Dream Symbols - real or not

I would like to know if symbols in dreams really can be interpreted or is it just so much hot air. Could these people who claim to be able to tell you what you dreams mean really be right? There are many sites that claim to be able to tell you what each symbol means. I just don't know but I have had an experience with a repeating dream that was pretty darn close when I finally checked a dictionary.

I had a dream over and over again. As with other repeating dreams I have had in the past I knew that it wouldn't stop until I told someone about it or some event that was in the general area of the dream occurred. I am very reluctant to tell anyone about my dreams. This one repeat dream had to be stopped so I told the person who was involved in the dream but only by mistaken identity. Thankfully I don't have this dream any more. I don't think I will be talking to anyone about my dreams and I need a way to get get rid of the nightmares. I will be sharing them here in the hope that it will help.

The dream was about a man who was killed in a hotel down town. The police came and made me go there and they tried to say I had been the one who did this. I was traumatized by the sights and smells of that room. The victim was handcuffed to the head board. I tried to tell them that the victim was not that of the person they thought it was and I had no idea who that person was.

He was wrongly identified by his family when they were shown a picture of a tattoo the victim had. I tried to tell the police that was not his tattoo and it was on the wrong arm. The police had not finger printed the victim and I tried to convince them to do that because the person who they thought it was had their finger prints on file

One of the police officers didn't believe me and beat me to the point I had to be hospitalized and in a halo due to a broken neck among other injuries.

I didn't share all of the dream because I just wanted to get enough out so the dreams would stop. There was more to the dream that I am not going to share here. I just want to give enough of the dream to show where the symbols are and how the definitions tie in to the dream. It looks about right to me but I am not convinced that there is something to this.

I looked up the symbols in the dream and found this:

1)dead body: The end of a phase in some area of your life.

If the dead person is someone you know, it can represent that you consider that person to be reaching the end of some phase before the beginning of the next, or it can mean that you are afraid of that person dying or becoming unavailable to you.

2)blood: Life force, life energy, or the essence of humanity.

3)Being or feeling falsely accused can represent: A real life, feared, or imagined situation where you felt blamed for something you didn't do

A denial of or failure to accept responsibility for something you did

Feeling that the world is a harsh, vengeful, or blaming place

4)handcuffs: restrained Lack of freedom or power. Feeling unable to move, escape a situation, or make progress somehow in your life.

5)A figure with a halo can represent: Your desire for spiritual guidance, comfort, support, etc.

6)Being attacked, beaten, or tortured can represent: A feeling or fear of persecution, hostility, aggression, criticism, etc. from by another person or by "people in general"

A situation where you feel or fear your boundaries being crossed or your integrity compromised by someone else

7)tattoo Consider what comes to mind when you think of the particular tattoo, and of tattoos in general. A tattoo can represent something about its wearer, according to the perspective of the dreamer. Examples include:

The way the dreamer thinks the tattoo wearer tries to portray themselves to the world

The particular impression the dreamer thinks the wearer wants people to have of them

Self-expression

Belonging to a certain group or crowd