Something freaky
Today's prompt was Tell me about something freaky that happened to you.
The first one that comes to mind was a couple years ago. I had awakened in the night a few minutes before, and when I looked over to the side of the bed, I saw a little girl with black hair and a red cardigan standing next to the bed, eyes shining a bright blue-white color. She looked straight at me, then quickly faded away, starting from the extremities, with the glowing eyes fading last.
What fascinates me about this incident is that my very first thought was, "Oh, wow, hypnopompic imagery! I bet this is where belief in ghosts came from!" The idea of an actual supernatural phenomenon didn't even occur to me, but it was really obvious that to someone hundreds of years ago, this sort of post-sleep hallucination would have been taken as proof of it.
As someone who takes a long time to fall asleep, I witness hypnagogic imagery (visual hallucinations just before falling asleep, as parts of your brain enter "dreaming" mode while you're still conscious) not infrequently, but even then it's only when my eyes are closed, and the images -- while as clear and vivid as anything seen in reality -- last only a second or so. Seeing something persistent in the room with my eyes open right after awakening has only happened twice in my life.
This entry was originally posted at http://fishsupreme.dreamwidth.org/70127.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
The first one that comes to mind was a couple years ago. I had awakened in the night a few minutes before, and when I looked over to the side of the bed, I saw a little girl with black hair and a red cardigan standing next to the bed, eyes shining a bright blue-white color. She looked straight at me, then quickly faded away, starting from the extremities, with the glowing eyes fading last.
What fascinates me about this incident is that my very first thought was, "Oh, wow, hypnopompic imagery! I bet this is where belief in ghosts came from!" The idea of an actual supernatural phenomenon didn't even occur to me, but it was really obvious that to someone hundreds of years ago, this sort of post-sleep hallucination would have been taken as proof of it.
As someone who takes a long time to fall asleep, I witness hypnagogic imagery (visual hallucinations just before falling asleep, as parts of your brain enter "dreaming" mode while you're still conscious) not infrequently, but even then it's only when my eyes are closed, and the images -- while as clear and vivid as anything seen in reality -- last only a second or so. Seeing something persistent in the room with my eyes open right after awakening has only happened twice in my life.
This entry was originally posted at http://fishsupreme.dreamwidth.org/70127.html. Please comment there using OpenID.