Which is scarier! Seeing or hearing?

[Jroo wuz heer]

snip. damn, gonna need bigger scissors
SNIP!
ah there we go
.

do you ever have hallucinations about being somewhere else?
like in a different room from the one you sleep in?

OT:hearing

Nope, never actually had that. Probably because I am technically awake. xD

Although thanks to my lamp, my room glows a deep orange sometimes in the night, so one time it really looked like I was surrounded by flames and stuff. :/

You know what would be even scarier than either of the options? people have reported undergoing surgery in which the anesthetic doesn't make them go to sleep, just completely paralyzes them, so that they feel everything (pain!) but can't react or tell anyone to stop

 

[sky14kemea]

You know what would be even scarier than either of the options? people have reported undergoing surgery in which the anesthetic doesn't make them go to sleep, just completely paralyzes them, so that they feel everything (pain!) but can't react or tell anyone to stop

Yeeee >.<

Yeah that is definitely scarier then anything I've experienced. I'd never wish that on anyone. :l

 

[ajofflight]

They both scare me for different reasons. Hearing leads to my fear of unknown danger, where I can't act accordingly because I have no idea what's coming.

Seeing is scary because, well, there's a huge fucking monster in my room.

This.
Although I have to say, I've had sleep paralysis before (albeit, only in certain parts of my body), and it's a frightening experience altogether. I've been lucky enough to have a couple of them while it was light outside, that does take a certain edge off of the hallucinations. Still, seeing a humanoid creature standing in the corner of your room with a thousand eyes and claws never really becomes less scary, regardless of the level of light outside.

 

[The Salty Vulcan]

I'll post this in order to get my point across.


Now you tell me.

 

[Sn1P3r M98]

-snip-

-snip-

When it happens to me, I just try to jerk my neck in one direction, which usually gets me out of it somehow.

That got me out of it when I had it Sunday morning. That was an auditory one, though I didn't hear really anything disturbing, just random talking, like a crowd.

Normally I think auditory are the worst. You can't tell for sure weather it's real or not, while seeing a big scary monster you might think "This surely isn't real". Both are fucking terrifying, nonetheless.

 

[Davey Woo]

For me hearing, because I can't see what's causing it.
If I hear a tapping noise, I'll start to get a bit anxious, but when i see that it's just my foot hitting a bedpost or whatever I'm fine.

I think in general hearing is scarier, because we tend to rely on our sight to identify everything, so if we hear a sound with no visible cause, we start to worry about it naturally.

 

[RIOgreatescapist]

AWWSHITSON, YOU DONT EVEN HAVE TO TURN THE CONSOLE ON TO PLAY RESIDENT EVIL THEN HUH?

 

[Senaro]

Hearing something and never seeing it would be worse. Your imagination can go crazy with these sorts of things. It's why I find games like Penumbra to be more frightening than Dead Space.

 

[Dfskelleton]

I think those of us who've played Amnesia: The Dark Descent know.
Actually I guess not. My friends and I agree I have a twisted but very active imagination, and I'm not sure if my mind could better conjur some horrific hallucination based from my personal fears, some unknown even to me (which usually ends up happening if I attempt to purposefully write anything scary), or some image of something horrific based on a sound I've made myself hear.
Slightly off topic: I just downloaded the Dead Space 2 demo, and honestly I didn't jump once. The developers said they're going with new scares, but within the first few minutes of the demo I was greeted with a pile of dead bodies. I then used stasis on the pile and blasted the hell out of it. Sure enough, the necromorph at the bottom of the pile screamed and tried to crawl towards me missing both legs, and I simply performed a mediocre amputation of his arms. Dead Space isn't scary to me, but I like the story and it's ridiculously fun to stomp the limbs off enemies whose legs have just been shot off. I prefer the surreal anyways as far as horror goes.

 

[Magnatek]

It really depends on the atmosphere with both of these things to me. With seeing things, it may be within a dark corridor, though I'd currently be under a light source. I can usually see the proverbial things that go "bump in the night", before that bump makes a sound. It honestly freaks me out there.

As for hearing things, that can happen wherever for me. I could be in a well lit room, typing on my laptop(for an accurate example), but suddenly noises come out of nowhere, and I instantly jerk my head to where the noise was, with the telltale heightened heart rate of a scare.

Personally, I prefer seeing things better than hearing them, so I suppose to answer the question, I'd say that hearing things go bump in the night is much scarier to me than seeing them make the bump.

 

[Dfskelleton]

I'll post this in order to get my point across.


Now you tell me.

NOTE: Do not listen to his post if you are alone in a dark room, especially if you are me. Now I have some interesting but strange new ideas...

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I'd say hearing also. When I go to sleep (which I will after this post is typed up) it's scary to hear the footsteps in the hallway, the rustle of papers being blown on my fan, and not knowing about it.

 

[Majora Major]

Feeling things.

 

[Jedoro]

I'd say hearing. If I can see the danger, I can at least know what's coming, but hearing it leaves too much room.

However, I'm lucky enough to never suffer this, even after all-nighters. At worst, I can't move an arm when I get up, but that's because of how I slept. Can still stab someone/thing with my other arm.

 

[Denamic]

Hearing and not seeing can drive people to paranoia.

 

[xdom125x]

I'd have to say that hearing is scarier for 2 reasons.
1.) You can hear something scary behind you which you wouldn't be able to see.
2.) You use even more imagination to invoke fear in yourself by thinking stuff like "I really hope it doesn't have characteristic X".

 

[nonl33t m4st3r]

Hearing. It freaks me out when I know something's there, but I can't see it, and I can't do anything about it. I'm in it's watch, it's tempo. All I can do is wait for it to make a move.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Dunno really, I used to get sleep paralysis but without visions or hallucinations, it was just the part where your brain becomes conscious before your body wakes up so you get the "oh shit I can't breath or move...fuuuuuuuuck...."

I can't say I've had hallucinations with sleep paralysis but I've had very vivid recurring dreams that although out of the ordinary to say the least had nothing about them that you could wake up and prove to yourself that it was definitely a dream, initially after waking up I'd have no idea if I was awake or dreaming or at what point I had woken up and it went on long enough for me to wonder if it was actually happening. But still that doesn't com pare to waking up thinking you are dying. Hearing things or seeing things I just about deal with, but thinking that you've stopped breathing for some reason and can't do anything to make yourself start again or even move or speak to try and get help, that takes it for me.

 

[game-lover]

I can't possibly imagine which would be worse.

But I think hearing is worse.

Like to me, it's a whole other version of fear. More of dread because you don't see anything, you only hear. There's something moving, you've no idea what it is and the imagination is going nuts.

If you do see it, then the fear shifts from the anxious worry to the "OMIGod, I know what it is!! It's a clearer one.

 

[Paksenarrion]

I once dreamed that my twin was trying to smother me with her more ample chest.

...I have no twin sister.

"effect costoes"? What you talkin' about, CAPTHCA?