YSK: there's a type of common hallucination (often scary) that happens shortly after waking up. You can move and talk while seeing it and it can last between a few seconds up to a minute - eviltoast

It’s called hypnopompic hallucination.

Unlike with sleep paralysis, you can move and talk while still seeing it and it will last a few seconds up to a minute which can seem like an eternity.

It usually fades as soon as you turn on the light, but for some very few people it does not and persists even after turning on the light.

Here’s an example of someone who often experiences these and has started recording themselves: https://youtu.be/bEMGZNvETMQ

Why YSK: because it’s very scary and unsettling when it happens and since you can move you don’t believe it’s sleep paralysis and can’t explain it. This might explain many of the “monster or spirit at the foot of my bed” sightings that we often hear mentioned in horror podcasts.

  • Pipsqueaker@lemmy.world
    10·
    1 year ago

    I used to have sleep paralysis almost daily for a while while working a particularly stressful job. I would see and hear people who weren’t there. Usually it was benign and I knew it was happening, so I just tried to keep myself calm. Only a few times have I had what I think is the hypnopompic hallucination, but until now didn’t now the word for it. I was always aware when it was sleep paralysis since I was literally paralyzed. This other instance I most definitely woke up in the middle of the night. A small amount of light bled through our black out curtains and I was hallucinating a horrid, giant scorpion monster on our ceiling/walls. I knew it couldn’t be real but it still scared the shit out of me. I just tried to keep calm and close my eyes like the sleep paralysis episodes and it went away after a little bit.