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I had a sleep paralysis the other day and I felt a presence in my room

Ultryx

Member
NMlMNLo.gif

I just got into bed. What the fuck?
 

fade_

Member
I never had this happen to me and I am fascinated as well. Quick question for people who experienced this, are you on some type of anti-depressants or other medication? Heavy coffee drinkers?
 
I never had this happen to me and I am fascinated as well. Quick question for people who experienced this, are you on some type of anti-depressants or other medication? Heavy coffee drinkers?

I am now on Lorazepam before bed and it's 99% stopped night terrors and sleep paralysis (and visual snow and exploding head syndrome and the other sleep related things I've had). Not really big on caffeine and wasn't on anything before, I don't even take aspirin.
 
I never had this happen to me and I am fascinated as well. Quick question for people who experienced this, are you on some type of anti-depressants or other medication? Heavy coffee drinkers?

I've only ever had the one brief episode but I've been terrified of having it happen since high school. When I had my episode I'd been drinking the night before and I hadn't smoked any weed which is a rarity for me and THC does reduce REM function and would therefore make it less likely to happen.

In short:

Wouldn't marijuana's inhibition/reduction of REM sleep make it less likely for this to happen?

Yes.
 
I've only ever had sleep paralysis once, and it was scary enough not being able to move or open my eyes. It was a few days after playing Undertale too, so I saw this:
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I'm 30 now but I used to get them in my early 20's.

I remember this one bad stretch from January to March 2009, where I experienced about four of them.

The worst one though: It was the middle of the night, I woke up all of a sudden, but couldn't move, my arms were crossed across my chest, mummy-style, and it felt like there was this heavy weight on my chest. All I could do was just look at my ceiling, and then I hear demonic laughing for a few seconds; then I just went back to sleep.

The weirdest part was that I wasn't scared. I remember the first one I experienced it scared the shit out of me. But after experiencing the first couple, I was like whatever.

I've lost a lot of weight since then and haven't had once since.
 

LOLDSFAN

Member
I've had sleep paralysis once.

I have hypnagogic hallucinations all the time.

If it's a person I try to reach out to them (obviously they're not there when I do). If it's some type of bug or spider I usually jump out of my bed trying to get rid of it.

My last apartment I used to always hallucinate that people were in my living room so I'd jump out of my bed and close the door lol. Then I'd come to my senses a few seconds later.

They're always visual, never auditory.
 

BizzyBum

Member
Why do so many people experience the same thing though like seeing or hearing demons or shadow people. It's weird so many people have the same experiences.
 
Why do so many people experience the same thing though like seeing or hearing demons or shadow people. It's weird so many people have the same experiences.

Half of your brain is asleep and the other half is awake and freaking the hell out, so it's natural that many common things in a room with someone experiencing SP - shadows, light fixtures, etc. - would be interpreted as "demons."

Shadow people are way easier to explain. People see shadow people and disembodied faces all the time because one of the primary functions of your visual cortex is recognizing human body language and facial expressions, to the point where it actually overcompensates and projects these images when they aren't there. It's like how people see faces coming out of walls but if you look at that place clearly there's just a weird smudge or stain that looks like a face if you squint, but on a general glance your brain is trying desperately to work out what facial expressions that smudge is making. Or why that vaguely human shape in your peripheral vision is a "shadow person." It's just your visual cortex telling your brain there might be a human there just in case.
 

Zel3

Member
Whenever I have sleep paralysis I just start moving my pinky finger to get control over my body.

There was a time where I would get sleep paralysis every week, scary times.
 
Thank fucking god I never experienced the shadow people, I don't what the fuck I would have done lmao.

Just remember that its your brain being stupid because it's an imperfect electro-chemical construct.

Or call into Coast to Coast AM or whatever Art Bell is doing these days for your 15 minutes of fame.
 
Just remember that its your brain being stupid because it's an imperfect electro-chemical construct.

Or call into Coast to Coast AM or whatever Art Bell is doing these days for your 15 minutes of fame.

I remember after experiencing the first one I looked into it night terrors/sleep paralysis. Talked to a friend who had also experienced them and distinctly remember him saying "you can hallucinate hearing sounds too".

The more I looked into it the more fascinated I became.
 
What is the correlation?

I've seen somewhere that a higher BMI can lead to increased instances of SP, but I can't find the study right now.

Makes sense considering how much it affects other sleep disorders (like sleep apnea).

I remember after experiencing the first one I looked into it night terrors/sleep paralysis. Talked to a friend who had also experienced them and distinctly remember him saying "you can hallucinate hearing sounds too".

The more I looked into it the more fascinated I became.

Auditory hallucinations are actually ridiculously common even while awake, to the point that pretty much everyone has them and doesn't notice them because they're innocuous.

Visual hallucinations are slightly less common but are also almost always innocuous.

Scent hallucinations are terrifying because they pretty much only occur during strokes :p
 

hertog

Member
I rarely get them because I sleep on my side. But the last visitor actually was a blonde woman grinding on top of me. Which also freaked me out because my wife was sleeping next to me. And normally I wake myself up trying to contact her. But I was too ashamed this time. So even a "nice" experience can be pretty stressful. It felt like that videogame Catherine.
 
I rarely get them because I sleep on my side. But the last visitor actually was a blonde woman grinding on top of me. Which also freaked me out because my wife was sleeping next to me. And normally I wake myself up trying to contact her. But I was too ashamed this time. So even a "nice" experience can be pretty stressful. It felt like that videogame Catherine.

ghostbusters-bj-1.gif
 

Mattdaddy

Gold Member
Man I had an episode of this several years ago, before I even knew what sleep paralysis was and it scared the shit out of me I thought I was going crazy.

I was spending the night at my girlfriends parents house and I was sleeping in a little converted patio/sunroom thing with lots of big swinging doors that lead to the outside. I woke up like 3AMish saw what looked like a dark figure trying to open the doors. It would go from one door to the other and try to get inside the house, but the doors were locked. I started wigging the fuck out but I couldn't move. Legs, arms, nothing. Couldn't yell, couldn't talk, couldn't even turn my head. I remember seeing the figure move over to a set of doors opposite of way I was laying and I heard the door open. I was absolutely panicking at this point literally yelling inside my head "MOVE MOTHERFUCKER!! ARMS?!? LEGS?! ANYONE! Something fucking move!". I felt the presence walk up next to the couch I was sleeping on and lean over, literally hovering right over my ear. I still couldn't turn my head but I could feel it right there. I remember actually thinking "Welp that's it. I must be too scared to move. I'm going to die the biggest pussy in the fucking world".

Then all of a sudden, its like all systems snapped on. I spring off the couch, looked around... nothing there. Doors closed, and locked. Everything false alarm. But it was so real I thought I was going crazy. I didn't know wtf just happened, I knew it wasn't a dream. A few years later (maybe on this forum) I found out about sleep paralysis and is explained so freaking much.
 
I used to get them when I was younger.

it was pretty horrifying of course, mine were more someone is sitting on you and then there's all the hands pressing down on you really hard. Also, that whole getting molested by sights unseen. Very disturbing. Used to get them all the time. It's passed thankfully
 

Ploid 3.0

Member
I have sleep paralysis all the time. I'm basically over it. I just makes sure I can breathe until it's over. None of that shit is real.

I had so many, I can usually get myself out of it now, and if not I just drift back to sleep. Some weird hallucination stuff happen sometimes, but it doesn't worry me. I try to lean my head left or right. It usually gets me out of it.
 
Not sleep paralysis but one time i woke up and was in between sleeping and waking and saw a clay golem from diablo 2 mid swing (hand up coming down) in my room. That was just for a second then the adrenaline sorted out the rest.

Great game. <3
 
I mostly remember having these episodes when I was very young, like before my teenage years. I'm not sure if it was sleep paralysis, but there were times where I was still sleeping and had this great physical sensation of being bent backwards, like my back was really straining to a point where I thought I would get ripped apart or something. And then I would wake up and I would feel relieved. Haven't had it since that time though I think, maybe once or twice. Thankfully, no hallucinations were ever involved and I also didn't get the 'being awake but sleeping' sensation. Just the back pain in the moment, as it were.
 
Used to get this all the time, nearly always felt a presence at the time. I finally just accepted them and quite enjoyed the feeling, it's just about relaxing and realising you can't do shit about it, once I did this they stopped, haven't had one in years. If you're desperate to wake up then I found breathing control worked, it's one of the few things you still have control over so just start breathing really fast and you can make yourself wake up.
 

kaizoku

I'm not as deluded as I make myself out to be
I never had this happen to me and I am fascinated as well. Quick question for people who experienced this, are you on some type of anti-depressants or other medication? Heavy coffee drinkers?

I'm not on anything and I get them quite regularly to the point where I know it's happening now so I know not to freak out. It still wakes me up and gets my heart going but mainly cos I'm trying to force myself awake and experiment trying to move myself.

Some of the hallucinations are stupid. Like the other day I imagined that my phone started playing some video, I was facing away but could tell from the light on the ceiling and noise that it was some kind of Japanese samurai war scene with people stabbing each other etc. I just thought that's weird, I haven't been watching anything like this, so there's no way it could accidentally resume or whatever - so I'm not even in paralysis I must be dreaming about being in paralysis. And it's almost like once you realise that you wake up and you ARE in paralysis. Or maybe you start in paralysis and end up dreaming part way through. I dunno.

Either way it's all in your mind. The only thing you know is you can't move, your eyes are closed but it's like your eyes are open.
 

velociraptor

Junior Member
I had sleep paralysis where some demon was raping me. It was fucked up.

I screamed so loud but no one in my household heard a thing.
 

WaterAstro

Member
I use to have sleep paralysis. I haven't had it in a long while. These days, I'm less worried about stuff.

But I used to be able to break out of my sleep paralysis through sheer will. Sometimes I would feel like spiders were crawling over me, or that some demon was overlooking my bed.

Then, somehow, I clue in that I have sleep paralysis, and I manage to force my body to move so I can get out of it.
 

Shadybiz

Member
Yeah that sounds like a classic episode, for sure. Haven't had one in years, luckily....hoping to keep that streak going.
 

OraleeWey

Member
The first time I ever had sleep paralysis (I did not know what it was at the time), I was laying on my stomach. I thought the devil himself was laying on my back preventing me from moving. The reason I thought that was because my religious family would always say "Se te va a canchar el diablo". Around that time I was religious/a believer myself, not anymore. Anyway, so I googled my experience and learned that it's normal. So now I'm not even afraid when it happens. I just try to snap out of it if I can. It hasn't happened in a long time though, but there was a period of time when it would happen as I was trying to fall asleep.

I guess I know why people think that the devil lays on your back now, though.
 

SpaceHorror

Member
I used to have sleep paralysis pretty regularly about 9 years ago. It was always aliens standing around my bed looking at me. Pretty incredible how real it feels.

Eventually it stopped, but I had a new episode this year. No aliens this go around, but you can see part of the stairs from my bed and there was a shadow figure crawling up them and onto the landing outside my room. Pretty spooky.
 

Spectone

Member
I don't seem to have SP anymore instead I have this weird dream where I dream that I woke up only to realise I'm still dreaming so I try to wake up again but it's still a dream. It loops like this for about three times before I actually wake up, very annoying.
 

L.O.R.D

Member
I had it from time to time,one day i was very tired at work and i am the only one at the office,my boss is the only one that has a key to the office,i sat down on the sofa and immediately felt sleep,15 minutes later i felt my boss entered the office and i couldn't even move,i remember i heated him saying "oh,you are here?" ,felt like someone is holding me from moving and waking up,after 10 minutes of struggling,i managed to wake up, i didn't found anyone at the office,till this day i don't know if that's really my boss or i was imagining.
I am don't know if i should ask him if it was him in that day (he comes only 4-5 times in a month)

&
 
I never had this happen to me and I am fascinated as well. Quick question for people who experienced this, are you on some type of anti-depressants or other medication? Heavy coffee drinkers?

Nothing except being a drinker. It's also been said that my people, Hmong people, brought it over to the states and helped spread it but that's all a load of bullshit since sleep paralysis predated our arrival to the states. We were quite the talk and was what slightly inspired ANOES (A Nightmare On Elm Street).

I've dealt with it tons of times but I usually power through it via willpower. The scariest one I've had was about a year ago. Daytime, sleeping on my side, and I was frozen, trying to wake up, and then I hear her. I don't know what she spoke but it sounded like a spell or some shit. It was quite scary but exhilarating tbh, lol.
 

Kain

Member
I had this once when I was a child and I remember it fondly tbh

Like, I was more bothered by the fact I couldn't move that by the figure I saw standing next to the bed. It was like one of these these Scooby-Doo ghosts with the white sheet and all, but no holes for the eyes and it glowed green.
 
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