Hypnagogic Hallucinations

What they are and my experience with them

Jul 03, 2025

What are these hallucinations really?

When you go and look it up it’s something like this:

Hypnagogic hallucinations are hallucinations that happen as you’re falling asleep. They’re common and usually not a cause for concern. Up to 70% of people experience them at least once. A hallucination is a false perception of objects or events involving your senses: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. Hallucinations seem real but they’re not.

Hypnagogic hallucinations are usually brief and fleeting, but are occasionally prolonged. They can take different forms, including:

◆︎ Visual (seeing something that’s not there): About 86% of hypnagogic hallucinations are visual and usually consist of changing geometric patterns, shapes and light flashes. It may seem like you’re looking into a kaleidoscope. They may also involve images of animals, people or faces.

◆︎ Somatic (feeling or sensing something that’s not real): About 25% to 44% of hypnagogic hallucinations are somatic experiences. They may involve feeling bodily distortions; feelings of weightlessness, flying or falling; and sensing the presence of another person in the room.

◆︎ Auditory (hearing something that’s not there): About 8% to 34% of hypnagogic hallucinations are auditory — either hearing sounds or voices. They may involve words or names, people talking, and environmental or animal sounds.
— Cleveland Clinic

There’s a lot to unpack here so bare with me when I go from one thing to another.

⚠︎ Has mentions of disturbing dreams, you’ve been warned ⚠︎

My first experience

The first time happened in April 8th 2024 around.. 01:00am? During a New moon.
April 7th if it were around 11 PM — I went to bed late that time so the exact time is hard to remember, even after writing the date down.

In the past, there was a pattern. They normally happen when I sleep on my left side, hands and knees always at my chest. I do remember them occurring but this first time I completely forgot it happened until later in the evening. There also used to be a pattern according to the month’s moon phases but I’m not sure about that anymore. Since 2025, nothing really follows a pattern (might be because of my fucked sleep ;-;)

Anyway, I felt a man laying behind me, playing with my hair affectionately. But I shook, sort of out of fear? My breathing was deeply constricted. I wrote down in my journal that it felt like I had slow short breaths despite my rapid heartbeat. At first I thought my shaking was only because I got the figure beside me confused with another, that’s why I was a lil scared.

See — it was just a few days or the day before this time that I had a hypnopompic hallucination (from sleep to wakefulness) and that time I saw a little girl in a Victorian nightgown, her hair; dark, long and had bangs that covered her eyes. Oh and she had a sweet small smile btw.
She looked a lot like my five year old self. THEN SHE BLOODY STOOD UP AND WALKED OVER TO MY BED. Who wouldn’t be scared lmao (not a sleep paralysis because I could still move and close my eyes.)

And so, I thought it was her again while I was in the middle of a hallucination. And only until later that evening did I remember it was actually a man. Same man who I often saw in my dreams in the past. I hardly see him now..

For the next few occurrences, this happen once every few months, it follows this same pattern — only main difference from the first time is I’m more aware of them happening and realized it was just that man laying behind me. Exact dates however? I wasn’t able to write them down.

Then there came December 2024…

Man that was a crazy month.

I had FOUR hypnagogic hallucinations in a month which has never happened before, and one night I had it twice in a row — which is even more rare. And to end the month off, I had a very vivid dream but it felt like it was also another one of those hallucinations — another thing that has never happened.

I’ve had lots of lucid dreams. They peaked from 2020 till 2022 and then it started to taper down, quick. But the last dream I had that December was nothing like the past ones. I’ll make a separate post for that dream as this post is running pretty long already.

December 18th 2024

I heard a loud bang of something running into an iron cage? A steel door? First thing that came to mind was thinking it’s something locked up. And then I heard old heavy steel chains. Rattling, like something trying to break free :D

Then it quiet down only for me to hear a discomforting ring. It wasn’t in my ear, it didn’t feel like it was in my ear but nor was it a sound irl. Because the sound was right above my ear yet I couldn’t see jack in the dark—

Now… what makes this different is the fact I wasn’t even asleep. Yes, I have moments where I hear a random word or two in the air when I’m deep in thought.

This time? I just laid down in bed man, that’s all I did.

Closed my eyes to try and sleep with not a single thought behind it 🤌

That same night (around 2am, so the next day-)

I had a dream in first person. I stood in a story building, many people there and we had to save ourselves. Other wise you’d be grinded by blades (the thing used to cut steel but giant ones or picture a pizza cutter as a power grinder) if you didn’t escape in time — something you would see in Squid Game.

If you didn’t get killed by the blades however, you had the water flooding the building to worry about as it was raining heavily. Exits to the roof top were closed off and even if you went up, you’d be killed by those blades.

Soon the sirens (the fish kind, not the bird) came with the water. Yeah— Mermaids of all things but they were venomous like zombies. If they ate you, you’d turn into them. If you swallowed the water they swam in? You’d die and have a 50/50 chance of turning into them. I was the last known survivor in that building. I swallowed the water as it was up to my neck but woke up before I could die or turn.

December 26th 2024

Around 07:00pm, I was napping. Yeah- a nap. But the hallucination happened at 07:40pm. I was hearing a full ass conversation between two men, I heard them crystal clear and I felt familiar with them but can’t really point out who they were. This has never happened before.

They were speaking in English and were talking about me. But after a good three minutes of chilling tremors, I couldn’t remember a damn thing that was said. I just checked the time then went back to my nap and woke up at 8pm with a headache.

Latest experience: July 2nd 2025 — 01:04am | Waxing crescent moon

We’re finally at this point, the very event that led me to writing this so soon.

I went to bed late and laid down at around 12:40

At first I was dreaming only to be yanked out of that dream. Eyes were still closed but I can imagine what I would have been seeing if I did — I wouldn’t dare to.

This time, three people were talking, but they were talking to me. Not about me this time. One had this tone.. and he chuckled in a may that would make you feel like you were in danger. Type of danger especially for women, now that I think about it ;-;

The second one, a much deeper tone. He did sound soothing and he was.

Until he laughed.

God it was such a cruel laugh that made my stomach turn. Low-key felt betrayed not gonna lie lmao

And the last one, was a woman’s voice. Which is the first time I’ve hallucinated a woman’s voice. Judging from her deeply seductive tone and way of speaking, I have a strong feeling I know her. Indirectly. But that’s a story for another time — just know she’s from someone else’s dream.

They had their faces so close to mine even though I couldn’t see, I could feel them just inches from my face. They spoke in English as well and I could hear them crystal clear. This lasted for no longer than five minutes — but sure felt like it lasted longer.

When I became fully awake however… I couldn’t remember a word they said. Not a word. I kept trying and trying and really? I managed to only get one word, a word from the woman’s last few sentence to me.

“Decipher”

Is one of the many things she said.

Note: I’ll keep you all updated on this. I also plan to talk about hypnopompic hallucinations as well now that there were a few more occurrences than what I originally remembered.