On Hallucination
 

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?

Hi.

I feel you're over thinking this a little. Now, if the cookie monster was sitting next to you on the couch and you had a nice conversation over some milk and Oreos, then I'd be concerned. But I'd just chalk it up to a weird incident.

There's also another thing, we could discuss. 10 beers in six hours - if I could handle it - I could see anything, but most likely I'd be out. :confused:

It's funny how we also have a blindspot in the visual field, where we can't see anything. Why couldn't we then have a spot in vision, where seeing anything, that actually isn't there, is possible? :rolleyes:

A quick Google got me this:


You'll see some old friends about 25 seconds in. Just sayin' ...

Yeah, I was going to point out what jewels did--my first thought was of the Beaches resort ads.

LOL, Hall fo Fame material.

so... I'm sane after all?!

What goes in there, exactly?

Take a look for yourself Bagatelle! Its one of the subforums on the board.

Quick link here:

Hall of Fame - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

It tends to contain those timeless threads that are universally enjoyed and are a as varied as the people who come here.

Let's not jump to conclusions...

Ok, threads that could be called epic, I assume. :)

I'm loving the banter here - if I can detect it (like the post above)! :D

Unfortunately I've been posting in places, where banter is intended as bullying in many cases.

There was one forum, where they removed failed threads (duplicate or otherwise bad ideas) to purgatory, where they could be viewed for a week before deletion, Hall of Shame sort of.

Let's not jump to conclusions ;) All we can say is that you probably weren't hallucinating unless it was an ad for a different resort.

Darn, I was hoping for philosophical discussion following the first post. Stupid reality.

Only 14 posts passed. You could still turn the boat.

This is automatically the best thread in the history of the universe.

I like this idea. There would have to be some sort of TFP metric for it, though, like Plan9, LordEden and Uncle Phil all post and it has to include a referrence to why TFP used to be better. Oh, and I'd probably have to threaten someone.

passthru, I think this thread needs someone to inject some thought to provide a counterpoint to Strange_Famous. Tag, you're it.

The Purgatory idea sounds pretty interesting to me--and Jazz, I think your standards are right on the money.

As for hallucinations, I've had a few. The first time I hallucinated, I had a terrible fever, over 104 degrees, because of a case of scarlet fever. I was so, so, sooo hot and out of it that I felt like I wasn't in myself, but over myself, looking at myself in my parents' bed. It was a very strange perspective shift I've never experienced since.

In terms of other kinds of hallucinations, using other mechanisms, they usually seem to start with tracers, and evolve from there. They usually don't start out with a full-blown presence of a fictional character like the Cookie Monster.

Hallucinations are fairly normal for human beings. Don't be worried. Oh and if all you were drinking was alcohol over those 5 or 6 hours you'd be very dehydrated from the sickness + alcohol. So you wouldn't feel it but you'd be drunker than you think. Especially if you didn't eat during that time.

There's a reason why they say drink plenty of fluids when you're sick. And they don't mean alcohol :D

I mostly have auditory hallucinations personally (short ones, calling my name, etc.)

The best one I ever got was the python crawling out of the fridge, but it was a lot colder on the walk home. Luckily the car was still there.

I can bake a mean batch of cookies, if you want a couple more, Strange Famous.

This is all very odd.

I think it's odd to me particularly because I can't recall having ever hallucinated in my life. The only thing I can relate this to is phasing in and out of dreaming and being awake.

EDIT:
Oh, wait. There was this: http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/2279679-post12.html

But it's by far the freakiest situation I've ever experienced because it was somewhat shared by those around me.

ah, woods was involved... :)