Something very odd happened

My acquaintance show gets microsleep with REM experiences (MWR – see here) hasn’t had one for months. Why? I’ve no idea but it might be important. But MA has had another dramatic seriously strange experience recently.

MA was alone watching TV when something very odd happened. The TV was showing the news but the pictures suddenly did not match the sound. The sound described a football match but the picture appeared to be an aerial view of terraced fields! It’s possible it was a mistake by the broadcaster but they made no apology as they usually would in such circumstances. So then MA turned off the TV using the remote. However, not only did the TV go off but also the room lights in a connecting room, which are not remotely controlled. MA was now in total darkness and a little confused. Then one room light came back on by itself. And then the TV came back on by itself. MA then turned the TV off, using the remote, again. It went off as did the single room light, once more plunging the room into darkness. Then two lights in the connecting room came on, again without MA doing anything. This situation, MA's room partly illuminated by lights from an adjacent room, was the original situation before things started to go weird.  Also at this point MA started to hear normal household background noises again that had been completely absent during the strange episode. From that point on everything was completely back to normal.

So what happened? It felt to MA exactly like an extended MWR, but lasting minutes instead of seconds. I think it was a hypnagogic episode which is what MWRs are, in essence. People who get MWRs are likely to get hypnagogic episodes as well. MA said it felt very real at the time but more like a dream after it ended. Interestingly, there was only ever one thing ‘different’ from reality at any one time as has happened with MWRs (see here). When the TV behaved oddly everything else, like the lights, was normal and vice versa.

MA has had MWRs where unknown human figures appeared. Had one done so this time it could easily have been taken for a ghost somehow responsible for all the strange happenings. It is easy to see how this episode might be reported by someone unaware of hypnagogia as paranormal. The fact that normal background noises were absent during this episode is particularly interesting. I often come across reports where things apparently go silent when paranormal stuff is happening. Might some of these reports actually have been hypnagogic?