Back off, man. I'm a scientist.

Tell him about the twinkie.

Oh shiat.
Sleep Paralysis(FTA) = It messes with you hard-core. Scarey at first, but cool once you can except what is happening. Heck, your brain is awake anyway, right?

I'd call that a big "yes."

What's that got to do with it?

You know, some of this may explain some of the sightings. But let me say this, I was sitting reading one day in my room and thought I saw someone pass by my door (it was cracked open slightly) then the door closed. The unusual part is that I was home alone.

I don't know what it was, but it made me sit up and investigate.

Sleep paralysis is really interesting, but old news. It's associated with a lot of ghostly/demonic visitations and things like that, all over the world. It happens to me all the time. If I go to bed after I've been up for something like 20 hours, or I'm just extremely exhausted, I know it'll happen a couple times that night. The dreamlike component is always irrational fear, except for the time I saw a ghostly little girl in a white dress standing next to my bed, who reappeared inches from my face as a ghostly cat. This was right after my cat died. A true believer type seeing something like that and thinking they've been visited by a ghost is understandable.

OnmyojiOmn: Sleep paralysis is really interesting, but old news. It's associated with a lot of ghostly/demonic visitations and things like that, all over the world. It happens to me all the time. If I go to bed after I've been up for something like 20 hours, or I'm just extremely exhausted, I know it'll happen a couple times that night. The dreamlike component is always irrational fear, except for the time I saw a ghostly little girl in a white dress standing next to my bed, who reappeared inches from my face as a ghostly cat. This was right after my cat died. A true believer type seeing something like that and thinking they've been visited by a ghost is understandable.

That doesn't sound like the sleep paralysis I have experienced.

PickinWhiskers: That doesn't sound like the sleep paralysis I have experienced.

I left out the whole paralysis thing because the hallucinations are more pertinent. You should read that wiki entry if you haven't already.

You know what this reminds me of? That time you tried to drill a hole in your head, remember that?

That would have worked, if you hadn't stopped me.

/the menstruating, i mean.

OnmyojiOmn: PickinWhiskers: That doesn't sound like the sleep paralysis I have experienced.

I left out the whole paralysis thing because the hallucinations are more pertinent. You should read that wiki entry if you haven't already.

I have only had it ~6 times. The first time I was "awake" and was choking my cat to death. I knew what I was doing but couldn't stop. When I 'really' woke up, I saw my cat resting peacefully next to me. That was the bad one.
The others have been scary, but very cool after it was over.
Cool-acid-trip kinda.... Awake but can't move!!!

PickinWhiskers: OnmyojiOmn: PickinWhiskers: That doesn't sound like the sleep paralysis I have experienced.

I left out the whole paralysis thing because the hallucinations are more pertinent. You should read that wiki entry if you haven't already.

I have only had it ~6 times. The first time I was "awake" and was choking my cat to death. I knew what I was doing but couldn't stop. When I 'really' woke up, I saw my cat resting peacefully next to me. That was the bad one.
The others have been scary, but very cool after it was over.
Cool-acid-trip kinda.... Awake but can't move!!!

Eventually you start to realize what's happening, and either try to prolong the experience to see what will happen next or wake yourself up through force of will. Like Hiro stopping time.

I had an uncle Jerome who thought he was menstruating...

I experience sleep paralysis once when I was a teenager. I was fully awake, but I couldn't move. I heard demonic laughing. Obviously, I was really scared (being 15 or so and never having heard of sleep paralysis). Eventually I was able to free myself, but for some reason I never thought the demonic part was real. I thought I was so scared that my mind imagined explanations for my situation.

I wasn't raised to be religious, so maybe that made a different to.

I've heard that sleep paralysis is where our alien abduction stories come from.

haemaker: Tell him about the twinkie.

What about the twinkie?

But...But...What about that time I was in bed with my girlfriend and she got pulled out of bed and dragged out of the room and down the hall...And then I found her picture in the attic and...

There is no Dana only Zuul.

alcohol withdrawal/detox is another way to see ghosts

IAmSuperBeast: You know what this reminds me of? That time you tried to drill a hole in your head, remember that?

It would have worked if you hadn't stopped me.

Nice theory. I have had some experiences with a disembodied voice when my girlfriend and I were both very conscious and alert at about 9 am in the morning about two months ago.

Flagg99: haemaker: Tell him about the twinkie.

What about the twinkie?

Well, let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. Based on this morning's reading, it would be a Twinkie thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.

That's a big Twinkie.

Franco: Nice theory. I have had some experiences with a disembodied voice when my girlfriend and I were both very conscious and alert at about 9 am in the morning about two months ago.

A common misconception is that the human brain accurately represents the world. I've had a litany of "supernatural" experiences, experienced with the full range of senses and shared with others in a variety of environments.

And you know what? None of it happened in any real sense.

Just because you see something doesn't mean there's something there. Any optical illusion is proof of that. Just because you hear something doesn't mean there was anything there. I constantly get the feeling like my phone is going off in my pocket; I hear and feel the vibration, but- nope. Just in my head.

Here's the problem: the human sensory systems were designed to solve a certain class of survival problems. When it gets input that it doesn't know what to do with, because it's too crowded with meaningless noise, or at the edge of detection, or just in an unexpected context, the human brain just does the best it can. It doesn't throw an exception to tell you not to trust your senses, that's something you need to learn to do.

t3knomanser: I constantly get the feeling like my phone is going off in my pocket; I hear and feel the vibration, but- nope. Just in my head.


This happens to me a lot so I stopped carrying my phone in my pocket (unless I'm just in transit between parking lot and work). And I've stopped placing it by the ol' nuts while driving.

\it's the waves, man
\\even if not, no harm in keeping it somewhere away from the body

Approves

I've only been with the company a couple of weeks, but these things are real. Since I joined these men, I've seen shiat that would turn you white.

Ok, this makes some sense. I had a waking dream when I was a teenager. It was super intense.

This thread reminds me of that old movie "Ghostbusters". Have you guys ever seen it?

Sleep paralysis is annoying. Mostly happens to me when I'm dehydrated. It also takes a bit longer to get your brain to "struggle" out of it when you're slightly dehydrated too.

In fact, one time I could control it at will. I would bounce in and out of that state multiple times a minute.

It's basically what happens when your "body" is sleeping before your brain does. And yeah, the first time it happened, I hallucinated too, heard some totally audible creepy vocals. But I knew afterward that was me hallucinating, and the audio was my suggestive thoughts that materialized into those hallucinations.

CravenMorehead: This thread reminds me of that old movie "Ghostbusters". Have you guys ever seen it?

I doubt any Farkers have ever seen that movie.


/dogs and cats living together, etc, etc.

Anyone who's ever taken a hallucinogen is aware of how easily their perception can be messed with.

/well, anyone not a blithering idiot anyway.

I think it's just awareness. I know I have auditory hallucinations sometimes, so it doesn't really bother me when I hear someone say my name or something, because I know what is happening. I've read about 10% of people have them from time to time. It happens a lot less now that I have fewer headaches - I don't know if that is related or not. I am pretty sure I have some kind of minor brain damage due to the various head injuries I've received and degree/severity of head pain I've suffered combined with medication needed to make it stop.

Okay, who brought the dog?

Try the brie, it's at room temperature.

FTFA: "So can a person build their own "haunted" house by incorporating these elements?"

Great, so next year, my haunted house will feature a Carbon Monoxide leak!

The hard part will be incorporating the sleep paralysis.

Dropping off or picking up?

Next time someone asks if you are a god, you say YES

We came, we saw, we kicked its ass.

Mother pus bucket.....

I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something I loved from my childhood. Something that could never ever possibly destroy us.

GranoblasticMan: I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something I loved from my childhood. Something that could never ever possibly destroy us.

GranoblasticMan has gone bye-bye, Farkers. What have you got left?

PickinWhiskers: OnmyojiOmn: Sleep paralysis is really interesting, but old news. It's associated with a lot of ghostly/demonic visitations and things like that, all over the world. It happens to me all the time. If I go to bed after I've been up for something like 20 hours, or I'm just extremely exhausted, I know it'll happen a couple times that night. The dreamlike component is always irrational fear, except for the time I saw a ghostly little girl in a white dress standing next to my bed, who reappeared inches from my face as a ghostly cat. This was right after my cat died. A true believer type seeing something like that and thinking they've been visited by a ghost is understandable.

That doesn't sound like the sleep paralysis I have experienced.

Probably because the line between knowledge and speculation is getting blurred a bit here. The "association" between sleep paralysis and supernatural myth is more historical than scientific, in the same way interpretations of the causes of events in ancient history are. We let the historians say it's true because it's reasonably intuitive and seems to make sense insofar as it's coherent with current knowledge, but it doesn't give you the whole picture. In this case the part that's missing is how sleep paralysis would make someone see ghosts out of all the possible explanations, because all we've done so far is say that it happens.

A "reason why" without a mechanism isn't satisfying. Otherwise you're the asshole who tells his friends he has an explanation for the magic trick they just saw and goes on to explain that "It was fake. The magician caused you to think he really did it". Well yeah, that's probably true. But people really wanted the mechanism of how he did it, not the cause and a lame "I don't know the specifics"

Con Fabulous: n this case the part that's missing is how sleep paralysis would make someone see ghosts out of all the possible explanations, because all we've done so far is say that it happens.

Well, it's not the sleep paralysis that causes you to see ghosts, but as TFA said, a related phenomenon- hypnogogic states. When the brain is in a hypnogogic state, you're not really conscious, but between the sleeping and waking state. Your brain isn't fully booted up, and the current thinking is that some of your brain is actually in a REM state- your dreams are playing themselves out mixed with conscious sensory inputs.

t3knomanser: Con Fabulous: n this case the part that's missing is how sleep paralysis would make someone see ghosts out of all the possible explanations, because all we've done so far is say that it happens.

Well, it's not the sleep paralysis that causes you to see ghosts, but as TFA said, a related phenomenon- hypnogogic states. When the brain is in a hypnogogic state, you're not really conscious, but between the sleeping and waking state. Your brain isn't fully booted up, and the current thinking is that some of your brain is actually in a REM state- your dreams are playing themselves out mixed with conscious sensory inputs.

you have described the permanent condition of 80% of the people on fark and about 50% of the country.

Bith Set Me Up

GranoblasticMan: I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something I loved from my childhood. Something that could never ever possibly destroy us.

GranoblasticMan has gone bye-bye, Farkers. What have you got left?

Sorry Bith, I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought.

PickinWhiskers: Oh shiat.
Sleep Paralysis(FTA) = It messes with you hard-core. Scarey at first, but cool once you can except what is happening. Heck, your brain is awake anyway, right?

Except when your dreams are about trying to get out of bed. Horrifically frustrating. Can't wake up in the dream or in reality.

I feel like the floor of a taxi cab

Evil Twin Skippy: I feel like the floor of a taxi cab

You must smell like barbequed dog hair.

Bith Set Me Up: Evil Twin Skippy: I feel like the floor of a taxi cab

You must smell like barbequed dog hair.

We'd like to get a sample of your brain tissue.