It’s called hypnopompic hallucination.
Unlike with sleep paralysis, you can move and talk while still seeing it and it will last a few seconds up to a minute which can seem like an eternity.
It usually fades as soon as you turn on the light, but for some very few people it does not and persists even after turning on the light.
Here’s an example of someone who often experiences these and has started recording themselves: https://youtu.be/bEMGZNvETMQ
Why YSK: because it’s very scary and unsettling when it happens and since you can move you don’t believe it’s sleep paralysis and can’t explain it. This might explain many of the “monster or spirit at the foot of my bed” sightings that we often hear mentioned in horror podcasts.
I lived in my parents’ basement for a little over a year after college. During that time I had weekly (give or take) dreams that people were coming downstairs to watch me sleep. Often accompanied by sleep paralysis where I wanted them to leave so bad but couldn’t do anything. Terrifying stuff. That was 7 years ago and it hasn’t happened since I moved out.
Makes you wonder about mold or carbon monoxide from basement appliances.
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Oh no not this again
Oh dude, yeah. The documented symptoms of mold exposure are mainly respiratory, but if you were already under a bunch of stress and your body is getting further stressed by toxic air… Could explain it.
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I only ever had sleep paralysis consistently (almost every time I slept) on an old couch in my mom’s living room. That’s also the same spot I saw the most bizarre shit on DMT (hypercube-type crystals I could run my hands through but they stayed in the same spot while I walked around and observed them).