Most intense auditory hallucinations, last night...
*Dunno if this should be in Sleep and Health or General Dream Discussion, but here goes...*
Last night, I'd fallen asleep for about 3 hours, and woke up, spontaneously. After being up for a while, I decided to try a WBTB. I slipped into a dream, but was woken up again, after a few seconds, just as I could feel myself starting to gain lucidity. I shifted positions, now laying on my side and facing my wall, and tried to drift off again.
It wasn't long before I began getting auditory hallucinations, and they were more potent than any that I'd ever had in my life. I lay there, motionless, listening to what sounded like a room full of people chattering behind me. I could hear both men and women conversing, but couldn't really make out any of the dialogue. It clearly sounded like there were 30+ people in my room. I knew this couldn't be the case, though. These were just hypnagogic sounds. But I couldn't get over how clear they were. They weren't faint wisps of noises, or a series of brief bangs or claps. It was a full-on din of a bustling crowd. I knew that I was still awake, even though I had my eyes closed, and I could feel the vibrations of sleep paralysis, mixing in with the tingling rush of adrenaline that I was getting from the intense notion that I was not alone. I tried to ignore the sounds and just ride out the transitional stage. It was tough, because I kept wanting to lift my head and look around the room, but I didn't want to mess up any chance I had at a WILD, so I tried to keep myself calm, and under the realization that these were just hallucinations and they would pass. That was when I felt someone place their hands down upon my back.
This startled the hell out of me, and I opened my eyes. I was staring at my wall, which was a few inches away from my face. I could see the soft blue light from my TV, but had no peripheral vision. Amazingly (and confusingly), though, I was still hearing the chattering crowd behind me - though the feeling of the hands on my back instantly went away. My eyes were open, and I was now unmistakably awake - but, by all auditory input, I was still in a room full of people. My instinct was to turn around, but I didn't want to. Part of me didn't want to succumb to fear and check for something I knew wasn't really there, and the rest of me was actually afraid of what I might see, if I turned around.
So I lay there, staring at the wall, trying to figure out how to either beat this thing or roll with it. It was bothering the hell out of me, though. I set in my mind that - awake or not - if these were hallucinations, then I should be able to influence them, somehow. I was afraid of these hallucinations taking a turn for something more nightmarish, so I tried to counter-act it with something much more pleasurable - namely: sex. I imagined that the undecipherable chatter was now a room full of people having sex, creating the appropriate noises in my mind. Sure enough, the sounds instantly changed to match my influence and it soon sounded like there was a massive orgy going on, behind me. However, I still knew that I was awake, with my eyes open, and the sounds were still as clear as if I could reach my hand behind me and tap some random person. It was all too real, and I was starting to wonder if I really was awake or not.
I shifted my eyes along the wall, and just barely moved my head - gaining just a bit more periphery. What really messed me up was that, the more I did this, the more it seemed like the TV was casting shadows of unknown people on my wall, and the more I inched my eyes toward the rest of the room, the more the shadows seemed to slink off into the corners of my eyes, as if they were "trying not to be seen." Even though they were just out of my field of view, I could definitely see that there was someone(s) there, that they knew I was trying to get a clear look at them, and that they didn't want me to.
Finally, having been too creeped-out for comfort, I gently lifted my head and turned all the way around. I was staring at an empty room. In that instance, all of the sounds and fragmented visions had vanished. I was alone, as I knew all along, and cursed myself at letting the fear get the best of me. Not quite ready to trying going back to sleep yet, I got up again and came to the computer for a little while, then finally got comfortable enough to go back to bed.
Of course, I had a chain of nightmares, after I drifted back off to sleep. Fun. :?
But damn, that was some creepy shit. I've been LDing for a long time now, but I've only had very few experiences with SP and/or hypnagogia. This isn't the first time I've been fully awake and had residual dream audio/visuals for a few moments, but this was easily the most intense. I find myself, now, with a lot more sympathy toward those people who easily experience "Old Hag", and the like. Ugh. Makes my skin crawl.
Anyway, just thought I'd share...
