Sleep Paralysis

The Nightmare, by Henry Fuseli (1781) is thought to be one of the classic depictions of sleep paralysis perceived as a demonic visitation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Paralysis



Sleep Paralysis. So, I never knew of this phenomena. I'm pretty sure I could have gone a life time without ever experiencing this. Sleep Paralysis is actually where the original term "nightmare" comes from. Let me tell you, this "nightmare" is unlike any nightmare I'd ever experienced in my life! It was like the most horrifying and terrorizing thing I could have imagined for myself! The weird thing is, sleep paralysis is pretty common, with as much as 30% of the population experiencing this at least once in their lifetime. Some people have these nightmares often, others only experience this once. I pray that this will be my one and only experience.

So let me just break down what exactly happened to me. I decided to sleep downstairs in the family room. I had been sick, and the baby was fussy. Sometimes it's just easier to sleep where the baby swing is...if you know what I mean. I fell asleep on my back in the reclining chair. The white noise sound was going on the baby swing when I went to sleep. I woke up to a sound that I thought was a child saying "Mom". I opened my eyes, looked around the room...even though it was dark, I didn't see anyone. So I closed my eyes and was trying to go back to sleep. I heard a couple other random weird noises...house noises....that shouldn't have made me jumpy, but for some reason they did. I just had this creepy feeling inside of me. Somehow I was almost able to get back to sleep when I heard the white noise on the baby swing cut out for a second, then it shut off. I freaked out a little, but there are always logical explanations for these things, right? The sounds on the swing are still not working today. I don't know what happened to it, it must have given out. So, starting off, I was jumpy, freaked out, and my mind was probably working up some crazy stuff, before I even went back to sleep. Even with all the creepiness, I was able to get back to a light sleep. It felt like every few minutes or so, I was opening my eyes to a weird sound, or a strange feeling. After waking a few times, I woke to find myself unable to move. It was strange but only lasted a second, then my hands and feet started tingling and I could move again. We've all had occasions where we wake up with an arm or a leg asleep. I really thought I must have been laying weird, and put my whole body to sleep. So, I adjusted in the chair, and went back to sleep quickly. It seemed like just a few minutes later that I woke up again, paralyzed. I couldn't move and was waiting for the tingling feeling to start again. Instead, I stayed paralyzed. I suddenly got a very uneasy feeling, like something bad was going to happen. Honestly, it felt like an evil spirit or entity was coming to get me. Suddenly I had a ton of pressure on me. The only way I can describe the pressure is that it felt like an evil being laying on me, like something wanted to hurt me. The pressure was so great that I could feel my back pushing into the couch, past the cushion, into the frame. I want to say it was like something was trying to take over my body. Scary! I looked up with only my eyes...because that was all I could move, and saw a being of some sort. It was something that I'd describe as a ghost....white, floating, no real body, but the face of an old man. There was also something else that I didn't get a good look at because I was scared to death and closed my eyes. I tried to scream for my husband but couldn't. No words would come out of my mouth. At that same moment, I had what they call an "out of body experience." I seemed to float above myself, and could see myself trying to scream, then went back to my body. Just as suddenly as the nightmare started, it stopped. The whole thing lasted maybe a minute or two. When it stopped, every bad feeling was gone, and I could move my body. I was freaking out, as you can imagine. Then I started to wonder if I dreamed it all. I thought it may have just been an extremely realistic nightmare. I also thought maybe I was going completely insane or that I was actually being possessed by some evil entity. All I really knew was that it scared the crap out of me! I stayed awake most of the rest of the night, and told some of the story to my husband this morning. Of course I didn't tell him the whole story....I didn't want him to think I was crazy! He just said, "Wow, sounds like you had a nightmare." I wanted to say..."You have no idea!" The whole day, I was spooked. Convinced that I was insane, I decided to do some research on nightmares and being paralyzed. That search turned up a lot of information...way more than I expected! I found many sites with explanations for what happened to me, and also some stories of what other people had experienced. Some of the stories could have been my story, verbatim. I was stunned that so many people had experienced this, yet I'd never heard of it! Even though there is an explanation of sleep paralysis, I'd be lying to say that I'm not still scared. There are people who still believe that something "evil" is to blame for the "nightmare." All I can say is that I won't sleep with all of the lights out, I refuse to sleep downstairs anymore, being home alone scares me, I constantly feel like something is behind me, and I will not to sleep on my back ever again(the most vulnerable position for sleep paralysis)! I have a feeling, this is going to haunt me for a while. I told my husband the rest of the story later, after I figured out that I wasn't crazy. The funny thing is, he's had it happen to him. Well, he had the paralyzed part...without all the hallucinations to go with it. So, he didn't think I was crazy at all either! I'm glad to have my wonderful, understanding husband!

Anyway, if anyone would like to read about this crazy stuff, I've posted a link on sleep paralysis (just below the picture). This goes through the definition, what it does, what can cause it, what most people experience, the history of it, and even what some other cultures believe sleep paralysis is. This has been blamed for spirit possessions, witch craft, and even alien abductions! Enjoy!!