...or part of Alice in Wonderland syndrome?

Visual disturbances are something common we experience during investigations. When we get tired, our brain does some strange things. One of these can be altering our visual perception where things can seem smaller, larger, closer or further away than they actually are. This is called Alice in Wonderland syndrome.

After a recent investigation, my brother Glenn told me of an odd experience which happened to him on an investigation at Aradale lunatic asylum. It had never happened to him before, and it also happened to another person at almost the same time. It wasn’t until this person verbalised what he experienced that my brother realised he had experienced the same thing. As it was a completely new experience, he wondered if there was some sort of brain function that could have contributed or caused this experience. It was however interesting that someone else experienced the same thing at almost the same time so it left him confused but intrigued because we also know that Aradale is full of it's own bag of tricks. He asked me to research into and it turns out there is in fact a explanation for this experience and when you research further into it, it could explain some experiences that people have during an investigation. It is not to say that you did not have a personal experience as it is all in context and you know what you experienced and the events leading up to and after the experience. This is merely something to think about.

Glenn’s experience in his own words:

"On investigation with my team Australian paranormal society at aradale asylum we were in the womans hospital main corridor just chilling out talking. All of a sudden Joe screamed 'omg I'm tripping out!' . My self and bill both looked at him and said 'what is wrong?' he looked very disoriented. Then all of a sudden my vision began to zoom in like a camera zoom at a very fast rate. I too scream omg and became very disoriented. Bill looked at us both and said r u guys alright at thay point I had explained what happen to me which Joe said the exact same thing happened to him. We both were disoriented for a while along with a nausea feeling"

A neurological explanation

There is in fact what is described as a neuropsychological condition called Alice in wonderland syndrome. It can be very disorentiation because it messes with your sense of perception. It is made up a few different visual disturbances:

• Micropsia: Items are perceived to be smaller than what they are
• Macropsia: Items in the visual field appear to be larger than what they are and a person may feel like they appear to be smaller
• Pelopsia: Objects appear to be closer than what the actually are
• Teleopsia: Objects appear further away than what they actually are

If you are familiar with the story of Alice in Wonderland, reading the above should be of no surprise as to why this name has been assigned to this condition. Alice was subject to all of the above during her story and there has even been speculation that the writer Lewis Carroll used his own experience with episodes of micropsia he has had due to the migraines he was known to suffer one.

Migraines are one of the first and most common symptoms and causes of the syndrome. It is supposedly something that is quite common in childhood and people seem to grow out of it by their teenage years. Other symptoms may also include having a lack of perception of time in that time seems to go very slowly, memory loss, dis coordinating, emotional experiences and loss of limb control. People can also experience a sound distortion as will where a little movement could sound to them like a loud noise.

While some people have this condition due to other neurological problems such as being a migraine sufferer, others can experience episodes or some of the symptoms due to needing to wear glasses and most commonly it is just something that can happen due to a lack of sleep and being tired. I know when I am tired, if I don't have my glasses on (I am far sighted), my vision does all sorts of strange things. That is why you will very rarely see me without glasses on during an investigation. When we are tired the brain works on overdrive and we know it can play tricks on us. In this case, it is having trouble perceiving the environment around you (almost in a similar way to pareidolia.). On many investigations, we get tired. We are out late, we work daytime jobs, sometimes we drive several hours to get to a location and we generally do it on our days or nights off when we should be having a bit of a rest so we are tired. It is quite common for personal experiences to happen when someone is tired so it is not outside the realm of possibility to think that these kind of vision disturbances above can happen to someone spontaneously during an investigation due to being tired. There are countless reports online of people experiencing phenomena similar to what Glenn has described with vision zooming in and out. While some have connected it to the aura surrounding the start of a migraine, others have connected it to being really tired, overworked and exhausted and it is something that has commonly happened with them lying in bed ready to go to sleep. It is important to recognise that it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have something wrong with your brain. It is more a case of a disturbance of perception and not a problem or change to the body or how it works. You could have a one off experience and never have it happen again or suffer from multiple episodes. Please note I am not a Doctor nor a medical professional and anyone capable of giving any sort of medical advice. If you do find yourself suffering from this on a regular basis and have other symptoms please see your doctor to get checked out.

The fact that this has happened to two people at exactly the same time makes this particular instance interesting. Would 2 people be experiencing a symptom of a neurological visual perception disturbance at almost the same time? Was there something else at work? I initially said in my discussions with Glenn that it could have been the power of suggestion. Very easy when something happens to someone, you verbalise it and suddenly someone else experiences the same thing. I was ready to say case closed until he told me that he hadn’t verbalised his experience because he initially just thought it was all in his head. It wasn't until the other investigator verbalised what was happening to him that Glenn realised he had experienced the exact same thing. Now my brother is very much like and is constantly looking at the rational. He is not one to jump to conclusions. My brother and I are very alike in that way. In fact sometimes we have discussed and wondered are we looking too hard for rational explanation instead of just allowing what is potentially a personal experience to be just that. He is not saying that he had a paranormal experience but is more questioning, was something happening? Why did it happen to 2 people at the same time? Should we just be jumping down the rabbit hole to see what happens?

So I would love to hear from you. Have you experienced this visual disturbance before? Was it on an investigation? Do you suffer from Migraines? Do you wear or need glasses or have some sort of vision problems? Were you tired? (I think I feel another survey coming on?)

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