- [Narrator] In pop culture, hearing voices
is generally not perceived as a good thing.
- [Male Voice] I am Jack's smirking revenge.
(punches)
- [Narrator] But there are people
who find the voices in their heads to be therapeutic.
They intentionally create these voices.
They're called Tulpamancers.
A Tulpamancer creates a Tulpa,
similar to an imaginary friend but with a twist.
These imaginary friends possess
their own thoughts and emotions.
They can act independently of their creator.
Meet Jacob, he's a Tulpamancer.
We met on Reddit and I reached out to learn
what it's really like to hear voices.
- About four and a half years ago decided to
you could say, no longer be alone.
- [Narrator] Jacob is a 20 year old psychology student.
He grew up in a military family
and four and a half years ago
he created a Tulpa, Ari.
We interviewed Jacob, the Tulpamancer and his Tulpa, Ari.
To keep track of who's talking
look in the top right corner.
If you see a purple pony, that's Ari.
- Jacob and Ari are two people
that live in the body that you're looking at right now.
- I am Ari. And I am a Tulpa.
I see myself as a bat pony, as a pony with
bat wings and glowing golden eyes
and a gray coat and a midnight pluming.
- [Narrator] So Jacob sees Ari as a pony.
This is Doctor Samuel Vessiere.
He's the first person to ever conduct research
on the Tulpa community.
He has a theory about why Jacob sees Ari as a pony.
Because there are more things that one can do
with the imagination they also provide,
I don't want to call it an escape
but they provide an opportunity
to engage in a richer fantasy world.
This is why many Tulpas have non-human forms,
such as elves or ponies or sort of made up beings.
- [Narrator] Why would someone
choose to create a Tulpa and hear voices?
- [Jacob] I would move every other year,
being raised in the military and so
I desperately needed someone who could stick with me.
- I think the purpose of a Tulpa fits
the completely normal human urge
to connect with other people.
And to not be lonely and to be social.
We are through and through evolutionarily
we are social beings.
- [Narrator] Ari is able to possess the body and front,
meaning she can control the body and speak for herself.
Jacob and Ari have come up with
two different methods for switching.
- There's a possession scene in the movie
where someone who comes into the body
grasps the hand of someone else and flips it
and when they flip it, the identity, the entity
that wants to possess the body flows into the body.
And since seeing that, that's been a way
that Ari and I have been able to quickly possess.
So all I'm gonna do is relax my body and let go of tension.
And just allow the presence that is Ari
to flow in to my feet, and then my legs,
then my midsection, then my arms, and then my neck.
And when she begins to enter my head
I hear my voice begin to travel into the back
and I hear hers being to go
into the front as she affirms that.
(futuristic music)
(heavy breaths)
- [Ari] Then I'm in front. Hello.
Everything that people see Jacob do, I can do.
Some areas better than him, some areas not as well.
- [Narrator] So Ari lives in Jacob's mind.
Typically, characters in pop culture
with voices in their heads are associated
with mental-health issues.
Do Tulpamancers fall into that category?
- Even in the most conservative,
medically-minded psychiatry, hearing voices
is not in and of itself considered a problem.
So hearing voices is only a problem
if the person who hears them reports being distressed.
And if other people around them
also report being distressed.
- Once upon a time, my parents decided that
my being LGBT was a mental illness
that was symbolic of something
going on in my head that shouldn't.
They chose to blame Tulpas for changing me
in some way or shape or form and they sent me
to a clinical psychologist to check
whether or not I had schizophrenia and the therapist
told them straight up, "This isn't schizophrenia.
"You can't give yourself schizophrenia.
"Schizophrenia is something genetic.
"It's not something you can give yourself with meditation."
- [Narrator] What's life like for a Tulpa and his host?
- Separate, I wouldn't say that.
Most of what we do, we do together.
We don't have separate lives as much as
different strengths and niches in the same life.
That's how we've found we can be happy.
- Nothing you do is truly private.
But that's not a bad thing.
It means you're being held accountable
by someone who cares for you and looks out for you.
- [Narrator] So, living with a Tulpa is like
sharing a body with your best friend.
Do they ever fight?
- [Jacob] We'll argue and make each other upset
but we always make up and we never have
any lasting breakdowns between us.
- [Narrator] Unfortunately, the Internet
isn't always the nicest place for Tulpamancers.
- Tulpamancers suffer quite a bit of bullying.
I have read some very derogatory
comments towards Tulpamancers because
they're probably an easy target.
They're very sincere, they're enthusiastic
about their practice and they do something
that is really radically different
so it takes people the wrong way and as such,
they become the target of bullying,
which I find very unfortunate.
- [Narrator] But despite the bullying,
Jacob has found comfort in Ari.
- [Ari] I like to think that I've
made Jacob a better person.
I think that with me around she not only
takes better care of herself but better care of others.
(somber music)