Observations placeholder
Oliver Sacks - Marvin
Identifier
001350
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Oliver Sacks – Hallucinations
His hallucinations started about five years ago and were at first benign.
"In the beginning," he told me' "I saw a lot of animals. They were followed by hallucinations of children - multitudes of them, just as there would always be multitudes of animals. All of a sudden, … I see all these kids come in, they were walking all around; I thought they were regular kids'"
The children were silent but "talked with their hands"; they seemed unconscious of him and "did their own thing"-walking around, playing.
He was startled when he found that no one else saw them. It was only then that he realized that his "eyes were playing tricks" on him.
Marlon enjoys listening to talk shows, gospel, and jazz on the radio, and when he does so, he may find his sitting room crowded with hallucinatory people who are also listening.
Sometimes their mouths move as if they are speaking or singing along with the radio. These visions are not unpleasant and they seem to provide a sort of hallucinatory comfort.
It is a social scene, which he enjoys.