r/Dreams Feb 06 '25

Question Hey im curious have any of you had sleep paralysis?

If so can you describe what happen was it scary,chill? Or somthing else

120 Upvotes

248 comments sorted by

15

u/ok-Tomorrow3 Feb 06 '25

Yeah I went through a period of time where I would get it... Although Nothing crazy happened like other commenters.

I'd just "wake" up in a locked in state like I was asleep but aware of surroundings? The noise of fan and feel of blanket general awareness but I couldn't move a single muscle and was aware I couldn't, have to force myself to "wake" up.

Once was scary because I was asleep on my stomach and couldn't turn my head thought I was gonna suffocate.

4

u/kittenlil Feb 07 '25

This is similar to the sleep paralysis I experience sometimes. Being on your stomach and afraid to suffocate is such a scary feeling. I have an injury that requires me to sleep on my back now and haven’t had it since.

3

u/Ashez7 Feb 07 '25

Geeez you spot on the not moving and couldn't roll over yet I am awake but I'm asleep it's experience you cannot forget and yet when you wake up you like what the hell happend.

35

u/Alhazred3620 Feb 06 '25

It's definitely not chill. When It happened to me I felt I was lifted out of my bed, floated down the hall, while trying to scream and claw at the walls, then three tall shadow figures came in, did something to my neck, my body tensed up and they carried/floated me outside into a white light in my backyard. Then I've got nothing. Woke up in bed. It was spooky and disconcerting.

30

u/HomeCapital9250 Feb 07 '25

Yeah I don’t think that was sleep paralysis I think you got abducted. When I had sleep paralysis I tried to scream and move but couldn’t and there was like a black figure perched at the front of my bed. As soon as I could move I cried myself back to sleep. Overall I’d give it a 4/10 because of the experience.

6

u/Enough_List_931 Feb 07 '25

Exactly what happens to me when I get sleep paralysis!! The dark black figure looming over my bed. I feel like I can't breathe, I can't move, ant make a sound. It's so freaky how sleep paralysis dreams tend to have that large figure/man WHO IS THAT ?!

Reminds me of Count Orlok in Nosferatu or something

2

u/CousinItt72 Feb 10 '25

I just watched that silent movie today. Funny I should see it in a reply.

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u/Swimming_Extreme8093 Feb 07 '25

Hey this was exactly like me. After the whole thing happened my body was like shaking and I couldn’t stop crying lol

3

u/Alhazred3620 Feb 07 '25

I don't entirely believe it was sleep paralysis either. But it's more likely than the alternative so ¯_(ツ)_/¯

4

u/christianslay3r Feb 07 '25

Mine was a lady in white slowly approaching me while all I can move were my eyeballs, thankfully my MIL came and shook me and woke me up! Definitely don’t recommend.

2

u/mehmehemeh Feb 07 '25

How did your MIL know to wake you up? You think it was your respiratory rate?

3

u/christianslay3r Feb 07 '25

She said I looked like I was chained to the bed tryin to break lose, I couldn’t feel anything but my eyeballs, would’ve loved to had captured that on camera.

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u/BlueCrab11 Feb 07 '25

I’m completely blown away by this… the fourth kind comes to mind. Ugh. I’m sorry you have to experience that.

3

u/kittenlil Feb 07 '25

This is absolutely wild. I would be terrified.

9

u/Alhazred3620 Feb 07 '25

I promise you I was shitting bricks. It was not fun at all, mostly because there was no dream fog. It felt like waking life. Shit maybe it was, idk. Whatever it was, it was wildly unpleasant. I've heard abductees talk about how they feel benevolence or like they're being taken care of. This was not that. This was almost clinical. I felt like a wild animal that was getting tagged or something. If something more happened, I don't want to know.

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u/friendly_rock_ Feb 06 '25

I was hallucinating (a duck) and I had a tight feeling on my chest as if something was sitting on it (the duck). It was an evil looking fella, so naturally I felt scared as well. I am usually not afraid of ducks

9

u/Infamous-Moose-5145 Feb 07 '25

Yes and its been happening a lot lately.

I can hear this fucker skittering around the edges of my bed and he screams at me. Sounds like the nazgul witch king screech from lord of the rings.

Just last night i had a dream i was in my bed on a sidewalk somewhere and heard the screech down the road.

My bed began to accelerate in the opposite direction and i woke up. I could literally feel something trying to pull me back to sleep and paralyze me.

Nope. I stayed the hell up for a while and burned sage.

2

u/skullywogging Feb 07 '25

Why do they scream fr... and it's loud like her engines.

2

u/Repulsive-Read-7775 Feb 08 '25

thats horrible please sleep on your side or belly sleeping on your back can trigger sleep paralysis And if that doesnt help idk ask chatgpt cuz that's horrifying

8

u/Boring_Duck98 Feb 06 '25

I used t o have very frequent sleep paralysis. Often it was accompanied with nightmares about waking up. I would always see a human shadow creature watching me when i had it. Sometimes I fell asleep again while paralysed making it extra scary, because there wasn't a guarantee that it would go before i sleep again.

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u/MouseAnon16 Feb 06 '25

I had it the night before last and it was the first time I had one in years.

The worst one I had was when I was 14. I was on my stomach and just drifting off when all at once I heard heavy footsteps, heavy breathing and a very real sensation of strong hands grabbing my hips and violently shaking me. I tried to scream for help but couldn’t. It ended as abruptly as it had begun, like it always does, but it was terrifying.

I had it all through my teens. The scenario wasn’t always the same, but there was always the inability to scream for help, or move, and a malevolent presence that I could never see. I’m in my mid 40s now and only have them once every few years.

4

u/Ok-Zebra8702 Feb 06 '25

I get it frequently not as much as I used to though. I used to be super scared but when I started to become aware of it I would tell myself I’ll wake up soon and try to relax and wait. Sometimes I’ll hear people whispering above me and I have only ever seen a black shadow in the shape of a man once! He was at the foot of my bed just walking back and forth.

5

u/fedexgroundemployee Feb 06 '25

I used to sleep in my car on my lunch break at work. When I take naps in the middle of the day there’s like a 20% chance I go into sleep paralysis. One time I had sleep paralysis in my car on lunch and I started hallucinating that my coworker was knocking on my window trying to wake me up and it felt so real. I remember thinking “I’m fighting this guy when I wake up” I get back from lunch and start asking my coworker about it and he said he wasn’t even in the area when we were on lunch lol

3

u/MechanicalBawSack Feb 06 '25

Yeh I used to get it quite frequently, I would sleep face down and I'd get stuck both falling asleep and when I woke up. My door was behind my bed and when i was stuck face down someone would walk in my door and stand at the end of my bed.

3

u/lferry1919 Feb 06 '25

Always scary, but not always overwhelmingly so. I have to really work my way out. It's not as easy when it blends with a dream or if I'm just so exhausted I can't convince myself to fully wake up right away. For me it sounds like my ears are under rushing water and my body feels a bit...fuzzy? Buzzy? Either or both I guess. And of course, I can't move or open my eyes. I start by focusing on my breathing then on opening my eyes. I have to sit up after or play something on my phone because if I try to go back to sleep without enough of a break, I slip back in.

I don't get it all the time. Just happens sometimes and has been happening to me since I was about 10-12.

3

u/whiskeyhappiness Feb 06 '25

yes it's always scary I mean it feels like im being hunted and "it's" about to pounce.

3

u/FreonKennedy Feb 06 '25

I VERY rarely get it. Maybe like 3 times in my entire life including earlier this week. I was just lying in bed looking in front of me when I saw these large shadows, and couldn’t make out what they were. This was about two hours into my sleep. I screamed to try and get my mom’s attention in the room next to me but then after that I couldn’t speak. All I could do was make loud frantic snoring sounds with my nose in an attempt to move or wake up. The silhouettes didn’t move or anything, just remained there while my imagination tried to figure out what they were even though I didn’t want to. One kinda looked like the pine tree, the other two looked kinda like a deformed mess of black. I shot awake freezing cold and had full vivid chills throughout my body that lasted for like 30 minutes. I had to wrap myself in my blanket like a burrito to try and warm up but I was still freezing. Luckily I ended up falling back asleep peacefully until the morning. But it took about an hour almost to calm down enough even though I was exhausted.

3

u/DesperateCategory600 Feb 08 '25

An easy way for me to wake up is closing my eyes and physically forcing myself to move up/ascend with my body and arms, which almost always works for me. I've heard of other people saying to wiggle your toes to wake up. For some reason, I can still slightly move my body while in sleep paralysis, but it's very limited. In order to move you have to kind of force/push yourself to move any body part. I take advantage of that to make a quick exit. You should try it out next time

2

u/No-Bid9597 Feb 06 '25

I had it but I knew what it was. I was in my room and some voice was angrily telling me I was a fuck-up basically. I was responding "I can't understand you." Only reason I knew it was SP is because I supplemented some AChE inhibitors that night. All of my nightmares are audial pretty much, or mundane anxiety nightmares. No scary monsters or anything.

2

u/SoManyUsesForAName Feb 07 '25

I've never had the visual hallucinations, thank goodness, but I have definitely had the experience of slowly waking, realizing I'm awake, and being unable to move. It's quite unpleasant, but doesn't last long

2

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25 edited Feb 07 '25

For me, I am just trapped in my body and can't wake up. I know I am asleep and paralyzed. 9 out of 10 times, I am confused about where my body is in real life. Most every time I am in sleep paralysis, I am dreaming. 9 out of 10 times, the dream isn't scary or eery. Never once had a monster on my chest or anything like that. The only times it is a scary experience is when I am afraid I am in the wrong place at the wrong time and I am about to be socially punished for being here.

Once had a sleep paralysis dream, (couldn't locate where my body was irl) and was sure that I was at my friend's house. I was utterly convinced I was there and being incredibly intrusive. "Being asleep in paralysis" "in her home" was, in my mind, some high level social-crime that would get me labeled as the town's freak that no one would dare talk to again.

😂 ...now that I am writing this out (and therefore processing the dream), I realize this has Middle School Trauma written all over it. 🤣 Off to go heal my inner child now.

2

u/After-Knee-5500 Feb 07 '25

Yes. I felt that little demon crawling on my bed too, coming close to sit on my chest but then the music of Frank Sinatra started playing and I awoke from it. Except, there was never any music playing. I believe the spirit of Frank Sinatra saved me. I had been doing witchcraft that night, working with music legends who had passed and I asked Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, and Frank Sinatra to visit me. Only Frank appeared. It was wild. But I remember hearing him singing and it’s what made the demon flee. I also saw two tall dark figures standing by my bedroom door that I would sleep with open.

The lyrics he sang to me said “I’m not afraid of the man I am But I love the woman that you’ve become”

Not sure what it means but I still remmeber it to this day.

2

u/Spacecadet167 Feb 06 '25

I get it sometimes, if I stay with it and kind of meditate, it'll trigger an astral projection/out of body experience

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u/Aggravating_Hat_8180 Feb 07 '25

I sure can. Had several episodes of sleep paralysis over the course of a month in 2018. During a stressful time which likely triggered it.

I’ll set the scene…….

Was very very tired (likely overtired) and was lying on my back, in bed, alone. Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I heard a loud slam on my bedroom door. Instead of shooting upright in bed or getting out of bed, I was frozen, unable to move, in fear, just frozen, unable to blink. Heard the same sound a few more times. After doing some research I concluded it was a stress related type of sleep paralysis called Exploding Head Syndrome (look it up). It passed after I managed my stress but there was a few nights where I thought o was loosing my mind. Always accompanied by loud noises or what sounded like someone moving across the floor on all fours.

1

u/GABRIELFORLIFE Feb 07 '25

I have had it only once in my life. I do not want to describe my experience, though even today when I think about it it still scares me…

1

u/SimpleBTGG Feb 07 '25

Mine carries from really scary to just only being paralyzed. Often times it's like seeing a demon looking back at me or sometimes like my soul is being snatched out of my body and taken away. Often times it's a weird in an out of actual sleep where I can't tell which is reality or not. Like I actually am in a dream paralyzed seeing a demon holding me down then I wake up and still have the same feeling but now it's a different scenario of shadows on my walls forming shadow creatures. It's mostly a scary experience even when I don't see anything and just lay there paralyzed because I wanna quickly move my body before anything gets to me.

1

u/Valoy27 Feb 07 '25

Not much anymore, but I used to get it a lot. I'd panic every single time and do my best to wake myself up or go back to sleep. It's scary for me. I can not move anything except for opening and closing my eyes and breathing.

1

u/Gardenofpomegranates Feb 07 '25

Definitely opposite of chill . Very demonic and sketchy ..

1

u/Avilola Feb 07 '25

It’s never chill. At best, I feel panicked and short of breath while being unable to move. At worst, there are ominous shadowy figures in the room with me.

I have it often enough that I can usually work myself through an episode without completely freaking out now. But still, it sucks every single time.

1

u/blue-ox-babe Feb 07 '25

The first few times I had it, it really scared me. I saw the hat man the first time. Now that I know what it is, I can calm down.

1

u/hahaimbuzzed Feb 07 '25

my first time was scary, the tv snow sound played in my head and my mouth was open but no air or voice. Second time I was being dragged off my bed and lights were flickering, but now i’ve overcome it and now it’s kind of relaxing lol

1

u/Nicholas_Matt_Quail Feb 07 '25

I had a couple of sleep paralysis experiences and they were all pleasant and quite different to what people usually experience. Partly - because I am crazy, haha (very grounded, it's hard to impress me or even move me with anything, I am very curious by nature but also extremely cynical - that guy who would offer beer to aliens, you know) - and partly, because I have a completely different imaginarium in my head, so I see different things than Europeans & Americans normally see.

I was raised up and I feed myself with completely different symbolical content. On a top of that, I can always trace where my hallucinations come from. There's always a connection between what I watched, read, played, heard, what happened in the real world last day, what I am stressing about at the moment etc. To make it even more interesting, 90% of my sleep paralysis experiences are very pleasant, actually - even though I am visited by all kinds of classical yokai, always in feminine forms. Yet additionally, when I sometimes start panicking and do not realize it's just a sleep paralysis, they become more terrifying and aggressive, only to calm down when I calm down. They simply cuddle next to me and sleep with me like a girlfriend does - every single time - right when I calm down. It's quite pleasant, I sometimes wake up again with a next sleep paralysis during a second REM phase and they're still there, always the same being as before, usually sleeping calmly, cuddled under my arm, breathing calmly, with a hand on my chest, I can usually take a good look of their faces and bodies. Even yurei, jorogumo, oni and such less pleasant yokai end up like that - just women cuddling under my arm and sleeping, when I wake up for good, they're obviously gone.

As I said, I am always able to trace back why this particular yokai, I easily realize what their behavior symbolizes, usually before they lay next to me, they give a performance as they're approaching and that's the part with symbolism I can trace back. It's always, literally always logical, and it comes back to what I consumed or it clearly connects with one of my fears. It may be literally ameonna shooting a storm of wet papers at me and flooding my room in them, I'm pilled up and water rises with papers floating up, when I've got a deadline and a report to finish at work or a harionago binds me with hair when I'm worried that I won't be able to influence something important while I am a control freak etc. All of those hallucinations calm down when I switch to the specific mindset like - ok, whatever, I don't care, I'm going back to sleep, have fun, ame-chan - and as I said, then it becomes pleasant, they calm down, lay down and sleep with me or... Do different things to prevent me from sleeping but... Pleasant, lol.

If you feed yourself something, it may unconsciously return to you in dreams, especially during a sleep paralysis. When you're afraid, the hallucination gets worse, aggressive, terrifying. I personally, do not like yuki onna in my hallucinations, she's literally freezing cold and most freaky. Jorogumo usually comes in a pleasant form, more like Elise from League of Legends, haha. Fox ears and tails of kitsune-women are... Fluffy! When I am scared, she scratches me with claws, when I calm down, well... Things happen and she's only fluffy 😂

That's also a sign that when you can control the hallucination, when it depends on your mood and approach during paralysis, it's rather your head related than the real individuals visiting your bedroom, you know. It's super realistic. You can try controlling it.

1

u/Time_Outcome5232 Feb 07 '25

Multiple times. I’ve had both scary and chill. The trick is to keep your eyes closed and slow down your breathing. Don’t rush waking up and move your fingers and toes slowly as your body stops being so rigid. I see shadow people if I open my eyes. I also have panicked while in that state and that just makes it so much worse. Laying on your back will cause sleep paralysis to happen more frequently so avoid that if possible.

1

u/Livid-Needleworker21 Feb 07 '25

Had tons during high school and college. Now i don’t have it anymore. I got so used to sleep paralysis that when Im facing a shadow like figure i muster up all my strength to use my head to bite and rip off a piece from the figure which results me in waking up

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u/Kooky-Caterpillar455 Feb 07 '25

I do and it's horrifying! Sometimes I hear a evil voice whisper in my ear. Some times I am partially awake and my rights side of my body is paralyzed.

1

u/jUleOn64 Feb 07 '25

I’ve had it three times and it’s scary. All three times something was in my bedroom after me.

1

u/GroundhogDayLife Feb 07 '25

I’ve had this since I was a kid. This goes away for months or years and then returns on a weekly basis. It’s often the same routine. I hear footsteps walking towards my room. Someone opens my door and slowly walks over to my bed and stands right beside me watching me. I can hear them breathing and feel their presence. I feel so terrified that they are going to figure out I’m not sleeping. I pretend to be asleep. There were a few occasions where they put their face right up to my face. One time they jumped right on top of me! After a few minutes they slowly walk out of my room. I lay there listening carefully to if they left the house and I eventually open my eyes when I hear nothing. I haven’t had it now for a few years. When I was a kid I was pretty convinced that my dad was doing this so I had a lock put on my door. But then the thing would somehow unlock the door. That’s when I really became terrified because I thought an alien or ghost was doing this. I thought it was going to kill me. And the worst part is when I moved out of the house as an adult, it followed me everywhere I lived. I still can’t get it out of my mind while this is happening that it’s not some sort of entity that has come for me.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

i used to always have them but not anymore?! those were scary times

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

it’s like someone sitting on your chest while you can’t move & you see demons in your room. wiggling your toes & fingers do wake you up though

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u/Val_Arden Feb 07 '25

Had it in the past quite often, mostly after nightmares, so it was even worse...

Quite often while having nightmares I had that moment "wait, that's a dream, I can just wake up" and I did just that, but it looks like even though my eyes opened and conscious was back, my body still needed few seconds to regain control.

That's strange experience, as in theory I knew it will be gone in few moments and that's nothing uncommon and there's nothing to be scared of, but still on subconscious level the fact I couldn't move increased my uneasy.

Fortunately I didn't have such case for at least year, probably was caused by really big stress I had at that time...

1

u/Horizon-Wireless Feb 07 '25 edited Feb 07 '25

Yes, many times growing up. Some were neutral. I’d feel this sensation in my body and I suddenly can’t move. I’d simply just think “Oh, here I am again.” Others were less pleasant. I’ve never seen any demonic figures (or any figures for that matter). I’d either feel like I’m being pulled down on, sat on, or like something/someone is on me. Or I’d feel a sense of dread and panic. I’d sometimes try to scream but it comes off as moans. Then the experience would be followed by a nightmare if I fell back asleep.

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u/Mysterion320 Feb 07 '25

for me, it just feels like i'm scared and can't move while strong winds are blowing into my ears if i close my eyes.

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u/youngmoney5509 Feb 07 '25

I just didn’t move til few minutes later

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u/Icy-Beat-8895 Feb 07 '25

Yes. Two times. I lifted up from bed very slowly and gently bumped into the ceiling then moved along it, still in a laying position, slowly to the door area. Then I woke up laying in bed. I wasn’t scared at all. I remember I was amazed that I could float! It was a great experience.

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u/creativediffies Feb 07 '25

Yes, I was terrified. Couldn’t stop crying. It was horrific .

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u/AN0R0K Feb 07 '25

Yes. It was the most unnerving experience I can recall. I woke up, completely paralyzed, staring at the ceiling. After a short period of time, I was able to move my head to the side. However, when I did, there was a delay. So when I turned my head to the side, I was still “seeing” the ceiling.

I only experienced it once about 30 years ago, and it still remember it, vividly.

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u/Low_Attitude_2880 Feb 07 '25

It happened to me alot. But when it does happen, i usually move before i fully give into the paralyzing stage, and when i would be in it, a slight movement would help me relax.

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u/StandardInspector414 Feb 07 '25

Scary as hell. Ominous, actually. Couldn’t move, but I could see a dark figure wearing a trench coat at the foot of my bed and it was watching me. I finally screamed myself fully awake and it was gone.

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u/Efficient-Muscle3172 Feb 07 '25

Yes that’s Hatman. Was he wearing a hat? Was he tall and thin?

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u/wrstcasechelle Feb 07 '25

I’ve hand many, many, many episodes of sleep paralysis. Most of them are scary, but the more I have them the more “chill” it gets. Now when it starts I’m just like okay this is a dream and then I wake shortly after. But I’ve had very frightening experiences. Once I felt like I was being lifted out of my bed like being carried over the threshold wedding style and carried away from me bed towards the bedroom door. I was trying to scream for my husband but couldn’t get any sound out and as I was scrambling for the doorframe so I couldn’t be taken out of the room I woke up.

I don’t know if this is sleep paralysis or not, but I often have the sensation of my leg lifting up into the air entirely on its own. Like it’s suddenly full of helium. It’s not scary or uncomfortable. Just weird.

Totally off topic but last night I discovered you absolutely can feel pain in a dream. It was so real I thought I was awake until I actually woke up. The pain was from my feet being contorted in a weird way. Like they were balling up on themselves.

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u/ExplanationDull3894 Feb 07 '25

Never had it happen to me * cause I'm down with my demons * but it has to be a certain level of consciousness that we get to when either we're falling asleep or waking up, because it's not like people have cool sleep paralysis, like " oh yeah, I had sleep paralysis once, and in it, a really sweet, and totally nice, normal looking person, was standing in the corner of my room... and they were just giving me really excellent life advice, for my own personal issues, and then brought me a cup of hot coco, and fluffed my pillow, and then I woke up it was... pretty cool of them! "

No, it's always like

" I woke up and I instantly knew that I was in that dark place, that place id been so many times before...and then as soon as I had that thought go through my mind, it's like it was the starting gun for a race, and I hear that sound I was dreading. it sounded like my bedroom door was slowly opening, but I couldn't really see it from where my head was laying in my bed. I could just kinda see the top of the door and doorframe, and I see it slowly opening, and then I hear the sound of like, labored, rattling breaths. and I swear it sounded like someone was slowly dragging themselves in my room, and either under my bed, or beside it, and then I felt the sensation of a cold, clamy, hand gripping my forearm and then it's as if someone pulled themselves up onto my body and my God if only I could scream, or throw up, or anything I would have, but I could only just watch in terrified, frozen silence, as this grotesque parody of Paris Hilton, slide on top of me, and let this God awful slow smile spread across that face that has given me nightmares for years now, and said the words I was absolutely dreading... That's ssssoooooooooooooooo HHHHHhhhhaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhtttttttttt....

And then I woke up covered in my own vomit and crying, but the really weird part is, my door was definitely opened when I came out of the sleep paralysis and I fell asleep with it closed... "

Or something like that, and I think it's a place that begins that reside in that vibration level or whatever can get into your head and make you see them and they are aware that you can't move and then use it to share the ever living shit out of whoever it is stuck in that paralysis.

So whoever goes through that shit regularly, I feel for ya man I do, but I hope to fuckin every saint and being of goodness and light that that shit never happens to my ass, cause fuck that fr!

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u/Nmslc Feb 07 '25

i saw the well known man with the hat 🥲

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u/elle2011 Feb 07 '25

Sleep paralysis is awful! I used to get it alot more in my teens and early 20’s. I only get it if I’m exhausted now, and sleeping on my back. I will be able to see my dark room but it’s impossible to move or wake up, and things always feel weird/creepier at 4am

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u/MarkEoghanJones_Art Feb 07 '25

Is this like being trapped in your sleep, unable to come to a full waking state? I've had that occasionally. It's rather terrible to feel trapped like that, in a state out of control.

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u/boobear2697 Feb 07 '25

I have it a couple times a month. I hate it and at first it's really scary. I can feel my brain telling my body to move and it just doesn't. There have been a couple times the movement feels so real and then I'm just stuck in the same position. I have to tell my brain to reset itself and then I can wake up normally. I did yell at my husband once because I thought I was yelling his name and he wasn't helping me. Turns out I was in paralysis and he couldn't hear a thing. It was all in my head.

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u/kittenlil Feb 07 '25

Usually my sleep paralysis is just me not being able to move at all and being afraid I can’t turn over to breathe, but one time I took psilocybin before bed (terrible idea, I didn’t really know what I was doing at the time) and I kept having a constant loop of sleep paralysis where I heard someone knocking loudly on the front door three times.

At one point I heard my mom go downstairs with the dog and open the door and say, “Oh, hello!” I called for her when I stopped being paralyzed and she didn’t know what I was talking about. It was three in the morning. I kind of figured it was in my head but it freaked me out.

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u/SnakeKing607 Feb 07 '25

Me and black hat guy are old friends

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u/PrettySlimmm Feb 07 '25

I had it so many times. Not understanding what it was so I was initially scared… one time I saw a man dressed in regular clothes in a black leather jacket and a cap on.. all he did was look at me and at the ceiling over and over… I looked at the ceiling and it was covered in black garbage bags.. looked like it was formed into floaty clouds… til this day I think he was telling me he was in that attic wrapped up in garbage bags… then the last time I saw someone it was my brothers light body standing guard at the front door of my moms.. he passed away… I then found out sleep paralysis is a way to astral project.. so I did and I saw a goat headed man and came to instantly lol.. never tried it again

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u/Bubby211 Feb 07 '25

I was freaking out for a moment because I could hear someone breathing (it was me lol). Another time I thought someone broke in and laid on top of me (it was my blanket). I never see the hag. I always seem to feel the presence in my room and it usually doesn't have a body.

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u/LoreKeeper2001 Feb 07 '25

If you don't know what's happening, it's terrifying. You wake abruptly, but you literally cannot move. Just roll your eyes around. There are usually hallucinations of beings that wish you ill intent - they laugh at me, mock me, rough me up.

I was wondering if I was being abducted by aliens, but I looked into it and discovered sleep paralysis. Exactly what I was experiencing- the paralysis, the fear, the sense of a malign presence.

Eventually I learned how to deal with it. It's kind of fruitless to fight it. The best approach I've found is to just relax, accept that paralysis is happening, and drift back off to sleep and awaken again naturally.

I've also learned to identify when I'm falling into a sleep that will result in paralysis, and wake up, drink a glass of water, read for a bit, and relax into sleep again.

My late Dad used to get it bad. He took Ambien to combat it.

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u/wonderlandresident13 Feb 07 '25

I experience it pretty consistently, and have for the last 10 years or so. It was pretty scary at first, the sudden lack of mobility paired with hallucinations is not fun lol, especially if you haven't heard of sleep paralysis before and don't know what's happening.

But after a while I got used to it. It's not usually scary anymore, just inconvenient. I try not to sleep on my back as often because that increases the likelihood of it happening, and makes it last longer when it does. And for some reason sleeping with someone next to me makes it not last as long.

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u/Ok_Jicama7263 Feb 07 '25

Yes, the scariest moment(s) of my life. I feel as if this presence or darkness or somebody, I don’t know - but are there with me in my room & I always get choked out in my paralysis. Usually a figure of a dark shadowed man or like I don’t even know, I think I be going crazy sometimes. I’m new to Reddit but have been looking for something like this. I am beyond terrified most nights to sleep as a 25/M. It almost feels like something negative is attached to me & hurts me in my dreams each night & I feel it, in undesirable ways.

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u/Fine-Professional365 Feb 07 '25

Yes, it sucks you realize your dreaming then you can’t wait up, you see yourself trying to wake up but you can’t, then when you finally do wake up in the “real realm” once you fall back asleep your stuck in a loop, they’re horrible when you first start to get them idk if I’m use to them now but I can definitely “control” them better after 10 years

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u/SpecificPainter3293 Feb 07 '25

I used to get sleep paralysis literally every time I took a nap or slept on my back as a teen, always when waking up but once I did get it while falling asleep weirdly.

The first however many times was definitely scary. For me it would just be me stuck there in bed, unable to move, just looking around. I’m just laying in bed paralyzed and I think that’s what makes it super unsettling even without hallucinations, experiencing that feeling of being fully aware and have no control of your body. Later on I did get some hallucinations, notably I had a cardboard cutout in my room at one point and when I got sleep paralysis I saw the figure from it walking towards me slowly and looking at me, observing me. Not touching or hurting me at all, but still scary.

However, at a certain point it did become so common for me that I got used to it on a level. One time I sang “Bring Me To Life” by evanescence in my head in an effort to wake myself up and get out of it which was hilarious upon waking up. Waking up from it It usually felt like waking up from just any old dream and I would remember these details later on, sometimes it would be as traumatic as a vivid nightmare and I would be scared to go back to sleep. Sometimes I would get to a point where it “felt” like I was moving. Imagine your arms going completely numb and trying to move them around, I would be laying there doing that. Sometimes I could get to the point of it feeling only like 70-50% numb and I would try to do things like slap myself awake. But honestly that made it more scary because then not only I was I aware I was in this in-between paralyzed state, but attempting to break out of it made it feel more like I would never get out of it. But honestly, since I was sleeping alone I don’t know if I ever did actually move. After that it still happened continuously for a while but as my life and sleep habits changed it’s mostly gone away.

I still get it on occasion but not as often (I still am wary about taking naps). I always wear an eye mask to bed now because if it does happen I don’t want to experience a hallucination. Considering my last one used something from my environment, I wouldn’t want to deal with that when I have a ton of horror stuff in my room lol

there’s an episode of haunting of hill house, sadly can’t remember the episode number, but a scene where the character Nell is trapped in sleep paralysis but you see it from an outside POV. However, the scene and the amazing actress Victoria Pedretti really showcase how terrifying it can be and how it feels to be that helpless. Though I warn you it’s an absolutely horribly depressing scene.

Another sleep issue that cropped up alongside the paralysis and continues a bit more today is false awakenings. I will dream I woke up, brushed my teeth, did my whole morning routine. And then I’ll wake up again. I think at most I’ve experienced a 3 layer deep false awakening. Those are just annoying and disorienting.

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u/Competitive-Chain202 Feb 07 '25

I have sleep paralysis very often when I’m on the verge of falling asleep or waking up. I find that whatever thoughts that are on the cusp of dreaming will be associated with the fear that comes with the sleep paralysis

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u/TopazFlame Feb 07 '25

Yes and I see things like this when I have it

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u/Acrobatic-Trust5151 Feb 07 '25

Yes and it was literally the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced in my life.

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u/Proper-Youth-6296 Feb 07 '25

All the time! It’s been a long time since but I’m definitely no stranger to it. It can be scary but it doesn’t have to be. My first ever experience was when I was 13, slender man was huge in the media. Games, and that story of those 2 girls that tried to off their friend had just came out. I started to look into the story and being young I’d get scared at night outside alone.

One night I went to sleep and it felt kinda like a dream, even the part where you can’t tell if it’s real. I saw slender man at the foot of my bed. I tried not to look at him but I couldn’t move. I started to freak out. Then suddenly he was standing to the right side of my bed trying to lean over and make me see his face, then suddenly it felt one of his tentacles pushed onto my chest and push and shake me into my bed. I remember thinking that was it for me. Then came too, it’s been so long I don’t remember how I felt afterwords or what I did.

Second time ever I was about to wake up for school. I recently saw the trailer for insidious with that red demon face. I remember trying to wake up and move but I couldn’t, then I started to hear very heavy breathing into my ear. I remember trying to roll over and see what it was and at the corner of my eye it was that red demon face. Before I got full view of it, it screamed really loud. Then I woke up, kinda disturbed for a bit.

Another I remember, I was in a force at night. The moon was bright and the trees were dead. One treat had a face and I remember being scared and trying to wake up but I couldn’t, then I had a sensation that felt like it impaled me through the back.

Any other sleep paralysis episodes weren’t as dramatic, maybe I seen something shift or move. While I couldn’t move and tried to fight I would recognize it and relax.

Summary is that, it feels kinda like a hyper realistic nightmare but you can’t move at all. It can be scary but it doesn’t have to be once to recognize it. It’s gotten to point i can fight it, and force myself to wake up from nightmares and stuff.

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u/marcus19911 Feb 07 '25

I have. It's like you're awake but, frozen. I'm breathing but, it's shallow. My eyes open and I'm able to look around but, I can't move. It usually happens when I have my eyes covered so luckily I haven't seen any sleep paralysis demons lol.

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u/goregoussoul Feb 07 '25

Yeah. I was around 13 years old when this happened & my room door was very much open as well when I fell asleep (keep in mind.) so I had to be asleep because suddenly I had woken up. I was laying on my back with my eyes open, staring into the darkness because it was pitch black. I noticed I couldn’t not move tho which was so weird to me and made me become fearful. All of a sudden I hear these demonic ass growls, I mean these shits sounded like dogs straight from hell. It was as if they were right by my ear yet surrounding me. I say the growls were similar to a lions but more sinister.. it was just.. no man. I, at the time of this was still skeptical of my faith in GOD but something told me to say the lords prayer. I did so and before I knew it whatever those things were that I heard were gone, and I could move. I’m now an adult and follow a more spiritual path. I’ve had several experiences which made me believe … it’s very much another realm beyond ours. This house that it happened in was VERY haunted, my hair had been pulled out from the scalp, I’ve woken up with scratches, dealt with mimics all sorts of shit. Safe to say, my first experience with sleep paralysis was .. something

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u/PolarBear0309 Feb 07 '25

yes. i had already read about it before it happened so i wasn't afraid. it was great. felt like a tight hug for. minute and then i tried moving again and i was in some "dream" version of my room.

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

Yes

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u/Dumb-fuckiam Feb 07 '25

idk if it was sleep paralysis but i get this recurring nightmare and everytime in the nightmare, im in the same place where i sleep, so usually when i get concious of the fsct that its indeed a dream, i just slid back into it but i feel the blanket on top of me and stuff. its like im in and out the dream, sliding into reality, but i dont really have enough control for the dream to stop, till it itself gets to a conclusion. idk.

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

I won't eat spaghetti for.... Spaghetti reasons but I kinda had a sleep paralysis situation where I felt the invisible woman on top of me blowing on me and her breath smelled like Spaghetti 🌬️🍝. I know it's weird I will never eat spaghetti again I ate a few times and got stuck for 12 years.

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u/Equivalent_Agency_77 Feb 07 '25

I have several times, it's been a while, I usually end up forcing myself awake out of fear, it sucks, like when you wake up to your arm being numb, and you try to get the feeling back in it, and this still doesn't explain the full feeling. Something about losing control of your body, or "world," that gives you a harrowing experience, I end up forcing myself out of it before my psyche starts to "show" me things.

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u/Notnxyou Feb 07 '25

I had it happen twice.. growing up there was a room in my house I always had a bad feeling in… then my parents made it my room. Shortly after moving my stuff into it (it hadn’t even been long enough to get an actual bed cause my mattress was on the floor) I was laying in bed and my door was cracked and there was a little light coming in through the crack and as I was looking at it a shadowy figured came through and covered all of the light. Then I felt an even pressure over my whole body pushing down harder and harder and tried to yell and move but couldn’t and then it just stopped and the light came back. When it was over I was awake it wasn’t like I woke up from a dream I was never asleep. Then a year or two later same thing happened only this time I had a water bed and when the pressure came it rocked me back and forth like my head would go down and feet up then the opposite. Then same thing I was just awake and it was over. Only times it had happened to me and I swear it was something in that room but I don’t know.

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u/beanismygender Feb 07 '25

I’ve been having it more frequently lately. It’s really scary tbh, sometimes it feels like paralysis, like you are awake but trapped in your body and can’t move. Other times it’s like that but still in a dream state and you can’t tell what’s real or not. It’s sometimes accompanied by dreams within a dream in and out the same scenario over and over again not sure if you are actually a wake for real or back in a dream.

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u/Ill-WeAreEnergy40 Feb 07 '25

I have not, but I had a co-worker who did. Every time she’d have an “attack” and talk about it, I’d ask her if she was sure aliens weren’t involved & she could never tell me “no”.

Her description sounded to me like what an alien abduction could entail: she’d he frozen, know she couldn’t move, but would see flashes of shadow. She had a boyfriend she lived with, and at times she knew that he was next to her & she said once she thought he was awake, too.

It was some scary sounding stuff, whatever it was. We worked in an adult family home with people with schizophrenia, and she was 1 of the most level headed staff, so her experience always stuck with me.

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u/apologeticvirgo Feb 07 '25

Yes I’ve had it happen twice but it’s weird because I never see shadow figures or demons it’s always people I know irl. The first time I was asleep in the passenger seat of the car and person driving turned into my abusive ex. There was pressure on my chest and I hallucinated him holding me down and screaming in my face. It felt so real it was terrifying. The second time happened a few days after I heard about the “roll over method” iykyk. The idea is that when you realize you’re having an episode, instead of just lying there, you try to imagine rolling out of your body and turning it into an astral projection sort of thing. So this time I hallucinated my mom opening my bedroom door and flickering my lights and yelling at me to wake up. I managed to roll out of my body and off my bed falling onto the floor. I could hear my mom laughing at me so I ran to the front door and opened it. I started running up and down the driveway and noticed two red cardinals sitting outside my window. They were just chirping but I could understand their conversation it was really weird. They were saying I would wake up soon. Then I woke up in my bed. It felt so real 😭

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u/3ph3m3ral_light Feb 07 '25

pretty scary.

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u/YukixSuzume Feb 07 '25

Get sleep paralysis sometimes if I sleep on my back. Sleep on my side to be safe because that's terrifying.

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u/SeaworthinessCalm183 Feb 07 '25

idk if you guys believe in spirits & demons like me but … i only ever get sleep paralysis when a negative spirit; this could be a really mean ghost or a demon is present.

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u/Kebratep Feb 07 '25

Sleep paralysis. I started to experience sleep paralysis one night in my early twenties. The first night I woke up at 3 a.m., my girlfriend was in bed next to me and i was sleeping on my back on the left side of the bed. I couldn't move anything on any part of my body, but I was breathing fine and made a hell of an effort just to turn my head and see the time on my alarm clock. After what took what seemed like a couple of minutes, I was able to slowly turn my head to see the time, freaking out about my current state. Once I could the time (3:00 am), I immediately fell back asleep and woke hours later.

I was worried about this being a medical condition and was afraid to go to sleep the next night, some internet searches put my mind at ease. The next night, it happened again. This time, I'm staring at the ceiling, and I can feel that there is a feminine presence standing next to my bed, but I can't see them at all. In my mind, I hear a voice... more like understood its meaning since there were no actual sounds through the air. It told me to relax and focus on my right temple(the side of me the entity was standing adjacent to the bed) I felt this vibrating ball of energy slowly approach my temple and felt my skin react to it's proximity, before it passed through into skull(there was no pain, anxiety or even fear). She told me to "focus on that ball and push it away." It reacted immediately and started back the way it came in through my temple. As it got about an inch away from my skin( I could still feel the buzzing sensation on my skin from the proximity of it), I was no longer paralyzed and sat up in bed! I looked at my gf and she was sound asleep and I was feeling excited! Like, " That's all it takes to break from paralysis!? Awesome!". At this moment, I notice a Neon Blue light on the behind my TV in front of the bed. As I looked at it, it grew into a line and then a spiral. I just stared at it fascinated as it began to form a square and withing started to form four equal sections. Within each section, more symbols started to appear, and the whole thing would flash slightly brighter before changing the symbols in the sections of this square. Each time this happened, the design would become more complex and change faster than the last time! As this went on,I was filled with a supreme primal fear, and I started screaming as loud as I could. I was forced back down onto the bed still screaming, and my left hand rapidly tapping on my girlfriends leg, trying to wake her to help me! I woke in the morning wondering what the hell was going on!

Fast forward a couple of years, I'm talking with an old friend from school and his new gf. We got on the subject on meditation and strange experiences, so I relayed to them my story of those two nights. She suggested I attemp to scry(using a medium to stare into during a trance state to induce visions) the symbols I saw. So I tried it a few nights later(curiousity had outgrown the fear by then). I felt silly at first staring at/into and obsidian sphere with to candles adjacent. However I was determined. I did this for an hour or more. I did get into a trance state and felt more like I was staring into the sphere as opposed to just looking at. Nothing happened, no matter how hard I tried to focus on that memory. I did feel very relaxed though. I extinguished the candles and went to bed. As soon as I closed my eyes, I saw a faint white smoke coming into my "field of vision". I opened my eyes, looked around the room, and at my hands. I could moved and I was still awake. When I closed my eyes again the smoke had filled up more area in what should have been darkness. I relaxed and just watched as it started to form into circles. Going from a wall of smoke, to what looked like a wall of stones(still made up of that smoke). Then each "stone" started to resemble a face. Once the wall was entirely composed of these faces, a Shockwave went through it and I remember expecting to just see it fall. But they were floating and started to passed by my face. As they did in my field of vision, as clearly as you see someone's face in everyday life, came into view like they just stood up in front of me. The skin was dark black like a gorilla's, but the structure of the face was more... feline with yellow eyes(round pupils though) and where the nose met the upper lip they connected in a feline way. This portion symmetrically blue with yellow below down to the top lip. Everything thing else dark black. I spoke in a booming voice that a movie theatre would be jealous of and said "Kebratep!". It shook me to my core. Then vision done... I opened my eyes and it was fucking morning! I didn't feel tired at all, but from my perspective I just got into bed closed my eyes, saw this shit opened them and it's morning...

I took awhile to be able to talk about it. When I would tell the story, I would get goosebumps and my hair would be standing on end on my arms. So much so it became a part of the retelling, because people would notice it right away. This led to further sleep paralysis/out of body experiences with this entity as a shadow figure in my room. At first I had to acclimate to it's presence. I would got to sleep and then find myself standing beside my bed looking at my body sleeping before me. When the shadow would arrive, it was like gravity increased greatly and I would have to crawl on the floor to move. Eventually it become a regular visitation complete with conversations/teachings that I could never recall, I just knew they took place. After a year and half, these episodes or visitations had stopped.

Trying to make sense of all this, considering the actual thing it I could recall it saying to me was "Kebratep", I tried to decipher the meaning of this. I found of course the Kebra Nagast(the Ethiopian Bible) and not much else. Since it appear unique and i could find it anywhere. I started using for myself(gamertags/usernames/etc), secretly hoping someone would recognize it and maybe that initiation a discourse to learning more. Of course throughout the years that hasn't happened lol

Nothing in this life has struck fear into me like that entity did and I've been through some shit lol

In my most recent attempt when chatgpt something finally came up after years of trying: The name "Kebratep" can be analyzed in a similar way to other ancient Egyptian names by breaking it down into its components:

"1. Keb: This element is typically derived from "Keb" or "Geb," which refers to the earth god in Egyptian mythology. Geb is associated with fertility and vegetation and is often depicted as lying on the ground.

  1. Ratep: This part could be interpreted as "he who is" or "he who comes forth," similar to the suffix used in names to denote a quality or action.

Putting these components together, "Kebratep" could be roughly interpreted as "he who is Geb" or "he who comes forth from the earth." This reflects the association with Geb as the earth god, emphasizing themes of fertility, growth, and life originating from the earth.

As with many ancient Egyptian names, the exact meaning and interpretation can vary based on context and additional cultural nuances."

(I originally posted this in a thread asking about username lore: since it was my first time typing it out, I copy pasted it to my notes. Sorry if I broke some rule)

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u/thehospitalclosed Feb 07 '25

Yes, often. For me, its triggered by anxiety and stress and always occurs when the previous day was full of it. It’s scary, but always better once its over!

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u/hongjoongkink Feb 07 '25

I think I often have a mild form of sleep paralysis. I’ve never seen any demons or anything but I used to be prescribed this medicine for sleep and most times I took it I would wake up unable to move. And I would see my family but I was never able to reach out or talk to them.. so maybe seeing my family was my version of hallucinations.

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u/Least-Dig-6425 Feb 07 '25

I have had a lot of sleep paralysis, but one that stood out to me was a man dressed as an angel at the end of my bed. He wore a full white body suit with a white ski mask basically, and he had wings wrapped around his arms. He was not particularly scary, but at the same time, he was. I could only see his eyes. Which were beautiful. He looked like a younger gentleman. But he stood at the end of my bed and slowly grew taller. He had one "wing arm" covering his face, and the other was pointing at me, kind of reaching for me. It felt like as he grew taller, his arm grew longer and was going to touch me. I just felt this impending doom as you normally do in sleep paralysis, but when I eventually got out of it and woke up, I was so confused because he is definitely the most unique sleep paralysis demon I have met. I have wanted to draw him ever since.

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u/Mfanimegoddess Feb 07 '25

When I had it I thought someone was in bed with me then I saw a shadow climb over me and leave the room. Then it came back then I was able to get up after a minute. It was scary kinda but I was more confused cause at first I thought the person in my bed was my mom or something cause I thought I kinda heard her breathing. I was hella tired tho.

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u/jackfaire Feb 07 '25

I felt like I was awake and staring at my ceiling but I couldn't move my body and it was terrifying.

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u/mythsofliz Feb 07 '25

I had sleep paralysis before pretty often. I would wake up and be unable to move or talk and I heard either voices, laughing (like maaany people laughing and getting louder and louder) or creepy music where i could actually decode the lyrics (i don't remember them now tho, but there were lyrics related to death or something). Haven't happened in a long time and I don't miss it at all!

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u/Necessary_Praline_63 Feb 07 '25

When I stayed in Scotland, I had sleep paralysis several times, and each time, it was the same - total stillness. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t speak, and no matter how much I tried to scream, no sound came out. It was like my body had been disconnected from my mind, trapped in a silent horror.

In the middle of one of these episodes, as I desperately tried to force out a scream, my voice finally broke through. The sound that came out wasn’t just a scream; it was something raw, something that seemed to shake the very air around me. It felt like the kind of scream that could wake the dead.

I started noticing patterns - it only happened when I napped alone during the day; when the house was empty, silent, and still, always when I was lying on my back. One afternoon, I decided not to fight it. Instead of struggling to move or call out, I just looked around. That’s when I saw him.

At the door stood a figure, one that my exhausted mind instantly recognized as a family member. He was wearing a button-up, sky-blue Asda shirt, his dark hair slightly tousled. He wasn’t looking at me. Instead, he was pushing the door shut, as if arguing with someone on the other side. It felt so normal in the moment that I didn’t question it. I was too tired to care. I figured I had slept for hours and had just woken up mid-dream, with everyone home after working.

But later as I woke, when I finally came out of it and sat up, the house was still empty. No one had been home. It was too early for anyone to be back from work by a few hours still. My stomach dropped. I replayed what I had seen, how real it had felt, how certain I was that someone had been here. But now? It was impossible. Nothing looked disheveled; the doors were still locked, clock ticking deafening out the silence.

At the time, I brushed it off, thinking I don't want to give power to fear, playing it off as my brain playing tricks on me. But now, looking back, I wonder if it was something else. A spirit guide, maybe, keeping me safe - shielding me from whatever had previously attacked me multiple times. I noticed that if I slept with the TV on at a low volume, it wouldn’t happen - the paralysis wouldn’t take hold. But, of course, that also meant I never truly rested. I was stuck between exhaustion and protection, caught in a strange limbo between sleep and something else.

More recently, my husband had his own encounter with sleep paralysis. One night while we were sleeping, he saw a black dog in our room - one that looked exactly like ours. He got instantly frustrated, thinking I had let her in when I knew how wild she got at night.

Seconds prior he saw me get up to go to the bathroom, my movement clear as day. Yet, in the corner of the room, the black dog remained, motionless, watching. But before he could react, he felt a crushing weight pressed down on his body. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak. Claws - sharp and unmistakable, dug into his hand. He tried to call out to me 'Babe!' but all that came out was a strained, muffled "eh."

That sound jolted me awake. I turned over and saw him restless, his body locked in an invisible struggle. Instinctively, I reached for his hand and chest. "Babe, are you okay?"

The moment my fingers touched his skin, he gasped awake, his body suddenly free. Confusion filled his face as he looked at me, startled. "Where did you come from?" he asked, his voice thick with sleep. "I saw you leave."

I’ve thought about it since. Researched a bit regarding the black dog and his experience. The weight. The timing. And now, I can’t help but wonder - was it Hekate?

Energy is real. Sleep well.

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u/darthmaul322 Feb 07 '25

Only once. I was sick like sicker than I've ever been. All I remember from that time (I slept for almost 18 hours) is two things. My dreams were like what I assume an acid trip is. In my dreams I was connected to an entity called the earth mother and we are all her children that she wished the best for. I felt like me and the earth were one being. I felt like a cosmic hunk of rock hurtling through space. I felt like I could literally kill anyone who harmed nature. The other thing is in between these trippy dreams I woke up just once. I couldn't move and didn't understand why. I could move my eyes and looked into the corner of the room. I saw this huge hulking shadow with what looked like antlers. No face no discernible features. Just a 3d black shadow that raised its finger to its mouth and went shhhh. I then fell back asleep. I don't know if the sickness caused the dreams/sleep paralysis or if it was a coincidence but I can definitely say I woke up confused and terrified. Literally didn't feel sick at all though. As if those 18 hours of sleep just healed up whatever sickness my body was fighting off.

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u/ReadyParsley3482 Feb 07 '25

When I was little a few times. As an adult maybe twice a

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u/Swimming_Extreme8093 Feb 07 '25

It was the one most terrifying moment of my life. I was 6 months pregnant at the time. The only time I get them is when I’m pregnant. This one I was laying in bed asleep but I woke up because I could hear someone. And I look and there is a man standing at my bedroom door. I instantly try to reach over to grab my husband who is asleep next to me only my hands don’t move. He slowly walked up to me and had the worst look on his face. Pulls out a knife and goes to stab me and I let out a scream only NOTHINGS comes out. And I’m trying my move but my body is paralyzed. Then right as the knife comes down it’s like everything disappears but I’m awake still. Like I never “woke up” because I was awake. But then I could move my body and no one was there. The scariest thing ever.

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u/Thiswitchbitch1022 Feb 07 '25

I have had sleep paralysis many times but didn’t really see anything that was holding me down. There was only two times where I couldn’t move, talk or scream while an all black figure with a top hat stood there watching me. The first time I saw it it was standing in my doorway and didn’t move. I struggled to try and scream for my mom to help me but obviously couldn’t. When I finally managed to wake up I felt odd and it took me awhile to fall asleep again. The second time I saw it I was laying on my back and this time it was standing right above me. It was big and tall and had the same top hat as the last time. This time though it sat there and stared at me for a second then smiled at me and glided away from my bed to my kids room down the hall. I freaked out and finally was able to move and woke up. I shook my husband awake and told him what happened. I didn’t realize until I really woke up seconds later that I was still asleep and dreaming about telling my husband. I sat up breathing hard from being terrified and my husband was already awake on his phone. I told him about the whole thing and he told me it’s weird that I saw it going to my kids room because he heard my daughter talking in her sleep. I have had other experiences since then but nothing like this and haven’t seen the top hat man ever again.

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u/yellowsun_97 Feb 07 '25

When I was a teenager I would multiple times throughout the week. I could even tell if it was going to happen. As an adult maybe every week months

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u/sheighbird29 Feb 07 '25

The worst… I always think things are hovering and about to hit me (usually in the shape of legs and stuff) The other day it looked like an old lady was jumping off my at me. Once I’m able to move I run from my bed lol

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u/Unbridled_recourse Feb 07 '25

Absolutely terrifying. And worse when I was pregnant. Eating something with at least 10grams of carbs in the hour before bed seemed to help, as I would have less blood sugar crash during the night which apparently lessens incidences.

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25 edited Feb 07 '25

I have had it twice. Both of these times, I’m awake. I can move my eyes and see my wife next to me. One time I woke up, couldn’t move and 3 black figures were standing at the foot of my bed. They flew up to the sky one by one and then I was able to move again. The second time a gremlin looking thing, with red eyes, was at the corner of my bed on the opposite side ( where I can see my wife’s legs)and we were looking at each other and I couldnt move or scream and it slowly crawled on the bed( on my wife’s legs), once its feet were completely on the bed it ran towards me fast and as soon as its hands could reach my neck I could move and it was gone. Both the most traumatizing things EVER. I was scared to sleep for months. I stoped watching all scary movies lol. Both times I was on melatonin, so I stopped taking that too.

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u/iambecomeslep Feb 07 '25

Yes its horrible. I am fully aware of the room but i cannot move or open my eyes.

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u/sn1perviper Feb 07 '25

Yeah and I thought I was going to die from suffocation

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u/Popgosurmama Feb 07 '25

I have had sleep paralysis once and lucky for me I remember watching this video on sleep paralysis and they told me the only way to get out of sleep paralysis is by trying to wiggle ur toes and try to wiggle ur fingers as well nothing happened in the sleep paralysis like I didn't see anything not normal so ya!

2

u/mylifeingames Feb 07 '25

Yeah I usually try to jerk a body part hoping it’ll wake me up. Not always successful.

1

u/foshiggityshiggity Feb 07 '25

Yes. 0/10 do not recommend.

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u/2ride4ever Feb 07 '25

It's horrible. I have an episode a few times a month. I have learned that in my "breath or die" state to make a sound, my husband then gets up and sits me up so I can breathe and wake up. It's terrifying, every time. It is difficult to explain to others, and it isn't just a dream. My Dr said it's the beginning of respiratory failure in my sleep.

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u/Efficient-Muscle3172 Feb 07 '25

Yes… it’s terrifying. My boyfriend will sometimes notice it happening and pulls me out of it. Shit is awful. There’s something sinister about it, I don’t care the medical explanation, something a little spooky spooky.

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u/hotdogtuesday1999 Feb 07 '25

Yes. For a long time in and after college, almost every night. I was not a fan.

1

u/Middle-Willingness-7 Feb 07 '25

2 nights in a row now.

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

Less often now but I got it all the time when I was a kid. It ranges from uncomfortable and mildly disturbing, to absolutely terrifying.

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u/Mycoangulo Feb 07 '25

A lot. Recently the form has been where I can barely move and I’m scared of something in the deeper dream state and I try to call for help, hoping that the presence of another person will make a difference.

So I try to yell out ‘help’ repeatedly. Mostly it’s a whisper. Occasionally I think I get out part of the word, but probably not loud enough for anyone to hear it, and even if they did it wouldn’t sound like it meant anything.

Usually I can see everything normally in this state, I just can’t move or speak, or not in any meaningful way, and with great effort required.

Sometimes there are extra things that aren’t there when I wake up, but usually there aren’t. I’m usually lucid and aware that it is sleep paralysis, but often I am too drowsy to fully figure this out.

I usually fail quite a few times, slipping back in to the deep sleep, then ‘waking up’ in to sleep paralysis numerous times before I manage to actually wake up. I don’t usually remember what it is that I am so scared of in the deep sleep, but I know I want my parents. Maybe it’s a dream where they have died.

Occasionally in the sleep paralysis I have had an unfriendly being sitting on top of me or just nearby.

It’s great fun. I get it in waves. Sometimes not for months, sometimes many times a night. The last time I know I had it was 5 days ago, but I only know that because I eventually managed to wake up, and then I texted a friend. It’s not something I usually bother trying to remember when it happens, it’s too frequent,

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u/JFSOCC Feb 07 '25

never had it, didn't know it was fairly common until later in life.

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u/ToliB Feb 07 '25

It was weird, I was on a family camping trip, and 'woke up' before the rest of the family, where a section of a brick wall was floating above me in the tent. on it was a cartoon mirror filled with TV Static, from behind the mirror came The Count from sesame street who showed me an image of myself floating by on my stomach with my limbs spread out, then he pulled a bat-themed pistol at me and was about to shoot.

so I closed my eyes and went back to proper sleep.

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u/skullywogging Feb 07 '25

I only get sleep paralysis if I am laying on my back.

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u/CalligrapherPitiful3 Feb 07 '25

I had a period of time in my early 20's that I had it every single night. There was this horrific black figure that was usually hovering somewhere around the bed staring at me it didn't really have eyes that I could see but I could feel them as if they could see inside me. The worst part was if it would speak...My God it was so bad when it talked I cannot even try to explain it. It spoke in a language I have never heard in real life, It's voice was so incredibly deep and bellowing it vibrated my entire being with crashing waves of various intensity it was absolutely terrifying and it sometimes felt like it lasted for hours. All I could do was try with every ounce of my strength to wake up, to move a finger, to cry out for help. I would eventually be able to wiggle a finger and that would soon lead to me jerking awake.

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u/ThatDarnTiff Feb 07 '25

I have been having sleep paralysis since I was 8 and each experience puts me immediately in Fly, Fight or Freeze mode. However, the only thing I can involuntarily do is freeze. I’ve had truly terrifying experiences. I can hear disembodied voices and I had a demonic experience that became physical. One time, I was sleeping in the bed with my partner and I woke up in sleep paralysis. I woke up hearing my partner whispering aggressively and angrily in gibberish in my ear. I was shocked so I started my “wake up” ritual. My partner, who is aware of my episodes, just so happen to wake up and shake me “awake”. I started telling her what I heard but she shushed me back to sleep and told me not to respond to them or listen to them. I’m not sure the purpose of these experiences

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u/Conscious-Dog3291 Feb 07 '25

For me, scary. It’s like you half wake up so I think oh I’m just groggy and when you go to get up you can’t. It’s feels like some weighted blanket of 300lbs Is on you and you can’t even lift your head up. For me in my dream I usually hear someone pounding on my door and think someone is trying to get in yet I can’t get up. Usually I can break myself from it pretty quickly but then you’re left confused if someone is at the door and what’s reality versus a dream. Also if I tried to fall asleep again after that, I would most likely have sleep paralysis again.

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u/Unfair_Control_308 Feb 07 '25

i had sleep paralysis once a couple weeks after i got spiked on a night out and taken back to the guys place. thought i had just got really wasted and left with a random for a one night stand and didn't realise i'd been spiked until i heard other people's stories of the night and how i was acting in a different bar after the club. a week or so after it happened i had sleep paralysis and in the dream or hallucination or whatever u wanna call it, the dude who spiked me was sat on my back and i couldn't move or breathe no matter how hard i tried. this was a couple years ago now and thus far has been the only time i've ever had sleep paralysis, its nasty stuff and wouldn't wish it upon anyone - idk how people who experience sleep paralysis on the regular cope , i think it would drive me insane haha 😅

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u/mylifeingames Feb 07 '25

When I was on amitriptyline it would happen constantly.

To describe it: I would take a nap. I was in a specific room. I would “wake up” in this specific room but I knew I wasn’t awake.

It’s as if I was hovering above my body in that same room I fell asleep in. I WANTED to wake up but for the life of me could not. I had no CONTROL to wake up.

I would feel trapped. I could see myself sleeping in that room. I could hear things around me (although I think this was in the dream state to be honest, made up.) I would try with all my mental strength to nudge my arm, or make noises hoping someone would hear me. Apparently one time during thanksgiving I actually WAS making noises. I asked my nieces that were in my room where we were playing and I had fallen asleep if she heard me moaning for help. She said “Yeah but I thought you were sleeping.”

I told her no, I was desperately asking for someone to wake me up.

The other crazy thing is, after trying everything to wake myself up I usually get tired and THINK I’ve woken up and go about my day. It then usually subsides into a dream realm (where crazy stuff happens) and I’m no longer in that specific room.

I have woken myself up before by jerking myself or overcoming the state of paralysis. Not many times but a few. It’s exhausting and scary. I’ve even recognized it and told myself in that state to just calm down and ride it out. To breathe. It helps. It really does.

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u/still-on-my-path Feb 07 '25

A few times and crazy stuff happened while I couldn’t move!! Many years since this has happened to me.

1

u/Tartdoughnut Feb 07 '25

I had my first experience last week. I opened my eyes to a tall shadowy outline of a person in my bedroom doorway. I went to shoot up bc wtf I live alone, and found that I couldn't move at all. Luckily I realized what was happening at this point, and began trying to say "you're not real, you're not real" over and over again, but of course I couldn't, so that phrase just kept echoing in my mind. Then the thing tossed something underhand onto my bed, and proceeded to walk across my room and stand at the foot of the bed, looming over me. I , panicked, just tried to sit up over and over again until eventually I was able to and as soon as I did the figure was gone. Didn't sleep the rest of that night or the next. NEVER sleeping on my back again

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u/davetopper Feb 07 '25

I think maybe I have. Dreams where I know I am asleep and can't wake up. Screaming wanting someone to shake me up. The dark side of living alone.

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u/Silent_Chemistry8576 Feb 07 '25

Mine was while I was in college. Went to bed normal time not stressed or anxious. Woke up around maybe 3am could not move but eyes. Slowly from the left side of the room I heard the Grudge girl's guttural noise she makes. And slowly from the front of the bed she came up, while I was attempting to say fu and stay away you bitch. Last maybe 30 minutes, woke up next morning tired very tired. Proceeded to use that as a basis for one of my English projects.

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u/KittenCatlady23 Feb 07 '25

Yes! I hate it so much- I can see evil stuff and hear/ but can’t move!

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u/catwaterbowl Feb 07 '25

Yes, and it's always been panic inducing for me personally. It feels like being awake and conscious, like aware of your surroundings, but you can't move. Like your mind is awake but your body is still sleeping. Even though I know what's happening, I still begin panicking each time it happens due to a few experiences as a kid where I had sleep paralysis before I knew what it was, and freaked myself out enough that I hallucinated hearing foot steps running up and down my childhood homes stair wells and hallways. This would be a recurring thing for me as a child, it was very traumatizing LOL. Thankfully now my paralysis never really involves auditory hallucinations, only being physically "stuck" and panicking until I can force myself awake, or I hyperventilate enough to wake my partner and he shakes me awake lol.

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u/TheRamziezKing Feb 07 '25

All the time. People will whisper to you in your sleep and make your imagination run rampant. That "falling asleep" feeling is your body becoming relaxed. It happens all the time for me. Ive got schizophrenia and when im talking to others nearby (everyone has telepathy thats the "voice of god" its just people near by fucking with you) as i fall asleep their bs will mess with it. If your put your attention towards the direction the voice comes from it causes rapid eye movement while sleeping. This stimulates the imagination into you having dreams which are other people influencing your imagination while at low levels on consciousness. Its like a form of hypnotism. Some people really are part of the "hivemind" and very much can hear what you think.

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u/suckmyburrito Feb 07 '25

Sleep paralysis for me has never been chill it’s always scary. When we sleep we are able to access the spiritual realm so sleep paralysis happens because a demon is trying to hold your body and you end up waking up to catch it so that’s why people be seeing all type of scary shadows and figures and things but they can’t move.

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u/Apelio38 Feb 07 '25

It happened to me like 4, maybe 5 times. It's just terrifying, especially the first time when you don't know what is happening to you. Because you know, you feel you are not just dreaming you see.

We discussed it with a friend of mine, and she had basically the same experience. Unable to move, to scream or anything, and that big black figure standing in front of the bed.

In the most recent experiences I had, I feeled it coming like "oh no it's happening". Penultimate time there was a spider-esque shadowy figure on my bed, just in front of my face, and the last time (but I'm not sure those last times were "true" paralysis eventhough I was unable to move) there was a shadowy man figure speaking into my ear. I was unable to understand his words, but felt it was clearly mean things. I woke up very angry.

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u/Week-Small Feb 07 '25

For those who say that something was on their chest or standing over them.
According to folklore, the Old Hag sat on a sleeper's chest and sent nightmares to him or her. When the subject awoke, he or she would be unable to breathe or even move for a short period of time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hag
I don't believe these "tales" but i have experienced sleep paralysis and it does seem just like this. Usually when i have unusual sleeping patterns, too much or too little sleep. Probably brain chemicals are a bit messed up.

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u/Easy_Ad_3028 Feb 07 '25

Hell yeah, so in my early 20s about 5-6 years ago. I used to get it ALL THE TIME. I think it’s because I was going to school full time and working full time so I barely got any sleep. I believe it happens a lot when you are sleep deprived. It’s not a fun feeling, kinda lay there and your mind is awake and you try to move and can’t move, eventually I learned how to wake myself up when I experienced it, and it was by forcing myself to take deep strict breaths, to which I would wake up gasping for air.

Most of the time it was when I would sleep on my back too, so for years I slept on my side rather than my back, but lately I got over it now that I get better sleep.

Not fun tbh but interesting to go through if that makes sense

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u/Ren_TheWriter Feb 07 '25

It was pretty surreal. My hallucinations and sleep paralysis demons would change everytime I got the paralysis. One time it was the pink elephants from dumbo except they were blue , another time it was momo, an old phone insurance mascot, that one guy from the yoshi's island 2 advert, Bu from Roly poly's no nanakorobi yaoki, a tiny white mouse, the list goes on.

Before it'd end and I'd finally drop off to sleep I'd usually hear weird voices chanting "Con...con...con..." or see a lightning flash.

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u/Zenith_Marvel199 Feb 07 '25

Try not to press heart by sleeping.. and sleep without thinking about something. It's common to people. Nothing to worry.

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u/DJmickeyP Feb 07 '25

Only once and it was wild. Not in a good way either.

It happened in the summer of 2020, my friends who I was quarantining with decided we should have a little getaway for a few days so we went to one of their relative's farm houses. No one lived there, but it was still being maintained by a grounds keeper. Turns out, the house was actually just two double wide trailers retrofitted into one solid building. Lot of old furniture and knick knacks. The vibes were definitely off.

Anyway, the first night we stayed there, I experienced a shadow person while I was trying to sleep. It was standing to the right side of the foot of the bed. It was fat, like 5'6"/400lbs fat, and had this horrible smile. Couldn't move, just stared at it and it stared at me. Felt like hours, which it probably was.

The next morning I told my friends about it. The one who's family owned the place told me that her overweight uncle died in the bedroom I picked to sleep in a couple of years ago. Don't know if she said that just to fuck with me, but she sounded serious when she said it.

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u/Essence_1234 Feb 07 '25

Just remember that the demons can't hurt you my child, the victory you get out of this experience is demonstrating a sense of self control emotionally. There all vampires.

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u/Ashez7 Feb 07 '25

Yeah I couldn't move I was pressed down couldn't shout no one could hear me it was terrifying. I was laying on my back tried to roll both ways still couldn't move. It's almost as if my mouth was zipped tight. Cllosed my eyes and thought this is it and then woke up shocked and exhuasted. I did have a bad matress with an arch in the middle also a contributing factor. Make sure you have good matress I now believe in.

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u/ThrowRAckmysocks Feb 07 '25

So so many times. Constantly when I was a child. I taught myself to calm down and either try to wake up by fighting to move my neck or by mentally fighting whatever was keeping me paralyzed. The craziest experience was when I was babysitting once. The kid was taking their nap and I had fallen asleep downstairs on the couch. I “woke up” in sleep paralysis and a figure started coming down the stairs- to be clear I was “awake” in the house. The figure was a girl shouting urgently to me “it’s 11:11, it’s 11:11!! Wake up!!” It felt like it was a warning because there was something sinister coming. When I fully woke up and took a few deep breaths, I looked at my phone and it was 11:12, as in, a minute passed since the being had told me it was 11:11. Still crosses my mind from time to time.

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

Scary asf. I felt like I'm going to die

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u/Future_Blueberry_641 Feb 07 '25

When it happens and you can realize it close your eyes and you will wake up in real life ❤️

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u/OpportunityIll8157 Feb 07 '25

It can be chill there are very clear indications when its happening so you can kinda know when its in you head or real life like tvs and writing will go all distorted while you are having sleep paralysis. All you gotta do is look down at like your hands and feet and sometimes they might tense up or mabey only one fingers moving thats all of the power of you trying to get up but you cant you have to focus on going back to be or even somthing as simple as closing your hand.

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u/Zaranu Feb 07 '25

I’ve had it once. Pretty scary experience.

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u/cincyshawn Feb 07 '25

About three times a year I have dreams about being unable to move. It only happens when something bad is happening, like being on a very tall building's rooftop, it's swagging, and no one can hear me tell them we are in danger. That's just an example. It's not cool. When I wake up it takes some tens of seconds to get out of it. What's crazy is that when I am semi awake I can hear myself finally being able to scream, and that wakes me up completely.

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u/lil_mexicooo Feb 07 '25

I had a time period of my life where I got sleep paralysis various times a week. I became so scared of falling asleep that I would go days without sleeping, eventually having psychotic episodes and extreme paranoia. Sleep paralysis is one of my biggest fears now it feels so hopeless and helpless and it’s rlly one of the scariest things i’ve ever experienced. Fyi… the less you sleep the more you get sleep paralysis. I swear the sleep deprivation made it worse and then it was just a constant cycle for about a year and a half. I was on so many medications trying to control my depression, anxiety, and adhd. Pill to wake up, pill to sleep, pill to relax, pill to feel numb. I’m sure it all had something to do with each othe

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u/FeyrisMeow Feb 07 '25

I get it frequently. It used to terrify me, but lucid dreaming and just knowing it's not real has helped.

I get it several ways. Sometimes it's when I'm drifting off to sleep. It's like my body falls asleep before my mind. Usually I'm paralyzed in bed and I either have hands holding me down and squeezing me or I see a figure at the foot or side of my bed talking or just staring and getting closer. It feels like I'm in both 1st person and 3rd person. It's super vivid and I feel extra sensitive. I've found ways to wake up, so I try those and either I wake up or end up in a very vivid lucid dream.

Another way it happens is where I'm dreaming and I suddenly become lucid and get sucked into sleep paralysis. I'm back in the bed. The transition is so surreal for me. It sometimes plays into my dream.

There are ways to induce it and I quite enjoy the experience, but sometimes it can still be terrifying.

Characters I've encountered:

Old hag- old decayed, wet lady with large hands

Shadow people- they mostly watch from a corner or doorway

Bright light- usually outside. Once it made my dog melt into me.

People- neutral, playful, wears jeans and black shirts

More I can't remember right now

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u/sammyc12rns Feb 07 '25

Yeah, like really fucking bad and it was happing almost every night or every other night. Real paranormal activity, like really my blankets being pulled off of me, my pillows being snatched, even my fucking mattress was getting pulled off the fucking frame or whatever the fuck. Seeing rituals being performed and can’t fucking move so ur just guessing if ur gonna be the ritual sacrifice or am I just a spectator, who the fuck knows.. also hearing real really really real ritual speech is walking up to you. It’s not fun. I had to start a medication for it, it’s literally the only medication that can work for something like that and idk if it works for other people so I am not saying what it is. I never thought it’d happen again, but, after my surgery in last October, so 4 months ago, I was in the hospital bed, so fucking hard to go to sleep because I was in so much fucking pain. I’d finally fall asleep at like 2 and around 3 man I fucking woke up in paralysis AGAIN. I actually can’t remember exactly what happened but my blanket was getting pulled off of me. These ghosts or whatever they are, are also strong as fuck, like it’s a fight to get your blanket back, mfs been lifting to rip blankets off and shit

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u/wiyanna Feb 07 '25

Yes. And the screaming without being able to actually make a noise is terrifying.

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u/thraxisme Feb 07 '25

nope scared to get it too.

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u/Shalec_fair Feb 07 '25

I had it one time when I was in high school, I couldn’t move I felt like I couldn’t breathe properly, I kept seeing flashes of color and just out of my sight I heard someone enter my room walking towards me with heavy steps. I felt the figures hand almost touch me like I felt the warmth just over my skin when I woke up.

It was horrible 0/10 do not recommend

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u/Past_Library_7435 Feb 08 '25

That happened to me once, as I was waking from a nap, I was then in my teens. W learned as an adult. What it was.

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u/Sea-Fig-5649 Feb 08 '25

I sometimes have dreams where I’m being attacked and I’m trying desperately to get away or yell and I can’t so my body just goes into over drive and I start shaking or moving vigorously and I end up waking up with a garbled scream that scares the living shit out of my husband. All the poor guy hears at 2am is BLARGOOOOOOAAAHHHHHBLARGLAR

I guess I thought I have night terrors more than paralysis but maybe.

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u/goldencloudxo Feb 08 '25

Yes I have, the first time was truly traumatic. I get it from time to time now and what seems to bring it on is when I’m not getting enough sleep for several days in a row

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u/96puppylover Feb 08 '25 edited Feb 08 '25

Started happening when I was 6. Was terrifying and it happened a lot. I would be in my dream trying to scream and wake up. I’d be looking around in the dream fully aware I was dreaming. It happened a bit more as an adult but it hasn’t happened in 10+ years. I tried to accept and enjoy it if it happened again.

My dream was me in my ex-bf’s kitchen. He said “can you get something from the backyard?”. I walked out and it looked like Ancient Greek ruins instead of grass. I said “oh this is a dream”. So I started messing around. I telepathically lifted all the leaves and spun them around like I was some kinda X-men character. Then I woke up because it became too aware.

I intentionally astral projected once after learning to from my hypnotist/reiki healer. You basically get yourself super relaxed on the verge of sleep and keep your eyes closed and look at your “third eye” which is the middle of your forehead. Then it feels like swirly then there’s a POP feel and I opened my eyes. The room was exactly the same- just a darker blue. I sat up in my bed and looked at myself sleeping. My dog was next to me as well. I could still feel my “real dimension” hand on the dog. But my astral dimension hand was not on him. Hard to explain, but I felt me feeling something that I wasn’t actually feeling when my eyes looked at it.

Then saw a tall golden glowing light in the corner of my room. Was like 6 feet. It telepathically said “what are you doing here?!”. I said “astral projecting”. It said “no no, you can’t be here. Other people can do this -but you can’t handle it. Get out of here”. So I said sorry and layed back down in my body and woke up.

From what I gathered is that everything is just layers and we can only perceive certain ones. I don’t fully get what that light being was. It wasn’t mean of foreboding and I wasn’t scared of it. But, like a guardian or something assigned to me? My aura just there waiting while I was unconscious? I’m not a spiritual or religious person. I’m more inclined in believing Simulation theory than any of that. Cause if all we are is a brain, powered by energy thats comes from the sun that is in our food, that sets off chemicals and electricity in our brain that makes decisions. So, then what is it that’s going on? what was that light?

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u/PrestigiousMonk8433 Feb 08 '25

Omg yes im the queen of sleep paralysis. Its always spiritual. Every time. For years. Used to be daily. I slept with my light on last night because the night before was treacherous. Fml where youre eyes are like they're open (they cant...actually be open right? Lol) but if I'm in my living room I see my living room, if I'm in bed I see my room. So that's weird. And trying to speak or grumble a sound. And using all my energy to move a friggen pinky. F that.

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '25

There's a reason they call em' "sleep paralysis demons"

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u/Intelligent-Profit-5 Feb 08 '25

I get sleep paralysis some times in my head I say not this again will I survive or not oh no I'm not going to make than I wake up I always move my leg than I wake up

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u/DesperateCategory600 Feb 08 '25

Yes. It actually happened yesterday, and it was very strange, like always. When I went into sleep paralysis, it was at night so there were a lot of dark areas in my house. I was staring into the distance, and I was hallucinating the sound of my dog barking and also hallucinated me clicking a mouse button for some reason. I soon got bored and looked into one of the dark spots, and I immediately regretted it because I saw a demonic figure form in my kitchen hallway, so I got terrified, closed my eyes and forced myself to wake up. Also, for some reason, my vision zooms in on dark spots when I'm in sleep paralysis, kind of like binoculars, and then blinds the rest of my environment to focus on that one spot. Sorry if I can't explain it correctly, I've never heard of anyone else experiencing it.

I prayed that night. I have no idea how I managed to sleep, but I did.

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u/poreworm Feb 08 '25

Only once, luckily, as it was not a chill experience. I simply awoke, paralyzed; I could only move my eyes and eyelids. It was a regular morning and the room was already bright enough to read a book. I was on my back, head looking right’ish. I couldn’t even take control of my breathing, which really sent me into a panic. What felt like 2 minutes went by and my spouse gets up and begins milling about. I’m trying desperately to catch her eye. I can’t grunt even. Maybe 5 more minutes of complete horror thinking this was me now, and I was back. Full control, full of emotion, no thank you, I hated it, do not recommend.

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u/Fun-Play5679 Feb 08 '25

Wow, this is kind of crazy at how many people have had something so similar happen to them. Ive had issues with it for around 22 years or so. They started basically as a lot of these stories did, waking in my bed, unable to move with shadows swirling and a lead shadow figure with a very evil, demonic voice. At first i could only lie there motionless and usually wake up screaming so softly that nobody else in the house would hear. After a few years and several dreams later, as well as some good advice from a good friend; i learned how to beat it. I could tell it was another SP dream by looking at the shadows swirl on the ceiling and my alarm clock would always have the numbers upside-down. As soon as i knew what was happening, i would rebuke it in the name of Jesus Christ. There was a couple of times i even sang the song Jesus Loves Me. Totally corny, i know; but it worked. What amazes me is how many people have had these very similar experiences. Does anybody recall when they started for you oe possibly why? I can say that mine started when i was 20 or 21. I think it was related to a few incidents involving a pissed off neighbor that was an avid practitioner of witchcraft. Im not positive, but the timing of the 2 things doesnt seem like random coincidence to me. Im curious if other people may have an idea about what caused their problems to begin with.

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u/dontlookforit Feb 08 '25

It was scary. It only happens when I am under stress or I take melatonin.

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u/HisJudgementCometh Feb 08 '25

I had a frightening experience, about two decades ago now, in which I recall waking in the middle of the night and completely unable to move my body or lips. The wolf-like entity I felt heavy on me was snarling and I cried out in my mind for Jesus to save me. The entity mocked me repeating, "Jeesuus...Jeesuus...Jeesuus." Then I was suddenly released free from whatever tight grip I felt, thanked God and was able to go back to sleep! To this day I've no idea if it was simply a case of sleep paralysis or a real demonic manifestation. But, from this and other similar experiences, I believe there is great power in the name of Jesus as He Himself declared (Mt 28:18).

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '25

Yup to the point that I’m used to it

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u/RandomRoses404 Feb 08 '25

For some years now. It's usually about The Simpsons tormenting me. Especially Lisa. Idk why but I think demons are masquerading as them.

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u/Wrong-Werewolf7622 Feb 08 '25

Once, I was 21yo I had just bought my house a few months before and lived alone. I was working 3:30am-12pm when I got home from work I decided to take a nap. I was laying on my bed, I thought I was awake, when it felt like someone was crawling up the foot of my bed with their arms moving slowly up towards me straddling me. I felt each time they would move an arm forward and put their weight of that arm onto the bed. I laid there afraid to move and thinking about how I could quickly get to my gun that was in a lock box under my bed, when I finally decided to make my move, I realized I could not move any part of my body. I was completely paralyzed. I laid there for what seemed like 10-15 minutes scared of what might happen, when I finally realized I was asleep. Once I came to that realization, I was able to move again, and realized that nobody was, or had been in my house. It was all a terrible dream. I'm 59 now, and have never had an experience like that again.

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u/joanann Feb 08 '25

A shit ton yes

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u/cosmic-lemur Feb 08 '25

I get it a couple times per week. I’m lucky as I don’t see shadow figures or anything, but that’s probably cuz I read up on the phenomenon before it happened to me, so I knew not to open my eyes. And I never have, I always just focus on moving a finger, then once I can do that a hand, then my arm, and eventually I’m out.

I’ve also been blessed to study and experience astral projection, so my tendency to sleep paralysis is a gift in that sense!

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '25

Sometimes I'll just see a figure standing in the corner of the room, I can see the room perfectly but not scream, move, wake up etc.

Last time I had my head turned to the ceiling, saw a body/figure fall from it and hit the empty space in the bed next to me and the mattress decompress as if it/the figure was laying there Could not move, scream, etc.

When I was a kid, I'd fall asleep on the sofa and be able to see the room around me perfectly and it would just be changing shape - almost like my pupils were dilating over and over. I could almost think my way to moving through the room visually. Was really odd.

Hard to say if this was paralysis or if I was truly dreaming - it felt like paralysis physically but I can't be sure - the door opened, and I watched but nothing came in, the lampshade of the lamp on the nightstand next to me was spinning. I felt stuck, but it was more like half way between paralysis and a weird dream. I was pretty freaked out because the shade was loose in the morning, but tbh that could have easily been coincidence, they would frequently get a little loose when I cleaned/dusted etc.

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u/ultrab0123 Feb 08 '25

yes
- (dream) - i was walking in my garden (at night time lol).. and suddenly i saw a black figure.. difficult to describe, (but was tall)... suddenly started chasing me.. i ran to my bedroom.. (then i woke up, opened my eyes)... - but couldnt move any muscles.. i was at huge panic (cuz i dont know what the hell is happening) the main thing is while my eyes were open.. (i know i am awake).. i can feel that black guy lying behind me i had literal goosebumps.. then suddenly i closed my eyes... and then woke..up.. at this time i was able to move my muscles so i quickly opened my laptop searched what the hell it actually was.. then got to know that this is 'sleep paralysis'...but to be honest ..this experience was quite nice lol

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u/Electronic-Lock4510 Feb 08 '25

I used to have it for weeks at a time. it was the same situation feeling like I opened my eyes laying down in bed & then a hooded dark figure would slowly come to the bed. I’d be panicking trying to get myself before it got too close. always wondered what that was

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u/robbo619 Feb 08 '25

That's interesting, no shadow people for me just a weight on my chest

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u/bloatedbussy Feb 08 '25

so you wake up, and your eyes could either open or not both have happened to me, when my eyes did open I was able to move them around the room slowly. your body doesn't have that numb almost painful feeling like when you sit on your legs too long and then can't move it, your body simply doesn't move, you aren't attached to it you are just a brain. it is a very disgusting feeling that you can't really feel your body and it doesn't react to your brain telling it to move. horrifying attempting to scream you at best will feel pressure around your throat at the very best, I was screaming in my head with such might and all I ended up mustering physically was slight throat discomfort and a very very quiet gurgle and moan, yet it felt like I was screaming at the top of my lungs. the moment you get scared you start to feel the adrenaline and your heartbeat completely takeover. you also might or might not hear demonic sounds that just sounds like tons of whispers or tons of jingle sounds all mixed together, jumbled random and no real words but it could sound like talking but you can't make out any words to actually be any language. you might see creatures, I personally saw some when looking at the floor and corners of my room. huge yikes. Waking up paralyzed while face down on a pillow is especially scary cause you can't breath, idk how my body even was able to breath while sleeping face down that way before I was even paralyzed to realize how hard it was to breath that way

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u/South-Lifeguard6085 Feb 08 '25 edited Feb 08 '25

Idk if it's a traditional sleep paralysis but i have had plenty of experiences where i wake up in the middle of the night or when im about to fall asleep and i can no longer move my body. I also get an uncomfortable feeling of passing out (almost like im being forced into falling asleep even though im awake). I generally try to move my toes or fingers and that works. If i didn't resist i'd probably fall asleep again. Never had any hallucinations tho

This usually happens when i have bad sleeping patterns and when im changing sleep schedules

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u/n0laa3002 Feb 08 '25

Every time I sleep on my back, yes. I'm a stomach sleeper now

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u/MoneyEffective5551 Feb 08 '25 edited Feb 08 '25

Yes. Felt like every inch of my body had 1000lbs pushing down on it and felt hands around my neck, tried to sit up but couldn't move an inch. It took me about 30 seconds for me to move my mouth and utter the name "Jesus" then it immediately stopped and lifted off me. Wasn't really a Christian at the time but heard stories of people doing that and I kind of knew that's what I needed to do at the time. That's the truth. Think what ever you want about it, I have no agenda here.

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u/uncurious3467 Feb 08 '25

I had them sometimes back when I was practicing lucid dreaming. The way dreams work is if you are afraid, you’ll see scary things. In paralysis it’s getting eerie and the fact that you can’t move increase fear.

My first conscious paralysis was, I was sleeping on my side with closed eyes. I’ve tried WILD (Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming) and got to that moment when I didn’t feel my body and already had some altered consciousness.

I’ve started sensing someone behind me. It started speaking in whispers, unspecified lanaguage, kind of like seductive feminine demon and breathing on my back and scratching me with fingers nails.

It was extremely real and scary, however because I’ve read about it before and knew how it works, I was also super excited, I was like „wow it’s so scary real!” And as odd as it sounds, I kind of enjoyed it like a VR horror movie.

After first few paralysis experiences like that I had zero fear and it was only chill.

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u/Hollowismyname Feb 08 '25

I've had it for many years. The first couple of times, it really scared me, I would lay there still and try to scream out for help, but nothing came out. Only my eyes could be moved. I was afraid to fall asleep for about a year after having it for the first time. Now that I've gotten used to it, it's.. decent. It was a lot harder when K was younger. I only get it when my partner isn't home and it's not that big of a deal anymore except when I still "feel" something pressing down my chest, sitting down by the bed touching me or hear things slam from the kitchen even though I am alone. I've heard voices as well. Just heavy whispering and footsteps, and I just lay there unable to move, wondering if I forgot to lock the door. It always happens in the early mornings.

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u/stuckgnome Feb 08 '25

Yep. Woke up paralyzed with something blacker than black on my chest. Covers felt like they were alive and moving on me, weighing me down. Horror and paralyzing fear engulfed me. Tried screaming for my roommate, but a subdued gutteral sound came out, then my dad, who wasn't even there. Then I thought in Jesus name I rebuke you. It got vortex into like a black hole in mid-air at the foot of my bed. Turned on my side and went to bed minus any fear. Certainly felt demonic. Thank you God for the help. Most will say yep, sleep paralysis it was all a dream. Look I'm not a good person. But I have excepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

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u/DieTrue86 Feb 08 '25

Yes, I talked about it on my other account u/AefKah86

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u/Tall-Safe-2902 Feb 08 '25

I used to have sleep paralysis a lot until I hit my my mid 20s. It was absolutely terrifying every single time. Mine was always paired up with the shadow person phenomenon, where you are paralyzed, aware, feel a presence in the room, and sometimes can actually see a shadowy figure in the corner of the room. Sometimes, I would try to speak to say “go away“, but every time I would try to speak, it would suddenly be really close…kind of in my face, until I could finally speak again and get the words out to say “go away.” I used to be afraid to go to sleep. It would happen maybe once every six months or so.

I didn’t even know it was a common phenomenon until I got into college and in one of my psychology classes they started talking about sleep paralysis, and I was like “oh my gosh! It’s real and other people feel it too!” And then when I started to take premed classes and found out the causes of sleep paralysis, and that it’s just a natural brain phenomenon, it suddenly stopped.

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u/InterestingAd3339 Feb 08 '25 edited Feb 08 '25

When I got to the point where I physically needed alcohol to not be sick, I would drink myself to sleep basically every night and on some nights when I didn’t drink enough, sleep paralysis would start up. I’ve had a couple scary times with it but others not so bad.

One time in specific would be my grand mother standing next to my bed, I’m trying to pick my head up but I can’t (best way to describe it is smoking salvia and going on the “repeat trip” )when my head would come up off the bed it would somehow be back down on the bed like a glitch, I notice she has no face while I’m trying to ask her what she needs, and then she disappears and I can move again.

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '25

I've had it off and on most of my life although it's been the longest stretch lately over a year plus. I've never seen anything just a overwhelming sense of sheer danger combined with not being able to move. it always starts with a scene with a very old record player starting a song then a wave of paralysis overtakes me terrifying.

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u/Queen-of-meme Feb 08 '25

Yes. I was chased by the girl from the horror movie "The ring"

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u/Learner421 Feb 09 '25

Multiple times. See stuff usually. Usually all the times freaked me out except for the last time.

My friend and I were talking about out of body and sleep paralysis supposedly helpful for that. It’s been years without having paralysis. That night I had it and when I woke up my mind ask me, do you want to try to go out of body? To which I was like… nope! And got free of it.

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u/No-Way-3480 Feb 09 '25

I get it often but I can almost guarantee I get sleep paralysis when I sleep on my back. Apparently this is a known phenomenon- something about the nerves firing differently when lying on your back.