Thanks for the info. I will look up the term hypnogagic hallucinations you mentioned (and yes, the loud sounds heard were indeed like screeching metal that came very near to my ears). Not sure if it is considered a technique at all for me to LD - I will LD when the hours between day nap/sleep and actual night sleep are too short apart. Can say is straight into LD while lying on the bed waiting for sleep to come. Over the years, I have made sure I put in as many waking hours as possible in-between sleeps so as to avoid LD if I don't want to LD (because of the unpleasant entry, not the ability to LD itself). Some of my LDs have been quite interesting, including trying to engage dream characters in hard questions I pre-planned to ask. Their answers could be interesting. Just to share an example : I resolved to ask dream characters about the theological idea of a Rapture and see what they would say. This was what happened in the LD : Most of the dream characters did not want to talk about the subject. One of them shouted angrily at me. I then tried doing it survey style. Almost all of them indicated (as in the raising of hands to indicate) that there is no such thing as Rapture. One of them added that there is a circular-reasoning behind the idea of a Rapture. (Disclaimer : I am not advocating or denying any Rapture theology in this post).