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Oliver Sacks – Hallucinations

Christina K' is prone to sleep paralysis and often her hallucinations go with this, as in the following episode:

I had just lain down in bed, and after a few rounds of changing positions I ended up face down. Almost immediately I felt my body go more and more numb,  I tried to "pull" myself out of it, but I was already too deep into the paralysis.

Then it was almost as if someone sat down on my back, pressing me deeper into the mattress  . . the weight on my back got heavier and heavier', and I was still not able to move.

[Then] the thing on my back got off and laid down next to me

I could feel it lying beside me, breathing. I got so scared and thought that this couldn't be anything other than real ….  because I had been awake all along.

It felt like an eternity before I managed to turn my head towards it. Then I laid eyes on an abnormally tall man in a black suit.  He was greenishly pale, sick-looking,  with a shock-ridden look in the eyes.

I tried to scream, but was unable to move my lips or make any sounds at all. He kept staring at me with his eyes almost popping out when all of a sudden he started shouting out random numbers, like FIVE-ELEVEN-EIGHT-ONE THREE TWO- FOUR-ONE-NINE-TWENTY then laughed hysterically....

I started feeling able to move again,  and as I came back to a normal state the image of the man became more and more blurry until he was gone and I was able to get up.