seeing things

Many, many years ago, before I knew better I was playing X-wing on my PC [a 486] thats how long ago it was.

This was a long, long session that went on to about 5am. I went to bed and started to fall asleep I turned over and next to the bed was R2D2, a clear as day.

Now you know and I know that a combination of playing a game and a late night created this illusion, and belive me it looked very, very real, but it was an illusion.

Now because I know it could not be real I ignored it, but if it was a departed loved one or a grey, I saw would have taken the illusion as real, but it could have been created using the same criteria.

If I was under lie detector conditions I would have passed in the latter examples.

I think the late at night in bed encounters can SOMETIMES be given to the conditions I have mentioned.

I think you are probably correct in that some (ONLY SOME) reported encounters of stange things can be attributed to hallucination. Just as SOME can be attributed to swamp gas, weather balloons, etc.

How many are you thinking? I'll make up a figure...20%....I know you see where I'm going with this...although it does us a tremendous service to finally have an explanation for this 20%, what about the other 80?

I'm guessing that hysteria, even on a mass scale has been blamed for numerous sightings...it's a lot easier than trying to explain something we either can't understand, or don't want anyone else to know.

So yeah, I'm sure some of the 'encounters' of strange things, be they otherworldly, extra-dimensional or the occasional droid, can be explained by an oversaturated, over-stimulated nervous system and fatigue.

[edit on 17-7-2009 by KSPigpen]

reply to post by KSPigpen


I am more inclined to except that it is not an illusion if something physical is moved, or of course, backed up by a third party.

Hey hey! You shouldn't play computer games for such a long time but uh, being a sort of gamer (in my own right) I know the addiction. You know the thing is that we percieve things artificially/different; No one sees things the same as others because we're all different. The brain is the sensitive thing in our heads that can play us up; so if you pollute your brain with repetition and constant thoughts of a similar nature it will tell itself that R2-D2 is there in front of you.

Ramadwarf on Star Wars

Being sleep deprived can do weird things to your perceptions of the world. A few years ago I was up all night and then went to work the next day, and I saw bizarre "alien" looking red-colored writing all over the desk that I was working at. The weird thing is that it was persistent, meaning that I would close my eyes, move my head around, walk away and come back and it was still there. It looked as solid and real as anything else in the room.

I've heard lots of stories from other people about sleep deprivation causing hallucinations (or perceptual changes, or whatever) as well. Although this is the first one I've heard that involved R2D2...

Thanks for sharing!

Being sleep deprived can do some VERY strange things to your body. You will start by "nodding off", (you can be in a riot, it won't matter). Then theres the unmitigated joy of starting usually with auditory then visual hallutionations (spelling??). But the order can vary based on how your brain is wired, any drugs you may be on, over all mental health, etc. Thats one reason sleep reduction is a classic and very effective interogation technique. It reduces resistance, and by the way, screws up your immunity if it goes on long enough. How long? Depends on the person, and over all health.

Other factors such as staring at a screen, even just alpha-numeric data can create problems if you have trouble with focusing. I know my self how dangerous it is. I had not slept for about three days and fell asleep at the wheel. Thank God the only thing I "killed" was a mail box, my own.

for a while i had the total opposite to what you describe..
i was seeing things with my eyes open at all times of the day.. i would have to sit with my eyes closed most of the time even during meals..
i was to scared to open my eyes because i new i would be terrorized of what i would see...now a few months later after being prescribed drugs for my hallucinations the images are gone..
but i can tell you all the demons from hell where walking and talking with me while i was fully awake and in the sunlight....
these beings murdered and killed each other while i watched.....

it seams taking a cocktail of 16 pills a day are all i need to be one of the herd again...

In 2007 a good friend of mine moved with his shop to a new location. So many things went wrong and the situation escalated in the last three days before opening. We worked so hard to get the shop ready and couldn`t get a minute of sleep. The first 24 hours were no problem. The second day awake things started getting weird. It was hard to concentrate and not to nip of. On the third day I was getting real crazy. I heard people calling my name when no one was around and saw shadows of non existent people moving in the corners of my eyes. It was annoying. As we opened the shop we were so f#*ked up the people must have thought we are heavy on drugs (we were not).

Off topic: There is a funny video called 'awake since 3 days' on ytube. Clearly the people in that video are seeing things too. If you are going to watch I recommend to turn the music off.
www.youtube.com...