Hearing things that (maybe) aren't there

[Peregrinus]

Last night I had an… interesting… experience. Two hours after I went to bed, I awoke from a dream that incorporated some sort of regular noise. (I don’t remember much of the dream, just the noise was counting or marking something.) As I came to, I realized the noise was coming from my room. If you’ve ever heard the guttural electronic beep/buzz that sounds before an emergency broadcast on the radio or TV, that’s the noise. The weird part is that I don’t have anything in my room that could possibly have been responsible for such a sound. I couldn’t localize the sound, and when I got out of bed to search for its source, it stopped. I thought maybe it was just some sort of auditory hallucination, but when I got back in bed, it started again—not right away, but as I got close to sleep. I sat up and it stopped. It wasn’t regular this time, but intermittent. I couldn’t get back to sleep with that going on—not to mention the fact that it was starting to weird me out—so I moved into another room and closed my bedroom door. I heard the sound once before falling asleep again. It was a bit quieter than before, but too loud to account for the door being closed. I was in and out of light sleep every few hours for the rest of the night. Has anyone experienced something similar? Any ideas what could have caused the noise?

[Shlumpeet]

I had the same thing happen to me...and I couldn't move, it was freakin' me out and so I tried to get up to tell my dad about it, but I couldn't move.

[DrumCorpsAlum]

Sometimes the voices in my head are extremely vivid, but that's only when I'm falling asleep a certain way. It's rare. I do sleep with the TV on every night, because silence is deffeaning to me, and I'm haunted by my own imagination. Rarely do I incorporate what's on the TV with what I dream.

[bmx-life™]

Sometime's while resting or just before droping into a light sleep I get very direct voices in the rear of my head, its odd an scary. One time at work. (I do sleepover support for ppl with ID's) I heard footsteps outside my room walking to the toliet which is just outside my room, then the door opening an closeing an a female voice say "Oh Fuck" then spew up like she was sick. So I got up to make sure the client was ok. Then when I opened my door I could hear her snoring in her own bedroom an I opened the bathroom door, there was noone in there an I was freaked out! I could not get back to sleep for the rest of the night, an I felt a evil presence about the place. you know the feeling.

[TygrHawk]

I've heard noises before, just as I'm dropping off to sleep. Usually like some kind of "boom", or a sound like someone rapping on my window or door. I'll check it out and find nothing there, and if my wife is awake she'll say she heard nothing. I figure it's just some sort of auditory hallucination that occurs just before sleep -- kinda like HI maybe. One time hearing the "rapping on the window" one led to a series of FAs which was really freaky.

[sh2dak]

I know the noise your talking about,i usually make it appear myself if i need something to concentrate it. if you imagine hearing it, u start to hear it just a bit, and then once its there imagine it getting louder and it usually does untill it gets to a peek and stays at one sound level. Im pretty sure its some mild pre-HI.

[Howie]

That is fascinating Peregrinus! As TygrHawk pointed out I have heard noises from the onset of (HI) or going to sleep. What you discribe sounds much differant. I have had three false awakenings that the dreamscape was so relalistic that it was not until I awoke the next morning did I realize that it was not reality. I know you are a very logical thinker so I don't think that this could be accounted for unless you were in some type of illusionary state. Could the whole thing have been a dream?? If so, that would take false awakenings to a whole new level, sleep walking and all. From what you decribe though it sounds as if you were aware or awake at certain points.

[Peregrinus]

Originally posted by Howetzer I have had three false awakenings that the dreamscape was so relalistic that it was not until I awoke the next morning did I realize that it was not reality. I know you are a very logical thinker so I don't think that this could be accounted for unless you were in some type of illusionary state. Could the whole thing have been a dream?? If so, that would take false awakenings to a whole new level, sleep walking and all. From what you decribe though it sounds as if you were aware or awake at certain points. Yeah, I thought of that, too. After I got back in bed and heard the noise again, I thought, "This has got to be a dream!" But it was so real, so perfect. I didn't trust myself at this point, though (hearing noises with no causational explanation tends to do that to you), so I sat up and did the nose pinch test. Twice. To the best of my ability to reality check, it wasn't a dream. I've had false awakenings before, too, so I know how real they can be, but I'm quite sure this wasn't a dream. It could have been some altered state of consciousness-- a trance or something-- but I don't know enough about that sort of thing to draw any conclusions. I grew up in an old house, so I'm used to creaking and noises that go bump in the night, but this was the first time I've experienced something like this. Needless to say, I was relieved when last night was uneventful, although I was almost certain that my expectations of hearing that noise again would bring it back.

[regetsref]

It could be Gremlins.

[Howie]

I just thought of something. although if you had been sick you would have most likely mention it however a fever can induce auditory sounds. But even if you were not sick per-say, is it possible you awoke over heated. Do you recall being uncomfortable when you were lyeing there? I know I have awoken before and been sweating. As your heartbeat slows down when you sleep it does not regulate your body tempeture as well. ....Just a thought.

[Sporadic]

I've had these things too, but mostly, I realize that they are in my mind, but they can be REALLY deceiving. especcialy when you have a (high) fever, it gets really scary. I once had whole army's of white characters march over my body, defending me from "something" (I think it was my white bloodcells vs the virus or something) but it was so real... you allways need to remember that its your mind that processes all the data from your eyes and ears and such, so even if you are awake, you can hear AND see anything, real or not. -=SporadiC=-

[Number47]

Noises and voices are very common, when going to sleep. I don't recall, at the moment, the psychological term that is used for that. It really isn't anything abnormal, so you don't need to worry about it. I could look up the term...but I am feeling kind of lazy right now. I'll do it sooner or later ...wow what an old post. Sun Feb 27, 2005 1:12 am