5 Horrific Ways Your Brain Can Turn On You Without Warning
#2.
Sleep Paralysis
What Is It?
Ah, another morning. You open your eyes and stare at the ceiling. Time to toss those covers aside and start the d-
Wait... what's this? Your arms don't seem to be moving. Or your feet. And... HOLY SHIT! There's a monster in the room! And that bastard glued your entire body to your bed!
"You'd think a monster would have more sophisticated methods of terrorizing, but I don't, at all."
Well, that or you're suffering from sleep paralysis. Also referred to as "devil on your back" by Africans, "the dark presser/assailer" in Turkey and "on the pig's back" by the Irish.
Wait, What's Going On?
As you fall asleep, several things happen. First, your conscious mind is set to low-level functioning. Next, your body is immobilized so that you can dream of doing things like running, without actually running into your bedroom wall like the dog in that YouTube video.
Then, your brain cycles in and out of REM. Occasionally, your conscious mind wakes up, but forgets to include other parts of your brain, usually just seconds before the REM is phased completely out. The result is that for the next few moments, you get to watch the dream, or rather nightmare in most cases, played out as a vivid hallucination right before your very much awakened eyes.
Oh, and that part about you being immobilized? That's still there, hence the "paralysis" half of "sleep paralysis." Not only do get to watch the demonized spider-crabs on your ceiling eat a tiny kitten just above your immobile body, you are completely helpless to do anything about it when they come for you.
But, you can tell the difference between real life and some stupid waking dream, right? Apparently not, since as we have mentioned before, this condition seems to explain the whole " alien abduction" phenomenon, and several thousand years worth of ghost stories and demon encounters.
Can it Happen to You?
It's already happened to some of you reading this. Surveys show that about one out of four people have experienced it, though who knows how many more A) had it but didn't know what it was or B) forgot about it or wrote the whole thing off as a dream.
Then again we don't know how many of the ones who claimed to have had it were actually abducted by aliens instead, so it probably balances out.
#1.
Random Hallucinations
What Is It?
You're not crazy. You never have been. You're not taking any medications, or narcotics. You're not sleepy. You haven't taken a blow to the head. You're not stressed out. Everything is fine.
Still, one day you're sitting in your car, driving down the highway, alone. It's dark, the radio is off and you're listening the sound of pavement humming under the wheels. Then, a leprechaun appears in the passenger seat and calls you an asshole.
What an asshole.
Wait, What's Going On?
We think of hallucinations as the hallmark of mental illness and they are--but they are also shockingly common in people with absolutely no mental problems at all. It may happen once, and never happen again. And once more, some of you who are reading this have experienced it, whether you know it or not.
For instance, about 15 percent of people surveyed say they've had auditory hallucinations, the most common being the sound of voices (often your name, spoken aloud) right as you're falling asleep.
It's not known how common visual hallucinations are, since they so often get reported as ghost/alien/angel/etc. sightings. But it is known that such hallucinations can include seeing animals or even inanimate objects. In other words, there's a chance you have had a hallucination and to this day don't realize the object was never actually there.
Oh, it gets creepier.
Ever had that eerie experience when you feel someone or something is in the room with you? Particularly in the dark? Or maybe you just feel like you're "being watched." That "sense of presence," the normal feeling you get when near another person, only felt while alone, is another type of hallucination.
Can it Happen to You?
Probably half of you have experienced some type of hallucination, whether you remember it or not. The auditory hallucinations are so common there is a support group now specifically for these people who hear voices but who are not schizophrenic and who don't have any other crazy symptoms.
Now, if you're thinking it would be hilarious to have your ventriloquist friend sit in on one of those meetings, well... be sure to get us video.
Do you have something funny to say about a random topic? You could be on the front page of Cracked.com tomorrow. Go here and find out how to create a Topic Page.
For more reasons to never trust your brain again, check out 5 Ways Your Brain Is Messing With Your Head. Or check out the totally rad things you can make it do, in 5 Ways To Hack Your Brain Into Awesomeness.
And stop by our Top Picks to see Brockway hallucinating. Off of drugs. It happens fairly regularly.
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Hello! i`m looking for people who suffers form this wierd syndrome or who had this expirience at least once. if it`s you or you know someone who had it, i`d appreciate some help with answering questions about EHS. This is kind of an emergency!! Any information will be helpful!
ReplyI've had the Exploding Head thing a couple of times, not enough to really make me a good test subject for it. But it is very weird, just lying there and then a whooshing sound inside my head and I just open my eyes and look around like wtf.
ReplyOh dear God, it would be annoying to have Gilbert Gotfried yelling out your name over and over.
ReplyDose anyone have any information on what causes sleep paralysis?
ReplyIf you had actually read the article or the first link it mentions, it says why.
Basically your concious mind wakes up before the rest of your body realizes it. That's the kiddie version I was told as a kid.
I used to get REM often up until this past yr. (2011). [Maybe because I often sleep w/my head covered] I have never "seen" anything. Though once I did hear something. It was vague and my mind din't register it enough for me to remember it. It was creepy though. Though usually when I get it, my body feels "heavy" almost. I personally find that forcing my body to try and move is the fastest way to get it to stop. As for the "hearing things just before you fall asleep", I get that also. Though I can tell it's not real because my head always feels very heavy. I'm basically half asleep/dosing in and out. I rarely remember what was said, I don't ever recall it being my name. It's usually happens after I just woke up and am still tired. It's often right before I pass back out.
ReplyI don't take drugs, and I'm not mentally ill, but I was once cycling down the road and very clearly saw a lion in the field next to me. Pretty sure that this couldn't have happened, I stopped and looked back but, of course, there was no lion there.
Replyuntil now, I've never told anyone about that. thanks for confirming my normality, cracked.
from what i know NONE of these has ever happened to me...
Replyconsidering the fact that some of them make that statistically unlikely i can only point to my head and say aspergers syndrome... just an idea i have no idea if thats the truth
#4 happens to me frequently. Either during conversation or when watching TV (and all the time when i had mono) i perceive people's head to grow and shrink. Often i find its correlated to high stress situations which is super helpful... I always thought i had to do with an issue of my eyes focusing and unfocusing...
Replywell... #5 has happened to me a couple times... and I'm a 23 yr old male. Probably has something to do with the couple concussions I've had playing football. Sounded like a gunshot happened inside my head. No lights though, just a loud sound and a weird feeling in the head.
ReplyPretty sure that if the sensory homunculus illustration were 100% accurate it would be 1000% obscene
ReplyThat's why his dick's been pixelated out.
(Not that I looked or anything - I just assumed they'd do that, sort of, erm.....)
I get the sleep paralysis thing, but I'm not stuck in a dream. I just freeze and can't move for like a minute
ReplyI was relieved to see exploding head syndrome is actually a thing because I had it for years. I could be sitting on couch and suddenly it would sound as if a plane was crashing in: I could hear explosions, crumpling metal, and breaking glass all deafeningly loud. For me it was the last manifestation of my mental illness: I initially had a schitzoaffective disorder that caused me to see things that weren't there (or not see things that were there) for a few weeks, then a phase of hearing voices (an angry male and a comforting female) for a couple months. I was a total mess and sought treatment during that time. However, once I ended my treatment I continued to hear explosions 2-4 times a year for a little less than a decade. I had thought they were all part of the same illness, but after reading this I wonder if I was right about that. I'm just glad it all stopped.
ReplyThose experiences have made me very skeptical of any claims regarding ghosts, aliens or anything else paranormal. No matter how good the story is, I just think "at best, that was what you experienced, but it didn't actually happen." That usually offends the teller, who inevitably asks "you think I made it all up?" Then I say something like, "not you, just your brain. Brains are tricky 'cause whether it's lying to you or not, it all feels the same."
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i have sleep paralysis episodes.
Replyi had some weird ideas about what it was, because a) it's totally real in that moment, + b) i didn't want to ask anyone what was happening, because the only two answers i could see were that i was insane or that aliens or dream gods *were* actually wreaking terrible vengeance on me.
it was a great relief when i found out it was an actual condition.
#1 happened to me once...I was at work, standing out on the loading dock at night, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pair of human legs attached to a lower torso just go casually strolling by. Like somebody had chopped a person in half at bellybutton level. I even heard the foosteps it made as it walked. The hallucination lasted about 3 seconds before I turned around and looked, and it was gone.
Reply#5 When I was kid, #4 Once every couple of years and #1 When I'm alone in the dark.
ReplyWhen in the hospital on demerol I once experienced that I could see the room exactly the same whether with my eyes open or closed, the only difference was that with my eyes open my girlfriend was a the end of the bed and closed she was beside me, freaky.
Sleep paralysis is some crazy shit. I've had it happen to me several times, but I never saw anything like what is described in the article. It's just that you feel this insanely malicious presence sitting on top of your chest, and even trying to curl a finger causes intense pain in your chest.
ReplyI get a ton of hallucinations, but the scariest one lives in someone I love:
ReplyWhen I was about 8, I was sleeping once and the dream I was having was normal. I was at school, recess, and talking to my fiend. Then she started chanting, and morphing, and she turned into this thing, it had fur in some spots, scale's in others, and in some it had feathers. I turned and ran and she started chasing me. We ran all the way to my house, and the whole time it was still chanting. I ran upstairs and slammed my bedroom door. I heard it tromping up the stairs. Then I woke up. I was sweating and scared, but glad it was over. Then something started banging on my door. I screamed and my dad ran up stairs. He was turning the knob, I and yelled at him not to, but he did anyway. The thing from my dream followed him in. I was soooooooo scared! But then as I was still screaming, the thing started to turn to fog, and go into my dad's body. He got this look in his eyes, and to this day, when I look at him, he kinda... glares at me, and has the same look in his eyes. I am scared of my own father now. I think that thing possessed him and he will kill me one day.
And I always here my mom calling me. I'll go down stairs, and she'l say (without looking at me) " I didn't call you" because i do it all the time. And sometimes, she'll be right next to me, and i can swear she said my name, but she isn't looking at me, and denies it happening.
My like is so fucked up.
In the case you are telling the truth, your life is indeed fucked up. Talking to your FIEND and whatnot.
And even more so, I'd tell you to go see a psychologist. No, not the "tell me about yourself" kind, but rather if you can a researcher-type. The kind that makes studies. With the knowledge he's supposed to have (and which he'll most likely have), he'll probably find the causes.
Auditory hallucinations - I don't remember if they're discussed in this article - are nothing special but could be symptoms of schizophrenia. That's what schizo. is. You think about something, but hear it in someone else's voice and think that person is talking to you.
A simple test I think for auditory hallucinations is listening to how exactly you're hearing things... obviously behind a door the sound would be muffled.
I'm not a psychology student or any sort of student related to that, but I get most of this from my brother who's in his fifth year of psychology. So honestly don't take it as-is and go see someone specialized. But no psychic. Seriously, don't go see these guys.
Anyway, I also sent you this comment as a PM so that you get the notification. Having it as a comment is only for other people who might have the same troubles.
"...still there after amputation, is extremely common in amputees..."
ReplyYOU DON'T SAY
The one with the woman loosing control of her third arm is pretty scary!!!
Reply