A ghost, an angel, or a hallucination?

[caty]

When I was eight years old, I had a very bad case of the measles. They had spread inside my throat and it was very painful to swallow and I had become dehydrated and had a very high fever. A doctor came to our house and told me that I had to force myself to drink liquids or he would come the next day and take me to the hospital and put a needle in my arm to get liquids into me. I think he said this because he knew I hated needles and might drink more to avoid that.

Later that evening I was in my bed when I suddenly saw spiders everywhere. On the ceiling, the walls, and my bed. I lifted my head and saw them on my pillow and freaked out. I started screaming hysterically and my mother sent my brother to a neighbors house to get a nurse who lived there. This woman told my mother to move me into the living room and put me on the couch to see if that would calm me down. It worked--no spiders.

My brother was watching T.V. and I suddenly saw toy soldiers marching back and forth on the living room floor. Then I saw posters of horses hanging from the ceiling. I got sleepy and as I feel asleep I saw the posters go slowly up though the ceiling.

Sometime that night I woke up. The house was dark except for the light that was over the kitchen sink. I could see into the kitchen and sitting in a chair was a woman I had never seen before. She looked at me as though she felt so sorry for me. She had long straight brown hair, she looked to be in her 40's, she wore a plain brown dress, and she was in her bare feet. I kept looking at her expecting her to say something---but she never spoke. I started to feel sleepy and was closing my eyes when she shook her head at me very sharply. I perked up expecting her to speak--but she didn't. Time went by and I felt sleepy again, and again she shook her head--so I stayed awake, waiting for her to speak and at least tell me who she was.

Then, after several hours, I looked toward the window and could see the sun shining through the curtains. I got sleepy again-- I looked at the woman-- she didn't shake her head and I fell asleep. So, who was she? A ghost, an angel, or a hallucination because of my high fever and dehydration?

[ghostsofgiants]

1. Hallucination seems pretty obvious to me

Mind you I don't believe in ghosts or angels.

[caty]

3. Would a hallucination last that long?

That's what always bothered me. This took place over a matter of several hours.

[ghostsofgiants]

4. It's possible

You had this image in your mind and your mind for whatever reason just decided to keep manifesting the same image.

[caty]

6. That's the one thing that has bothered me

all these years. "Image"-- If it was in my imagination, why didn't I picture her with shoes on. That's how I was used to seeing people. The fact that I saw her in her bare feet has been the one thing that has kept me wondering.

[ghostsofgiants]

8. The mind is a weird thing...

I've had some seriously bizarre dreams in my day that when I wake up I think "where the fuck did THAT come from?" Part of the nature of hallucinations and dreams, things of that nature, is that the imagery isn't easily explained.

I had a dream earlier today in which a friend of mine had piercings that she doesn't have in real life. Why would I dream that she had those piercings when she doesn't in fact have them? I think that would be analogous to a lack of shoes or something equally out of place in a hallucination.

[caty]

9. That's reasonable.

I'll settle on what I think I saw for a few years. Then I'll hear some one else tell of something like this--and I start wondering all over again. It's just something that has haunted me and confused me for years.

[Shell Beau]

2. Wow! I don't know.

The soldiers and spiders seem like hallucination, but I don't know. Maybe a guardian angel if you believe in things like that!

[puerco-bellies]

5. My guess is a relative who had passed over, or a residential ghost

It is unlikely to be a hallucination,lasting that long. I used to be totally atheistic, but somethings have happened to shake my faith in the strictly empirical.

[WCGreen]

7. A Poem I wrote last summer after coming out of a 36 day stay

in hospital...

So,
Back when I was young
Not picture book young,
But catechism young,
I believed in Guardian Angels.
My whole world revolved around
These sentinels,
Those protectors,
Those ethereal figures,
With stretched out wings,
Sword in hand,
Protecting me from death.

You see,
Even as a child,
I was frightened by,
The finality of death.
My grandfather,
The dentist,
Not the tool and die maker,
Who had died before,
I was born,
Had this picture book.
In this book,
Which rested on the table,
In the middle of his waiting room,
Was the story of a boy,
Hit by a car,
Battered beyond repair.
But out of the bed,
That great mechanical Hospital Bed,
An arm reached out for God.
In the night,
The middle of the night,
The boy died.
But his arm remained,
Reaching for the heavens,
Held up by,
A Guardian Angel.

I figured the Angel had let down,
The boy in the bed,
Because he was distracted.
Not the boy,
But the Angel.
My whole life,
From then till now,
Depends on my Guardian Angel,
Not being distracted.
I imagined that every person,
At birth,
Was assigned a Guardian Angel,
GA for short,
Who was going to be distracted,
Somewhere between here and there.
And your whole life depended on,
Getting an experienced GA,
Who would keep his eye on the ball,
Way into old age.

So,
Now that I’m older,
Not senile older,
But middle age older,
And have survived much,
I really believe,
My Guardian Angel,
Is the MVP,
I hope he.
Or for that matter She,
Continues,
To have a stellar career,
As it’s all in there hands,
Or maybe not,
But at least it’s something,
To think about.

[AnarchoFreeThinker]

13. cool poem, WC

[caty]

15. I sent your poem

to a friend. She loved it.

[I Have A Dream]

10. My guess is that you were in an altered state due to the stress on your...

body. I think that it's sort of like what happens when certain types of drugs are taken. I wouldn't say that these things were hallucinations necessarily. However, I would say that your mind might have been open in a way that it usually isn't.

Like you, I would wonder about this woman. Why was she telling you not to sleep? I'm going to be thinking about this now also.

Thanks for sharing your story, caty.

[caty]

11. My friends think

that if I had fallen asleep, I might have died. They think she was sent to keep me awake and alive. Does make you wonder. Any answer could be correct. I may never know.

[I Have A Dream]

12. I was wondering about the dying part myself.

To me, this is the stuff that makes living fun.

[caty]

14. Would have made

a good story line for the "Twilight Zone", huh!

[Floogeldy]

16. You're an advanced soul.

Don't ask anymore questions.

[petronius]

17. Sounds like the Queen of the Demon Spiders...(nt)

[Az]

18. Its called a waking dream

I have had them myself and can atest to how real they feel. Basically they occur during the waking stage of a dream. You believe yourself to be fully awake. You see your surroundings and can even interact with them to varying degrees (there are cases where sleep paralysis still has hold).

One of my notable experiences was with some pet chameleons. I woke up and decided to take my chameleons out of their cage and play with them. I had them out and they were running around. They ran under the covers and I quickly lifted them to catch them. But they were no where to be seen. I frantically searched for them only to find them in their cage.

Everything till lifting the covers had been a dream.

The stress of your illness can even further exasterbate the situation as well. All that is real to your mind is what it finally accepts as real. Delusions seem real because your brain tells you they are.