Phantom Rain

[mtburr]

A weird thing happened to me today. I stepped outside for some air, and stood out of the rain, underneath the eaves of my shed/garage/office for a few minutes. I have no gutters on the eaves, so big drops of rainwater were constantly dripping off the edge of the roof.

I went back inside to the dark(er) shed, and for nearly a minute continued to see phantom "drips" falling in my peripheral vision -- a little like the phantom image one sees after looking at a bright object. In the dim light of the shed, the phantom drips looked just like rainwater dripping from above: little bright blobs streaking rapidly downward. I saw not just a few stationary images, but numerous dynamic images that closely mimicked the real thing. In fact they looked so real that for a moment I thought my roof was leaking -- but it was just an "artifact" from the brighter outside view.

I guess it just goes to show how the human optical system can show you what your brain expects to see, rather than what is really visible.

Either that or someone slipped a hit of acid into my bowl of chili. Hmmm, ...

Hallucinogenically Yours,
MTB

[Chautauqua]

Reverse floaters? Don't worry, it's probably incurable anyhow.

Carpe Noctum

Glenn Lee