Describing Reality vs. Fantasy During Hallucinations On WOWSA Live
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International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Swimmers Dr. Vicki Keith C.M. and David Smith, Ph.D., and Courtney Moates Paulk spoke about their many hallucinations during their marathon swims on today’s WOWSA Live program.
IMSHOF chairperson Ned Denison and Steven Munatones inquired about their most challenging swims and were enthralled by their collective experiences, both in the open water and on terra firma including visual and audio hallucinations.
Among their recollections, the trio said:
* while swimming from St. John to St. Thomas, Dr. David Smith talked about his first in-water hallucination in the Caribbean Sea
* while swimming 33 hours 13 minutes on a two-way crossing of the Catalina Channel, Courtney Moates Paulk started hallucinating 9 hours before she finished her 64 km swim, while she was “escorted” by a walrus and Chris, a labrador retriever, and then later, she continued to hallucinate after she landed on dryland
* Dr. Vicki Keith experienced different types of hallucinations: those caused by hypothermia and those caused by sleep deprivation, generally starting after 36 hours of swimming
* Dr. Keith recalled seeing golden doubloons and Paulk saw pebbles below the surface of the water
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