Monday, April 16, 2007

Waking Dreams (Stupid Mind Tricks)


Ever have a waking dream? That's when you're awake enough to observe stuff in the room, but still asleep enough to see stuff that's not there. They're behind the "I woke up and there was a ghost/monster/alien standing by the bed" accounts you sometimes hear. The technical name for them is hypnogogic hallucinations.
I sometimes get these. Sensations I've experienced include:
  • A heavy, grunting rhino-sized animal sitting on the bed and or on me
  • A cat face coming out of the wall
  • A blue ghost standing in my room
  • Bugs
  • The bed shaking
  • Sliding and being dragged at odd angles
  • Being lifted out of the bed and thrown down violently, over and over
  • Dead body parts in my bed
The last one freaked me out so badly that I got up and got dressed, even though it was a quarter to five and still dark. What a rip off! Sleep is supposed to be relaxing, not the Spanish Inquisition Meets a Hokey Horror Flick. The wikipedia link classifies the bed shaking and sliding bits as "rare". I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.
If my mind has to play stupid tricks on me, it could at least provide some nice hallucinations. Baby seals instead of bugs? A massage instead of being slammed around like pizza dough?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks for the morning giggle. "slapped around like pizza dough." good stuff

GhostBuild said...

I've experienced this myself, though I have a great deal of difficulty committing the moments to long-term memory. They fade so fast!

However, I do recall one moment that I *think* I was half asleep. The room began to quickly cave in and I bolted from the bed for the doorway (closed, mind you) in complete panic, only to realize with utter relief that I was reacting to mentally conjured circumstances. But man, it still sucked!

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Funny story, ghostbuild.
Perhaps we only remember the most disturbing incidents because they leave a bigger mental inpact. The same way a hiker is more likely to remember seeing a bear as opposed to a bee.
At least we live in a time where there's a logical explanation. In the old days we'd have been told that some spirit or demon was out to get us.

Unknown said...

i think u should watch what u eat before u go to sleep...there's this like old wives tale if u leave a bowl of water under ur bed it will trap the bad dreams for u lol i dunno it's worth a shot..yea and another malay one where u wash ur feet before u go to sleep. hehe hope this helps :)