Seeing Spiders

Hello Dr. Park,

Why are so many people having spider hallucinations?  I have other hallucinations as well and a lot of people have shadow people hallucinations.  Thank goodness I haven't seen the shadow people.  We all seem to be in the half awake/half asleep state which feels like a hypnotic state.  We are all puzzled and can't find the answer.  According to Gregg D. Jacobs, Ph. D, he has never heard of this in all of his 20 years in Sleep Medicine.  This certainly can not be a new phenomenon.  My sister has the hallucinations and she has been tested and does not have sleep apnea.  My husband does have sleep apnea and he never hallucinates.  It's so odd to me that we are all having the same experiences.  Why is our brain choosing to see a spider?  Please don't say this comes from fear because I don't fear spiders.  I respect spiders.  These hallucinations are not lucid dreams.  If you were to see me observing one, you would say that I was fully awake.  Can you help?

[Steven Y Park, MD]

Sorry, but this is an area outside my area of expertise.