[foobarian]

Similar experience here. I spent about 30 minutes staring at a Windows NT 4 wallpaper[1] in college, and saw many objects such as skulls, bodies, etc. in it which cognition under normal circumstances filters out. Our cognitive filters must be really good at preventing us from seeing false positives in the patterns out in the visual field.

The way the setting made a difference for me were perceived risks. In the same way my cognitive filter was disabled for visual patterns, it must have been disabled for danger too; seeing a candle on the coffee table made me panic about a fire so I put it out, and seeing a friend go out on the balcony of our second floor apartment made me terrified that he would try to "fly" or hurt himself, so I made him come in and locked the balcony door. I can definitely see how a more adverse setting could lead to a really scary trip.