Strange Famous

I thought a bit about posting this here.. but I guess it doesnt make much difference if people make fun of me for one reason rather than another, and I am quite interested in what happened and if other people have had the same experiences

Now, to qualify, just before Christmas I had a case of swine flu, was off work for a few days, felt pretty ill. Over the Christmas period I was a lot better but still had a cough and some troubles breathing was having high temperatures sometimes. I wasnt on any medication other than over the counter cough syrup.

On Dec 26th I had what I can only state was a full blown hallucination.

I have not ever experienced anything like this before (that I know of) and when I describe it it will sound quite ridiculous and petty. I had been drinking all day, but wasnt drunk (I'd had maybe 10 tins of beer over a 6 hour period) and had been watching TV all day. An advert came on for a package holiday company, so you have scene's of beaches, kids having fun, ladies in bikini's, everyone happy, etc etc

The second scene was the Cookie Monster laying back on a sun lounger next to a tall drink on a white table.

At the time, I was startled and thought "what the fuck is the cookie monster doing in this?" But the scene lasted approximately 5 seconds, and I was absolutely clear and certain that what I was seeing is what I described above.

When the show came back on, I started to think, I couldnt possibly have seen what I thought I did. I watched the same channel (some cookery network) for about 2 hours to see if the same advert would come back on, but it didnt

Now, I do sometimes misread words and mis write words (when I am typing more than writing by hand, I sometimes type a word that rhymes with the one I want, and the same with reading) - but nothing like this has ever happened to me before.

For at least 5 seconds I saw something that could not have been there.

I wasnt consciously thinking about the cookie monster before hand and I cant think of any reason why I would imagine him. I definitely 100% wasnt asleep of sleepy.

_

It freaks me out quite a bit that I could see something that wasnt there. Not just out of the corner of my eye, but when I was paying full attention to it for 5 seconds.

I have no clue what the advert really was, but I have to accept it is more likely that I hallucinated than the cookie monster advertises package holidays. Obviously there was a person in that scene, that for some reason my mind interpreted as a Seasme Street puppet.

And it makes me thinks, what if this has happened to me on other occasions and I havent realised? What if I hallucinate something realistic so my conscious brain doesnt know it must be false? Is this what it is like when people see ghosts or angels?

I have always relied that I was able to observe reality as it really was, and it is quite frightening in a way (even if this example seems petty or comical) that I at least on this occassion did not. It makes me think how much of the world I see is some kind of an interpretation rather than what is really physically absolutely there.

As I said, I had been ill, but I was over the worst of it by this time. I had been drinking, but not a large amount. I definitely was not half asleep (I have had experiences when you just wake up and you sort of still are in the dream the first few seconds you are awake, and I thinks thats normal)

I guess I am posting this because I wonder if anyone has any experiences like this or any thoughts on this.

I dont necessarily think I am mentally ill and I dont feel different to before in any other way, but surely a false perception of the world is one of the tools or symbols of mental illness?

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas