Terrified!

[Royalpeach]

Hey all... can an experienced WILDer help me out here? Though I would very much like to try a WILD, I am deathly afraid to. I read about the hypnagogic hallucinations; most of them seemed tolerable. However, one in particular nearly stopped my effort altogether... the whispers. I am not afraid of many things, but I am particularly prone to things that seem supernatural. Things like random beeping or my ears ringing wouldn't bother me much, but things like whispers, footsteps, etc. would definitely be cause enough for me to pull my eyes open in half a second to make sure no one was there. Anything to indicate a presence, really, particularly a malevolent one. Whispers like "you're gonna die" or "I'll kill you" would scar me for life and I most likely wouldn't sleep for months. To anyone who has ever successfully completed a WILD, do these happen often? If so, what do you suggest to get through them?

[Shift]

Unless you get an old hag or incubus hallucination, which are relatively rare, I think you'll be ok. Honestly. Most of my HH is stuff like "Jam belongs on clouds" and "If you behave, we'll go to McDonalds!" and "Once a teapot, always a saucer." I mean, totally random, out of the blue shit that is more hysterical than anything. And, also honestly, you'll be getting HH like this just falling asleep anyway. It's probably already happened to you hundreds of times in your life. I'd just go with it. It's really not something to get worked up about, and if you feel it is too much, you can always DILD.

[yellowlight]

All I hear is people talking about random things, shouts, and sometimes crying or laughter, but no old hag, whispers, or presence in the room. And even if I would get those, I'd just tell myself that they're just hallucinations and they can't hurt me.

[D1r3w0lf]

That hardly sounds scary... the very last time I had strong HH i saw a giant snake that talked just like Unicron from 1980s transformers movie... and tiny ones holding me down... so yeah...whispers would fall in the pansy section for me... anyway i turn that experience into a LD so yeah is all just an illusion, just remind yourself of that.

[Royalpeach]

Thanks to Shift for again, being the first to answer my cry, and to all of you for helping me. I'm pretty much over my fear, seeing that most hallucinations, after all, are hallucinations, and will probably be more random and hilarious than anything. But what are these incubus and "old hag" hallucinations anyway?

[Shift]

Sure thing Always glad to help. The incubi hallucinations are feelings of being pushed into your bed or that there is something sitting on your chest, making it difficult for you to breath, etc. The 'old hag' refers to the 'sensed presence' or intruder hallucination, the feeling that there is someone/thing in the room with you, which usually ends up with huge amounts of fear and visual/auditory hallucinations of the presence.

[pastry]

Oh god, I have the 'old hag' hallucination ALL THE TIME. Whenever Im going to sleep, whether its attempting LD or just regularly.