# What do you see when you close your eyes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 16, 2005, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526 "2005-06-16T12:50:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/21 "2005-06-22T14:56:00Z")
Actually, I see [floaters and flashers](http://www.mdsupport.org/library/floaters.html) for as far back as I can recall. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/22 "2005-06-22T15:05:49Z")
Almost a cobweb of floaters, if it’s bright enough. ---
**Author:** ![CharlieM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@CharlieM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CharlieM)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/23 "2013-01-21T20:23:22Z")
I see a forrest of trees as if i were running or flying thru them… does that make me odd? Everyone else seems to see only colors no real distinct objects. My friend has some control over what he sees, down to changing of colors, ad to me that sounds like the mind of someone who has a very artistic or creative capability. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/24 "2013-01-21T20:44:19Z")
> [@CharlieM](#): > > I see a forrest of trees as if i were running or flying thru them… does that make me odd? “Odd” in the sense of being unusual, not in the sense of being defective. Presumably, your brain at some point decided that the random input from your closed eyes was a forest, and now regularly interprets the random input that way. People who suffer degradation of eyesight from things like old age and cataracts sometimes report such benign hallucinations as well. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Mood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@Blue\_Mood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Mood)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/25 "2013-01-23T11:51:29Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > I once _painted_ that under-the-eyelids vista, in busy splotches of dark brown, crimson, and bright yellow paint. (I might have used a little black too, I don’t remember.) It worked, in the sense that if you stared at it under a bright light for a little while and then closed your eyes, that was pretty much what you’d see afterwards. > > 🙂 This sounds so cool. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/26 "2013-01-23T12:10:11Z")
Here is a whole chapter on the subject from a recent book: [When Your Eyes Are Closed, What Do You See?](http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~eschwitz/SchwitzAbs/PerplexitiesCh8.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/27 "2013-01-24T03:50:57Z")
I see zombies. Seriously, I see what many others describe above, and a lot like what [Wikipedia describes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-eye_hallucination#Level_1:_Visual_noise) (complete with some animations). I also have floaters, which I can see without closing my eyes, most noticeable when looking at a bright evenly lit surface (e.g. computer screen). ---
**Author:** ![\_Olive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/4af34b/32.png) [@\_Olive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Olive)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526/28 "2013-01-24T05:16:03Z")
psychedelic visuals, the more light in the room the more visuals. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-see-when-you-close-your-eyes/308526.md?page=1)