The Big Time by Fritz Leiber

But whence he was, or of what wombe ybore, Of beasts, or of the earth, I have not red: But certes was with milke of wolves and tygres fed. -- Spenser

I guess when they really push the button or throw the switch or spring the trap or focus the beam or what have you, you don't faint or go crazy or anything else convenient. I didn't. Everything, everybody, every move that was made, every word that was spoken, was painfully real to me, like a hand twisting and squeezing things deep inside me, and I saw every least detail spotlighted and magnified like I had the seven skulls.