I often have dreams about dead people, corpses I don’t recognize but are very obviously dead. One dream the corpses were dancing in a tree house in various degrees of decay, some with missing limbs. I was just watching them dance from the corner. Another dream there were just hundreds of dead bodies floating in the water. We were on a boat and had to drive threw them to get to a house on shore, at first we were trying to be careful not to hit them but the closer to shore the more bodies and so we just drove threw or over them.
These dreams don’t feel like nightmares. I’m not afraid in the dream and when I wake up my only thoughts are “wow that was odd”

I fined that a lot of my dreams for most of my life have involved bodies of water and/or dead bodies of people I don’t know.

Dead bodies and bodies of water are common dream symbols. As with all dream symbols, context is everything... not only the context of the dream, but the context of your waking life that generated it. Here are links to the definitions of those symbols on this website:

dead body: dreamdoctor.com/dream-dictionary/definitions/dead-body.html
water: dreamdoctor.com/dream-dictionary/definitions/water.html
ocean: dreamdoctor.com/dream-dictionary/definitions/ocean.html
lake: dreamdoctor.com/dream-dictionary/definitions/pool.html
boat: dreamdoctor.com/dream-dictionary/definitions/boat.html
driving: dreamdoctor.com/dream-dictionary/definitions/driving.html
tree: dreamdoctor.com/dream-dictionary/definitions/tree.html

If you can recall what was going on in your waking life at the time you had it and don't mind sharing it with the forum, we'll try to help you connect the dots.

In the meantime, I hope that the meaning of the dream symbols help explain what may have caused them.

I wish I could remember what had been going on when I had these dreams but they have happened so often and for so long no particular event stands out. I know a lot of the definitions say that recognizable people, places, or objects can help but in the tree house it was just me with these corpses and none of them looked familiar, I never saw outside the tree house and I have never had or been in a tree house in my life. The boat dream again I didn’t know any of the dead people in the water or recognize any of my surroundings. I did have my uncle, fiancé, my grandmother and I think a few other people with me in the dream. (my uncle is mentally ill and we have never been particularly close, my grandmother and I have always been close and she also is the mother and legal guardian of my uncle) The water is usually a calm lake, in the boat dream the water was dark, but then it was also night… is it possible that these seemingly dark dreams could have a connection to a sexual abuse 20 years ago, even if the abuse itself had been repressed? (the abuser never makes an appearance and the only reason I ask if they could be connected is when I told my fiancé about the dreams he said something really bad must of happened to me in order for me to have such dark dreams.)

Recurring dreams are often about issues that have gone unaddressed in your waking life. Here's a link to a better explanation on this website:

dreamdoctor.com/daily-dream/recurring-dreams.html

To make them go away it's often best to think back to what was going on in your waking life when they first began. Such dreams can recur because something happens in your waking life that triggers a memory of that event or those same feelings.

As morbid or "dark" as the imagery in your dream may be to the conscious mind, death and dead bodies are common dream symbols that reflect your awareness that that the relationship is now "dead" or ended, such as what happens with friendships "die" as a result of a move, a graduation from a school, or leaving a job. The fact that the corpses are dancing suggest that they all know each other. How you felt IN the dream provides another clue. Were you scared of, interested in or curious about them? Feelings in dreams are never disguised, so how you felt about the dancing corpses in your dream is how you really feel about those people or past relationships in your waking life. The tree can suggests family lineage (family members?) and a tree house, being a place where children play, may suggest friends/relationships from your youth.

Did the sexual abuse happen or do you think that you might have been happened, but you have repressed it all of these years? If the former, it would certainly explain the origin of the first dream... the distance and alienation from other children "dancing (above you) in the trees." You should consult with a therapist that specializes in childhood sexual abuse, who should be able to help you understand what is triggering these dreams in your life today.

The boat dream may be related as you are "plowing" through and over the memory of relationships that are "dead" to you now. It may have been your way of coping with such an intense issue... or might it be related to something else like a move, firing, or other major transition in your waking life that you want to avoid?

Hope that helps! Good luck!

Hi there. I don't necessarily believe it has anything to do with the abuse but I am not you and ultimately you are the only one who can interpret your dream. However, I can shoot some ideas!

The emotions you have in the dream are what are most important. You said they aren't nightmares so it appears to mean that you are simply observing dead bodies in your dreams and that you are not emotional about them being dead? If that is correct maybe your dreams are just showing you that you feel the world is in a way dead. Maybe you have interactions with people who seem indifferent, a stranger who doesn't care or seems bland. Maybe people don't have enough passion for you and your subconscious mind interprets that as people being dead. Non-creative, emotionless, careless people. When you are walking in a crowded area like a mall... Maybe observe the people around you more consciously and try and figure out if you feel alienated by your emotions or passions. Try and figure out how you feel about humans as a whole... and if it is that they are dull or have lost touch with their selves, emotions, and creativity... maybe that's why everyone is dead in your dreams. Just a thought.