the news that there was a murder or robbery, and now you are always on your toes. You may also think some people around you are not to be trusted, so you have a general feeling of uneasiness in waking life.
14. Dreams About Almost Being Murdered
If you dream of being almost murdered, that means you survived in the dream. This could mean you faced a problem or significant obstacle in life, but now you’re okay. This problem may have been so substantial that it overwhelmed you, but you feel victorious for overcoming it.
It can also mean that someone may want to destroy you, so you feel anxious in your waking life.
Related: Dream about getting shot.
A Word of Advice
A murder dream is a true definition of what a nightmare is. This is especially disturbing when you are murdered in your dream or a loved one. If you’ve had this dream recently, you don’t need to worry about it coming true in real life.
Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis and one of the very first proponents of dream interpretation, believed that our dreams are the “royal roadmap” to our inner thoughts and emotions.
These nightmares may seem very real, but we must always understand that they symbolize our subconscious mind. So when you experience a dream of being murdered, you only need to reflect on your waking life to understand what it means.
If you have negative feelings in dreams of witnessing murder, or you are a victim of mass murder in the dream, or a close friend kills people, that reflects the negative interpretations of the dream.
Once you’ve found the root cause of your inner conflicts, important relationship issues, stress, and other triggers of your nightmares, you can begin to heal by finding solutions.
And once you’ve taken better care of your emotional health, you can start to notice improvements in the quality of your dreams and your self-awareness.
FAQ
1. What do violent dreams mean?
Dreams symbolize our waking life, so violent dreams can mean you are facing a lot of stress and problems. It can also tell you have a lot of repressed anger you want to release.
2. Why are my dreams so violent?
There are many possible answers to this:
- You may be exposed to a lot of violent media.
- You may have a lot of trauma.
- You may have a lot of anger and rage you can’t express in your waking life.
