The survey revealed so many vivid and memorable nightmares. There are many more that could easily have appeared on the list, but I've applied the same criteria that was used to select the best dreams, namely the number of most commonly occuring themes and their capacity to thrill.

1. This dreamer was only eight when she had this dream. Outside her bedroom a black sack appears. When she looks inside she sees her father, cut up into pieces. She rushes along the corridor to her mum’s bedroom to find out what on earth has happened, but instead of protecting her, her mum begins to chase her daughter with a weapon that looks like an axe. The dreamer grabs her little sister and runs out of the house to escape. They run for their lives through the streets to their auntie’s house. Just when they think they might finally be safe, their mum appears at the front door of the house. The children find sanctuary under the bed, but their crazed mum searches them out and discovers their hiding place.
2. This nightmare begins on a conveyer belt. The dreamer is with his friends traveling along in relative safety when the conveyer belt splits up ahead. He has to choose whether to take the right fork or the left fork. Once he made his split second decision, he finds himself in a library along with many other people. In the same room, is his mother. A man walks around the room placing pink badges on a few select people. The man pins one to his mother's clothes. A few minutes later she is taken out of the room. The dreamer finally becames aware that the library is actually a waiting room and that all the people in it have died. Those who have received the pink badge are the ones going to hell. The man continues to pick out people in the room and the dreamer looks down to find a pink badge pinned to his chest.
3. In this nightmare, the dreamer is being chased by a monster through a thick, dark forest. It is an adrenalin packed dream where the dreamer tries to evade the clutches of the monster. At last the dreamer wakes up from the nightmare and is desperate for a drink. He gets up and goes to the bathroom for some water. When he looks in the mirror, the monster is standing there, right behind him, waiting to pounce. Even when the dreamer actually wakes up, he is unsure whether he is really awake or still in the dream within a dream.
4. In this nightmare, the dreamer is at his place of work. Suddenly he floats up into the air, flies high up in the building and exits through the roof into the sky above. Naturally, this strange action causes alarm amongst his colleagues, but the alarm changes into something more sinister, as they begin shouting and fighting. General mayhem begins amongst colleagues, none of which he can control.
5. This next nightmare takes place in London. The dreamer was about eight when she had it. She makes her way up the steps of the Tower of London. When she finally reaches the top, everyone is told to take a small puppy from a basket brimming with puppies, skin it and then dash it to the ground. Refusal is not an option, for those that do, are beheaded.
6. A real life horror story here at number six. A young woman lives (in real life) with two friendly, lovely housemates. In real life they all get along together famously, but in her nightmare, they are serial killers. The way they choose to murder their victims is by scalping them. The dreamer realises the terrible truth within a split second of her dream, as she enjoys a cup of tea with them both. She suddenly knows that that they know, that she knows about their dark side. Her housemates lock the front door of the house but continue to be really pleasant to her. The dreamer manages to get through the window and escape into the woods where a long chase ensues.
7. This dreamer had this as a recurring nightmare. She is a child, enjoying playing in beautiful multi-coloured urban park. In this park grows huge flowers and plants. All members of the dreamers family are present, including cousins and aunties. The ground opens up and a huge swirling mass opens up before them. One by one all members of the dreamer's family jump down the hole and disappear. The dreamer is left alone on the surface and must decide whether to stay on the surface or jump down. The sun goes down as she makes up her mind. Sometimes the dreamer decides to jump and on other occasions she doesn't. When the dreamer does jump,she is woken from her sleep with a horrible jarring twitch.
8. The next nightmare is about someone being chased around their house by Hannibal Lector. He kills the dreamers mum, shooting her dead. The finds a hiding place, but Hannibal finds her. She pretends to be dead. Hannibal whispers into her ear that he knows that she is pretending and brutally shoots her in the back. The dreamer wakes up screaming at this point and has to check her back for the wound.
9. A classic here at number nine. The dreamer is in an exam hall. He turns the paper over and realizes that he cannot answer a single question. This is a recurring dream for him and sometimes, to add insult to injury, he is naked as well!
10. This is another one where the dreamer has had the same nightmare many times. The dreamer falls off a multistory car park and as they fall past all its floors there are TV screens flashing 'die, die, die' as they plummet to earth.

Thank you to everyone who shared their nightmares with me. One wonderful solution of opting out of a bad dreams whilst you are having it, came from a dreamer who used to stop their dreams in their track by imagining a red 'stop' light. It worked for them, maybe it might work for you if you are worried about your nightmares.

Do you have a nightmare to tell? If so, please take a few minutes to fill out the survey and you never know, it might well feature in the top ten list of the future.

Please complete my short survey on dreams.