Dreams about killing, murder, shooting others – what do they mean? (dream interpretation killing, murder)
Dream interpretation killing, to kill, murder. Dreaming that you are killing other people might mean many things. Those you kill could symbolize something in yourself that you can’t or won’t approve of (realise about yourself) or something you’d like to get rid of. Most will tell you however, that this simply isn’t possible. At best, you can be aware of these sides of yourself and work on accepting them in order to control them better.
It might also be the case that there’s an internal battle between different sides of you. For example, the “nice” man/woman is battling a more rough/straight forward/shameless side of yourself. In this way you might see another person (representing the “nice” version of you), hitting another person (representing the more rough or shameless side of you).
You might also dream about killing your parents. To a lot of people this will seem very intense and very difficult to understand at first. Why would I want to kill my own parents? In this case, you might ask yourself if you have any reason to be angry or upset with them. Maybe there is something in your relationship with your parents that has yet to be dealt with – something you haven’t spotted that would give you a reason to be (unconsciously) angry with them even though you normally think your parents have been nothing but “good”.
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When trying to understand your dreams it is important to know that your dreams are… your dreams. As such, you are the best person to figure out the true meaning of your dreams.
However, it is important to learn how to generally approach your dreams. Dream dictionaries like this one are only a supplement, and if you want to fully utilize the potential of your dreams, you should start at a different place.
My online course “Unlock your DREAMlife” gives you a great foundation for understanding (and recalling) your dreams.
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Similarly, you might dream that you are killing your children. Of course, this is out of proportion to real life, but again, you might ask yourself, hypothetically, is there any reason you’d somehow wish your children weren’t here right now? I’ve coached several people with this exact dream. They felt angry about having had children too early in life with the result of a “ruined” youth. In daily life, this translated into being excessively strict with their children (often telling them off for example, where this is not appropriate), and in the language of dreams this translated into killing the children.
In an internal interpretation, the dream might also symbolize killing your own “inner child”. In other words, you are not accommodating this (vital) part of yourself – the ability to let go, to let your hair down, to be curious and open. If you are killing another (maybe unknown) child, this may illustrate the same, but it might also symbolize that you are suppressing a part of yourself. This part could be anything: your musicality, your inner geek, or your inner square dancer – whatever the child could symbolize!
If you are dreaming that you are killing other people, this may symbolize that something in you does not want you as you are or that you would like you to see yourself differently – for better or for worse! Perhaps it is better that you “die” (that your current personality dies) in order for something else – something better – to appear (see also the blog post on Death). The dream might also be an image of a very self-destructive side of yourself that is making life difficult for you. Finally and as a further external interpretation, the dream might also be a real person in your life who wishes bad things for you.
Dream dictionaries are a very helpful tool when interpreting dreams. However, generally learning how to approach your dreams, will give you a better foundation for understanding them. My online course “Unlock your DREAMlife” teaches you how to much better utilize – recall and understand – your dreams.
Also read: Why I no longer interpret dreams for free
Best, Michael
Return to the index of dream themes and symbols:
Dream interpretation A-Z ↵
NOTE: Dream interpretation isn’t always easy, and when you are dreaming about killing other people, it will most likely mean something different for you than for others with the same dream. For instance the people in your dream will be different from other people’s dreams. A good indicator of your interpretation being correct is if you strongly feel it applies to you – deep inside of yourself.
I had a dream where I was watching my baby niece with my friends and in my dream I was told to kill her.. and I ended up doing it. I saw my sister crying and holding my baby niece after it happened. I love my baby niece I would never want to hurt her I babysit her every week I don’t and wouldnt wanna hurt her in any way, I actually woke up crying from this dream and that rarely happens. Also earlier in this dream I had killed one of my friends that I was with because they asked me to do it for them, now I say friends but I dont know who these people are in my dream I’m just assuming they are my friends in the dream.
Honestly I’m kind of scared because of this dream I’ve never felt so disgusted about myself until after this dream
I had a very horrible dream being taken to the movies but turned out to be apart of this game where random people kill each other I was scared at the beginning of the dream and by the end of the game some guy was teaching me how to slit peoples throats, wrists, chests, arteries. So specific and vivid. This is the first time I have a dream like this and I hope I never have one like this
I once dreamt that I killed my own daughter, who was never born nor existed at the time. This dream was really special I drowned her in a lake near the house and it felt so real. Now I have a son and I understand it was indeed real, I’m a murderer to an unborn person. God really has some wicked plans for us indeed.
I had a dream that I was at an event at the park when someone started shooting, I ran behind a fence when the shooter started walking towards my way I turned around and he was right there pointing his gun at me (I have depression and am slightly suicidal) I begged him to do me a favor and kill me so I wouldn’t have to do it myself then asked him to shoot me in my heart so I don’t have to feel any pain but we wouldn’t do it…
I had a dream in which my sister ate my dog. When I saw her licking the bones of my dog, I quickly grabbed them and ran away. This infuriated my sister. She ran after me with a knife as I ran into the house and locked the door. She took out a gun and pointed it towards my parents as they stood there in shock. She told me to hand over the bones or she would shoot them. I didnt hand over the bones because I had a little hope that she wouldnt be that heartless, I was wrong. As soon as I refused she shot my dad in thre head and then my mom. I ran upstairs and hid into a cupboard while she shot a window to enter the house. She searched the basement, the ground floor and then the first floor. As she opened the cupboard I was hiding in…. I woke up.
I had the most horrific nightmare I have ever had. I dreamt that I was in a hospital, and this nasty looking woman with a clip board was telling me matter of factly that my young daughter was found in this storage shed tied to a bed where she was raped and murdered by this man(who I know in real life) and that there wasn’t much left of her due to coyotes. But I could see my daughter much younger dressed in a cheerleading outfit sitting on a bike with training wheels. I think I was seeing her as a ghost. Next it jumped to somehow me getting into the jail where he was kept. Me and a few other men who’s children had been a victim all surrounded him, I had this really weird device that seemed like it was meant to chop off he’s penis, which is what I was about to do before I got myself awake. I woke so upset and crying, it took over an hour to calm myself down. It stayed with me all day. What could this mean? Also I am sorry for the graphic detail. But I need to know what it all means.
I had the most horrific nightmare I have ever had. I dreamt that I was in a hospital, and this nasty looking woman with a clip board was telling me matter of factly that my young daughter was found in this storage shed tied to a bed where she was raped and murdered by this man(who I know in real life) and that there wasn’t much left of her due to coyotes. But I could see my daughter much younger dressed in a cheerleading outfit sitting on a bike with training wheels. I think I was seeing her as a ghost. Next it jumped to somehow me getting into the jail where he was kept. Me and a few other men who’s children had been a victim all surrounded him, I had this really weird device that seemed like it was meant to chop off he’s penis, which is what I was about to do before I got myself awake. I woke so upset and crying, it took over an hour to calm myself down. It stayed with me all day. What could this mean?
I keep waking up crying from dreams of me killing people or feeling guilt for a close person’s death. This morning i killed my dad. I love my dad, I had a game of dominoes with him yesterday.
I had a dream a little over a month and a half ago about my family and I were in a hotel in 2 separate rooms and I remember looking out of my door ans seeing kids walking/running towards the hotel and then being shot and killed. Then I quickly shut the door and I remember smelling gas and seeing a fire being started. I quickly yelled at my mom (51) who was in the room with me (21) to hurry up and get out of the room. I couldn’t get in contact with my baby brother (21) and I was so terrified that he didn’t make it out and/or that he had been killed by someone. I woke up shaking and in tears. I quickly through off my blanket and ran to check on my brother and mom and animals to see if they were alright. I haven’t felt that petrified from a dream in a very long time. Please let me know what this means, to this day I can’t forget anything that had happened in the dream, it was so vivid.
i dream of someone thief had come to attack at my house (but house was not where i actually reside.. it was different and had a wooden old hard single small door of length around 2 to 3 foot & height of 6 foot, between the door had a glass around 3-4 foot vertically fit as part of the door). the thief first came and had some mess-up with us & left shooting on us, but no one was harm nor i see any breakage in that particular small house (i.e around 10×10 house with TV and a sofa), then he came again, after seeing him there was a unknown girl whose face i had not seen, i just saw shoot her on that thief from inside the house where bullet goes and hit him in stomach breaking the blue/light green transparent glass, but in a moment i dint see that the glass was totally broken, it was less damaged. i was able to see girl head from back with her poonie tied up (just the upper layer from shoulder). then i ran following him and see my self sitting on that person chest and he was lying on the ground, i had gun in my hand and shoot him on the head (where we have spiral hairs in between the head top) that way i shoot him was like it will go from his head to neck to chest and then stomach, but i didnt see any blood coming out of it, so i again shoot him on his chest, again i didnt see any blood coming out of his body, so i left him lying straight on his back there only & went to the building to see whether he was dead or not, so i watched him from passage of the building window, approx a distance of 50-60 meter, i saw that he was still lying straight unmoving with no blood around him in that particular light red/orange coloured dry cleaned soil like garden where children were playing and many passer were passing by un-noticing him as if he was just sleeping like a drunk man.
and my eyes opened, i got awake, it was 7.01 am.
What does my dream means,
I don’t remember a lot of the dream, but I do remember the important part.
Basically, I was an empress (chinese queen) and I had flew, by qigong, to America? The US? I don’t know, but I came to a museum where known soldiers were held up in pictures to commemorate, with all their badges and certificates. I, as an empress, was also on one of the frames, and after that, stuff happened where I got betrayed by mu lover, bla bla bla. (I think this was a previous dream)
This is the important part. When I came back to the soldier commemorate museum thing (just so you know, there was actually a lot of people inside), I suddenly turned into an adult woman (’cause I’m actually a teen) that was on a farm in the middle of the city somewhere. Anyways, there was these three other people who were with me, all women. The oldest woman there, who looked like a teacher, came up to this (not to be rude) old, black guy, who was the farmer. It was like 5 in the afternoon, so it was kinda dark.
Anyways, the woman started talking to the farmer whilst he started cutting chives, that somehow were actually on trees, and he replied to the woman in a normal way. The two other women beside me were recording with large cameras and speakers. I was there just sitting on the floor. I soon figured out that the black farmer was my teacher though (for some reason). Anyways, sometime later, the woman talking to the farmer suddenly asked, “Did you drink, sir?” Obviously, he denied and everything, but as time went by, his talking started getting slurred. He kept denying, but soon, he suddenly just came to the woman talking to him, and brought out a knife and stabbed her repeatedly. He got up and then started chasing us. The two women and I ran away by a small distance (’cause we were faster), and then I just suddenly turned around, somehow got a gun to appear out of nowhere, and shot the guy, repeatedly. Finally, he collapsed and I called the police.
A black police came, at night, and saw the farmer still alive but paralyzed. I was right behind the police. Anyways, it turned out that I only shot his shoulder, and some of the non-lethal parts, but he was paralyzed nonetheless. When the police asked the farmer, my teacher, why he killed the woman, he said something I don’t remember. The policeman then asked why he was chashing me when I had done nothing. The farmer then said something along the lines of, “She is too kind. She wasn’t supposed to be alive. At least not now. She was supposed to be born in the future, not now. It was her fault for being alive. If she was born in the future and not now, this wouldn’t happen.”
I didn’t know what that meant, but I was suddenly just at the soldier commemorate museum thing again. There, I saw a picture frame of my teacher with two badges. I had cried intensely in the dream. My family was also there with me, in my dream, when I had cried. There were people all around me, but none paid attention to me, only my family.
I don’t actually know who the black farmer was. He was old with whiting hair, and as far as I know, he doesn’t look like anyone I know. I don’t know if this is enough information to understand my dream, but all I could interpret from this is that my subconsciousness hates my ‘kindness’.
Dear Nobody, thank you for your comment and dream. I no longer interpret dreams here on my website – I simply get too many requests. I would love to help you in a personal session, see more here: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael
So i jist woke up i was dreaming in the beginning about canoeing with a buddy well somehow i dont remember if it tipped or he jumped out but we lost eachother i ended up on some land i swam too well the canoe ended up beside me upside down i remember calling for him but no response i heard something turned around and seen a bear i tried to hide from it but it seen me i started running and my dog came out of nowhere i was still running and i remember not seeing the attack but the sight of her being ripped open somehow i ended up on the road and then at a house i was night time i found a car and some friends two were with me we started driving to head back to where the canoe was i cldnt remember exactly how to get there we ended up in someones yard i was freakimg out because i was scared to be caught like something told me i killed him bit i didnt remember well when we got stuck in this yard we got out they disappeared and i remember being in this house well it was morning i went out and seen this park started walkimg to it well i seen a cop and a little girl talkikg to him pointing where i had come from and ran to the park and into this bathroom well people seen me came in and brought me out i explained to the cop i was trying to find my friend then all thwm dissappeared and i was back at the house i had juat left i heard something and out of nowhere the leprechaun from the scary movie appeared and atarted chassing me i felt he was trying to kill me i took off running and somehow came to this path that led back where the canoe was and he was still chassing me i stopped cause he disappeared and somehow i ended up in the bathroom area again and there was like a garage attached to it well there was people there and the leprechaun it was like he was inaide my head making me do things i didnt realize i was doing i told everyone about my friend the leprechaun somehow turned into a baby and i sat and squeezed him everyone knew about the leprechaun but i thought i had killed him i felt releieved and i flushed him down the toilet well i ended up back at that same house with a female i had a cruah on in the dream needless to say stuff was happening then all of a sudden i found myself killing her i knew it wasnt me so i felt like i did nothing wrong and started driving away i called my old pastor and asked him to please play for me and he did i had that same feelimg like someone was taking over me and somehow it felt like he was trying to kill me i dont remember if i died or not but i woke up in a panic it felt so real and scared me like i had to get out of bed and go to a different room
Its the second time i had the same dream but it was different.
1st : I walked into a hospital for no reason after it closed, i walked to the bottom floor where i knew there is a security guard armed with an M16/M4 (cant remember), the first thing i do is talk to him and he tells me the place is closed and he tells me to leave, but he turns around to talk to someone, what i do is grab his neck and twist it untill it breaks and kills him, then the woman who he spoke to runs away to an elevator and i grab his M16 run to her into the elevator she almost escapes as the elevator door is about to close i put the rifle in there and the doors open again i can see her face and everything i and she is sitting in the corner of the elevator scared and her eyes were wide and blue i told her “Fuck you” and shot her twice in the head, then i woke up
2nd dream : Everything happened the same up to the point i shot the woman,
but whats different is that the second dream i had instead of waking up i started hearing a bunch of guards running to me and what i do is just run to a fire escape and go up the stairs (i cant remember going up the stairs only that i walked into the door and i saw stairs and i then kinda teleported to the upper floor)
Right then i disassembled the Rifle and hid it in my pants and shirt (in case i need to use it again (i remember taking the butstock off and the iron sights so it wont be visible) then i walk to the front yard and i just lay low if i see people i hide and then a security guard sees me and tells me “Do you know where you are” and i replayed with “Right here?” and i tried to make myself look comfused and unsure (even tho i knew what i did and wanted to escape from the hospital) and then he told me if im feeling well, i told him “I got a massive headache and i was hungry, he told me he’ll take me to the front gate and let me out and he gave me money to eat, i walked to the taco shop then i saw a female friend of mine she told me “How are you” i didnt replay” then what happened was kinda weird, i say 3 gangsta wanna bes ride towards me with bikes and almost making me get hit by a car and i didnt react much to it and i said “Well i almost died” and i started walking to the shop front and when i asked for food i woke up with an headache.
Both these dreams happened to me when i fell asleep with a massive upper back pain and when i fell this pain it makes me angry real life. these are the 2 dreams i had for 2 days in a row and i remember them perfectly. btw im 18 years old and i do have anger problems
I had a dream where I was standing at the edge of something very tall. I cannot remember what it was, whether it be a cliff or building of sorts. There appeared a little boy in front of me. I would say roughly 5 years old with short brown hair. I never saw his face for he was facing away from me. For no reason, I pushed him off the edge with my foot to his back. The shock that I would do what felt like an unconscious but cruel act is what woke me up instantly. I never saw what happened to the child in my dream but it would have been apparent. I felt very dark about myself all day and I still feel a sort of guilt because whatever it was felt so real. I would like to know where this would have come from or if there might be some sort of meaning so I may put my mind at some ease.
Hi Nick – I do understand why this dream stayed with you all day! As the blogpost would suggest you might ask yourself questions like this; what (inside myself) did I ignore or deny on the day preceding the dream? Maybe that boy represented some important new idea you had, a more “childish” (exploring, non-judging) side of yourself? Or – the outer interpretation – what or who did I “kill” in the real world; maybe a person in the real world said or did something that to do seemed childish (but maybe in reality something highly useful to you), or again, maybe that comment from the outside person really pointed you towards whatever that boy represents in yourself, and you quickly got back on that person, maybe by angrily turning down an idea or the like. Best – Michael
My mum and stepdad beat me up for years and verbally abused me too. Over the course of 5 years (since i was 13) they have both non stop back and forwards kicked me out and then took me back in when i told people what they did. I suffered burst lips, black eyes, a swollen face, nearly broken jaw and nose amd god knows what else. And ive been having reoccurring dreams lately that i murder both of them. In my dream i tied them up to chairs in our kitchen, and made them listen to me telling them everything they did to me and then went on to murdering both of them , with a baseball bat. Just beaten to death. And the scary part is. The dream doesnt even scare me. Im not phased by it. I just want to know what it means. Am i a psycho? what is happening?? I would never DO that in real life, ultimately because i dont want to spend the rest of my life in prison. But when i think about my parents. I wouldnt even be effected if they died. In fact i wish they would more often than not. They treated me like shit for years just for breathing. And I actually wish they would stop. Breathing permanently. But im no murderer. Or will i be? What does it fucking mean.
Lord help me then.
Dear Unknown,
you’re not a psycho. To me you are simply trying to heal yourself “inside out”. Your dreams are working hard to help to deal with what you’ve been through. And this dream I think is WONDERFUL in that you are having an inner dialogue helping yourself overcome your experiences. That you kill them could simply be the anger you feel coming out right there (in your dreams), which is a very good thing! Killing them might simply also mean, that you are breaking with your parents (also in real life), or again, only in your inner life – breaking free from whatever wounds they’ve caused you.
Best – Michael
My boyfriend dreamt he caught me sleeping with three men, so he shot and killed is all. He told me he’s never woken up feeling so invigorated. Only thing I can imagine is that in his last relationship, he caught his ex girlfriend cheating and now he’s insecure. But I’m also afraid he might feel trapped or want to end the relationship hence getting rid of me?
I just dreamed I killed the neighborhood children and was being hunted down, in the past I’ve dreamt of killing babies. I’m scared.
I had the same dream !!! Was he blonde? Sheffield?
I can’t find an interpretation to my dream because it had nothing to do with me in terms of the dream were complete strangers and unfamiliar settings, a bit like watching a film. In my dream a mother was murdering her son (a little boy, maybe about 4 or 5) in the kitchen, she was stabbing a fork in his throat and at the same time stuffing something down his throat and the dad sat and watched. They hid the body under sofa seats. After that in my dream the mother kept going to this house where other people lived and they were a bit suspicious of her and didn’t like her but she’d put the water works on and make out she’s just lost her son. She was hiding his things, a lunchbag with crayons and little toys and things in the bottom of her bag and when she was looking through her bag you could hear the items moving about, people got suspicious to why she was hiding his stuff. In my dream I could feel she was terrified of being found out. The murdering mother had a daughter with her who she was looking after.
I just feel this was a really strange dream but it could mean something… or it could just be the left over cheese and onion rolls and slice of cake I ate from my daughters birthday party the night before.
I saw that mother is killing children’s what does means..
I’ve recently been having repeated dreams of being chased. In my dreams I am either a serial killer being chased by the police, or I am being chased by a serial killer. It alternates. Regardless of who I am in the dream and who is chasing me, it is always through woods. There’s nothing in my life that I can think of that has changed recently. These dreams are frightening and leave me feeling tired the next day and almost scared to go to sleep again.
Hi Monica,
And thank you for your comment. Apologies for my late reply, but I receive many comments every day, and I simply cannot keep up with them. That is also why I have decided to no longer do interpretations for free. Instead I offer the following options: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael
The same happens with me..but in my case either i chases someone or someone chases me..
I’m not sure if you could help me , but I literally cannot sleep because of the dream I just had.
I just dozed off and I dreamt that someone was strangling me from behind ( oddly , in the exact spot I am sleeping , so I woke up very startled ) I think it scared me the most because I am sleeping on the couch in this spot for the first time ( I just rearranged my living room yesterday ) so for me to dream of this exact spot terrified me. I got up and checked all my doors and windows to make sure they’re locked because of this dream.
Hi Dee Faun,
thank you for your highly interesting dream! Unfortunately I no longer offer help for free, as I get very many requests every day. Instead I offer the following (interpretation of your dream, with payment): http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael