Is it possible to see something that isn't there?

Question

I was sitting at the computor an hour ago at least and i could have swore I saw the shadow of a person run by me. However, I am home alone and I checked the hous and no ones here...Unless it's a spirit...

:o(

And I am serious just so you know.

Answer 1

Of course it's possible. You usually see spirits when you're the most vulnerable. Like not paying attention as you were focused on the computer. It's completely possible and that's usually how many people see spirits. It could also be your mind playing tricks on you....either way the possibilities are endless....

Answer 2

I believe you. Not trying to be scary, but sometimes I believe that kind of experience is a spirit. It's happened to me, and it wasn't spooky, just strange.

Another explaination could be your eyes are tired from staring at a computer. Just a split second of your eye taking too long to adjust might appear like a shadow in your perifirial vision. Any way, don't panic. You're not crazy or in danger. Well, keeping a phone near by might be a comfort.

take care! =)

Answer 3

the mind is amazingly powerful.
so, yes it is possible to see something that is not there.
it would be considered a visual hallucination.
most people have experienced something like this at one point or another in their lifetime. Usually it is due to a chemical imbalance caused by stress and lack of sleep, and is self correcting.
another possibility is that it was an illusion. something did cause the shadow/change in lighting and your mind attempts to attribute it to a person running by, even though it may have been nothing more than a flicker of a light in another room or caused by the reflection off of the window of a car driving by.

Answer 4

Well, where is there, and what is being?

If your brain misinterpreted something in your environment, that would be an illusion, but then something was there.

If you saw something of the shadow/spirit kind, then it's still something there.

If your brain had some sort of misfire causing an hallucination, then there was nothing in the space outside you but there was a perception of the neurochemicals and eletrical pattern in your brain.

There was something somewhere, but which was it?

Answer 5

I get strange shadows running through my house, but I have checked and it is just the way that car traffic sometimes makes strange reflections into windows - since we live on a curve in the road.

Answer 6

Explanations:
1. Lack of sleep
2. Drug use
3. Intoxication/poisoning
4. Early onset psychosis/schizoprhrenia
5. A ghost

Answer 7

Not even a hallucination.... it was an "illusion". Just your optical cortex firing off in your peripheral vision (vision not directly in front of you, more to the sides which is where im guessing you saw this figure)
Very common after staring at computer screens (even more so after no sleeping well)

Answer 8

i had the same thing one day,
it repeated somethiong like 4 times,
than i saw shadows moving behind the windows
next to the neibers house,
don't worry! those are just harmless halucinations!

Answer 9

Of course it's possible. It's called hallucinating. That might not be what happened to you, though. It's probably nothing, so I wouldn't be too worried unless it becomes a common occurrance.

Answer 10

Maybe a plane passed overhead and cast a shadow