A German UFO website reportedly published a story that said that in Steglitz, Berlin, Germany, in March 1939, in the early morning, a 5-year old child suddenly woke up to see three "shapes" sitting before him on his bed, though he did not feel any additional load or pressure on the bed.
The shapes had human proportions with round heads but blurred facial features, but the eyes appeared to be black. They had arms with hands that blended into the darkness. The figures were encased in a shiny white glow, which clearly outlined their bodies. The shapes sat one behind the other, the figure in front was bending down looking directly at the child.
The child never felt frightened, but however screamed for his parents and turned the lights on, and at this point the figures seemed to fade away. The visitors apparently came back the same night, with the same results.
Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Steglitz, Berlin, Germany, in March 1939, in the early morning, the 5-year old witness suddenly woke up to see three "shapes" sitting before him on his bed, however he did not feel any additional load or pressure on the bed. The shapes had human proportions with round heads but blurred facial features, but the eyes appeared to be black. They had arms with hands that blended into the darkness. The figures were encased in a shiny white glow, which clearly outlined their bodies. The shapes sat one behind the other; the figure in front was bending down looking directly at the witness. The witness never felt frightened, but however screamed for his parents and turned the lights on at this point the figures seemed to fade away. The shiny visitors apparently came back the same night, with the same results.
The source is indicated as "Greyhunter UFO site, Germany".
Points to consider:
The source is the extremely sensationalist German blog greyhunter.blog.de
The child's experience was possibly a hypnagogic hallucination.
Although hypnagogic experiences are now quite understood in the medical literature on non-pathological sleep disorders and sleep phenomena, although there are knowledgeable ufologists who understand this phenomenon, many other ufologists are still unable to identify such causes when they apply and still believe such experiences are alien encounters or alien abductions.
I provide a few references among dozens about the topic of hypnagogic hallucination and sleep paralysis:
"The Old Hag phenomenon as sleep paralysis: a biocultural interpretation", paper by R.C. Ness, in Cultural and Medical Psychiatry, vol. 2 #1, pp 15-39, March 1978.
"Lucid Dreaming: The Paradox of Consciousness During Sleep", book by Celia Green and Charles McCreery, Routledge publisher, U-K., 1994.
"Wrestling With Ghosts: A Personal And Scientific Account Of Sleep Paralysis", book by Jorge Conesa Sevilla, Xlibris Corporation publishers, U-K., 2004.
"Hallucinations and pathological visual perceptions in Maupassant's fantastical short stories - a neurological approach", by L.C. Alvaro, in Journal of the History of Neuroscience, vol 14, #2, pp 100-115, June 2005.
"Effects of hypnagogic imagery on the event-related potential to external tone stimuli", paper by N. Michida, M. Hayashi, T. Hori, in Sleep, Vol. 28 #7, pp 813-818, July 2005.
"Sleep and Society: Ventures into the (Un)Known", book by Simon A. Williams, Routledge publisher, 2005.
"Mental representation of space: Insights from an oblique distribution of hallucinations", paper by T.A Girard, D.L. Martius, J.A. Cheyne in Neuropsychologia, vol. 45 #6, pp 1257-1269, 2007.
"Parasomnias", paper by D.T. Plante, J.W. Winkelman, in The Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Vol. 29 #4, pp 969-987, December 2006.
"Paranoid delusions and threatening hallucinations: A prospective study of sleep paralysis experiences", paper preview by J.A. Cheyne, T.A. Girard, scheduled in Consciousness and Cognition for April 2007.
List of issues:
Id:
Topic:
Severity:
Date noted:
Raised by:
Noted by:
Description:
Proposal:
Status:
1
Data
Severe
August 5, 2009
Patrick Gross
Patrick Gross
Primary source disappeared.
Help needed.
Opened.
2
Ufology
Severe
August 5, 2009
Patrick Gross
Patrick Gross
Witness was a 5 years old child.
Help needed.
Opened.
3
Ufology
Severe
August 5, 2009
Patrick Gross
Patrick Gross
Story only, no research, hypnagogic hallucination not considered.
Help needed.
Opened.
Evaluation:
Possible hypnagogic hallucination.
Sources references:
* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.
