I used to be an avid lucid dreamer in my 30s, but gave it up after a scary experience. I was in perfect control of my dream when I noticed a pale tall man who was standing still in the periphery of my dream vision. I could sense that he was watching me and his form seemed to be unusually clear and intense for a dream character.

There seemed to be a vague sense of power/threat emanating from him, so I tried to do what I usually do to threatening characters in lucid dreams: reduce their size until they disappear completely.

Nothing happened. The environment around him mutated, but he started moving towards me. I told the dream ground to open up and swallow him, but he just floated over the pit that opened in the ground. Finally, I made a concerted effort to blow him away with a strong gust of wind, but it didn't work. At that point he was already standing next to me and I found that - even though I was still lucid dreaming - I couldn't move, lost control of the dream and felt his thoughts penetrate mine like countless icy tendrils.

It's hard to explain, but it felt like my mind had been trapped. I was still aware and conscious in my dream, but I had lost all control over the dream. I couldn't even make myself wake up. He was probing my thoughts at will and I sensed that I shouldn't resist - he could crush my mind any time he wanted. I don't know if he "told" me that or if it was just something that I knew.

After a while I felt something that could only be described as indifference or boredom, and the mental tendrils withdrew. When I was free, I woke myself up with an effort.

This disturbing experience made me stop lucid dreaming. If there are things like this invading our dreams, it's better not to be aware of them.

Has anyone else had bad lucid dreaming experiences?