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Original poster

Could you float down the stairs as a child?

370 replies

EbbyEbs · 09/09/2022 19:46

Light hearted

Do you have a memory of floating down the stairs as a child? Someone mentioned it to me earlier and I have the same memory! anyone know what I’m on about?

OP posts:
Giggorata · 09/09/2022 21:15

Yes, I have that memory, rather than the memory of a dream. It seemed to be quite frequent and before I began school
I also recall sitting at my open first floor bedroom window, looking at the lawn below and considering whether to float down.
probably just as well I didn’t.

soupmaker · 09/09/2022 21:16

Yes. And in the playground.

AlanisLegosette · 09/09/2022 21:16

Yes!! Definitely not a dream. Like a PP I tried to teach my friend how to do it and could then never do it again. My parents still laugh about it now, how I was absolutely convinced I could fly. Amazing to hear so many others have experienced the same.

Perfect28 · 09/09/2022 21:16

I had this dream, it's not a memory.

Fishpawsandchips · 09/09/2022 21:17

I am amazed to belatedly found this thread. I honestly thought it was just me! I definitely remember floating downstairs as a child and didn’t think it was a dream either!

PenguinMan · 09/09/2022 21:18

I have vivid memories of floating down the stairs from age three; In my 70s, I can still feel the sensation and see the staircase and door at the bottom.

Me too!!

To this day until this thread I genuinely thought they were memories and not dreams!

It sounds so stupid but they were so vivid and I can still see and sense everything that happened.

I feel oddly sad now.

I only floated down the stairs, never anywhere else.

strawberriesarenot · 09/09/2022 21:18

Yes, yes, but it was more long, swinging swoops. It was lovely. I could also float along the pavement, about 3 feet off the ground. I remember very clearly the moss beside the garden fences.

CustardySergeant · 09/09/2022 21:18

I float all the time in my dreams. Virtually every night. Not just down stairs but everywhere else. I never dream of walking or running anywhere, just floating.

pinok · 09/09/2022 21:19

Obviously and logically it has to be a dream but it’s intriguing how so many of us are convinced it felt like a ‘memory’.

PenguinMan · 09/09/2022 21:21

Obviously and logically it has to be a dream but it’s intriguing how so many of us are convinced it felt like a ‘memory’.

Why do you think this is?

I’m struggling to grasp the fact that it’s a dream as it was so real!

Yet I know that it’s not possible to float.

SunflowerOrange · 09/09/2022 21:21

How weird . I thought I could kind of leap like dancers do but float like lots of long steps and go quite a way along the ground as well as stairs. I remember being sure I could do it. How strange lots of us have had this.

SconeCreamJam · 09/09/2022 21:22

Yep I had this dream, totally forgot about it until now!

piratehugs · 09/09/2022 21:24

I honestly had no idea that this was a thing, but yes I used to be able to levitate and float as a small child. I vaguely recall trying to give a demonstration at primary school.

I also used to have a dream where I'd be in a hurry and go to jump down the stairs, but if I jumped down too many at once, I'd get stuck mid-air and then bob slowly back up to the top against my will. It was frustrating and a bit scary. I'd have to walk down again and resist the urge to jump too soon.

I don't levitate any more (due to it being impossible) but when I'm walking around at work and feeling sleepy, I always have an urge to tuck my legs up under me and curl up for a sleep mid-air.

Aethelfled · 09/09/2022 21:24

Yep!

BettyOBarley · 09/09/2022 21:26

OMG yes! This is a very vivid childhood memory for me, I can picture it now. Always going down, never up.

Satsumaonaplate · 09/09/2022 21:26

Yes!! But I think it was vivid childhood dreams

Jogonlogonpip · 09/09/2022 21:27

I had a recurring dream that my brother was at the top of the stairs and he would slide down the bannister and disappear at the bottom. I would wake up distraught.

The other reoccurring dream was that I could kick my legs and fly above the roof tops and go pretty much anywhere. It stopped around the age of 12 but I used to absolutely love it.

strawberriesarenot · 09/09/2022 21:27

DS when he had high temp night terrors used to beg and beg us to get him down from the ceiling. I'd blanked that.

elliesmummy19 · 09/09/2022 21:27

This is so weird!

I don’t know if I have this memory. I had an accident falling down the stairs as a child (for real, not a dream) and broke my leg quite badly. My memories on the accident don’t seem to match up with what witnesses say actually happened. I think any memories/dreams I have of floating down stairs are actually of that accident.

This is so interesting to read though!

nohopenoharm · 09/09/2022 21:28

Mine is a memory not a dream (although I realise it must be a false memory or something!). Definitely not parents carrying me down as my memories are from the house we moved to when I was 4 and I started doing it when I was about 5 or 6 I think.

I used to jump off the top landing and land safely at the bottom. I can remember vividly being so chuffed to have discovered a really quick way to get downstairs.

I also have memories of being in my bedroom and the lights turning on and off by themselves. This did used to freak me out and I would sleep with my head under the covers so I couldn't see it.

elliesmummy19 · 09/09/2022 21:29

strawberriesarenot · 09/09/2022 21:27

DS when he had high temp night terrors used to beg and beg us to get him down from the ceiling. I'd blanked that.

I had a serious infection as a child, hallucinated because of the fever, and have vivid memories of feeling like I was floating through some kind of tube, tunnel. This has reminded me of that.

MyneighbourisTotoro · 09/09/2022 21:30

As a child stairs were my enemy and I was convinced a ghost used to push me down them! I’ve broken 3 bones falling down stairs along with chipping my teeth and splitting my lip open. I clearly never unlocked the ability to levitate! 😂

Pkrwbssdp · 09/09/2022 21:33

Yes!!!

Vinniepolis · 09/09/2022 21:33

I tripped and fell down the stairs at secondary school but remember seeing my body, as if I was floating above it… that was 35 years ago but the memory is as vivid as ever. I was fine.

PenguinMan · 09/09/2022 21:34

For those saying they jumped from the top stair to the bottom - this is the same thing.

I don’t think it’s possible to jump from the top to the bottom without hurting yourself.

My ‘memories’ are either jumping and diving forward with arms stretched out or jumping feet first and landing on my feet at the bottom.

There was no ‘swimming’ or floating around with me.

Posters have said it’s a memory from being carried but then IME and going by other PPs you commonly float down the stairs and not up them and it’s very rare to be carried down the stairs.