What are visual hallucinations? Experts from psychiatry believe that this is an imaginary perception of the surrounding reality. In other words, a sick person sees something that does not really exist. Such "optical illusion" occurs as a result of increased excitability of the psyche. The nervous system is inextricably linked with the cerebral cortex. Here she begins to generate an arbitrary set of a wide variety of images.
This is a rational and understandable explanation for this phenomenon. However, even at the end of the 19th century, some researchers noticed an interesting fact. Chaotic and sometimes terrible visions arising in the mind of the same alcoholic obey, oddly enough, physical laws.
What was such a bold statement based on? Experimental experiments. For example, a person saw a devil jumping merrily in the corner of a room. For the specialists standing nearby, the corner seemed like a completely empty space. One of the doctors held binoculars to the patient's eyes. And what happened? The impudent imp grew in size or decreased. Similar phenomena have been recorded many times. But as experts did not try, they could not find a rational explanation for such visual transformations.
However, the stubborn researchers went much further than binoculars. They decided to photograph the hallucinations. This was initiated by the Parisian artist Pierre Boucher. He was engaged in painting, and at the same time was fond of photography. In addition to these quite commendable activities, the person was still friends with the "green snake", which, in the end, led to delirium tremens.
But a creative person under any circumstances remains a creative person. Surrounded by devils, grinning teeth, the painter showed enviable courage. With a firm hand, he took the camera and photographed the hideous faces. It is difficult to say what the master was guided by at that moment, but, having recovered from his illness, he developed the film. And what did he see in the photographs? Those same creepy faces that scared him all night.
Pierre Boucher showed the pictures to his friend Emile Charro. He was associated with the world of science and, having carefully studied the problem, wrote a long article in a scientific journal. But they refused to print it. Apparently, the editor was afraid to be a laughing stock in the eyes of serious researchers and readers. And indeed, who would seriously believe that drunken delirium can be captured on film.
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Research in this area was carried out by the famous psychiatrist Viktor Khrisanfovich Kandinsky (1849-1889). He believed that visions generated by a diseased psyche represent a kind of physical radiation, the nature of which modern science cannot comprehend.
In the 70s of the XX century, an interesting hypothesis was put forward by the psychiatrist Krokhalev Gennady Pavlovich. He specialized in visual hallucinations in patients with alcoholic psychosis. This man stated categorically that the painful images are holographic images. They arise as a result of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the retina into space. That is, different devils and witches are born in the cerebral cortex, and then go to the real world, where they can be captured by a camera.
Gennady Pavlovich conducted corresponding experiments. A special design was put on the face of a sick person, into which a camera was inserted. At the same time, complete darkness was provided between the eyes and the fixing equipment. Photographs were taken during the onset of hallucinations. For 20 years since 1976, Krokhalev conducted experiments with 322 patients diagnosed with alcohol psychosis. At the same time, half of them managed to capture hallucinations on film.
For greater reliability and objectivity, the patients talked about the visions that were born in their brain. After that, the story was compared with photographs. The images on them exactly coincided with what the patients saw during the moments of painful attacks. If the person did not see anything, then there was no image on the film either.
A talented psychiatrist tried to register his discovery. But the high commission, having considered the application, refused to register Krokhalev. The pundits did not find the evidence presented to be convincing enough. It is difficult for us to judge the motives and motives of people of science, but there is no doubt that painful and intrusive visual images, born in the depths of consciousness, can be seen in reality if there is a camera nearby. At least, many researchers of this phenomenon say so.
Leonid Kirillov