NationStates Jolt Archive

So, I was pretty exhausted tonight, having only slept about two hours in the last 24, and I went to bed at around nine-thirty. It's now three AM and I can't get back to sleep. Here's why:

(Odd dream-like shit follows)
So, around 10:30 (I think that's what my clock said) I wake up from a really weird dream about being at Wal-Mart and I see this weird sort of dark spot across from me in my room. Because of moonlight, a window with horrible blinds, and a bit of hall light (my brothers were still awake) peaking in from the gap between the floor and my bedroom door, my room is never completely pitch black, but this "spot" was. The spot then got bigger and turned into something like a curtain and kind of moved around the room, passing over me once and making me feel really strange. I fell back to sleep. (maybe)

Then I woke up a few hours later and the same thing happened except the weird shadow thing didn't start out as a spot and get bigger it was already kind of there. I fell asleep again and woke up again a few hours later at 3:30 AM really freaked the fuck out, and I don't think I'll be sleeping anymore tonight.

Now, I think this shit could have all been a dream, but both times I woke up from dreams that I only remember vaguely like one remembers dreams. Also, during the two shadow things, I had presence enough to look at my clock and see what time it was (the second time I turned on my clock radio, don't know why but I did, it was on a classic rock station and was playing a song that seemed familiar). The rest of my room was lit normally and everything was in place, from my TV to my x-box 360, and also during both episodes I could hear my brothers carrying about their business and I could hear my dog barking up a storm.

So, I think I'm going to chalk this up to some sort of hallucination caused by lack of sleep, but that doesn't mean I'm any less freaked out right now.

So what do ya'll think of this weirdness, and has anything like this ever happened to you? Got any weird stories from the realm of semi-consciousness?

So, I think I'm going to chalk this up to some sort of hallucination caused by lack of sleep

That's the most likely explanation. It's happened to me occasionally, and to some other people I know.

So, I was pretty exhausted tonight, having only slept about two hours in the last 24, and I went to bed at around nine-thirty. It's now three AM and I can't get back to sleep. Here's why:

(Odd dream-like shit follows)
So, around 10:30 (I think that's what my clock said) I wake up from a really weird dream about being at Wal-Mart and I see this weird sort of dark spot across from me in my room. Because of moonlight, a window with horrible blinds, and a bit of hall light (my brothers were still awake) peaking in from the gap between the floor and my bedroom door, my room is never completely pitch black, but this "spot" was. The spot then got bigger and turned into something like a curtain and kind of moved around the room, passing over me once and making me feel really strange. I fell back to sleep. (maybe)

Then I woke up a few hours later and the same thing happened except the weird shadow thing didn't start out as a spot and get bigger it was already kind of there. I fell asleep again and woke up again a few hours later at 3:30 AM really freaked the fuck out, and I don't think I'll be sleeping anymore tonight.

Now, I think this shit could have all been a dream, but both times I woke up from dreams that I only remember vaguely like one remembers dreams. Also, during the two shadow things, I had presence enough to look at my clock and see what time it was (the second time I turned on my clock radio, don't know why but I did, it was on a classic rock station and was playing a song that seemed familiar). The rest of my room was lit normally and everything was in place, from my TV to my x-box 360, and also during both episodes I could hear my brothers carrying about their business and I could hear my dog barking up a storm.

So, I think I'm going to chalk this up to some sort of hallucination caused by lack of sleep, but that doesn't mean I'm any less freaked out right now.

So what do ya'll think of this weirdness, and has anything like this ever happened to you? Got any weird stories from the realm of semi-consciousness?

A lot of times it is a sleep-oriented hallucination.
On special occasion, though, it's not.
Yes, i've had a few "visits" and such, distinguished from a typical hallucination by being observed and participated in with witnesses.
Or worse.

Never had something like this. But yeah, it was either lack of sleep or really some "semi-conscious" thing when you're somewhere between sleeping and waking.

Sorry, I swear I didn't mean for it to get lose. It just keeps breaking the chains in the basement.

Do you have any idea where it went? I'll need to find it before it get's hungry again. Did you look under the bed? - Don't worry, by the way. I'm fairly sure I fed it last week. Shouldn't get hungry for .. Well.. I need to find it. Could you look?

Never had something like this.

Hang out with me a little while. :)

Hang out with me a little while. :)
In your bedroom? *squints*

So what do ya'll think of this weirdness, and has anything like this ever happened to you? Got any weird stories from the realm of semi-consciousness?

Often, when I've stayed up too late and I try to get to sleep, I'm in a half asleep state but won't go all the way there, and I'll hear electric noise. Which of course makes it even more difficult to sleep. It's funny how you can be sort of awake and be sort of dreaming. I get other things too, like sensing presences. I'm awake enough to try and rationalize that it's because I'm half asleep but that doesn't help calm me of course

In your bedroom? *squints*

Teehee!

*blushes*
Of course, that's what i'm supposed to say.
*nods emphatically*

..but phantom occurrences needn't be in the bedroom alone.
*thinks for a second upon how that might sound*

Teehee!

*blushes*
Of course, that's what i'm supposed to say.
*nods emphatically*

..but phantom occurrences needn't be in the bedroom alone.
*thinks for a second upon how that might sound*

Well, since I'm already squinting it might as well be the bedroom.

*snickers*

Well, since I'm already squinting it might as well be the bedroom.

*snickers*

Fred Squinting, from the newspaper, The Morning Sun?
:p
*really old MAD reference*
I suspect i've been zinged, but it's a cross-cultural communication issue, i'm sure.

Fred Squinting, from the newspaper, The Morning Sun?
:p
*really old MAD reference*
I suspect i've been zinged, but it's a cross-cultural communication issue, i'm sure.

Internationa (http://elegantappetizers.com/catalog/images/K700frankinablanket.jpg)l, really.

Wasn't one of mine. Mine are all locked up. *nods*

My uni results were released on the web yesterday. I sorta woke up at about 5am, but decided it was too early to look so I went back to sleep.

Then I had two (or was it just one long one) really weird dreams in which I checked the results, and once they were really bad and once they were really good, followed by me trying to deal with it. Then they were over and for five minutes or so I had no idea whether I had already checked them and what they were.

Internationa (http://elegantappetizers.com/catalog/images/K700frankinablanket.jpg)l, really.

:fluffle:
International language, oooooooooooooh yeah.
:p

saw some odd things when going across the nullarbor plains as a kid

saw some odd things when going across the nullarbor plains as a kid
Like what?

Like what?

lights where no part of the highway is or dirty tracks

lights where no part of the highway is or dirty tracks
Wait, you mean you saw the lights where there was not only no road but also not even a dirt road? Or you mean you saw tracks in the dirt, too?

Why can't it just have been a car going through the brush?

Also, what on earth were you doing walking through the Nullarbor Plain at night as a kid!?!

Shadow beings...personally, I've seen shadows move both in front of me and the corner of my eye even when fully awake. They're distinctly humanoid in shape, and certainly curious.

it was the government spying on you...

Shadow beings...personally, I've seen shadows move both in front of me and the corner of my eye even when fully awake. They're distinctly humanoid in shape, and certainly curious.Curious as in having a curious shape or curious as in curious about what kind of pjs you're wearing?

Wait, you mean you saw the lights where there was not only no road but also not even a dirt road? Or you mean you saw tracks in the dirt, too?

Yes light where was no road or tracks



Why can't it just have been a car going through the brush?
Also, what on earth were you doing walking through the Nullarbor Plain at night as a kid!?!

Nullarbor Plain is flat no trees just short plants and i was in a car going west to east then east to west later

Curious as in having a curious shape or curious as in curious about what kind of pjs you're wearing?

Sounds like a succubus.

Shadow beings...personally, I've seen shadows move both in front of me and the corner of my eye even when fully awake. They're distinctly humanoid in shape, and certainly curious.

They're not all humanoid shaped, IME.
Funny when they rile the cat though, and start touching you on parts of your body while the cat watches.

Nullarbor Plain is flat no trees just short plants and i was in a car going west to east then east to west laterI know what it looks like but I totally misread your post because I'm tired and in German "going across" would be literally translated as "walking across". Nevermind. >.<

And it totally were just cars that were driving either simply through the brush (it really can't be hard to do that on the Nullarbor Plain...) or you saw lights from cars that were really far away on another road, since with the flatness of the terrain you can see extremely far.

They're not all humanoid shaped, IME.
Funny when they rile the cat though, and start touching you on parts of your body while the cat watches.
Oh, come on. Are you being serious?

>.<

Squinting again?
*walks across WYTYG's post*

Oh, come on. Are you being serious?

Yes.



Not usual for me, huh?
I'm very serious.
The woman's name was Donna, the cat's name is Lucky (although i call him FatCat)
The air changed, i noticed, the cat noticed, then she asked if a weird draft or something came through the room.
We just got done watching a movie with Robert Redford in it, can't remember the name, but it made her think of her dead husband, which may have precipitated the experience.

Curious as in having a curious shape or curious as in curious about what kind of pjs you're wearing?

Curious as in...curious. There really isn't a good word that covers the kind of feeling they evoke when spotted. The best word I can think of to describe it is komisch...it's unnerving, comical, and strange all at the same time.

They're not all humanoid shaped, IME.
Funny when they rile the cat though, and start touching you on parts of your body while the cat watches.

I've mostly seen humanoid ones and a few small blobs. But animals do notice them; sometimes, late at night, I've seen our cat follow things through the room shortly before or after that I'll catch them, either out of the corner of my eye or dead on when I look towards where our cat is looking.

Yes.



Not usual for me, huh?
I'm very serious.
The woman's name was Donna, the cat's name is Lucky (although i call him FatCat)
The air changed, i noticed, the cat noticed, then she asked if a weird draft or something came through the room.
We just got done watching a movie with Robert Redford in it, can't remember the name, but it made her think of her dead husband, which may have precipitated the experience.
So why exactly wasn't it just, oh, say, a weird draft?

Curious as in...curious. There really isn't a good word that covers the kind of feeling they evoke when spotted. The best word I can think of to describe it is komisch...it's unnerving, comical, and strange all at the same time.Hmmm. I do appreciate your use of German to explain it to me, though. That's nice, for a change. :)

I know what it looks like but I totally misread your post because I'm tired and in German "going across" would be literally translated as "walking across". Nevermind. >.<

And it totally were just cars that were driving either simply through the brush (it really can't be hard to do that on the Nullarbor Plain...) or you saw lights from cars that were really far away on another road, since with the flatness of the terrain you can see extremely far.

theres only Eyre Highway and small number of truckstops out there and the collections of truck and car wrecks and you can go hours or days without seeing another soul

So why exactly wasn't it just, oh, say, a weird draft?Well, since i heard it first, then watched the shadow move, noted the cat watching it, and then followed it with *our* eyes out of the room, where Donna was, and then she walked in and asked if we had been doing something with the windows or something, because something touched her shoulder and ran what felt like fingers lightly through her hair.
Not really a typical or even "weird draft" in most people's experience.

I've had SO many of these experiences, and many with unbiased witnesses, that i can say i generally recognize this kind of situation when it comes up.

Well, since i heard it first, then watched the shadow move, noted the cat watching it, and then followed it with *our* eyes out of the room, where Donna was, and then she walked in and asked if we had been doing something with the windows or something, because something touched her shoulder and ran what felt like fingers lightly through her hair.
Not really a typical or even "weird draft" in most people's experience.

I've had SO many of these experiences, and many with unbiased witnesses, that i can say i generally recognize this kind of situation when it comes up.
So why do you have SO many of these experiences and other people don't? After all, it can't really be that you're somehow more receptive to it, seeing how there are apparently so many unbiased witnesses around.

I've mostly seen humanoid ones and a few small blobs. But animals do notice them; sometimes, late at night, I've seen our cat follow things through the room shortly before or after that I'll catch them, either out of the corner of my eye or dead on when I look towards where our cat is looking.Only one of the two cats actually reacts to them, and it's not in a really nasty way or anything, like one might expect. Just a strong, focused curiosity regarding the phantom.
However, i had a wolf-german shepard for twelve years, and he reacted strongly and somewhat frighteningly (to me) to them.
*shrugs*

So why do you have SO many of these experiences and other people don't? After all, it can't really be that you're somehow more receptive to it, seeing how there are apparently so many unbiased witnesses around.

Why would i? I'd blame drugs, but it had been happening for a long time before i ever took drugs. Since i was a kid. I don't fault other people for not having the experiences anymore than i can fault people for being atheist or non-atheist.
It simply takes the right circumstances and some reflection, really.
Also, i should qualify that very few witnesses are *completely* "unbiased", for reasons i don't really want to belabour here, so i should instead say that the unbiased witnesses i had to some of these experiences were people who weren't predisposed towards mental states of succeptibility to the event or connotations of the event.
Probably the easiest way to say that.

Only one of the two cats actually reacts to them, and it's not in a really nasty way or anything, like one might expect. Just a strong, focused curiosity regarding the phantom.

Same with us. I don't recall if our previous cats behaved differently, but I know the one that lived indoors watched for them all the time. She wasn't frightened of them either.

However, i had a wolf-german shepard for twelve years, and he reacted strongly and somewhat frighteningly (to me) to them.
*shrugs*

Our dog growled when these things happened; it's odd that dogs tend to be more aggressive while cats tend to be more curious.

Our dog growled when these things happened; it's odd that dogs tend to be more aggressive while cats tend to be more curious.

Yeah, i haven't quite figured that out yet.
I'd chalked it up to a more wild response on the part of my hybrid. It was pretty unnerving, since he was a badass by most respects.

Our dog growled when these things happened; it's odd that dogs tend to be more aggressive while cats tend to be more curious.

it said animals can see and hear things we can hear of see

it said animals can see and hear things we can hear of see

Yes, that's what my feelings are. It still bewilders me as to why dogs seem to be aggressive and cats docile or simply curious.

Our dog growled when these things happened; it's odd that dogs tend to be more aggressive while cats tend to be more curious.
Well, as I said, my dog was barking quite a bit, though she does that sometimes...

I'm sure it was a hallucination and the both of you are crazy.

So, I think I'm going to chalk this up to some sort of hallucination caused by lack of sleep, but that doesn't mean I'm any less freaked out right now.

So what do ya'll think of this weirdness, and has anything like this ever happened to you? Got any weird stories from the realm of semi-consciousness?

1. Yep, that'll happen. I've only ever had auditory hallucinations, but whatever.
2. I had a vaguely horrifying dream recently. Too much Lovecraft. :p

Never had something like this. But yeah, it was either lack of sleep or really some "semi-conscious" thing when you're somewhere between sleeping and waking.

I read somewhee that the semi-conscious period is the time when most people have vivid hallucinations (such as alien abductions). Probably because the unconscious is very active (but still dreaming), but the conscious is aware of and remembers the experience.

I'm sure it was a hallucination and the both of you are crazy.

Whatever helps us sleep at night. ;)

Yes, that's what my feelings are. It still bewilders me as to why dogs seem to be aggressive and cats docile or simply curious.

I've owned both many dogs and cats. They take their cues from their owners is all, but each of them in a different way.

When you think you see something, a cat will pick up on it and get curious and want to join the hunt so to speak - well if they are not asleep or meowing at you for food or something.

But on the other hand, a dog will treat the same signal as a call to defend the pack and run forward and bark and whatnot.

Also, never underestimate the power of confirmation bias.

Yes, that's what my feelings are. It still bewilders me as to why dogs seem to be aggressive and cats docile or simply curious.

never work that out myself

1. Yep, that'll happen. I've only ever had auditory hallucinations, but whatever.
2. I had a vaguely horrifying dream recently. Too much Lovecraft. :p
Lovecraft horrifies you?
I read somewhee that the semi-conscious period is the time when most people have vivid hallucinations (such as alien abductions). Probably because the unconscious is very active (but still dreaming), but the conscious is aware of and remembers the experience.
Yeah, I heard there was a study that casually linked sleep apnea to alien abductions for just that reason.

Doesn't explain all you nut-jobs who think you see shadow people, though.;)

I'm sure it was a hallucination and the both of you are crazy.

As well as the witnesses.
Or ... perhaps ... our very existence is a temperance of your own, and you might be the crazy one having the hallucination of us?

Whatever helps us sleep at night. ;)

Boy howdy. Rubbin' one or two out just doesn't seem to cut it anymore.

Also, never underestimate the power of confirmation bias.

Never overestimate it either, eh?
:)

Yeah, I heard there was a study that casually linked sleep apnea to alien abductions for just that reason.Yup. Further qualified by TCMS research where there's similar brain patterns to deal with.
I haven't even had ONE alien abduction dream or episode. I've seen some interesting things though.


Doesn't explain all you nut-jobs who think you see shadow people, though.;)
Well, that's what faith is for! :p