A hallucination, in broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid, substantial, and located in external objective space.
There are many real and fictional mind-altering drugs that can cause a person to hallucinate. The most common hallucinagenic drug is Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (or LDS as James T. Kirk calls it [1]).
In fiction[]
In the pilot episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "Where Is Everybody?", astronaut Mike Ferris is put through a training exercise designed to prepare him for a prolonged space journey to the moon. Due to prolonged sensory deprivation, Ferris begins to hallucinate wherein he imagines himself in a quasi-dystopic future where he is seemingly the only man left on Earth.
In the 1970 film Beneath the Planet of the Apes, a clan of subterranean mutants have developed their mental faculties to the point that they can generate illusions inside the minds of others. They first used this effect in an effort to deter the advance of astronaut George Taylor by creating a wall of flame to bar his path. They later used their abilities to create apocalyptic imagery in the hopes of diverting the path of an ape war party. [2]
In an episode of Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Major Matthew "Hawk" Masterson suffered intense hallucinations of his young son, Mitch. [3]
In the sci-fi comedy film 2001: A Space Travesty, police detective Richard Dix took a shuttle trip to Moon Base Vegan. Despite warnings from the flight staff about the effects of artificial gravity on the mind, Dix experienced intense hallucinations. During the "In a Mirror Darkly" storyline from Star Trek: Enterprise, the Mirror Universe counterpart of Enterprise captain Jonathan Archer began hallucinating visions of the true Jonathan Archer. [4] In the sixth episode of season two of Warehouse 13, Secret Service agent Pete Lattimer came into contact with an artifact that caused him to hallucinate. [5]
Hallucinations were a recurring theme featured in the 2003-2009 Battlestar Galactica revival series. One of the primary characters, Gaius Baltar, experienced perpetual hallucinations of a blonde-haired woman whom he later learns is a Cylon responsible for shutting down Earth's defense grid. Throughout the entirety of the series, the image of this Cylon, code-named Six, can be seen whispering into Baltar's ear, encouraging him to fulfill the needs of the Cylons.
On The X-Files, Fox Mulder took a psilocybin tablet in order to bring himself to an existential state of consciousness in the hopes of spiritually communing with a terrorist who had been in a coma. In addition to hearing the terrorist's message (in Arabic), Mulder also found himself wandering aimlessly through traffic and caused quite a stir when he began line-dancing at a country-western bar, terrifying several senior citizens. [6]
Appearances[]
Films[]
- Misery - Paul Sheldon hallucinates that Annie Wilkes is after him.
- Shining, The - Jack Torrance sees an ugly crone as a beautiful woman.
Television[]
- Arrow: A Matter of Trust - Diggle is in prison and hallucinates that the late Floyd Lawton is his cell mate.
- Ash vs Evil Dead: Delusion - Ash suffers hallucinations after being brainwashed by Baal.
- Ash vs Evil Dead: Ashy Slashy - Ash suffers hallucinations after being brainwashed by Baal.
- Blood Drive: Scar Tissue - A preacher from Cronenburgh uses toxic gases from the Scar to mask the appearance of the town's mutant population.
- Outer Limits: Tempests - A spaceship crewman gets bitten by a spider and cannot distinguish hallucination from reality.
- Teen Wolf: Triggers - Liam Dunbar hallucinates that Brett Talbot and other Lacrosse players are tormenting him.
- The X-Files: Blood - A man hallucinates after being exposed to tainted blood and sees images of violence.
- The X-Files: Babylon - Fox Mulder takes what he thinks is a magic mushroom to communicate with the spirit of a comatose terrorist. He ends up tripping balls and line-dancing at a country bar.
Comics[]
- Captain America 111 - Rick Jones, under the influence of a strange gas, hallucinates about the original Bucky.
- Cloak and Dagger Vol 2 4 - The Beyonder starts tripping balls after going through a heroin overdose.
- Daredevil 505 - Bakuto has intense hallucination that The Beast is attacking him.
- Vampirella Vol 4 2 - Vampirella is infected with venom that causes her to hallucinate.