Hypnagogic Hallucination?

i often get sleep paralysis, sometimes multiple times in one night. well about 3 weeks ago, i was in sleep paralysis, and i was looking ahead at my door and all of a sudden a figure walks into my room, and was standing next to my bed slightly out of view in my peripheral vision. then the figure put his left hand on my shoulder and starts lowering his other hand in front of my face, and then i awoke. after this experience i was very confused, thinking it was my sister, i ran downstairs and realized nobody was home. in the past few weeks, this experience has created a deep interest in this kind of phenomenon and lucid dreaming. i was wondering if anyone here has had a hypnagogic hallucination before? :?

Thanks

Well, what you are referring to is only a subset of hypnogogic or hypnopompic hallucinations. It's the "Old hag" phenomenon - when people in sleep paralysis feel someone being near them. This is fairly common.

i've never had SP before, but I had many WILDs. Sometimes i would hear my family talking to me and that sounds incredibly real. To the point where I start believing that there's a real life emergency and they are really trying to wake me up...
Once I saw 3 people walk in my bedroom while I was WILDing.

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Originally Posted by Ev

Well, what you are referring to is only a subset of hypnogogic or hypnopompic hallucinations. It's the "Old hag" phenomenon - when people in sleep paralysis feel someone being near them. This is fairly common.

i've never had SP before, but I had many WILDs. Sometimes i would hear my family talking to me and that sounds incredibly real. To the point where I start believing that there's a real life emergency and they are really trying to wake me up...
Once I saw 3 people walk in my bedroom while I was WILDing.
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Yes i've heard of the old hag phenomenon before. how are hypnogogic and hypnopompic hallucinations different?

They aren't different, they are the "old hag".
Meaning that such a hallucination (of a person or people near and such) are merely a moderately common recurring theme for many people when experiencing hypnagogic hallucinations.