If someone experiences numerous hypnagogic hallucinations, repetitive or not, it is a good idea to see a doctor to check for health problems which could be related to the experiences. If no cause is evident, a psychologist or similar mental health professional might be able to explore the subconscious causes and help the patient deal with the hallucinations. Consulting a psychologist can also yield useful tips for people who are shaken or upset by hypnagogic hallucinations, even if the hallucinations continue to occur.

The cause of hypnagogic hallucinations is not fully understood. These hallucinations tend to be more common in people with sleep disorders, especially narcolepsy , but they can also appear as a side effect related to prescription drugs, and drug abusers often experience them as well. Hypnagogic hallucinations tend to be more common in young people, especially children, which may be because their minds are still developing and forming pathways, which can occasionally lead to some crossed wires.

In some cases, hypnagogic hallucinations can be frightening for the people who experience them. They may include vivid and frightening images, including images which are out of scale, which can make the hallucinations seem even more unsettling; people may see giant spiders on the walls, for example, or feel like they have shrunk down to a tiny size in the bed. The vivid experiences may also be brought to mind over the course of the day, causing inexplicable images or sensations to filter through someone's consciousness at an unexpected moment.

Visual, auditory, tactile, and kinetic sensations can all be experienced during hypnagogic hallucinations, and everyone experiences slightly different forms. Some people, for example, may feel like they are falling, and jerk themselves awake to avoid hitting the ground. Others may hear voices as they are trying to drift off to sleep, or experience a vivid sensation that someone or something is in the room. Sensory experiences such as feeling like one is submerged in a pool of water are also not uncommon.

Hypnagogic hallucinations are hallucinations which occur at the boundary between sleeping and waking. They can occur when people are falling asleep, or when they are starting to wake up, and they tend to be extremely vivid, feeling like a Technicolor Oz after the black and white Kansas of every day life. Many people experience hypnagogic hallucinations at some point during their lives, but recurrent intense hallucinations can be a sign of an underlying medical condition which may require treatment.

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a wiseGEEK researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

Discussion Comments

anon1003586 July 27, 2020 Absolute disingenuous article. During the state of near sleep and coming out of sleep, you are still connected to your higher consciousness which exists externally from your physical body. You are a spiritual being in a physical body having a life experience. Please understand that these articles are deliberately placed to make you believe the opposite! Take the time to learn about who and what you really are because there exists a Deep State Cabal that do not want you to know this and spread disinformation like this everywhere they can.

anon1001969 August 6, 2019 I'm 14 years old. I've had these vivid pictures pop into my head for as long as I can remember. They usually randomly come up as my childhood nightmares, like slenderman. Though most of the time, they appear as little toys I clearly remember playing with as a child. But sometimes I feel like a have a magnet in my mouth, or I'm falling, then jerking myself fully awake... and weirdly, peeing my pants, haha. I've always tried talking to my mom or my five other siblings about it, but they never knew what I was talking about. It was a bit embarrassing to think I was the only one who had this "issue." I just recently started researching it curious to find out what this really was. And now that I know, I'm feeling extremely relieved to know I'm not the only one.

apocalyps3 April 27, 2015 I'm 37 and have had these for as far back as I can remember. They occur in batches. I'll sleep normally for a month or two and then I'll have four or five days in a row of these visions. The subject of the visions change a lot, but usually they are about bugs/insects crawling around on the bed. Or recently of bugs inside the mattress and I can feel them burrowing under my legs and then through the mattress into my legs. This sounds more terrifying than how I actually experience them. It wakes me up and is confusing, but I'm not really scared. I get more upset that it causes me to lose sleep, than anything else. It can be frustrating because it doesn't happen just once a night and then its over. Generally it'll happen two or three times a night (usually about 30-60 minutes after falling asleep). I've tried to explain the experiences to my wife, but I'm not sure she really gets it, that I can truly see and feel the visions, that I'm not sleep dreaming. Usually, she sleeps through all of it. A few times I've talked/yelled at the visions in frustration, but that's been rare. I'm not too concerned about it, as other than a few nights of interrupted sleep, it's never been upsetting or damaging. The only unfortunate thing is that I seem to have passed it on to my daughter. The last two nights in a row she's woken us upset saying that there are ants crawling on her bed and that she can still see them. Knowing what she's experiencing, I've been able to help her through it (usually just laying on a blanket or switching blankets causes the hallucinations to stop for the night). Hopefully it's just been a series of bad dreams rather than something she'll continue on with, but it sounds exactly like what I experience.

starlight11 April 8, 2015 I am 22 years old and I have had hallucinations for as long as I can remember. I will have a lot of them at a time and then have none for a long time. I only recently decided to look into these scary experiences and finally find out if I am crazy. I remember years ago my pillow and chair were talking to me when I thought I was awake. I thought I was going crazy. But as years went by, the hallucinations began to become more vivid and went from spiders and giant glowing colorful lights to people. A little over a year ago, I was lying on the couch, facing the back of the couch. I remember opening my eyes and in the crack of the back of the couch, an eyeball was staring at me. Shortly after I was lying in my bed on my stomach, I opened my eyes and a young child was lying next to me, staring. This probably was the scariest experience because it ended with me running to the bathroom and crying. The latest hallucinations were a couple of months ago when I got married and moved in with my husband. I woke up freaking out and pointing at a black dog by the bed. I scared my husband and my white dog started to bark at the space where the black dog was. I have no idea why I have these hallucinations because I do not have any sleeping disorders (that I know of). I am happy I found some explanation for these experiences throughout the years.

anon978898 November 22, 2014 I am a paranoid schizophrenic with depression. As someone who deals with auditory hallucinations on a regular basis, I can say knowing it is not real is half the battle. I also have had cases of sleep paralysis, as well as a doomed sense that someone is in my house when I am asleep. It's mostly terrifying because I cannot wake up no matter how hard I try. But with the sleep paralysis/apnea, fighting the paralysis and trying to shake myself awake have helped wake me up. My suggestion to anyone dealing with this is to see a psychologist, a medical doctor, and a psychiatrist.

anon978331 November 16, 2014 My hypnagogic hallucinations revolve around my mind believing people are getting into my house at night. For instance, when awake, I know that the lights shining through my bedroom window is the streetlight and/or a passing car turning a corner by the house. To my mind though, when determined, I can "see" shadows of people outside shining flashlights through the window to see in. I know it's not real, but it doesn't stop the feeling of adrenaline and my heartbeat to increase until I turn on my bedside lamp, almost to prove to my brain that it's not real. In another area of my room, I have a router (network) with flashing green lights. It's a small, stationary box, but when I hallucinate, the box and lights move around slowly, almost like a security camera tilting up, down, left and right. And again, it sometimes appears like the lights are coming from the outside, like people are outside trying to get in through a hole in the wall. It's very scary, not because of the imagery, but the fact that I am awake, and I know its not real (or at least half of my brain does). The other half, however, believes the hallucination is real until I "prove it" by either getting up and touching the object or turning the light on. le sigh.

anon977782 November 12, 2014 For the last eight years or so I have experienced hypnagogic hallucinations. They usually occur in conjunction with sleep paralysis, shortly before falling asleep. I will wake up and see something I know is not there. I often see snakes, or people. On one occasion I thought my ceiling fan was going to crash on top of me and after a second I realized that I was standing on my bed trying to hold the ceiling up. The most recent episode was a few days ago; I thought a woman's head was resting on the chair next to the bed I was sleeping on. Usually at times like these I experience fleeting fear and then promptly fall back asleep because I know it isn't real.

anon958437 June 27, 2014 I get "brain zaps" and internal visions (not hallucinations) of spiders before falling asleep, and through research I have come to believe that the brain zaps are after-effects of withdrawal from antipsychotic medications which I stopped taking years ago. At least I have been able to find some information about it online. But in addition to the brain zaps, I sometimes also experience painful "phantom" sensations like I'm being slapped and punched in the face. It's like torture. Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this?

anon954863 June 4, 2014 Last night I had my first hallucination. About an hour into my sleep, I awoke in my dark room to a light breeze being blown over my face and when I turned to see where it had come from, two or three child-sized shadows were at the edge of my bed. Instantly, an egg shaped portal opened from my closet, with nearly blinding light and what seemed to be gale-force winds blowing against me. The light was like nothing I had ever seen, and the portal seemed multi-dimensional. It looked like a bomb in mid explosion but had depth too it. The figures leaped into the light and the portal closed with a loud swoosh. I was completely paralyzed, and although I tried, I couldn't scream. I thought I had been abducted by aliens, but when I turned on my light, nothing in the room was out of place. Although it was horrifying, I feel relieved that others have had these hallucinations but if anyone has had one similar to mine please let me know.

anon952120 2 hours ago This happens to me occasionally when I'm overtired and finally allow myself to try to sleep. I feel like my brain is on overload and images start appearing. Some "feel" scary/evil. Its like dreaming while I'm still awake and its unnerving. I too have seen spiders. That's pretty odd so many have mentioned them. I have had spider dreams since I was young. I have since done a lot of research and think spider symbolism is more of a positive thing now.

anon946705 April 21, 2014 Red yarn! I see all kinds of different hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations, ranging from the benign to the terrifying, but most often I wake up to see loose red yarn, hanging in the air a few feet above my face. It's just damned weird, is what it is.

anon931713 February 10, 2014 @anon931574: I spoke to my Aunty today about my paralysis and hallucinations and apparently she experienced the same things. I think its a genetic thing -- runs in the family. At one point with all the hallucinations and paralysis she also thought she was haunted. She would sometimes wake up with her heart beating so fast because it scared her when she was stuck in the paralysis for so long. So she went to a sleep specialist where she stayed overnight and they had electrodes stuck on her body to test what was happening. The nurse came in after not long after she fell asleep and told her that during her sleep she had stopped breathing. This caused not enough oxygen to go to her brain, hence the sleep paralysis. She found out that she was suffering from sleep apnea and now has to sleep with a mask that helps the air flow go into her lungs better. The doctor said she had the chance of her whole body system shutting down if the oxygen didn't flow through. Since she started using the machine she doesn't suffer from any more sleep paralysis or hallucinations. I realized when she told me this that most times when I get sleep paralysis is when I am lying on my back. Somehow in this position my neck falls back on itself and prevents air from coming through my throat passages.

anon931574 February 9, 2014 I am 21 years old. I've been having hallucinations for a few years now. I've always remembered that when I have dreams they've always been more vivid than anyone else I know. Sometimes when I am being stabbed or my throat is slit in my dream I can actually feel these sensations. There have been times when I lie in my bed and while starting to fall asleep, I can hear voices of familiar people in the room with me, talking to one another when really they are not there. Sometimes I hear myself replying and having a conversation with the people in my room when really no one is there and I really haven't said a word. There have been times where I've had at least five sleep paralysis episodes before I actually can sleep. I've felt like there was a stranger lying next to me and holding both my hands down and no matter how hard I try to pull away, it would just resist. I could even feel the weight of their head next to my arm. I've always realized that I’m always sleepy, even in the daytime after a good night’s rest. When I’m the passenger in a car, I fall asleep really easily. Even when I'm out sometimes in a large crowd in the dance club, I yawn a lot and would rather be in bed sleeping. I thought I was just lazier than other people, but I think I am actually suffering from narcolepsy. I haven’t been diagnosed yet, but am looking to see a doctor about it soon. After realizing that could be it, I am less afraid. I really thought I was haunted before, with all the hallucinations and sleep paralysis!

anon930862 February 6, 2014 Jeez. So much fear. Hallucinations are a powerful creative tool and by neglecting the higher mind you are invoking frightening experiences. Embrace the strange and unusual because novelty and variety and infinity are everywhere.

anon929117 January 30, 2014 I am a male, 19 years old with a Hashimoto's thyroiditis (metabolism disorder). I've had hallucinations upon falling asleep since I was 15. After being diagnosed with and seeking treatment for Hashimoto's thyroiditis, I have noticed a decline in the number of hallucinations, although they are not gone completely. If you have these you should talk to a doctor immediately because it seems that many people have them as a result of an underlying condition. Some nights I remember having multiple hallucinations in a row before actually being able to fall asleep for the rest of the night. The hallucinations are extremely vivid and frightening. Often times they are about waking up to find that I am being kidnapped or that I am about to die of a heart attack, stroke or something of that effect. It seems to me that the things that happen in the hallucinations are things that I am most afraid of. They almost always begin with the sensation of waking up in the place that I had fallen asleep in, and almost always end with the sensation of losing consciousness. No matter how hard I try, I can't just force myself to wake up from a hallucination like a normal dream. Some times the hallucinations are so vivid that I can even feel pain along with sight, sound, touch, etc. One night I woke from a hallucination to find that only two minutes had passed since I had fallen asleep, even though the hallucination seemed to last much longer than that, this is how I convinced myself that they were not real.

anon928897 January 29, 2014 I frequently have visions, only right after waking up from a deep sleep early on in the night, of actual tarantulas sitting on my pillow. Also large, fat, adorable, shining black spiders. And a large bright red spider web made of rope hanging on the side of my bureau right next to my bed with many smaller, black spiders (they look like the ones that you put on your fake Halloween spider webs) running up and down extremely fast. Sometimes the web and little black spiders appear with a deformed appearance, like clumps of red yarn strung together with black splotches (the spiders) throughout. I have always liked tarantulas and was never afraid of spiders at all, so this isn't a result of arachnophobia. I am college age, have never used drugs and do not drink alcohol. I NEVER have hallucinations during the day or any time I am awake. I have never seen a ghost or any other spirit or other phenomenon. When I see these spiders I like them and try to reach for them. There is no resistance or sensation to "touching" them and my fingers pass through them. My fingers leave a space where my fingers were, so now the spider or web has been sliced in half with a space (the width of my finger) in between, showing my pillowcase in the space. If i do not "touch" the spiders they will disappear in splotches over the course of 5 seconds. I am sure I am not dreaming for this reason: I am very near-sighted and at night, without my glasses, my bureau is somewhat blurry while my pillowcase is close enough to be in perfect focus. In my dreams I always have perfect vision. When these spiders appear, the ones on my pillow are in perfect focus, while the ones on the bureau are blurry. I see this as proof that I am not dreaming and that I am actually perceiving these spiders and webs with my own (myopic) eyes.

anon925303 January 11, 2014 I have hallucinations regularly about an hour or so after falling asleep. The thing is for me everything is going normally and I am just peaceful and then suddenly out of the blue, I sit bolt upright and turn things into things. Like I will see a coat hanging on a door as a person with a face and a chair as someone hunched over or something like that. It is creepy, confusing and shocking but it only lasts a few minutes before I regain normal view and it turns back to the real thing, like the chair. In the moment it is undoubtedly real to me and I am overwhelmed with fear and shock and confusion but it always lasts less than one minute or so. It is weird to say the least. Sometimes in the moment I scramble to turn on my light and sometimes I just sit in shock, it always subsides quickly though and for that I am grateful. When I go back to sleep again I am fine. I have also seen the big spider and although I am not really scared by spiders at all, I still get the same feelings.

anon923867 December 31, 2013 I’ve had two of these in my entire life that I know of the first one I was six or seven, I think, and it was really weird. I’m not sure if calling it a hypnagogic hallucination is correct, but when I closed my eyes, there was this green woman with a dress telling me how she would murder my parents. I could always hear her voice, but I only saw her when I closed my eyelids but when I did close them, I still saw the room as if my eyes were open. After some minutes, I went to my parents’ bedroom and told them I was having nightmares but I don’t remember waking up so I closed my eyes again and she was still there. The other one was when I was 13, some months ago, and this one was terrible. I went to sleep and I was like, thinking, kind of, and this demon-looking face -- I kind of imagined it. I didn’t feel scared, so after that I opened my eyes, and at the other side of the room where my sister’s bed is, I could see her legs, but they looked as if they were slowly deforming themselves. I didn’t pay attention to it. I could hear someone knocking on my parents’ bedroom door, and some distorted sounds and the ceiling fan. Then I felt like if I had woken up, and this time I was kind of scared. The sounds were still there so I was suspicious if I actually was awake, so I went to get my phone. My screensaver was a red monkey with hyperrealistic red eyes and a red background. I was sure that wasn’t my screensaver, so I just tried to go back to sleep, and this time it felt like if I really had woken up and I saw my lamp. Before, I was staring at it while going to sleep and I knew I was really awake now, so I couldn’t move, talk or make a noise and I started to get a little bit freaked out trying to talk and move. Then the song “Tiptoe through the Tulips” (which makes me scared) started playing and when that happened my whole body got goosebumps and I felt this really bad fear and I was way more desperate to move to speak to scream. I kept trying to, but I couldn’t, so after that, the face which I imagined before, but in a different pose, was starting to pop up and cover my sight with it. Each time, it appeared faster so I was really scared. I tried screaming and moving and the face of a kid also started appearing and my panic level was really high. After some minutes of that, I could move and the music still resonated in my head, which scared me the most, but I grabbed my phone and everything was good. There wasn’t another red monkey in there so I didn’t want to sleep from that point, but luckily after watching some youtube videos I fell asleep. After that, I was shacking the whole week. I did some research and found out that’s it. I wouldn’t want to experience another one. I really hated it and it scared me a lot.

anon355665 yesterday About the sleep paralysis victims. I am one. But I'm in a dream but in the exact position I fell asleep in. I see everything very clearly kind of like looking through water. everything is more brightly colored than my normal dreams and I cannot move. I panic, and most of the time something very scary happens to me. Once I saw two feet standing on the bed. It was a woman with bare feet and a white night gown. I was able to look up, and she was just standing there on the bed in between me and my girlfriend. She was wet and had the most sinister smile on her face ear to ear very demonic and creepy. I couldn't move so I tried to speak. and I felt like I was being chocked. I finally managed to say "Jesus" and I was able to move and woke up. Another time I awoke paralyzed like this and the devil was taunting me laughing at me. All of a sudden, I was able to move. so I got up in my dream, found someone and asked them to help me wake up. They said, "Why? Because the devil is in your dream?" and their face twisted and morphed into something evil. I turned and faced a wall and prayed. I felt like I was just standing there for about five minutes and then I woke up. I would suggest to anyone who gets sleep paralysis two things. 1. Try to say " Jesus " I don't know why, but this helps me every time. 2. Try to just shake your head in a "no" motion. That also used to help me before I learned to say "Jesus." I really hope this helps someone out there for the next time they get stuck and can't wake up.

anon355110 November 13, 2013 I might have a solution for you all: My story: I’ve experienced sleep paralysis many times before in my life. However, after I first tried ecstasy I started to hear voices as I was in between the state of wakefulness and sleep. They were voices of my friends, and my mind definitely wasn't controlling what they were saying; it was like my friends were in my mind. In a way it scared me and I had to force myself to wakeup, but after the voices were over I would experience sleep paralysis. I’m only 15 and still a frequent user of Molly and Ecstasy (I know, it’s a problem that I need to seek help for). Now every night when I fall asleep, I have very vivid dreams as I fall asleep, however part of me is still awake. I see very vivid scenes when my eyes are closed and hear very vividly as well. I don’t see things in my room though, because my eyes are closed the whole time. When I fully awake from these vivid mini dreams, I get sleep paralysis and have to jolt myself to full wakefulness. Anyway, I found a solution. I was so happy to find a solution for myself because the half awake dreams and auditory hallucinations and sleep paralysis was always frightening and gave me that feeling of a presence in my room. If I play music while falling asleep or leave the TV on with a sleep timer (so it turns off on its own), I don’t have any of the sensations and have a normal sleep! Basically if I fall asleep with sounds around me. it works. I’ve tested this. When I fall asleep with music or the TV on, I fall asleep normally. And when I fall asleep with pure silence, I experience the dreams and sounds and sleep paralysis. I hope some of you try this and I’m curious as to see if it works for others!

anon354484 November 8, 2013 I'm 15 and I've been having these for about six months, maybe longer. I've had a bad past with drugs and and even worse past with my father. I too have been having flashbacks, and I seem to have more trauma memories than seeing people or bugs. I relive every moment and more. I feel every scar as if it were happening again. I feel the emotional pain as well. I don't see it getting better. How do I deal with this happening almost every night? I'm in high school! I should be worrying about homework and finals, not what's going to happen when I shut my eyes. The only thing I've found to help is sleeping meds, like melatonin, which is an over the counter sleep aid, yet I have found one other thing: falling asleep to my boyfriend's voice.

newzbug11 October 9, 2013 I had them a lot as a kid, and sometimes still have them. Mostly if I lie perfectly still, it feels as if I am lying a solid wood floor. Not a big deal. But the past few days, I have been waking up to see bugs crawling on my ceiling. I had just woken. I close my eyes and look again. I do this about three times and it really feels like I am seeing a big bug, which scares me terribly. I did once have one when I woke in middle of the night and saw a stranger at my bedroom door. I was so terrified, I remained motionless but my heart was racing. Eventually, I closed my eyes and he was gone. I thought he was very real. I was pretty freaked out for weeks.

anon345918 August 23, 2013 Wow, I didn't know other people were experiencing this, too! All mine are bug related. Every couple of weeks or so, while I'm trying to fall asleep, I'll think there is a spider crawling on my face, and sometimes between being asleep and waking up, I'll see a big line of ants crawling around on the wall. I'll jump up and run clear into the kitchen before I realize that there was no spider. Except once last week actually. There actually was a spider on my face -- a daddy long legs. I squished the crap out of it after that. Makes me think these spiders were actually here the whole time.

anon345154 August 16, 2013 I used to hallucinate often as a child, most of the time when falling asleep or waking up. The most vivid memory is when I'm falling asleep, my eyes are closed and I feel the sensation of being in a large room. Sometimes I am up very high in this room and sometimes I'm on the ground. But I always feel a strange but exciting presence in this room. It's not so much an image, but a sensation. It's quite fun and hardly happens anymore. When I was young, I would sometimes crawl into my mom's bed in the morning and sleep for another half hour. There were large framed photos on the wall -- portraits. Sometimes I would wake up and the mouths of the people in the portraits would be moving, I thought it was fun and not scary.

anon345026 August 14, 2013 I am 60 and have had these all my life, but not with any regularity. Usually I think there is someone in the room, walking into a corner or closet. Sometimes someone is just looking at me. As a child, I saw monkeys swinging from the curtain rods of windows. Sometimes I see spiders on the wall, or am sure that a squirrel has come into my bed. The thing is, they are always so real. I have had dreams where I knew it was a dream, but these are so real. I get up and look for what I saw and it takes a few minutes for me to realize what happened.

halleman July 13, 2013 My husband had to wake me up after I sat up in the bed and asked him to get the people out of my closet. He said he got up, turned on the light, opened the door and went in there. He came out and said there is no one there and turned the light off, but he said I still argued with him that they were there. He said I got really upset and told him that he didn't believe me. The next morning I remembered a small portion of what he was saying, but not all of it. He said he really thought I was asleep and when he realized that I was really asleep he was scared. I have done this almost every night about different things -- some not as severe as others -- for the last 15 years. I have been to doctors and psychologists about this but nothing helps. I had a very bad upbringing and was abused most of my childhood and teenage years. Could this finally be a result in my trauma that I thought I had accepted and dealt with?

amypollick June 10, 2013 @anon338016: This sounds Sundowner's Syndrome, which can be a precursor of Alzheimer's Disease. I am not a doctor, but your mom's symptoms sound like Sundowner's to me. You and your dad meed to get her to a neurologist to get her checked out.

anon338016 June 10, 2013 My mum is normal during the day, but as the night progresses, she turns into a totally different person. She starts slurring her words, she starts walking around the house for no reason, she can't walk straight and sometimes she makes herself sick. It's like she is 'sleep walking,' but hasn't gone to sleep yet. My dad and I try to guide her to bed, but she turns very aggressive easily, She has accidentally hit me when she turned aggressive. Sometimes she has even woken up with bruises on her face from when she had fallen over a table after walking around the house. The next morning she can't remember anything at all and is a normal person again. My dad and I really would like for her to see someone but she refuses and thinks there is nothing wrong. If anyone knows what this may be, please respond.

anon337852 June 8, 2013 What I m wanting to know is if anyone else has experienced flashbacks during the day. I still get these. I've had them in the middle of the day. For no reason in particular, I will start to recall some element of what I am sure I can only have dreamed or hallucinated. The vague images in my mind (which I can never remember afterwards) are accompanied by dizziness, nausea and sometimes tunnel vision and a buzzing in my ears. Any sense of fear is mild especially now, and the experience is mostly confusing and only mildly disturbing. It usually passes in three or four seconds. Also, I suffered from anxiety, panic attacks and sleep paralysis for years. I don't remember having these hypnagogic hallucinations while I am dreaming or when I am having sleep paralysis. These flashbacks are happening only when I awake in interactions whit s some elements during daytime. Are these brief "Dream flashbacks" from hypnagogic hallucinations, or maybe from night terrors? This is very disturbing. Should I be worried? This has been happening for five years on and off.

anon334147 May 10, 2013 When I was eight, I saw two glowing red eyes above the foot of my bed, on the shelf at the top of the closet. Something swooped down and as I covered my head I could even feel the wind from this hallucination as it passed over. I am 50 and still remember this quite clearly.

anon333836 May 8, 2013 I see others post things about scary images and other frightening pictures and experiences, but as I fall asleep, I get this paralysis feeling where I can only tell myself to wake up. It's hard to move, almost like I'm glued to my bed and I can move any part of my body. I don't see anything. It is dark and somewhat frightening only due to the fact that I cannot get up. I haven't tried opening my eyes or my mouth. It's like a balance. If I decide to give in, I get this feeling as if I'm being sucked through my bed and honestly it's scary, almost like I feel as if I am going to die. If I fight it, I wake up and think for a minute, then go back to sleep and wake up in the morning. I read some articles and somebody said to let go, and I would begin to dream outside of my body or something like that, almost like I would be able to control my dreams. They also said that with practice I could control the paralysis. Does anybody have any info for me? Is it a demonic possession or something? I believe in God and Jesus and I will not tolerate a demon inside me. That's a no no! Please somebody tell me how to master this or stop it. Some say it's a gift and some say it's a curse. What is it, really?

anon331155 April 21, 2013 Interesting that so many people have negative experiences with this. I find that the most restful part of the whole night's sleep is the hypnagogic imagery upon awakening. It's very visually intense; I would say like HDTV of the mind. The imagery is totally random. Sometimes it's objects like doorknobs, sometimes abstract scenes like a rope against a inky black space. Other times, it's faces, and often, sidewalk bricks. It always appears as though there is more, visually, to be known about the objects, seeing them in this way, hypnagogically, than if I had seen them through normal physical eyes in waking life. It's an intimate visual acuity. Textures are rich and detailed. The leather of a woman's handbag, for example, would be fascinating to stare at, for as long as the image could last (I would try to hold it for as long as possible, usually a few to several seconds), and infinitely rich in detail. No blurriness, no visual boredom or need to look at anything else whatsoever. I never feel more rested and alert mentally than after I've seen the imagery. The longer-lasting, the more intense, the better I can think and the more rested I feel. My brain is super-charged afterwards. This imagery is really the vitamin component of sleep. (Unless it's from alcohol. Alcohol can induce more images, but they do no good mentally, and they're dull and not detailed.) I just tried to doze off at work for a few minutes. Didn't sleep, but I saw some imagery for a few seconds and that was all I needed. No more nap was necessary. It's a pretty common occurrence, but that's what prompted me to get on the 'net and write about it.

anon329057 April 7, 2013 For the past few weeks, when I settled in for a night’s sleep, once I close my eyes I see human life forms with colorful attire and light colored hair floating around me. The scariest part of this is I open my eyes and I still see them.

anon324580 March 11, 2013 Actually, hypnogogic is the state of consciousness between awake and asleep. Hypnopompic is the state of consciousness in which one is between sleep and awaking. I've experienced this hypnogogic state of consciousness before and I (what felt real and physical) felt that I was being picked up and moved to the other side of my room (which was very frightening). I felt conscious throughout this 10 second hypnogogic state and so I jerked myself out of it.

anon311242 December 30, 2012 I just started researching a disorder of mine a few minutes ago, and came upon this. It fits the description almost perfectly. What I mainly experience is not a visual or audio hallucination. A doctor said that for me, information from my sub-consciousness may be leaking into my consciousnesses. It is simply the most frightening thing I've ever experienced. I have attempted suicide because of it, and the idea still lingers with me every day. Thank you for posting this information.

anon299522 October 25, 2012 For some (unexplained, stupid) reason, I do feel some relief due to the many posts. I thought I was going totally mad. I still feel that way, but wanted to make others feel better. I have a horrible problem that happens every single darn night! I see people who aren't there, and I don't want to sleep anymore! I am so darned afraid and tired. Most of these are people I do not know, but some are, as last night, I saw my hubby. The night before there were many. One was my sister-in-law and the others? Who the hell knows? I feel like I am going mad. I am not trying to make light of this, just so very frightened of what is happening to me.

anon296143 October 9, 2012 It's a thing. It's real. I'm not just weird. I have these all the time and they scare the hell out of me. I don't even want to explain them. I was just researching 'Sleep Hallucinations' for this writing project I'm working on and I came across this and when I was reading it I literally started crying because of remembrance and because I'd previously thought that I was alone.

anon294408 October 1, 2012 I smoked pot every day, morning until night for four years from age 16-20. Then I did mushrooms and liberty caps. For the next eight months, every time I entered alpha sleep, whether I was trying to sleep or was just bored somewhere, I had a massive jolt of adrenaline and what felt like an electric shock in my head. I believe this is tactile and makes me not sleep more than about 10 hours a week. I was in a crappy state. Now I'm just careful.

anon292665 September 21, 2012 If you are having hypnagogic hallucinations and/or sleep paralysis, and excessive day time sleepiness, see a doctor and be evaluated for narcolepsy.

anon290792 September 11, 2012 I want the fairy lights to return. Looking back, I have had some of these sensations many times before. Swirling tiny spiders, one spider, the pressure on the bed as if someone had just sat down, voices emanating from the air purifier. Only this time it was more intense. I had just stopped taking a pain killer the day before, my husband had gone into another screaming rage, my daughter was about to be married, my step-children were coming home and, except for three days on the pain killer, I had not been sleeping well for months. An hour or so before bedtime I was sitting on my bed, working on a craft project. I looked up towards the door, sensing my husband was there. I saw a shadow as it entered the room and started to approach me. I told it, ‘Go away. I do not want you now.’ It left. What was that? Was it bad? I could almost see the black robe and hood, the proverbial scythe. It wasn’t the good witch for sure. It left as suddenly as it had come, acquiescing to my demand to go away. Then the chanting began -- soft, almost feminine chanting. Soon thereafter, I heard a radio announcer with a garbled voice, talking fast, with high happy energy. I almost recognized his words as he introduced the country songs coming through the radio. I very rarely listen to country songs and we have no radio. My husband went to the television set to make sure it was turned off, even though he hadn’t heard anything. Later, in bed, I was remembering the visitor. This night, only the light from the moon coming through my bedroom blinds brought light into the room. I got up to get some water. I had been thirsty for days -- thirsty as well for peace and harmony in my life and relationships. My husband was in bed next to me, still boiling from a runaway argument. Suddenly, I saw tiny fairy lights all around me. They were thousands of swirling, shining, pinprick, silvery golden lights all aground me and above me. I was incredibly amazed and delighted. My husband became angry with me, accusing me of trying to frighten him or make fun of him, but I knew that they were real. I returned to the bed and the lights continued. Soon I left the room to go downstairs. For more water? To check on the cat? There were more lights in the hall. Suddenly, the lights became flickering flames, bright hued yellows, menacing reds. My husband was now in the hallway. He had gotten out of bed when I said I saw more lights. ‘Quick,’ I said, ‘tell me you love me. We have to get rid of this negative energy!’ Suddenly I was frightened. Where were the fairy lights? I went back to the safety of my bed. Soon, I was up again. This time, small dash-shaped, silvery-golden lights flew around me and as I lifted my face and arms to the lights I could feel them hitting my skin, little bolts of electricity. ‘Come to me!’ I said. This was good and my husband was very concerned. I now had a sense of terrific forces being in the room. I almost joked, ‘Oh I am finally cracking up. I am having a hallucination but I am fully awake. Okay, now I am really crazy.’ He was not amused. He asked if I was ‘doing this on purpose to annoy’ him. Good grief! In bed, the atmosphere suddenly changed. I looked up at the ceiling and in the dark room it looked sort of brown, with a moon crater like appearance. Suddenly three dimensional snakes were swirling above me, hundreds of writhing snakes and these images suddenly turned into fish and then fish like monsters. Soon, more to the point, eventually, it was over. The negative and the positive energy beams had left as swiftly as they had come. I want the fairy lights to come back. I am grateful to these testimonials. After searching the internet and finding this site I am both relieved and disappointed. Relieved because I am not alone and disappointed because perhaps the lights are not truly real after all.

anon289594 September 5, 2012 When I was a child, about five years old, I had to go to the hospital for an operation. They gave me the wrong dose of drugs so I was awake throughout it, and the pain became a visual movie in my mind of what they where doing to me. How I saw it was the doctors and nurses are holding me down while trying to cut me open with a bread knife and then they cut me open and I can’t do anything. I try to scream, but nothing happens, and I stop breathing for long enough that I “wake up” breathing heavily and dripping with sweat. I think after that feeling of being powerless, I started to get these weird hallucinations, where everything would zoom out in the sense that I became very small in a big room. I then see a conveyor belt with things on it, and for a while I do nothing. Then I take one and I am rushed by a massive giant type figure that crushes me ( I get a tight feeling on my chest and can hear bones breaking). This seems to go on for ages and then I pass out and wake up an hour or so later. I have the first nightmare (if you can call it that since it doesn’t happen when I am sleeping; it just happens when I am tired and my mind starts to wander) about once or twice a week. The second hallucination happens most nights before I go to sleep. I wake up one or two hours later and find it hard to sleep at all after that.

anon288646 August 31, 2012 I experienced this when I was a young teenager, hearing menacing "demonic" voices, loud sounds, footsteps, music, being unable to move, a presence, someone moving my bed, pressure on the chest. I also saw shadow people and flying Halloween pumpkins. I felt like I was about to be possessed, like a loss of energy. Then the visions stopped until I was 25. That time was very stressful for me. I left my family's religion -- I became agnostic -- and there was a lot of drama involved in the process, lost all my friends, etc.. Then I had the most vivid hallucinations, and some of them even "extended" over the fully awake state for a few seconds. A sound woke me up and a I saw a motherly, caring figure of white light. The other day, the same thing happened again: a sound woke me up, and I saw a polygonal man beside me moving his spherical head (I'd been using a 3D modelling software that day). These were the good ones, but I've also had frighting experiences. The difference was that I was able to control them, to "fight" them mentally. I've been practicing some meditation. So in the middle of a bad hallucination, I will start meditating and then felt like I was leaving my body, so I had no need to "fight" physically with the threatening presence, usually a shadow man. I would fight it with my ethereal body, instead. Meditating at that time made me feel like I have super powers. Once I felt someone forcefully grabbing my arm, and I broke it in several pieces using my ethereal body. Meditating at those times helps me to control fear, and without fear and imagination I can transform the hallucination to something good. The last time that I've heard a threatening voice, I've just commanded it to leave me alone. Since then from time to time I have some mild experiences, but they are neutral or positive. I've also experienced again the sensation of leaving my body, flying around the neighborhood and coming back to my body, and then wake up with a very pleasurable sensation all over my body.

anon287575 August 26, 2012 I'm 14 and now and again I have hallucinations when I'm trying to get to sleep. I once hallucinated that there was a ghost hanging up washing in my room, which sounds funny, but it was actually really creepy and quite scary because I was 8 at the time. I also once hallucinated about two years ago, thinking I had an envelope so I opened it and a massive spider crawled out, over me and up my wall, then it laid loads of eggs which hatched and I spent the night covering my face with my quilt. Most of my hallucinations aren't scary though and I just imagine some of my friends in my room, but they're all laughing at me because I'm wearing no makeup or anything which makes me feel really paranoid and quite low. I'm not sure if this is relevant to the hallucinations, but also I always feel like there's someone or something in the room with me, watching me. I don't see them, but sometimes I see little movements, like a shadow or something or my curtain moving, so I'm not sure if that's me hallucinating or not. I only ever see the movements at night though. Thanks for this information, it's been really helpful.

anon284233 August 9, 2012 I've been having these all my life. When I was a young child, maybe through the ages 4-11, I would be in that state of half asleep and half awake, screaming. Sometimes I'd wake up and not know if I had actually screamed or not until someone came into my room and asked me what was wrong. I didn't even know why I was screaming. I hadn't seen or heard anything; I was simply screaming. And I was so afraid of something but I didn't know what it was. More recently, within the last year or so (I'm 17 years old) I started hearing shrieks and screams. Sometimes I wouldn't even be at the point of sleep yet. I'd just be lying in bed or really tired, and I'd hear it. A woman, very far away, would let out a shriek. But as soon as it had faded, I convinced myself I imagined it. Last week, I had one that really shook me up. I was lying in bed, trying to sleep, like usual. Finally I was drifting off. Earlier that day, I saw my brother Matt, visiting with my mom downstairs. Once I had drifted off, I could hear their screams. It was absolutely horrific. I lay there, nearly frozen in terror. Just before their desperate cries for help faded away, I jumped out of my bed and went downstairs to investigate with a baseball bat. I came to find out my brother had left hours ago, and my mom was napping on the couch. It was greatly disturbing to hear them screaming for help from some unknown thing. I've never heard a person scream like that before. It was terrifying. I don't know if this has any meaning, but these kind of things have been happening ever since I began lucid dreaming. I had done it before as a child without really knowing what it was, but I started having auditory hallucinations after attempting to initiate a lucid dream. I'm just happy to know I'm not the only one.

anon283825 August 6, 2012 @anon283643: Nice take on the slender man meme. For those not in the know, the slender man meme was created on the Something Awful forums back in 2009.

anon283643 August 5, 2012 When I was a child, I used to see this really tall man in our garden. He wore a black suit, and I don't remember if I could see his face, or if he even had one. I just remember feeling really calm when he was around, even though he had these really freaky long arms. I stopped seeing him after my little sister ran away from home. I thought the grief of losing her shook those hallucinations from my mind, but after reading the article, I'm not sure why they went away. Because I'm older now?

anon283641 August 5, 2012 Strangely enough, all of my hypnagogic episodes came shortly after taking the painkiller Vicodin. I remember the first time it happened, I had very bizarre thoughts and hallucinations. I thought three of my fingers had turned into cheesy potato wedges, and that finding their synonyms was my homework. Another time had me talking to my then girlfriend's disembodied head about a girl we used to know and how 'these brownies taste like sick'. My very first one, though, was just my childhood brain wiring itself. I turned around to look at my doorway when I was 6, and saw a man in full Elizabethan garb. I later found out that supposedly my old hometown is the site of mass ghost sightings, but I don't buy into that supernatural bollocks. Still, makes a good story.

anon283524 August 5, 2012 This is hard to grapple with. I read through a lot of these comments and it's amazing that so many people experience similar things. Here's my story. At age 16 (I'm now 19), I had never had reoccurring dreams, barely remembered any dreams, never had a nightmare (only experience of falling a few times), and wasn't having an out-of-the-ordinary day. I went to sleep and woke up a few hours into the night (in a lucid dream, I guess. It felt completely real.) While lying on my back, I saw my bedroom door ajar and the light outside being switched on and off irregularly. Weirded out, I tried to get up and check but realized I couldn't move. In somewhat of a panic but thinking there was some kind of medical explanation, I tried to call out for help from my parents downstairs (three-story row house, me with the top floor to myself and the laundry room where the light was flickering) but was unable to make a sound or open my mouth. Then I felt a pressure around my neck and what felt like two hands pressing down on my throat. Knowing this wasn't medically explainable because I was being choked and could die if this continued, I closed my eyes and prayed to God thinking that this must be a demon trying to scare/kill me (if it could). I didn't have the words to say because I was freaking out so much, so I just started praying in my head. The first words I was saying were, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." As I began to say this, a low guttural voice was saying the words what sounded like directly next to my ears, in a mocking kind of tone. The impression that I got was that the voice thought it was funny that I thought praying would save me. I then said he leads me by green pastures, he leads my by still waters.." With each slowly uttered word I breathed no more breaths because the pressure increased dramatically word by word as did the voice in volume and the voice turned from mocking to angry very vast. Then I said the last lines of what I found out later was the first part of Psalm 23, "He restores my soul." I really believed those words, that He (God) would restore my soul and save me, and when I said the word "He" the angry voice literally screamed it at me and right at the word "restores" the pressure was relieved, and I could move and breathe. I opened my eyes eventually and saw the door still ajar but with the light off, and I feared for my life no longer for God was with me. Now I was convinced it was real, but before I went to sleep I thought, "that can't be real.." In the morning I asked my older brother (5 years older) how his night was, and he told me he experienced a dark presence in his room while he was falling asleep, and he got on his knees and prayed quoting the very same Psalm, Psalm 23, that I was given the words to say! This rather amazing coincidence (because I hadn't experienced a dark presence before) lends itself to an idea-- that this was real. That demons are real, and that by calling on God, you can be saved from it. I have gone to sleep a thousand times since that night, and every time I go confidently, knowing that if I'm bothered again I can just say "Leave! I belong to Jesus and he has power over you." For when I quoted the Psalm, I was praying that Jesus would intervene. Jesus was already my Lord and Savior before that night at 16, but that night confirmed that he's real. I'm a psychology major, and I'm learning about this stuff and how it can be explained away. However with this and several other more intense experiences of deliverance by Jesus' name, I'm convinced that there is a spiritual realm and Jesus is King in it, and God allows demons sometimes to mess with us (like the temptation of Christ in the gospel of Matthew chapter 4). But if you belong to Jesus you don't have to worry. Trust in him, and you'll be delivered. I've shared this news with many friends struggling with sleep terrors and they say that it has worked for them too. Some of them have even given their lives to Jesus because of the peace they've found in Him. Please, seek a pastor or friend who knows Jesus for more information on the sure fix. Live in Him, and He will live in you and the power that brings over fear (and sin and death) is unmistakably worth it. Everything does have an explanation. It may not always be scientific although many times they mix. Psychology and explanations are good, but sometimes when there are real demons at work the only fix is not comfort in the universal experience of these things (I met someone in a recent trip to Indonesia who had these kinds of body frozen scary dreams too), but the comfort in conquering over them. (Check out Romans 8:37, 2 Timothy 1:7, Ephesians 6:11 if you're interested in a little biblical support. Also, ask a pastor for more information if you really want to sleep soundly every night. I've met 100-plus people with this problem who testify to these things I'm telling you. A few other posters have also mentioned it. Get Jesus and get freedom. I pray you find peace in the Prince of Peace. Philippians 4:6.)-- Rob

zaRa139 July 25, 2012 I've had these kinds of hallucinations for quite a few years, but I believed everything had an explanation so I went online and found this. I believe knowing about the problem is a way to stop it. The worst parts are when I see bad times from the past replay in an exaggerated way, like the room would be filled with people I know, maybe even people I like screaming at me, scolding me and hitting me. The better times are when I have visions of the best times with some people I could never be with again, but it would hurt like hell and leave me horribly confused when I wake up. Sometimes I just see random people sitting by my bed. The better ones are nice and they mumble random things that make me feel safe and accepted. The more terrifying ones are people who look half human and half animal or just weird. It freaks me out just to think of it. They wait by my bed and scratch at my skin tearing it away, or they stand near my bed, beside my fan or on my desk and stare hungrily at me like I'm their target.

anon281225 July 22, 2012 When I was younger, like 5, 6 and 7, I would always see these curly strands of color just sitting in my doorway or colorful, big spots and colorful bugs all over the bed. It really, really, confused me. Now, at 11, I always feel like I am falling and I have to jerk myself awake before I hit the ground. It's nice to know these problems are completely normal. I didn't actually mind them, though. The colors were very pretty and the falling thing felt so cool.

anon279651 July 13, 2012 I've had these hallucinations for as long as I can remember. It's so comforting knowing that other people have them, too. Usually I will see some type of insect in my room, either a spider, wasp, or large bug. Sometimes there are frogs, aliens, or people. There have been frightening and disgusting ones. It is quite annoying, especially when you "wake up" and run out of your room because you see and hear a large wasp in your room. I wonder what the meaning is. I read a lot of people have similar hallucinations: a figure in your room or some type of insect. It is very interesting but frustrating at the same time, because I try to explain it to people and they think I'm crazy. Recently there was a man in my room, dressed like he was painting something. He was staring up at my ceiling fan. I was staring at him for a while, waiting for him to turn around or something. But he just floated up into the sky. It was weird. I definitely prefer little frogs instead of men in my room. I wonder if anything will ever be discovered about this. It's surprising to see how many people have the same problem. Maybe one day someone will know why and help us. Best of luck to everyone. Stay safe

anon278658 July 8, 2012 I woke up one morning, and as I was gaining consciousness, I could see some kind of bug and it seemed to be totally aware of me and seemed to be totally aware that I could see it. It crawled away and tried to hide. It was in my room and totally freaked me out. As I awakened, it disappeared. However, over the weeks to come, it appeared again and again and I became aware of more of them. And they became aware of me, and over the weeks to come, we seemed to develop a kind of relationship. It was freaky because I couldn't see them until they got really close, but they would jump all over me and on a subconscious level, I could hear them speaking to me. They seemed to all be acting according to the instructions given to them by a single source which was located in the corner of the room. They weren't threatening me unless threatened. It was a really freaky experience at first. I have come to deal with the fact that they are there, even though at first, I thought it was some sort of hallucination. I have actually felt their touch. They have bitten me, spat on me and even tried to feed me and I could taste what they put in my mouth. It still kind of freaks me out, but they are there. They are not meat, they cannot be seen by normal human eyes and they freak out when you do see them. They look a little like lobsters. And since then, more bug like things have appeared, including spiders, which like to wrap things up in their webs, snakes and lizards that camouflage themselves but are still visible to me. I think it's funny but though at first, I thought it was just awakening from the end state of a dream. But it has turned into an actual, conscious reality in a visual spectrum that was previously unavailable to me. They are not threatening, but totally react to my subconscious thoughts as if they can hear me. Weird or what?

anon278651 July 8, 2012 When I was young, I would awake to a pressure on my chest. I was paralyzed and couldn't move. I could see a figure on the ceiling and it appeared to be coming through the ceiling, but it wasn't human. I always thought it was just a nightmare. But recently I've discovered I wasn't the only one having these experiences. I wonder what is really going on.

anon278650 July 8, 2012 When I close my eyes, I see a giant bug straddling the earth. I've had symptoms like many others of you. Spiders in my room look like lobsters sometimes crawling on me and I hear voices from them like something from somewhere else talking, not necessarily to me, but they are there. It freaks me out to think that this is real and something is really happening. I don't want to know it, but it seems it wants to know me.

anon277525 June 30, 2012 In the past year, I am also having hallucinations upon waking up. I am wondering if it's power lines. Do any of you have heavy power lines outside your windows? The reason is, at night I hear almost thundering. Almost heartbeats. And since I am into electronics, an old glass monitor I gave away was waving wildly. And this is probably because there are strong wave patterns in the power lines outside. I adjust the frequency of the monitor, trying to change the pattern, but to no avail. It lessened it, but did not eliminate it. I am presuming these wave patterns affect the mind if one is nearby them. For me, I am seeing patterns on the walls come out, like wallpaper patterns. They're patterns of plants. So the plants look like they're coming out at me and in 3-D, moving. It is very bizarre. And I am very conscious sometimes. I am not scared of them. And I sit and stare and study. They eventually go away after 15 minutes, or if I decide to wake up and get out of bed. A few other times, I have seen bubbles on the walls. And almost as if I had not been in the room I woke up in. As if I were in another room. The bubbles were moving. They kind of look like bubble wrap, giant bubble wrap. All the walls and ceiling were covered with them. My name is Neal. So if anyone can help me with these hallucinations or know something about electronics and can help find out if it's these power lines and 60 cycle hums causing these things, let me know. Maybe it's these heavy power lines causing hallucinations.

anon274772 June 13, 2012 I've had this problem for as long as I can remember. I remember it had started off as just normal childhood fears (such as the boogeyman opening the closet or shaking your bed underneath). But the older I got the worse it got. At about age 13, I would see hundreds of demonic faces flying at me from the dark. When I would open my eyes, they would be connected to bodily figures as they continued to fly at me. Only this time they would be joined by shrill, spine-tingling laughter. I could feel them smacking through me with warm thuds of air. For a couple years I dealt with it, scared to fall asleep, until I decided it was time for me to sleep with a light and music of some sort. It calmed down until I reached 19 when I was living with my fiance. We were sleeping in his room (at the time it was in a basement at his grandparents' house). I rolled over to cuddle into his chest as he held me and kissed him on the cheek and the minute I did I could feel him start to shake. At first I thought he was having some sort of seizure, but when I looked at his face his entire head was shaking violently as if being possessed in some sort of horror movie. When he finally stopped he was staring at me with a sort of zombified stare. And right then his face seemed to disfigure into this decaying skull. I was up against the wall trying to scream, but I was like a mute. I finally came out of it when I felt the decaying man slap me with his cold, hard hands. I didn't realize I had woken my fiance up practically beating him. He had gotten bruises from me kicking and punching him. Trying to explain that experience to him only made me feel like more of a freak. I felt like I was psychotic, or worse, schizo. I still get them every now and again, but I haven't had anything as bad as I did that night, and I'm definitely not missing it. I'm glad I found this article because it's nice to know that other people have hallucinations like this as they go to sleep.

anon274076 June 9, 2012 I've had them for years. I've seen loads of different things. They started with spiders, wasps, flies, that sort of thing. It was getting a bit worse when I started seeing people. I was waking up with them standing over me whispering or running out of the room. The strange thing is it was always close friends. Sometimes I wake up to hear music blasting, only to sit up and it's silent again. It's getting worrying now though as I'm getting them and can't differentiate between them and reality. I nearly badly hurt my girlfriend after hitting her repeatedly during one. Just hoping I can do something about them all.

anon271736 May 28, 2012 The moment I woke up I had to do a little research and I came across this website. This morning, I felt like something slapped me in the face. That of course woke me up and made me look around. There was a blurred spot in front of my eyes but there wasn't a blurred spot any where else in the room regardless of the distance. When I went to the bathroom, I saw a slap mark on my face. If this was a vivid dream, my dreams must be coming to life because I think something really hit me. If science can explain this, that would be great. If not, I'll chuck it up to the ghost of someone or something.

anon268618 May 14, 2012 When I was very young, I remember having one of the young Grinch from the movie start walking slowly to my bedside. I pulled the covers over my head I was so scared. I also remember seeing to baby-like angels like what you might see together embracing each other and spinning while flying right over the wall the backboard of my bed. On both accounts I pulled the covers of my bed over my head.

anon265800 May 3, 2012 I saw a giant dragonfly flapping around my room not so long ago. I jumped out of bed and ran to the door, scrambling with the knob trying to open it. I had even turned the light on and it was still there. I finally got out and ran to a different room and shut the door. It was so vivid and realistic, I believed that maybe there has been an invasion of these giant dragonflies, and humans were being killed and taken over by them or something. I could find no evidence of this though, and slept on the floor in this other room. The next day, I had to get a friend to check my room to see if this dragonfly was still there because I still wasn't sure if it was real or not. It wasn't, of course. I've had various other hypnagonic hallucinations for years, but that was the most unusual one recently. I've seen plenty of figures around me, and people calling my name and things. I often see this pretty looking girl with long dark hair sitting on the bed next to me. She isn't anyone I recognize from reality, but when she appears I feel as though she is my girlfriend or something, and that she is supposed to be there. Quite opposite from the usual demonic presences. I find it interesting how many people see giant insects a lot more frequently than anything else. I wonder what they symbolise. I have heard of nobody else seeing dragonflies though. Does it vary depending on what type of person you are, or what? --Josh

anon262890 April 21, 2012 I have some tips for those suffering with this sometimes terrifying condition. I have hypnagogic hallucinations associated with narcolepsy. They started when I was 29 in the form of someone sitting on my bed or a cat walking on my bed. They stopped for a few years and then came back much stronger and darker. Demonic creatures rapidly running over me in an overwhelming stampede, or I had sex dreams where the faceless entity turned into a demon or snakes in my mattress and in my comforter or the feeling that something was trying to pull me off my bed by my feet. I fought against it at first. I would say the Lord's Prayer, but nothing happened. I would have to struggle to pull myself out of the paralytic state and wake up fully. When I got back to sleep, it would come back until finally, I was able to fall asleep. Many narcoleptics are also lucid dreamers, I have found. I believe there is a direct connection. When I decided to utilize my lucid dreaming ability, I "gave in" to the force trying to pull me off the bed and it took me floating outside my room into the air. Nothing scary. I began to realize that these hallucinations could not hurt me and it changed the nature of them. Although some of them were fun, I rejected the sexual dreams when they started or tried to change the nature of them to something meaningful, like an embrace or a genuine connection. For me, that was when the demonic hallucinations stopped. I think I subconsciously felt guilty and shifted the nature of the hallucinations to a spiritual one. Now I still have them, but they've taken on a more pleasant tone. In a recurring one, my feet began to feel as if there was pressure being applied and it turns into a foot massage or a full body massage. After a long work day, those come in handy. You may find that drinking coffee right before bed may lead to more intense hallucinations. For me, fast food leads to darker hallucinations, so I have cleaned out my diet. In general, you want to exercise, eat right, and pursue your interests. By being "whole" in that sense, you can at the very least change the nature of these hallucinations. The most important thing is to know that they can't hurt you. You are safe. Although it may feel like you are not, tell yourself this over and over. Soon you will believe it and your subconscious mind will adjust accordingly. Hope this helps!

anon255887 3 hours ago I hate these. I tend to have dreams that I'm inboard the Titanic. Some if my friends are there and I'm in first class. I dream I get on the boat and continue like I would onboard a ship. Then, I usually wake up when water begins to flow into the 'Titanic' room. I feel water trickling up my feet and leg. I get freaked out. What does it mean! --Deanna

anon255397 March 17, 2012 I'm 26 and I've had these hallucinations for 5 years. They appear in different shapes, normally when I'm trying to go to sleep or i just wake up middle of the night having them. Sometimes, somebody is just talking in my ear or they slap me in my face. When I experience them, I feel that I'm completely awake and it's not a dream! The other kind is that I feel somebody is in my room staring at me. Recently, I'm getting a new shape of these dreams. I just wake up almost one hour after I go to sleep and I see a big scorpion on the wall. I need to blink two or three times until it goes away. I've even changed my room but it's still the same! I started hating nights because I need to go to bed!

anon254352 March 13, 2012 I've been suffering from lucid dream states where strange things happen for at least 15 years (I'm 28 now). At one point in my life, I would get the feeling of being stuck, not being able to talk or move. I've also seen spiders dangling from the ceiling down toward me. The spider dreams are becoming more frightening. One time the spider looked like a large lobster on the back half of its body and in the front, it had a lot of legs and it was chewing at the top of my shoulder. I screamed when I saw it and had pain and a weird scar in the same spot. Tonight I saw a very large spider, about the size of my fist, run quickly across my wall. It scared me so much that I jumped out of bed to get away from it, only to turn on the light and see nothing there. Hearing that others are experiencing the same thing is somewhat comforting, yet there should be more study, not only on what happens, but also what it means, maybe even similar to how dream interpretation offers explanations for dream symbols.

anon253820 March 11, 2012 Look, I just hear people calling my name sometimes when no one else is there. Is that this, or just an overactive imagination? When I'm imagining saying something, a lot of times I end up mumbling it, so I figured it might be something of that sort. I just want to make sure I'm not schizophrenic or anything.

anon253336 March 8, 2012 The cure is Jesus! Could it really be that simple? Dreams I experienced included waking up to something screaming in my ear, like a cat hissing after dreaming of a lion attacking me, sexual abuse that seemed very real, being hit in my dreams and feeling it when I woke up, dreams of many animals biting, slashing, cutting, paralysis, can't move and unable to breathe, etc. Once I gave my life to Jesus Christ, I was given power and authority over all snakes and scorpions and all the powers of darkness, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. I still have dreams of things attacking me at times, but, and I say but, if what happens in my dream is some animal or whatever might start slashing me, then I start speaking scripture and the the blood of Jesus over whatever is in my dream, and the thing freaks out, and has to leave and always does, because every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Even the demons know who is boss, and that's Jesus. We live in a spiritual world. All around us is a spiritual battle and if you don't have Jesus, you're going to lose every battle, and ultimately wind up in hell for an eternity. Torture in hell will be worse than your dreams and it will be very real and it will be for an eternity. If you want real peace from these crazy dreams and a life of peace, give your life to the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. The other night, I dreamed of a weasel with one eye biting my arms and then I grabbed the stupid thing and spoke to it and it stopped biting me and its eye started filling up red and then I looked to my right and there was a man standing there in my dreams and I was looking at his face. His face started to distort and turned red as well, all types of red, and then looked like some crazy creature from hell in a horror movie and was screaming and had crazy teeth. But guess what? I said get out of here in the name of Jesus, and I woke up, not afraid at all. Jesus is the only way! Get filled with the word of Jesus and get saved. See you in Heaven!

anon248340 February 16, 2012 I have been suffering from hallucinations while falling asleep (before my eyes are even closed) and only usually while lying on my back. I end up seeing spiders -- hundreds of them -- coming down from my roof and on my walls *shudders* and some times crawling on me. I get so freaked out and I am paralyzed most of the time, that afterward, I have to get out of the bed and won't go back to bed until the next night. A few times I have asked my partner if he sees them, and he just says no.

anon244839 February 3, 2012 Great article, very informative. My dream life has always been incredibly strange. I have lived an entire lifetime in a dream and was lying on my deathbed as a 90 year old man. The last thing I did before I woke up was look at my wrinkled, pale hands. When I awoke, I still believed I was old and I felt elderly, had stiff joints and slow movements and all. It took about thirty minutes to wear off. I used to have recurring dreams of grey arms coming out of my mattress and holding me down. I have had numerous instances of these hallucinations throughout my life (currently 25). As a child, I had frequent nightmares. I certainly understand that sometimes it is simply "crossed wires," but other times, there is something more spiritual involved. Now I don't wish to cause anyone any undue anxiety or come off as some weird uber-spiritual nut job, but there is spirit world around us. You can call it what you like (I often find the scientific idea of intertwined dimensions makes the most sense). I say this because as I said I have had many of these over my lifetime. The earliest one I remember was when I was very young child and I "awoke" in the middle of the night. But when I tried to roll over to go back to sleep a great pressure was upon me. I imagined it as a giant ladybug (of all things). My head was stuck facing down my bed towards my feet. As I struggled to move, a pale, glowing, and floating face floated towards me. A feeling of sheer terror filled me but I still could not move as the severed face advanced. I don't think I could even blink or look away. The face was sticking its tongue out at me, in a malicious manner. It's hard to explain but the way the face protruded its tongue out was just evil. I can't remember what happened after but I remember the next morning I told my family of this. Not so coincidentally, my brother had a dream that a bear was chasing him and this bear was making the exact same face. Now, I will explain the reason I treat this as a spiritual event. First off I have heard that the symbolism of a grotesquely protruding tongue is of a satanic nature, as are malicious bears. Masonic and satanic cultures use these symbols to represent Lucifer. Alongside that fact, my father was a minister and he was away preaching to people and apparently had a good meeting and souls were saved, etc. Many other times when my parents were out on trips such as these, I would have these experiences. There have been other times I have had these types of hallucinations, but they were brought on by the dream itself. One time I was verbally engaged with a demon of sorts in a dream (some would call it spiritual warfare) and woke up and continued my sentence without pausing. I could feel it still with me in the room. I felt a burning sensation on my forearms and my room had a certain darkness to it. I found that praying and telling the "demon" or what have you to leave and using the name of Jesus as a command stops the symptoms immediately. It may sound corny and all but as I said there is a spirit world I have had many spiritual experiences in my life (mostly good ones too) and the name of Jesus Christ has an authority behind it. So I urge all of you who see goblins, demons, black clouds and angry voices to give it a try. All in all, it cannot make anything worse. I hope that helps, I know it has helped me on some disturbing occasions.

anon243838 January 30, 2012 I've experienced many hypnagogic hallucinations. Often, I hear voices before falling asleep. When waking up in the middle of a dream, I sometimes see a transition from dream to reality. Once I even punched my low-table-thingy over because I saw a face in it. One of my hobbies is lucid dreaming, and occasionally I wake up at the point of lucidity. At times, this happens while I'm in a very realistic, yet intensely psychedelic stage of dreaming and wake up in state of paralysis where always there is some kind of monster beside me. Luckily that never lasts too long.

anon241495 17 hours ago I am 19 years old. I have been scared to go to sleep the past few months. What is weird is that I have read almost all of these stories, and yet they're all the same. I have all most all of the same problems but every night. They happen and they're not the same. They shift from worse to better and tonight is a night that I can't sleep. But what is weird is I am not stressed out or not going through anything bad, or have anything bad on my mind, but it still happens. I lay down in my bed tonight, after having one of the best days I have had in a long time, but when I went to bed and lay down, I heard these weird noises, like something was inside of my mattress. So I jumped up and turned on my lights and there was nothing, so I thought it was me just me. I lay back down and just lay there and didn't move at all and then it happened again like there was a creepy thing trying to crawl around inside my mattress or trying to get out so I prayed that it will go away so I can sleep.

anon238699 January 4, 2012 I often "dream" and I'm not sure if I really fell asleep and dreamed or if I remained in some in-between state. Last night I thought there were rats in the room crawling under things. I thought there was someone standing in the doorway. Those were more intense than usual. Often though, my dream seems to carry over when I first wake up, and it takes me some minutes to realize where I am and have normal thought processes.

volleyball5 January 3, 2012 I don't know what's going on, but I'm 16 and for the past week or so I have been having really bad "nightmares". I dream that I'm getting scratched by someone and that I fall and get a bloody nose, and when I wake up I have scratches in the exact same place I did in my dream, as well as waking up with the bloody nose. My latest one is the most odd, and it is actually scaring me. I was dreaming that I was being held down by someone and getting the word "unsafe" carved into my arm, when I woke up, looked at my arm, and there is was: "unsafe" carved into the same arm as the one in my dream! Can anybody tell me what any of this means?

anon238215 January 2, 2012 I've had this condition intermittently since I was young, happening with greater frequency in my 20's, though now that I'm in my 30's I haven't had much of it for a while. As it happens, my Mother also has this, although she sees different things than I do. My hallucinations are strange, with giant insects or jellyfish or other things. See, I can't really explain them. They sort of fly toward me/float over me. I used to shout when I saw them but after awhile I got used to them. I met someone a few years ago -- a woman I worked with -- who also had it. She told me it had to do with lack of sleep.

anon236756 December 25, 2011 Don't know what to call it but occasionally my wife has to wake me up from these events. I start off almost speaking an unheard of language then it turns into a shriek, I sit straight up and my eyes pop open. I can hear and see everything happening but can't stop it and my wife has to shake me out of it. What the hell is this? Please help.

anon236566 December 23, 2011 I was awake in my bed, and I turned over to try and get back to sleep. All of a sudden I heard someone approaching, so I tried to turn around to see who it is because the only other person in the house is my housemate who is upstairs. I find that I cannot move and that I'm paralyzed! I then felt the bed give way as if someone had just got on the bed with me and then this thing whispers something to me in a deep voice and I see this weird red flashing lights in my eyes (which kind of looked like a red wormhole) as he is saying it, then it stops and I am free and can finally move! I actually started crying afterwards because I have never had anything like this happen to me before! Anyone else felt anything similar to this?

anon231907 November 27, 2011 Hypnagogic hallucinations can be very beneficial. Though, like all things there is yin and yang. They can be horrifying as well. If you are suffering from malevolent hypnagogic hallucinations it is due to your unconscious mind telling you that you are not well. No need to fear, you are still in control. Train your unconscious mind with meditation, binaural beats, breathing exercises, or whatever calms your ambitious mind. You are not crazy or schizophrenic; your mind just needs conditioning.

anon231905 November 27, 2011 I have hypnagogic hallucinations almost every day. The hallucinations don't bother me and are typically non-threatening in nature. However, I have been witness to a few terrifying hallucinations/dreams. With that being said, through meditation and controlled breathing one realizes how powerful you are. You are in control it just takes time and effort.

anon226272 October 30, 2011 I have Narcolepsy and I am really struggling with sleep hallucinations. I have them all night. I have not rested for days and I feel like I'm being tortured. I've tried over the counter sleeping pills, xanax, nyquil. I've tried everything. Please help.

anon225712 October 28, 2011 I used to have these when I was an adolescent. I'd always wake up in the middle of the night thinking a spider or cricket were in my bed, on my wall, etc. I had recurring bug hallucinations up until I was 21 years old. Some were so bad I'd run into the hallway screaming. I find that they're stress induced.

anon225369 October 26, 2011 I've been having these dreams about a future war that is about to unfold in the near future. I've been seeing myself waking up in an abandoned house full of weapons and people. Some are my family and some are people I don't know, and I wake up feeling normal. I say hello to everybody, I eat breakfast put on these camouflage clothes and put on a gillie suit. I grab a sniper rifle and some ammo and everything that a rebel fighter would need so I go outside and its just jungle but I'm in australia because of the animals I see and hear and the trees and everything else. I'm overweight but in my dream I'm not, but I'm much older – probably in my early 20's. I walk up a mountain to where there's a cliff overlooking some base but they're not Australian soldiers. They look like there middle eastern so I get on the ground and observe I pick up a radio and I signal the Australian army and give them coordinates for a bomb run. I call it in and I begin killing the wanderers silently, picking a few off and I notice a symbol that I see in every dream on my gun on my uniform. It's a cobra wrapped around a knife with barbed wire tangled around the snake and the knife has blood dripping off it and the barbed wire so the fighter bombers come in and boom, boom – 500 pound bombs drop and kill. Most of them are still crawling and I kill them all including children and women only because they're armed. Am I dreaming about a future uprising or war that comes to Australia or am I just dreaming about it because it's all in my head? What if this will happen because the dreams continue, not the same like a story line. It's different every night. Can someone tell me what they mean?

anon223610 October 19, 2011 I have had a recurring dream where i wake up but my eyes are sewn shut, and I hear men talking then they talk about sewing my mouth shut. I try to open my eyes and take the stitches out but am unable to do so. This dream makes it very hard for me to sleep. Any ideas? I'm in desperate need of some help.

anon222861 October 17, 2011 Sleep paralysis. I remember I'd wake up in the middle of the night face down or to the side, chest down towards the bed, I was sweating and I could barely move. It felt like something was holding me down to the bed. I couldn't get up for the longest time and when trying it was almost impossible. I could see the door do the room but it took forever to get to it and I felt incredibly, almost infinitely heavy so I was on the floor - not crawling, but one knee on the floor dragging myself, falling down catching the wall. I'd call out for help and no words came out. I heard low, loud voices behind me and in my right ear. Nobody was in the room though. Sometimes I could eventually get up, but often I would find the urge to drag myself back to the bed because otherwise it felt like a "gravity bomb" had gone off and was holding me down to the floor. Once I'd get back to the bed I'd feel the same as I did before while in the bed. If I made it to the bathroom -- I'd turn on the light and sit on the throne, with a massive splitting migraine, and when I'd close my eyes I'd see moving color patterns and red spots. Scary. Turns out it was because I was taking Paxil and tried to quit cold turkey, or missed a dose or two. The moral of the story: don't miss doses of Paxil, folks - brain chemistry is nothing to fool around with. Coming off of this stuff is good but you need doctor supervision. I hope this helps someone. I'd never want anybody else to experience this!

anon222636 October 16, 2011 I have had the "dream" where you feel like someone is sitting on and pressing the chest. I was scared and felt better after I found out about sleep paralysis. A few years later, last night, I felt a very strange thing. I felt like someone was behind me, and I felt his body parts against me. When I woke up, I had to turn around to confirm that there was nobody, just a dream. it was very scary. I have seen ghosts and unnatural things in my dreams before but what I felt last night was very different and it prompt me to search for it online.

anon221723 October 12, 2011 These are no big deal. I have them every time I try to fall asleep on my back. It's always the same: people sitting on the edge of my bed or even sitting over me on my chest mumbling random stuff while their faces mutate. Sometimes other people will be wandering around the room. Eventually I'll gain control over a finger or a foot and try to move it to to force myself awake. The worst part is that everything about is so surreal in the most unsettling, unnerving way like my brain is testing me and trying to make me crack by scaring me. Now I've become numb to it. Challenge yourself to getting up and walking around while still in the dream state or influencing/changing the sex of the entities.

AugustMoon September 12, 2011 I am curious about whether the sleep stages manifesting out of order could cause these hypnagogic hallucinations. I have experienced them on and off since childhood, but they were always most frequent and intense when I was under stress, ill or sleep deprived. A number of years ago, it happened while lying against my boyfriend's chest, and he woke me up because my heart was beating overtime. I don't remember what I had been seeing, only that it was terrifying. Strange thing is, I had only been asleep about five minutes. It feels like falling, not just mentally but bodily as well, and other symptoms seem to arrive in tandem with this phenomenon, including rapid breathing and irregular heart rate, at least for me. It feels like I'm falling, or have fallen asleep too fast. (Wonder why they call it "falling" asleep?) I even happened to be in the hospital (suffering from a life-threatening infection) when it happened once. The nurses called in a doctor after I had been exhibiting what they thought was out of character behavior. Apparently I had been talking, but my eyes were wide open. In actual fact, I could see the nurses, though the room was blurry and rearranged and out of focus; these hallucinations do seem to incorporate elements from reality. I was trying to explain to them that I was asleep and that I couldn't talk, then got frustrated by their lack of understanding and began to tell them to go away. When I woke up, the nurses were rushing towards me with the vital signs machines. The heart monitor was already hooked up and had measured my heart rate as over 150 bpm. I found out from the doctor shortly later that I was the only individual of four others to survive this type of infection. Think of wakefulness as air, and sleep, water. To pass between them would require a change of elements. When hypnagogic hallucinations are experienced, I wonder if this is something of a hypothetical jump in the river versus a slow immersion.

anon213670 September 12, 2011 Wow. I'm 34, and I have done this since I was a little girl. As I begin to fall asleep, I see strange things. I know they are sort of like "awake dreams," but they are still often very disturbing. Some are almost psychedelic, some are funny, and occasionally some are utterly terrifying. I also have always had very vivid dreams and nightmares. Sometimes I wake startled because I feel like someone is standing right next to me at the side of the bed. These things have always caused me to be a poor sleeper and feel exhausted frequently. I am really glad to know that these are not entirely abnormal -- especially the sensation of the person standing next to the bed; that can be very frightening. At least now I know it is just my brain and not because my house is haunted!

anon204894 August 10, 2011 I've had this for ages now. My earliest memory of it was when I thought I was trapped inside my mattress. For the last couple of weeks now, almost every night, I fall asleep, I think, then wake up to find myself paralyzed. I get an overwhelming feeling that something isn't right about the room, there is something in the room or I see objects differently from what they should be. It has been auditory the last few nights too, but I can't remember what has been said. When I wake up (or whatever happens when I can move again,) I find myself going to that object that wasn't right. Sometimes I am already standing up, or I just lie there in fear. Sometimes I remember what was going on, but other times I just know that something weird happened. It's usually within an hour of being asleep, and when my partner isn't in bed with me. It feels better to know I am not alone, but because I had a brain injury in my infant years, I am worried that it is connected. Any ideas would be gratefully received. --Jess

anon201530 July 31, 2011 Ever since I could remember I have been having sleep problems. (I'm 17 now.) I used to see monsters and things under my dresser and on the floor when I was 5. At 7 I slept walked out of my house numerous times, and have came down the stairs screaming "We have to save the children." Around 11 I started to pick things up in my sleep and talk about them or throw them about. More recently I have been having occurrences where I wake up to see figures in my room or spiders, snakes, turtles, cats, etc. I have seen people out side of my windows. Once I hallucinated that a man came up to window with a knife saying, "Open the door, I know no one is home." These have been very terrifying for me over the years and this article has helped me a lot! I am going to see a doctor soon and see if I can get some help.

anon187643 yesterday I came here to figure out why me and a friend had hallucinated the same thing at the same time once. We had a bout of taking too many benadryl to get high every now and then. We had a really awe-inspiring hallucination together. He had told me that when he did benadryl alone once he saw these worms crawling out of the ground. So this time it's both of us, and he says, “Hey look! There they are! and I look at the ground and I see all these little maggots crawling up like a waterspout out of his floor. He goes to point directly where I'm looking, then they sort of crawl away and dissipate, and he says, “Hey there they are again!” and I look in the next room and I see him pointing at another one of these spouts of worms. It's certain that we were seeing the same exact hallucination and I've always wondered about the magic of the brain on how this is happening. Is it just imagination or is something more going on? I've always been the type of person who wants to believe something more is going on. But otherwise, I do have these hallucinations every now and then, I've only ever had the 'false awakening' thing a couple times, and I'm glad because its really frustrating experience. Once I had a 'monster chasing you' dream and I woke myself up, looked around the room, and then the monster sort of popped up in the corner of my vision asking me to come back to the dream so he could keep chasing me. Lately I’ve had very strange dreams, I’ve been able to go back to a dream I had that same night to finish it. Or I’ve had a series of four or five dreams with the same continuing storyline. Even stranger is lately I'll go to sleep in my dreams, and wake up in reality! Its a very weird feeling, its like I lay down in the dream and I 'roll out' and find myself laying in the same position awake. Its very interesting, but unnerving at times, you have to be careful to not lose your sense of reality. I think it a lot of it has to do with stress, things in your lives bothering you and trying to get you to solve them. But in many cases, there could also be something more going on. maybe your opening yourself up to dark things. The reassurance in this is that I've always believed that if you don’t want something to bother you, you must strongly tell it to leave, and its always worked for me in my own dreams.

anon185562 June 12, 2011 When I was 8, I had what sounds like a hypnagogic hallucination. I woke from sleep in the middle of the night to hear a man speaking very close to my face. He was coercing me to 'let him in'. I couldn't see anyone, but then again, I was so scared, I didn't want to look. It went on for about three or four minutes before the voice ceased and I knew whatever it was was gone. Needless to say, as soon as I was able to move (I'm not sure if it was paralysis or just me completely frightened), I ran into my parent's bedroom. They told me it was a dream, but I've never had a dream like that before or since. Now what I experienced may be considered a hallucination to the scientific community, but that voice was in no way a part of me. I don't even think I had any thoughts like that in my subconscious at the time. My parents sheltered us from scary things for that very reason. There's no way my mind could have fabricated that voice at 8 years old.

anon181157 May 28, 2011 I have had frightening experiences over the years yet as of Easter I have been having them almost nightly. Last night was the worst. It was different than the other times as this time I could explain what I was seeing. Normally I will feel willed to awake and look in a certain direction and then I will see what are usually frightening hard to explain things. Usually I am in bed alone but at times my husband is there. Though I scream out many times it takes so long for him to hear and by the time he does I am a mess. Lat night I had been asleep for about 25 minutes. I wasn't will to awake, don't really know why I did. However this time instead of not knowing what I was seeing and watching it fade it was clear. It was a man walking past the foot of my bed, his back to me with jeans and a hoodie pulled up. I was startled and this time it seemed startled as well, as though it was not expecting me to wake up. I freaked and it seemed to freak and tried to run and hide but it couldn't and kept running into the wall. I ran out of my room screaming for my husband who came running taking the stairs three at a time. I was a mess, my heart beating out of my chest. I was hysterical and called my mom. I can't go on like this. I managed to get back to sleep when my husband came to bed at 2:30. I slept with the covers over my head and woke up all night in soaked sweat but refused to come out of the blankets. I figured if I don't look, it can't scare me anymore. I am afraid to see a doctor. I don't want this in a permanent file. I too, am afraid that when I am old and possibly alone, these will overcome me and I may be lost to my mind. I am sure people would call me crazy. I am trying to find a logical solution and this may be it. Still, last night my husband was irritated and when he said "how come this never happens when I'm around" he has no idea how much that scared me. I just want to be left alone. I am not crazy.

anon178720 May 22, 2011 I am currently 14 years old. The first time I remember having a hallucination was when I was about 7. I had just woken up from a nightmare and so I went to my mom's room to sleep. I then began seeing snakes slithering throughout the bed and a figure walk down the hallway. In the years since then I have woken up seeing bugs, people, a river flowing through my room (weird huh?) and many other things. I'm comforted in knowing that other people experience similar sensations.

anon178170 May 20, 2011 I am a female who recently turned 60 years old. Approximately four or five months ago, I began having hallucinations which seem to center on bugs. Initially, I was vividly seeing spiders of all sizes, shapes and colors either crawling on me