Post by facemeat on Sept 17, 2011 21:12:30 GMT -5
August 19th, 2005
I've been meeting with a young man recently who claims to be seeing distorted versions of common objects at random. As an example, today he told me that while he was stopped at a red light on the way to my office, the traffic light began to melt, and in extreme clarity he witnessed pieces of it fall to the pavement below. At this moment, he did what he apparently always does when one of these odd hallucinations occur; in his own words, he "opens his mouth, and a deep, guttural scream that is impossible to recreate bursts forth. After roughly 5 seconds, the pitch swings violently to something very high...absolutely bloodcurdling...and continues for another 5 seconds, before it abruptly stops, and his mouth closes." Normally, I would give no more thought to these hallucinations than those of any of my other patients, however, his hallucinations are also causing physical health problems, which is something I have never witnessed in all of my career. The young man's mother has told me that, in reality, during what he perceives to be screaming, he actually briefly stops breathing. Obviously, this could pose a very serious, life-threatening problem if the hallucinations were to progress to longer durations. I have arranged for him to stay at my office for 4 hours tomorrow while I, and a colleague of mine, observe him. Hopefully we can witness one of these hallucinations and figure out the proper medication to give him.
August 20th, 2005
The study has concluded, and unfortunately, we were not able to observe anything out of the ordinary. It wasn't all an exercise in futility, though. After the 4 hours were up, the young man revealed something to me that he never had before; a website he had visited a few days before all of this began: mindseyedc.org. He told me it featured just a short video clip on a black background. The video clip was, "lots of strange changing colors and a high pitched noise in the background," as he put it.
August 21st, 2005
I decided to visit the website today, and it was just as he'd explained; a strange video clip on a black background. After I'd finished watching it, I decided to download it and try to slow it down so I could figure out if there was anything more to the video than met the eye...what I then witnessed has shaken me to my very core. The video is actually a series of distorted pictures, accompanied by interchanging guttural and high-pitched screams. Each picture was as my patient described his hallucinations...first a coffee cup split in two with both halves somehow still holding the liquid, followed by a man with droplets of blood oozing from his pores, and next a patch of grass sinking into the ground, then the melting traffic lights...and the final picture...a man with a pillow held firmly over his mouth. I couldn't take it. I ripped the computer's cord out of the wall, and tried to get some sleep.
August 22nd, 2005
I called my patient's phone number first thing this morning, and his mother picked up the phone, clearly in tears. She informed me that he died sometime in the night, apparently of suffocation. I was speechless...I gave her my condolences and hung up, my own hands trembling terribly. In an attempt to calm down, I poured myself a cup of tea, and as I glanced down at the cup, it appeared to split in two. I began to scream uncontrollably; the pitch changing midway through. Before the episode had even ended, I knew it was too late for me.
Yeah, I realize it's a bit derivative, but it's my first try. Let me know what you think.
I've been meeting with a young man recently who claims to be seeing distorted versions of common objects at random. As an example, today he told me that while he was stopped at a red light on the way to my office, the traffic light began to melt, and in extreme clarity he witnessed pieces of it fall to the pavement below. At this moment, he did what he apparently always does when one of these odd hallucinations occur; in his own words, he "opens his mouth, and a deep, guttural scream that is impossible to recreate bursts forth. After roughly 5 seconds, the pitch swings violently to something very high...absolutely bloodcurdling...and continues for another 5 seconds, before it abruptly stops, and his mouth closes." Normally, I would give no more thought to these hallucinations than those of any of my other patients, however, his hallucinations are also causing physical health problems, which is something I have never witnessed in all of my career. The young man's mother has told me that, in reality, during what he perceives to be screaming, he actually briefly stops breathing. Obviously, this could pose a very serious, life-threatening problem if the hallucinations were to progress to longer durations. I have arranged for him to stay at my office for 4 hours tomorrow while I, and a colleague of mine, observe him. Hopefully we can witness one of these hallucinations and figure out the proper medication to give him.
August 20th, 2005
The study has concluded, and unfortunately, we were not able to observe anything out of the ordinary. It wasn't all an exercise in futility, though. After the 4 hours were up, the young man revealed something to me that he never had before; a website he had visited a few days before all of this began: mindseyedc.org. He told me it featured just a short video clip on a black background. The video clip was, "lots of strange changing colors and a high pitched noise in the background," as he put it.
August 21st, 2005
I decided to visit the website today, and it was just as he'd explained; a strange video clip on a black background. After I'd finished watching it, I decided to download it and try to slow it down so I could figure out if there was anything more to the video than met the eye...what I then witnessed has shaken me to my very core. The video is actually a series of distorted pictures, accompanied by interchanging guttural and high-pitched screams. Each picture was as my patient described his hallucinations...first a coffee cup split in two with both halves somehow still holding the liquid, followed by a man with droplets of blood oozing from his pores, and next a patch of grass sinking into the ground, then the melting traffic lights...and the final picture...a man with a pillow held firmly over his mouth. I couldn't take it. I ripped the computer's cord out of the wall, and tried to get some sleep.
August 22nd, 2005
I called my patient's phone number first thing this morning, and his mother picked up the phone, clearly in tears. She informed me that he died sometime in the night, apparently of suffocation. I was speechless...I gave her my condolences and hung up, my own hands trembling terribly. In an attempt to calm down, I poured myself a cup of tea, and as I glanced down at the cup, it appeared to split in two. I began to scream uncontrollably; the pitch changing midway through. Before the episode had even ended, I knew it was too late for me.
Yeah, I realize it's a bit derivative, but it's my first try. Let me know what you think.
