‘Same exact dreams’: TikTok is freaking out over everyone having the same nightmare, are you affected?

TikTok is freaking out about what is being called “mall world,” a seemingly collective dream space featuring malls, hotels, cruise ships, amusement parks, and theaters, even though none of these people have ever met. The idea of a shared dream space has completely exploded across TikTok and Reddit as more people share their experiences, and the similarities have completely surprised those who’ve stumbled onto the community.

Basically, “mall world” is the name for recurring dreams that consistently take place in huge, confusing, maze-like environments. These locations are often massive commercial or recreational buildings like malls, hotels, cruise ships, or amusement parks. Some of these dreamers have claimed they’ve been visiting the “same exact dreams” for years.

One TikTok user, @neverboringever, explained how she first noticed the trend. She shared that her dreams always happened in these large, confusing spaces, saying, “I have recurring dreams… I’ve been having these dreams for 20 years that I can remember”. She even mentioned that her old nightmares seemed to pop up in the same recurring locations.

Have you had the mall world dream?

On the other hand, another user, Taylor Waller (@tayelain), described some darker versions. She said her dreams typically start in a shadowy building that “literally looks like a mall in the main parts,” which then leads her into what looks like an endless apartment complex. She recalled one detail that seems to really stick with her: “Every time I start this dream, I start up on the second level, and I’m looking up this huge staircase. And for some reason in my dream, I keep thinking, ‘How am I supposed to get all my laundry up to my room upstairs?’”

It’s not just the locations that are similar; some people are even reporting similar encounters. Waller described an interaction she believed she had with another mall world dreamer: a man in a big hat. When she tried to follow him, he told her, “We do this alone. You need to find your own way out.’ We’ve seen viral TikToks before, but none like this.

Just like the woman who kicked the dog a while back, there’s more to this story than meets the eye. The stories get even more intense when people talk about the “people” in these dreams. One Redditor, u/Lucid_Dreema, posted about flying to a different mall than usual. They wrote that the people in the mall seemed to become more aware the longer they talked to them, adding, “It was like this overwhelming sense that these weren’t just NPCs”.

Then, things got a bit creepy. They wrote that “2 security guards came walking over to me, and I had a real sense that ‘I should stop talking about this’”. They said the guards “made it clear that I shouldn’t know this information and shouldn’t leave immediately. They were very intimidating”. Other accounts have gone even further into surreal territory, with one TikToker describing escalators that moved too fast to ride, elevators that sometimes free-fell, and an “Astral Theater” where “not everyone is watching the same movie.”