Just to add to the pot—I’ve experienced it only twice, but both times I experienced no hallucinations at all. The first time, the room was dark and I knew there was “something out there” waiting to get me and I had to switch on the light to see it, but couldn’t move. The second time there was nothing, but I was terrified anyway. Both times I managed to wake myself up (eventually).
I can quite imagine, however, that our dreaming mind might try to put a face on the stalking horror. Given you’re already asleep and just out of REM state, there’s no surprise in extra visual hallucinations here—and of course they’d be relevant to your own cultural experiences.
I’ll tag onto this and say that I got almost the exact stimulus of “there is someone there” with the sense also that I was being communicated to. As soon as I’d wake up, I’d realize that the conversations that had taken place were literally just a train of my own thoughts.
I wonder if the hallucinatory aspect is “subconscious” or “conscious” (using those loosely), that is, does it take place in the part of the brain that’s normally used for reasoning or not? If it takes place below reason, I’d wonder why my childhood Christianity, devoutly held at the time, did not affect this more.
I used to have frequent experiences like this, including many where I was in a more sleep-walking type state, and I never once had a religious experience, even when I had nightmares that I now suspect line up to some of the earlier satan experiences humans had.
Just to add to the pot—I’ve experienced it only twice, but both times I experienced no hallucinations at all. The first time, the room was dark and I knew there was “something out there” waiting to get me and I had to switch on the light to see it, but couldn’t move. The second time there was nothing, but I was terrified anyway. Both times I managed to wake myself up (eventually).
I can quite imagine, however, that our dreaming mind might try to put a face on the stalking horror. Given you’re already asleep and just out of REM state, there’s no surprise in extra visual hallucinations here—and of course they’d be relevant to your own cultural experiences.
I’ll tag onto this and say that I got almost the exact stimulus of “there is someone there” with the sense also that I was being communicated to. As soon as I’d wake up, I’d realize that the conversations that had taken place were literally just a train of my own thoughts.
I wonder if the hallucinatory aspect is “subconscious” or “conscious” (using those loosely), that is, does it take place in the part of the brain that’s normally used for reasoning or not? If it takes place below reason, I’d wonder why my childhood Christianity, devoutly held at the time, did not affect this more.
I used to have frequent experiences like this, including many where I was in a more sleep-walking type state, and I never once had a religious experience, even when I had nightmares that I now suspect line up to some of the earlier satan experiences humans had.
Me neither, except for the digital clock reading absurd times. (No, I hadn’t read this when that happened.)
I experienced this as well as a small child. Incidentally, my alarm clock at the time looked a lot like the one in the XKCD comic.