Which is scarier! Seeing or hearing?

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

i used to have that something fierce, basically up till around age 10 i had it happen once a week, and my parents NEVER believed me! since then i just dream a SHIT ton (as in 3-4 dreams a night) and dont have that happen anymore.

but when i did have it happen, seeing shit was always worse for me, hearing shit i could just ignore mostly since i knew i didn't see it, and i depend on my eyes more, and i remember a few times i got paranoid as fuck as i couldn't control my breathing, i felt like i was going to die from suffocating but my body was breathing for me. (so if that was an option, i'd put that)

Yeah, I dream a lot nowadays. Usually they're very good dreams though (Well if you count fighting zombie hordes with guns a good dream, which I do! )

I've had trouble breathing a few times too. >_< Usually I can just tell myself I'll go back to sleep and it'll be fine, but sometimes you just freak the hell out!

I'm glad it doesn't happen for you anymore though =]. Having it happen just once is kinda bad, but when it's often it's really frustrating.

ive had a few of those, those ones are fun, but most of the zombie dreams i have though i have zero weapons and wide open fields with a good 500 yard dash to the nearest building =[ it flippin sucks, i usually wake up in a pool of sweat and breathing heavy as hell.

yeah thats what happened eventually, and mostly i would fall back asleep within a minute-ish, but like you said, sometimes i would just freak the fuck out about it.

 

[sky14kemea]

In the case of something like a horror game, what you hear but can't see is scarier because you might not know what is making the sound, where it is and where it is coming from. It's that fear of the unknown, making it worse in your mind. Imagine seeing it first... you'd know what it was and what is happening about a second after you've already pulled the trigger. Doom 3, for instance.

In the example of Sleep Paralysis, what you see would be scarier because sounds are away from you, while visual hallucinations are IN THE ROOM WITH YOU. Your brain automatically trusts your eyes more than any other organ, so trying to convince yourself that what you're seeing isn't real is a lot harder than convincing yourself that what you're hearing isn't real.

I do not envy you.

Yeah, thanks. =P

I think I agree with the horror game thing as well. Usually when I play a game and hear a bad noise, I start refusing to go into the next room because I'm too scared of what could be in there. xD

 

[Hosker]

From what I hear, only a small percentage of people who have had sleep paralysis actually have hallucinations as well. I could be wrong.

Hearing is much scarier; not being able to see something means we know less about what it is. It's basically just fear of the unknown.

EDIT: Post number 666 >_>

Nah that does sound right. People tend to only get Sleep Paralysis once or twice in their life, and barely notice it. Most think it's just another weird dream.

The problem is when the small number of people get it more often, and they have no idea what it is unless they find someone who's had something similar. Dx I had no idea myself until my room mate told me about his.

Yeah, in the case of sleep paralysis: knowledge is power! The reason the hallucinations appear is because of the fear of not being able to move, and still being in a half dream state. But if you know what it is, you should be fine.

I read up about it when attempting lucid dreaming. One of the ways to induce it is to purposely put your body into sleep paralysis.

 

[MikailCaboose]

Hearing. The unknown will always be worse than what you exactly see.

 

[Georgie_Leech]

As I can convince myself that I anything I see is fake, I have to say hearing. Especially since I've once experienced that with an air-raid siren. Not a fun morning, that...

 

[sky14kemea]

Yeah, in the case of sleep paralysis: knowledge is power! The reason the hallucinations appear is because of the fear of not being able to move, and still being in a half dream state. But if you know what it is, you should be fine.

I read up about it when attempting lucid dreaming. One of the ways to induce it is to purposely put your body into sleep paralysis.

You'd think so, yet I still got scared silly whenever I woke up in Paralysis. Hehe...

Did you ever try Lucid Dreaming? I've always thought that sounded really cool.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

Depends really, I've never been the type to walk away because of a scary sound, but I'm still afraid of confrontation....at least, that's what F.E.A.R has taught me about myself.

 

[hopeneverdies]

My sixth sense is going to terrify me more than either hearing or seeing something. You can't hear it and you can't see it, but something just tells you it's there. Waiting silently in the dark to make its move. The pure knowledge of there being a "something" while yourself being completely powerless to do anything is the definition of fear for me.

Of the two choice, seeing it. Sounds are not as terrifying as seeing the most horrible abomination in the world standing over me while my body is helpless.

 

[Hosker]

Yeah, in the case of sleep paralysis: knowledge is power! The reason the hallucinations appear is because of the fear of not being able to move, and still being in a half dream state. But if you know what it is, you should be fine.

I read up about it when attempting lucid dreaming. One of the ways to induce it is to purposely put your body into sleep paralysis.

You'd think so, yet I still got scared silly whenever I woke up in Paralysis. Hehe...

Did you ever try Lucid Dreaming? I've always thought that sounded really cool.

There were a couple of points when I became lucid, but they didn't last long.

It is cool, but very hard! It takes a lot of time and devotion.

It is the most perculiar feeling when you're walking around, and you wonder: "How did I get here?" You stop and think but you can't for the life of you remember how you got to be there. But then you suddenly remember ... being in bed!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Don't read Autopsy Room Four [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopsy_Room_Four] then.

It's about paralysis.

Luckily(?) I only get hallucinations while awake and moving, but I've got to say sight is WAY worse than sound, as you'll automatically move to avoid being crushed or spiked (which usually ends up in you getting hurt). Someone screaming at you is just fear-inducing, not terror.

Equally, with epilepsy, the sounds dulling out isn't as bad as the retina stains just before you flip.

 

[Joshimodo]

Thinking but not knowing.

 

[zehydra]

hearing, since most people are already used to their imaginations making up images. Hearing voices is really scary.

 

[Prof.draco]

Hearing something shuffling in the backgroup is a bit unnerving, but it's when you see it that you really crap yourself. Unless it was just a kitten...

 

[sky14kemea]

Don't read Autopsy Room Four [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopsy_Room_Four] then.

It's about paralysis.

Luckily(?) I only get hallucinations while awake and moving, but I've got to say sight is WAY worse than sound, as you'll automatically move to avoid being crushed or spiked (which usually ends up in you getting hurt). Someone screaming at you is just fear-inducing, not terror.

Equally, with epilepsy, the sounds dulling out isn't as bad as the retina stains just before you flip.

Awww, now I'm interested in reading it.

Hearing something shuffling in the backgroup is a bit unnerving, but it's when you see it that you really crap yourself. Unless it was just a kitten...

Oh man... I wish it was a kitten! xD

 

[Hollock]

Hearing definently. The mind can make up something a million times scarier than what you see.

 

[Jordi]

I don't really understand why most people think hearing shit is more scary. I think the reason is that many people have experiences where they imagined something based on sound, and it turned out to be nothing when they saw what was actually going on. That is why the "unknown" is often considered scary: because it hasn't turned out okay yet. But what if it doesn't turn out okay? Wouldn't you get ten times more scared when the scary thing you thought you might have been hearing, is actually confirmed by sight?

Concerning sleep paralysis: I've had that. The first two or so times I thought someone was sitting on my chest. After that, there was never any "presence", but the fact that I couldn't move freaked me out. Now that I know what it is, I can usually recognize it and I just try to go back to sleep.

 

[Colonel Alzheimer's]

Definitely hearing. At least with seeing you would have some idea what's going on, even if it doesn't make any sense.

 

[rutger5000]

I think I suffered from this, I remember seeing the face of a which floating in the air. Strangely enough I knew it was fake, but I think I could move. Is it possible to overpower it? Because I can willingly move my body while I'm a sleep (most of the time I'll wake up because of it though).

By the way. Seeing is more like actually shitting your pants, but hearing makes you much less comfortable because it's harder to say to yourself this is fake.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Hearing. The mind's eye can fill in the rest. Without a definitive location, the unknown becomes more frightening.