Also, when I was a kid, I remember right before any nightmare occurred, a near-blinding, "sharp" (for lack of a better word), sparking point of light would start slowly at the end of the hall, then speed up in a spiral motion and travel down a long hallway toward me. The nightmare would start just as the point of light smashed into my face. The only way to not have a nightmare was to try and wake up before the light hit me. Eventually it just stopped happening.
