I see animations just after waking up ?

[Akaraleah]

Thank you for sharing this thread, I have been searching through out the day to see if others have seen the same.

I have woken up a few times and I will see cartoon characters flying around me ..they are there and aware of me for about 3-4 seconds.

But this morning was different, I woke up to check baby and there were cartoon figures busy playing all over his face... I thought .I'm still dreaming it will disapear soon..but it didnt.. they were bouncing off his eye lashes and all over his nose and lips..and really busy..moving fast.

Now this is where it gets weirder..bubs was stirring.like they were annoying him. so I told them to get off his face..I even tried swiping them off.

Finally they disappeared but it has bugged me all day..almost like mischievous pixies..but cartoon form.

I brought it up twice with my partner..but he just thinks I was dreaming..but I know I was fully awake.

They were almost like the sketch picture above but they were moving flat out.

We dont have tv and I dont watch cartoons either. It just weird me out that they are cartoons.

 

Edited October 4, 2019 by Akaraleah
To confirm I dont watch cartoons.

[EddieS]

I’m also experiencing the same thing right after a dream.   I didn’t have these animations when i was young and still in my twenties.  I thought It was ghosts but when I tried to see what it is yes, it’s cartoon like a GIF image just repeating itself. For me it changed from cartoon characters to something buglike. Dude, have you considered grtting a brain scan like mri or ctscan? I’m not sure if I should bring this up with my Doctor as I’m thinking it could be something wrong like tumour in the brain that’s causing this.

[Jujo-jo]

On 12/22/2018 at 6:26 AM, rcranz7 said:

This happened a few times right after waking up in the morning...

I wake up feeling refreshed and wide awake. But I'm not eager to jump out of bed right away, so I continue lying in bed for a few minutes with my eyes closed. While my eyes are closed, it's not entirely pitch black.  I sometimes see flashes or floating speckles as my eyes are closed, but on some rare occasions the tiny flashes/lights transform into a mini movie screen where animated clips play right before my eyes! They look like Disney or Tom & Jerry style characters, but I swear I've never seen these characters before.  One time there was a little spaceman sitting in a control room operating levers and buttons.... and another time I saw a funny-looking wolf character with a big smile on his face running across the screen. It was totally bizarre!

Keep in mind, this happens in the daytime, just after awaking. I was fully awake, refreshed and sober after a good night's sleep.  I also don't drink alcohol or do drugs and I have no history of mental illness. I'm healthier than most people who I know. I know about sleep paralysis, but this is something different because I'm wide awake and not in a paralyzed state. The animations seem to be playing right under my eyelids. Sometimes I know it's about to happen, and squinting hard or closing my eyelids tighter seems to cause it more often. I'm 100 percent positive that it was not a dream. I was just lying in bed with my eyes closed, but I was WIDE AWAKE!

Who else has experienced this?  What the heck phenomenon is this?  And why does it have to be freakin cartoons!?!?!????

RobC

 

I would be looking for a message in each scene, each time it happens. Embrace it! 

[SecretSanta]

On 1/29/2020 at 12:39 PM, EddieS said:

I’m also experiencing the same thing right after a dream.   I didn’t have these animations when i was young and still in my twenties.  I thought It was ghosts but when I tried to see what it is yes, it’s cartoon like a GIF image just repeating itself. For me it changed from cartoon characters to something buglike. Dude, have you considered grtting a brain scan like mri or ctscan? I’m not sure if I should bring this up with my Doctor as I’m thinking it could be something wrong like tumour in the brain that’s causing this.

Is it right upon waking up? If so, you’re probably experiencing a hypnopompic hallucination. 
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321070.php#causes

[rcranz7]

On 1/29/2020 at 10:39 AM, EddieS said:

I’m also experiencing the same thing right after a dream.   I didn’t have these animations when i was young and still in my twenties.  I thought It was ghosts but when I tried to see what it is yes, it’s cartoon like a GIF image just repeating itself. For me it changed from cartoon characters to something buglike. Dude, have you considered grtting a brain scan like mri or ctscan? I’m not sure if I should bring this up with my Doctor as I’m thinking it could be something wrong like tumour in the brain that’s causing this.

I haven't seen any waking animations since I last made this post, so I guess that's a good thing. It just didn't make sense to me why I'd see animated cartoon figures who don't match any known cartoon figures I'd seen in my life. I think this is more a mystery of the mind and not a physical disease like a tumor (I hope).

[rcranz7]

On 1/29/2020 at 10:22 PM, Jujo-jo said:

I would be looking for a message in each scene, each time it happens. Embrace it! 

In addition to these strange waking animations, I have also experienced sleep paralysis when I was younger in my 20s.  I used to wake up in my room late at night, eyes wide open, and I could see my room, but my limbs were extremely heavy.  I couldn't move. And then I saw a shadowy figure approach my bed and stand at my bed side in the darkness. It disappeared after I forced myself out of the paralysis...  It happened again a few weeks later, but this time I saw the shadow of a naked woman straddling my hips and bouncing up and down, as if having sex, but I didn't feel any weight on me, nor was I aroused. Then it vanished once I broke out of the paralysis. This happened years before these cartoon images started happening.  And BTW, I am being completely honest.  These events really did happen to me!

[Susanc241]

On 12/23/2018 at 9:54 AM, rcranz7 said:

Imagination is different than watching a real movie screen.  It's like my eyelids turned into a video projector, and cartoon characters that I've never seen before were playing. No joke!

I have this in broad daylight - in fact the brighter the better the result - I can close my eyes and concentrate on the dark grey of my closed eyelids and very often images start to form, moving images.  In my case it is usually a birds eye view of what looks like a department store or warehouse layout, with tiny figures moving about seemingly getting on with their jobs or shopping (and I have never in my life hovered above a department store floor or that of a warehouse).  I don’t have colour - scenes play out in a dusty sepia colour.  I do seem to need bright sunlight to allow this to happen, can’t reproduce it in dull conditions or artificial light.  I say, just enjoy the show! 

[lowsun]

So I just woke up and experienced this almost exact same thing just now and thought I'd google search it, only to find someone else (rcranz) describe it just like I experience it.

 

This is probably the 4th time or so that it has happened to me within the last few months.  I think it happens similarly every time: it occurs immediately after waking from a pretty vivid dream, and I'll see a small moving gif-type thing roughly centered in my vision that stays in the same spot as I look around.  I can see it whether my eyes are opened in my dark room, or closed.  I haven't tried turning the lights on while I experience it to see if I can still see it, but I imagine I probably would.  For me it lingers for about 30 seconds to a minute.  The moving images I see occur within an area the size of about a 2-3 inch square held out at arm's length.

 

This particular one I saw about 10 minutes ago was just a dancing cartoon-like man, in a style similar to how the OP described: a Tom and Jerry cartoon (thank you for describing it as such btw cuz I'm not sure if I would have found the words to describe it lile that, and that pretty much nails it lol).  A surprisingly smooth animation that maybe seems to repeat itself, but maybe almost not.  The first time this happened I was rather fearful since I didn't know what was going on (and still don't), but now, not so much.  It's kind of a creepy experience, but now that I'm more familiar with it, it's...just a thing that happens every once in a while I guess.  There's no pain whatsoever associated with it, or any other discernible symptom for that matter.  Just a moving image that disappears after a very brief amount of time.

 

What I really don't get about these "hallucinated gifs" though is that every time this happens, the characters I see aren't ones I recognize from the vivid dreams that I previously awoke from.  Intuitively it would make more sense if I were having a vivid dream, woke up, and hallucinated things from that dream, but such is not the case.  Similar to the OP, I don't recognize these characters either.

 

I'm really likely to believe that it's simply some kind of residual sleep/dream-like brain activity that just so happens to occur when it's typically not supposed to, and the time it takes for it to disappear is probably the time it takes for my brain to become fully awake (what a damn wierd thing for my brain to say about itself).  Now that I see a personal pattern emerging as to when they're more likely to happen - immediately upon waking from a vivid dream - it doesn't seem to be as much of a mystery anymore, though some kind of researched, studied, and verified scientific explanation would be nice!

[Davulao]

Strange, your all describing phycidelic trips. If you've ever done them, you would agree.

Edited March 7, 2020 by Davulao

[Skulduggery]

On 12/22/2018 at 6:26 AM, rcranz7 said:

This happened a few times right after waking up in the morning...

I wake up feeling refreshed and wide awake. But I'm not eager to jump out of bed right away, so I continue lying in bed for a few minutes with my eyes closed. While my eyes are closed, it's not entirely pitch black.  I sometimes see flashes or floating speckles as my eyes are closed, but on some rare occasions the tiny flashes/lights transform into a mini movie screen where animated clips play right before my eyes! They look like Disney or Tom & Jerry style characters, but I swear I've never seen these characters before.  One time there was a little spaceman sitting in a control room operating levers and buttons.... and another time I saw a funny-looking wolf character with a big smile on his face running across the screen. It was totally bizarre!

Keep in mind, this happens in the daytime, just after awaking. I was fully awake, refreshed and sober after a good night's sleep.  I also don't drink alcohol or do drugs and I have no history of mental illness. I'm healthier than most people who I know. I know about sleep paralysis, but this is something different because I'm wide awake and not in a paralyzed state. The animations seem to be playing right under my eyelids. Sometimes I know it's about to happen, and squinting hard or closing my eyelids tighter seems to cause it more often. I'm 100 percent positive that it was not a dream. I was just lying in bed with my eyes closed, but I was WIDE AWAKE!

Who else has experienced this?  What the heck phenomenon is this?  And why does it have to be freakin cartoons!?!?!????

RobC

 

Hi. My name is Marcus and I'm an animator. I have experienced the same thing my whole life. The animations get wild. There is audio as well. The audio I experience with the imagined animation is like chiptune meets glitchhop and the animation looks like old Looney Tunes meets Akira. I use it as inspiration for my own art and animation. I believe it is just a dreamlike state of mind and a love for animation.

[lowsun]

 

7 minutes ago, Davulao said:

Strange, your all describing phycidelic trips. If you've ever done them, you know I'm correct.

I wish I had so I would have something to compare it to, though I imagine these "trips" are visually different in that psychedelic hallucinations aren't *probably* limited to specific sizes and locations in a person's visual field.  From what people have told me it sounds like the hallucinations are more all-encompassing, or are far more complex or largely detailed.

[lowsun]

2 minutes ago, Skulduggery said:

Hi. My name is Marcus and I'm an animator. I have experienced the same thing my whole life. The animations get wild. There is audio as well. The audio I experience with the imagined animation is like chiptune meets glitchhop and the animation looks like old Looney Tunes meets Akira. I use it as inspiration for my own art and animation. I believe it is just a dreamlike state of mind and a love for animation.

Neat that you also experience audio!  So this also occurs immediately after waking and doesn't last long?

[Skulduggery]

8 minutes ago, Davulao said:

Strange, your all describing phycidelic trips. If you've ever done them, you would agree.

Closed eye visuals do compare. Open eye visuals come close. As @Nnicolette mentioned, dynamic geometric patterns are in the mix, too. The brain does these things. Drugs can exasperate it.

[Skulduggery]

2 minutes ago, lowsun said:

Neat that you also experience audio!  So this also occurs immediately after waking and doesn't last long?

For a while, but I'm in full control, but the sounds are automatic. Chiptune meets glitchhop.........meets Jimi Hendrix??!!! Sometimes.

Edited March 7, 2020 by Skulduggery

[lowsun]

3 minutes ago, Skulduggery said:

For a while, but I'm in full control, but the sounds are automatic.

Full control of your visuals??

[Davulao]

4 minutes ago, Skulduggery said:

Closed eye visuals do compare. Open eye visuals come close. As @Nnicolette mentioned, dynamic geometric patterns are in the mix, too. The brain does these things. Drugs can exasperate it.

Oh yes to clarify. You can have phycidelic trips just meditating alone. It's like seeing your subconscious.

[Skulduggery]

Just now, lowsun said:

Full control of your visuals??

Both visuals and audio. However, it is automatic as well. A person can plant a tree and a tree grows automatically. There is some level of control and orchestration. But the brain goes into a weird autopilot thing and things develop.

[lowsun]

Just now, Skulduggery said:

Both visuals and audio. However, it is automatic as well. A person can plant a tree and a tree grows automatically. There is some level of control and orchestration. But the brain goes into a weird autopilot thing and things develop.

I'm so fascinated by all this stuff and want to explore it somehow but not do drugs lol.  Perhaps the meditation as the above user mentioned?

[Davulao]

Just now, lowsun said:

I'm so fascinated by all this stuff and want to explore it somehow but not do drugs lol.  Perhaps the meditation as the above user mentioned?

Meditating and drugs take you to the same place.

[Skulduggery]

I, legally, will not endorse or advocate the use of drugs but ethically, I find them inherent for a person who chooses to look at the world. You can't just “take drugs” but rather, know what it is you are doing and, more importantly, why.

[lowsun]

1 minute ago, Skulduggery said:

I, legally, will not endorse or advocate the use of drugs but ethically, I find them inherent for a person who chooses to look at the world. You can't just “take drugs” but rather, know what it is you are doing and, more importantly, why.

Risking straying off topic here but the only drug I'm interested in trying is DMT.  I've read and heard tons about it and it sounds extremely interesting.

[Davulao]

2 minutes ago, Skulduggery said:

I, legally, will not endorse or advocate the use of drugs but ethically, I find them inherent for a person who chooses to look at the world. You can't just “take drugs” but rather, know what it is you are doing and, more importantly, why.

You sir have gone deep. How many times have you died?

[Skulduggery]

1 minute ago, Davulao said:

You sir have gone deep. How many times have you died?

Nobody dies. There is always an alternative. People can part ways, though. My old stoner logic stands strong lol.

[Davulao]

11 minutes ago, Skulduggery said:

Nobody dies. There is always an alternative. People can part ways, though. My old stoner logic stands strong lol.

Enlighten me with this "part ways"

Edited March 7, 2020 by Davulao

[Skulduggery]

16 hours ago, Davulao said:

Enlighten me with this "part ways"

My “Now theory” I came up with when I was super super high as a teenager. No one dies. Consciousness just leaps to the next parallel universe in which you didn't die. Other people can die around you but they're fine somewhere in another universe. Old age? Nah, consciousness will leap tens of thousands of parallels until one of them has a solution for the problem no matter how grand or bizarre. The theory goes on to explain time as well and all time and all parallels start and eventually converge again at a single now in which everyone is reunited.

I firmly believe this to this day. Thanks, drugs!!

Edited March 7, 2020 by Skulduggery