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Definition: A hallucination is typically any false perception when no external stimulus for those perceptions - thus, the perception occurs only in the mind and without external interaction. A simple example of a hallucination would be a person seeing an oasis or water in the desert when no such thing actually exists.
Hallucinations can be caused by mental imbalances, for examples those caused by schizophrenia. One form of schizophrenia can cause victims to hear accusing or commanding voices telling them to do certain things. Reactions to these voices include panic, obedience, or attempts at self-defense. Sometimes even suicide results. Hallucinations can also be caused by drugs which alter a person's abiltiy to accurately perceive reality.
Two important types of hallucinations are hypnogogic and hypnopompic hallucinations. The former occurs when a person is falling asleed and the latter occurs when a person has already fallen asleep and is then awakened. Otherwise, the experiences are virtually identical.
In either case, a person suddenly has the sensation of being paralyzed or having great difficulty in moving or, if not that, then the feeling of floating in the air in an out-of-body experience. The hallucinations which occur are usually very bizarre, involving ghosts, demons, aliens, or other monsters. Finally, the person usually goes right to sleep as if nothing had happened.
Hallucinations may not be real, but those who experience them are usually completely convinced that they experienced something genuine. This is especially true of those who have hypnogogic and hypnopompic hallucinations. That these latter two cases are not genuine can be seen just in the fact that the person who experiences them does not react in a normal manner. Most people who are visited by an alien or other monster would jump out of bed and do something about it - not simply go to sleep.
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