I've had strange dreams before.
Falling, being naked at school/work, having to go back to grade school/high school, etc.
One of the strangest that I can recall is very short dream (2 or 3 seconds long) I had when I was about 9 where I was one of our barnyard cats, "Missy." I distinctly recall hissing at another cat, jumping down from the grain chute bin, running out the front gate of the barn, and encountering a bright, green (by the way, I always dream in color) light that made my head ache. I awoke with my head pounding, but it subsided shortly, and I went back to sleep.
I also have a vivid false memory. It is also very short (less than one second). When I was 7 or 8, I fell off the high dive at the local swimming pool. In actuality, I slipped through the railing and bellyflopped onto the cement some 12 ft. below. I was knocked out cold.
What I remember is that, after slipping through the railing, I immediately was horizontal, facing the ground and seeing an older boy running into my path. I do not remember hitting him or the ground, but had he really been there, he would have broken my fall, and I would have struck the ground differently.
I know I landed in a near prone position because I suffered a deep cut just above my left eye, abrasions on my knees and elbows, and a cut on one of my toes. No injuries to my hips, ankles, wrists, shoulders, etc., and no broken bones. Also, eyewitnesses discount my memory as well; nobody else saw that boy.
I remember specific details from both the dream and memory, down to the colors of the grain pails and the birthmark on the boy's back; but I know that neither are real. I guess what I'm trying to say is that we can't always trust ourselves, either. In fact, I often remember things that I have dreamt with more clarity than many events I have actually endured (mass consumptions of alcohol notwithstanding
).