Sleep Paralysis Stories: Demons Or Hallucinations?

image of a classical painting representing sleep paralysis

Sleep paralysis stories typically involve unusual and frightening experiences. Perhaps you have one or two of these disturbing tales of your own to tell.

If not, I’ll first share one of mine to give you an understanding of what it can be like.

Then we’ll take a closer look at whether sleep paralysis demons or ghosts really exist. Or if science can provide a logical and comforting explanation.

My sleep paralysis experience

Imagine the following scenario: it’s been a long day, you go to bed later than usual and fall asleep quickly through sheer exhaustion.

But instead of waking up peacefully in the morning, you half wake in the middle of the night. And in the darkness of your bedroom, it slowly dawns on you that you can’t move your body…and that someone, or something, is watching you.

A weight pushing on your chest

You feel a weight on your chest, pressing you down and preventing you from sitting up. And not only is your whole body paralyzed, but you can’t so much as move your lips to call out for help.

You’re not sure who or what is pushing on your chest. Even though you seem to be able to move your eyes just a little, it’s too dark to see anyway. Regardless, you just feel that there’s a presence there. Something strange. Something frightening.

This happened to me last year and was a very unsettling experience. Fortunately, there was no demon, ghost or burglar in my bedroom.

After a minute’s panic, the feeling passed. And I was then able to stumble to the bathroom to make sure my face wasn’t decorated with demonic symbols. It was a classic case of sleep paralysis.

What is sleep paralysis?

Recurrent isolated sleep paralysis is classified as a parasomnia, which is a group of sleep disorders involving unwanted behaviors that accompany sleep.

The main symptom is being awake and unable to move your body. It might also be accompanied by hallucinations or dreams/nightmares whilst still awake.

It typically lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes before movement is regained. And although it may feel like it at the time, it’s not believed by medical organizations to be harmful.

What causes it?

The exact reason for why it happens to some people and only on some nights isn’t known. However, scientists do have a theory about what goes on during sleep paralysis.

During the night, you cycle through different sleep stages. When you enter the REM stage of sleep, your brain stops your muscles from moving – known as REM atonia. One explanation for this atonia is that it prevents injury from acting out your dreams in bed.

During sleep paralysis, the atonia starts, or continues, while you’re awake. And during this time, you might also experience what’s known as sleep hallucinations, or dreams while you’re awake.

So your body and brain are temporarily out of sync while transitioning between sleep stages, potentially creating a frightening experience.

As Dr. Michael J. Breus neatly explains:

Sleep scientists believe that sleep paralysis may occur when the transitions in and out of REM sleep and other sleep stages don’t go smoothly.

How many people experience sleep paralysis?

Sleep paralysis stories like mine are surprisingly common. In 2011, researchers aggregated 35 sleep paralysis studies to find out how many people had experienced it at least once in the past year, finding:

  • 7.6% of the general population
  • 28.3% of students
  • 31.9% of psychiatric patients

And according to the handbook of sleep disorders, it will happen at least once in a lifetime of 40% to 50% of normal subjects, but is “far less common as a chronic complaint”.

Who is more at risk of having sleep paralysis?

Scientists might not know the precise reason only some people have sleep paralysis yet, but there are a growing number of risk factors becoming apparent.

For example, researchers who analyzed 42 studies found several risk factors and associated conditions:

  • Sleep problems, changing sleep patterns and shift work.
  • Sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia and nocturnal leg cramps.
  • Stress.
  • Some psychiatric groups, particularly those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety and panic disorders.
  • Substance and medication use.
  • Physical illness.
  • Personality and anomalous beliefs.

Is there a genetic component to sleep paralysis?

In 2015, British researchers published a study of 862 twins and siblings aged between 22 and 32. They did find some evidence of a genetic role, but only a small one:

In this sample of young adults, sleep paralysis was moderately heritable

Interestingly, they also found other independent risk factors, including:

  • Disrupted sleep cycles
  • General sleep quality
  • Anxiety symptoms
  • Exposure to threatening events

Polls – readers’ experience of sleep paralysis

I polled readers of this article for a year to find out what kind of sleep paralysis episodes they had.

Note that it’s likely that many people who search online about it will have had the more frightening episodes, skewing the results.

But they still provide a fascinating insight into what people experience and how they cope.

Poll 1

In poll 1, the most common episode was thinking there was a demon or other being in the room.

chart showing the results of my poll about the type of sleep paralysis experiences people have

Poll 2

Poll 2 shows that many readers find sleep paralysis terrifying. Again, those who search online for it are likely to have found it particularly disturbing.

chart of poll results for how scared people are during sleep paralysis

Poll 3

Poll 3 shows that many readers first experienced sleep paralysis during adolescence.

chart with poll results about the age people first have sleep paralysis

Poll 4

Poll 4 shows that most readers don’t experience sleep paralysis on a regular basis. 

chart showing poll results about how often people have sleep paralysis

Poll 5

Poll 5 shows some of the ways readers deal with episodes. You’ll find more coping mechanisms below.

chart showing the results of the poll about techniques for stopping sleep paralysis

The not so scientific explanations for sleep paralysis

image of a woman floating above the bed

Since first writing this article several years ago, there has been an extraordinary number of comments. And the comments show that not everyone accepts the scientific explanation.

Interestingly, some people struggle to accept it even though they consider themselves to be scientifically minded generally. I think these cases highlight just how realistic the experience of sleep paralysis can be; how it can linger in your memory and makes you question what happened for a long time afterward.

The possibility of demons, ghosts, spiritual beings, and aliens all crop up from time to time in the comments too. And while many people accept their experiences as hallucinations or dreams, some people choose to believe another explanation – that those entities are real.

Despite these beliefs, there’s one clear theme: nothing bad ever actually happens, other than being frightened and perhaps losing some sleep after an episode.

Around the world

Cultural beliefs also appear to play a role in how sleep paralysis is perceived by some people.

In Fiji, for example, the demon is sometimes seen as a deceased relative coming back to discuss an important or unfinished matter.

In Chinese folklore, it’s also seen as a ghost rather than a demon or intruder.

Some people in Iran and Pakistan interpret it as demons or spirits taking over your body. This could be due to black magic performed by an enemy.

The common theme is that the entity is usually something to be feared. I’m yet to find a culture which believes it’s a friendly creature!

Sleep paralysis treatment

When to see a doctor

Fortunately, most people don’t experience sleep paralysis very often, and no treatment is usually required.

However, if the following apply to you, it’s a good idea to speak to your doctor:

  • It happens regularly.
  • You’re anxious about sleep paralysis and going to sleep.
  • You don’t get enough sleep.
  • You feel very sleepy during the day, sometimes fall asleep suddenly or lose control of your muscles.

What medical treatment is available?

If you see a doctor, they might take the following action:

  • Refer you to a sleep specialist to assess if you have another sleep disorder, like narcolepsy.
  • Treat any underlying psychiatric condition.
  • Discuss any medication or substance use that might be a factor.
  • Explain the biological processes involved in sleep paralysis to reassure you.
  • Talk to you about developing good sleep habits. This is thought to help reduce the frequency of sleep paralysis.

Readers’ techniques for coping with sleep paralysis

Over the years, many readers have described how they cope with sleep paralysis, and I’ve created a list of the most frequent ideas below.

The first seven in the list are also suggested by sleep experts. The rest are a mix of personal opinions. Please bear in mind that none are guaranteed to work:

  • Don’t let yourself become too sleep-deprived.
  • Stick to a regular sleep schedule.
  • Try to reduce stress and anxiety in your life.
  • Try to vigorously flutter your eyelids or move your eyes, as this tends to be an area of the body that’s less affected by the paralysis.
  • Focus on wiggling just one finger or a toe.
  • Don’t take recreational drugs or drink alcohol in the evening.
  • Don’t sleep on your back.
  • Stay calm.
  • Tell yourself that you’re in control. You can order the experience to stop.
  • If you feel a weight on your chest, imagine there’s something friendly causing it.
  • Film yourself sleeping so you can see there was nothing in the room.
  • Don’t think about what it could be. Your imagination will probably make up something scary in the darkness.
  • Organize your bedroom in a way that makes you feel safe and secure.
  • Don’t hang dressing gowns, coats, or hats in places that make them look like figures in the dark.
  • Sleep with a night light, music, or radio on.
  • Remind yourself that nothing bad will happen.
  • Imagine your body rolling from side to side in your mind and count each roll. Focus on this and try to grow the capacity for movement from there.
  • Count numbers to focus your mind on something else.
  • Don’t sleep with a high pillow.
  • Keep your eyes shut and try to clear your mind.
  • Squeeze your eyes tightly shut if you can control the muscles.
  • Keep well hydrated – drink water before going to bed.
  • Talk about it to family or friends – they may have experienced it too.
  • If you have it once, get out of bed for a while to reset the brain.
  • Many people say prayer helps. Some also say that calling on their religious beliefs and commanding what they see to leave helps them.
  • Check if any sleeping pills or herbal remedies you’re taking are causing it.
  • Use sleep paralysis to lucid dream by relaxing and going with the experience instead of fighting it.
  • Once the episode has passed, tell yourself that you overcame it, are not afraid and will always overcome it.

How I recently stopped an episode of sleep paralysis

I successfully used two of the above techniques to stop a recent episode of sleep paralysis.

I woke to find myself in a strange position with my arms crossed on top of my body. And I could literally feel strong hands pinning my wrists to my chest.

I have to admit I was immediately petrified. The whole event was blurry, and I think I was having some dream overlap, but can’t remember exactly what now.

Stay calm and wiggle a finger

Two things sprung to mind after a moment of panic: stay calm and try to wiggle a finger.

The calmness I only managed with moderate success. But I did manage to focus my efforts on moving a finger. It felt quite odd – like my fingers were wiggling in different directions!

Eventually, I felt my arms loosen as well, and soon afterward I was able to shake the whole sensation away as I regained full control.

I then spent a few minutes doing some breathing exercises to ground myself and calm down, and then fell asleep again.

I think just knowing about the finger wiggling technique was enough for me to remember it when the sleep paralysis occurred.

Share your story of sleep paralysis

Have you had sleep paralysis? What happened, and do you have any suggestions to help others deal with it?

Please feel free to share your experience in the comments below.

3,365 Comments

  1. Hi, I’ve decided to do some research about sleep paralysis and found this page. I read the comments so glad that I am not the only one experiening it. It happens randomly and the first episode I had when I was 17 (now I’m 29) it was so vivid. I heard eerie laughters. I was sort of half awake, tried to calm down

  2. I’ve been getting SP for about 18 years. I found it frightening at first, but I soon figured out how to force myself awake. I would get mild auditory hallucinations, though eventually these became less prominent, to the point I didn’t take much notice of them.

    That was until about August last year, when I started getting intruder hallucinations. I recognised the familiar sensation of entering SP just before it hit, and then I would hear and feel a rat crawling around on my bed. Sometimes it would sniff around near my ear, and a few times it nestled into my armpit for warmth. Once it crawled on the side of my head. Naturally, I was freaked out, convinced it was real. I had some trouble fighting out of SP, and would make some loud noise in the direction of the rat as I woke up, but nothing was there. There was no sound of something skittering away, which is nigh impossible as my room is a mess.

    The rat didn’t show up for a while after I kept one of my cats in my room overnight for a week (normally they disturb my sleep too much). Then a few days after finishing the game Dishonored, which features swarms of plague rats, it started turning up again. Eventually I tried recording episodes with my smartphone, and the two times I got recordings during episodes, there was nothing recorded but my own breathing and movements.

    Following this, I’ve had limited success in controlling the hallucinations. Once I managed to “summon” other animals just by thinking about them, which I found quite amusing, as the rat then had less power. As of the last several episodes, the rat doesn’t show up until I will it to do so.

    The last few times I’ve been trying to replace the rat with a cat, as that would be much more pleasant. One of my cats had to be put to sleep last week, so I’d like something friendly to be there for a while, even if the episode is short lived.

    • Hi Garth
      Thanks for sharing your story, and and interesting one it is at that! And I’m sorry to hear about your cat – the loss of a pet is always a difficult thing to deal with.
      I really like your constructive attitude in trying to change the things you see. It’s an inspiration for the other readers who struggle to cope with sleep paralysis. And it’s great that you’ve had some success. There is actually a form of therapy for dealing with nightmares which involves trying to visualize better endings for your dreams while you are awake and thinking about it regularly to try to change your dreams. Perhaps what you are doing is similar, so I wish you the best of luck with it.
      Regards
      Ethan

  3. I have recently been suffering with SP due to being stressed out and anxious. I suffer with anxiety as it is but I have never experienced episodes of SP like this before. It started a couple of weeks ago, I had the usual symptoms of waking up and not being able to move, the urge to scream but no sound coming out and great effort to get my breath. I’ve had previously had this before but what was different this time was a dark figure at the end of my bed. It was pulling me towards it, as if it was taking me somewhere but then a white shadow and formed and I was suddenly realised and my SP ended. I woke up with sweat rolling down me and my breathing had gone through the roof; I was having a full blown panic attack. Anyway I was wary of going to sleep after that incident for a bit, until the other night. The same scenario happened with the SP and dark figure, only this time it felt as if the white shadow was in me and I was able to fight it off. Either way it’s scared the s*** of me and I’m really struggling to sleep atm. I’ve been Googling up on it all and all that comes up is ‘demons’ and tbh, that isn’t helping. I believe in such things, but I don’t want to believe that there is one causing all of this. I just want a honest, plausible answer. I’m only 16.

    • Hi Jess

      Thank you for sharing your sleep paralysis story, and sorry to hear it’s upset you so much. Yes, you will find lots of theories of demons and other nasty things if you search online. But you will also find the same scientific explanation on the most respected websites. If you look through all the comments here, you’ll find some useful bits of advice from other readers. But for now, perhaps try sleeping with a nightlight on, or even the radio or television if you are able to. It might help provide some comfort if you do wake up and go through all that again.
      All the best
      Ethan

  4. I have experienced these episodes on and off since my early teens. Recently they”ve become increasingly stranger and on 2 occasions after i applied the Blood of Jesus i heard a harsh, raspy voice respond angrily in a language that was like nothing i’d heard before and I sensed something move or leave. It seemed like that awful voice came from my mouth while I was talking in my mind, and immediately the ‘presence’ left I was able to take control of my body again. What’s worst, this last time, after i got up i seemed to see through a cloudy glass two figures. One I sensed was me but dressed differently, and seemed to be injured or really exhausted and weary. She was pale, thin and her right eye was turned up and greyish white like she had been hit or stabbed in it. She was standing in what looked like a charred landscape looking grey and exhausted. I felt I was looking at myself in some other place and I got the impression we had been fighting a long, hard battle. The other figure looked like some type of animal, it was big, a kind of pinkish blue grey color and seemed gelations. Something about it reminded me of a pig. The entire scene, but especially the animal, made me think of something dark, unnatural, and dangerous. I could not sense if the animal was a friend or foe but it seemed somewhat repulsive.

    I’m not sure what to make of this but it’s darned scary

    • Hi Danielle

      Thank your for the comment, and sorry to hear you’ve been having some scary experiences. It does sound unpleasant indeed. As with a few other people there seems to be some blurring between dreaming and sleep paralysis, but it’s so hard to work out when one stops and the other starts.
      Hopefully you will have found some helpful advice in this article and the other comments people have left.
      All the best
      Ethan

  5. I’ve struggled with sleep paralysis for as long as I can remember. I’m 24 now and can remember having episodes of it when I was only a kid. I get it often and have become used to it. But there are some times where I know I’m in sleep paralysis and can’t help but become afraid. Most of the time I shake it off and just fall asleep. But when I have hallucinations I can’t tell if it’s real or not. Most of the time it feels extremely real. I even feel touching or voices. Mostly whispers but sometimes a low female voice calling my name in an eerie way. I even see shadows or even people with no faces and as of recently what seemed to be aliens to me. I have a lot more frightening stories too where I feel helpless. I love hearing and sharing these experiences. I’d also love to see a movie on this topic. Feel free to contact me about it.

    • Hi Justin

      Thanks for sharing your story in the comments thread. Like so many others, it is surprising how real it can feel, and continue to scare you even when you become more used to it.
      Funnily enough I saw an advert for a film on sleep paralysis on a crowd funding website not long ago. I hope they don’t make their budget request though because the trailer looked terrible. All the film makers seemed interested in was using it as a basis for a demonic horror story, and it looked pretty gruesome. Not something which would help all the many people who struggle to accept the scientific explanation!
      Regards
      Ethan

  6. I’ve been having sleep paralysis for about 15 years. The first ones were mostly sound hallucinations where I would wake up to extremely loud banging noises, as if someone were standing over my bed banging a pot with a large metal spoon. I actually felt as if my eardrums were going to explode because it was so loud. I also used to have these episodes where I would become paralyzed and have intense electricity running through my body. It was so bad that i felt as if i were in an electric chair and I was seriously worried that I would damage my brain because when I was finally able to snap out of it and move again, my whole body would feel like jello and I would only be able to crawl, not walk for a few minutes after. I’ve also seen the typical black shadow people and I even was one once. It happened while I was trying to fight off paralysis and i looked down to see small child like black legs thrashing around instead of my own legs.
    I don’t SP as often as I used to but its still very weird! I have had several interesting hallucinations and odd OBE moments but I don’t have enough space to write them all down.

    • Hi Chrisy

      Thanks for sharing your experiences here. It sounds like you’ve definitely had a few unpleasant moments, and I’m glad for you that it happens less frequently. Did you ever get yourself checked by a doctor over the electricity feelings and feeling like jello when you wake up? It would be interesting to know what they said, and if it still happens to this day.
      Regards
      Ethan

  7. Hi everyone :)
    well I am not alone in this thing, I suffered for a long time through my teenage phase of my life of horrifying nightmares where I couldn’t move any part of my body, I saw shadows, a old man dressed in a white suit and also a creature that had a human body but also had a type of pig face mixed with goat, I really mean it, I did sleep for a long time with my mother , I was 17 when I left home and I only had this episodes in my life while I was living in my mum’s house , funny or not I am 32 today and I live in New Zealand and the last time I had this type visions or “sleep Paralysis “was when I went to visit my mum in Brazil. And believe me I spent 8 months there and @ 30 years of age I asked to have my mum on my bed because I saw a lot of shadow people, hands ,arms and body moving in my bedroom, I was wake.. haven’t had it since I come back to New Zealand, it has been almost 4 years with out problems.the things I saw on my sleep paralysis I had no idea that actually was pictures or images online related to it, why our brain would show so many people the same thing? the same creatures? millions of coincidence or people or things from other dimensions? what is your opinion?

    • Hi Leo

      Thanks for your comment and sharing your sleep paralysis moments with us. I wrote a comment some time ago in response to someone else, explaining why so many people have similar images appear to them. Without going into at length again, the summary was that I think we are all heavily influenced by the images we do see. Even if you don’t watch horror films for example, you will still sometimes see images as a results of advertising etc.
      Personally I don’t believe in creatures from other dimensions, though I’m sure you will find one or two other readers who do.
      And as for only experiencing SP in Brazil, it doesn’t completely surprise me that it only happens in one place. Other people have mentioned a similar thing. I don’t think it is evidence though that a place itself is somehow ‘bad’. More that possibly your mind makes an association based on previous experience. Or that you just sleep differently when you are there.
      Anyway, all the best and hopefully you can continue sleeping without those unpleasant experiences.
      Regards
      Ethan

      • I think we see these “demons” or whatever you wanna call them because when you enter these sleep paralysis episodes your brain is awake but your body is not. Your brain gets “bored” and since you already feel scared about the paralyzed aspect of it your brain knows your scared and decides to create some sort of image to actually be afraid OF instead of nothing, if that makes sense.

  8. I have had sleep paralysis episodes for about 4-5 years now. These episodes tend to occur after I stay up all night writing papers or studying for exams. I am not a religious person but it is hard for me to find comfort in the scientific understanding of these events.

    I’ll just jump into my very last experience which was actually one day ago. I went to bed at 4:30 a.m. (yes, another long night) while listening to a silly podcast called the “Ten Minute Podcast”, which I leave playing all night because I have so many downloaded. I woke up at about 5:50 a.m. and I was laying on my right side and I opened my left eyes and saw my computer in front of me. I then started listening to the podcast I mentioned earlier thinking I should get up. At this point I could not move because I was paralyzed. I experience these SP episodes relatively often so I usually wait them out, but this time I felt something step into my bed and sit behind me. I felt the pressure of whatever it was press into my back. At this time I tried to move my left arm which was free with all of my might. I moved it just slightly and then my left arm extended further from my body and started spinning in a circular motion which I was not in control of. I then felt an even greater pressure come over my whole body, as if a very heavy blanket was thrown over me. My whole body then slid towards the head of my bed by about 3 inches. Mind you, this whole time I had one eye open and I was also listening to a podcast, so with that being said I could gauge how long the experience lasted, which was about five minutes. When I experience these hallucinations I find it extremely hard to stay calm by explaining to myself that there are biological explanations for what is happening.

    Again, I am not religious, these experiences are just super creepy. I realize the mind is a very complicated thing that isn’t completely understood.

    • Hi Christopher,

      Thanks for sharing your experience of sleep paralysis, and the one your describe does sound very creepy, as you put it. As with so many other readers, you rightly mention how difficult it can find comfort in the rational explanation when what you experience seems so real and not at all rational.
      But I think it’s important to hang on to that belief, no matter how difficult it can get. It sounds like you’re doing a good job under the circumstances, so just remember that trying to keep calm is probably the best thing you can do.
      All the best
      Ethan

  9. Hi, I thought I’d add my list of varying SP episodes. I think I suffered this as a child,around 5-6 years, and now for about the last 5 years, I’m 29 now.

    I say I think I suffered this as a child as I’m pretty sure now that monsters don’t exist.

    I remember vividly as a child sitting up-right in bed and going into a state where I couldn’t move/talk and a demon opening the door coming through and talking to me, not kindly! When he left I simply snap’d out of it, got out of bed and saw my parents. I was told I must be dreaming, explained I hadn’t woke up from a dream and for a long time was convinced of demons….

    Later in life when it started happening again I found out it was SP, or different dream states.

    I get it a few times a week, and the experiences can be different. But I can guarantee 100% it will happen if I sleep on my back. Although it can happen if I lie on my front, something about lying on my back induces it. I always know I am asleep really while it is happening, and still panic anyway!

    Notable experiences, Standard experience, lying there can’t move and shadowy person opens the door and stands there talking while not moving/being able to talk. For some reason, probably the fear and anxiety, I will desperately try and block out/not listen to what they have to say.

    out of body experience, floating around my bedroom, I will lie in bed thinking I am awake, then suddenly float to the ceiling and push my self around.

    One time I got into bed, rolled over, and not a few seconds later the covers fly of my bed. Black figure walks in talks then leaves.

    Sometimes I’ll have a weight on my back, often its a dog….

    This often happens, I’ll find I can’t move/talk and try and fight it. i’ll struggle and shake and eventually snap and think I’m awake . I then close my eyes and it immediately happens again. Had this happen 6 times in a row before.

    My girlfriend is a very light sleeper and can often tell when I’m having an episode. It does not take her long to wake me up, but i can see her leaning over me and hear her words, but for a while I will not be able to move of talk back.

    I will note it never happens if I leave the TV on all night. Also herbal sleeping remedies seem to induce it.

    Sorry to ramble but this seemed a good place to document.

    • Hi Alex

      Thank you for sharing your sleep paralysis experiences, and it sounds like you’ve had quite a range of them! It’s interesting that the TV helps – something that I wrote about in an article about people who can’t sleep due to a fear of the dark, and just don’t know that’s what they have. And it’s good that you have someone who can wake you up out of it. Maybe try sleeping with a soft night-light and see if that helps?
      Regards
      Ethan

  10. I’ve experienced sleep paralysis since I was younger, and only recently overcame my fear. Over the years I’ve seen shadow figures, the Old Hag, lights that become figures, felt a presence in my room, and I’ve heard music and metallic screeching or buzzing. I’ve also experienced bodily vibrations and other weird sensations (like I’m spinning).

    I sometimes wake into these vibrations, as well (I’m unsure if this is sleep paralysis). They come in waves, stopping if I struggle against them, then restarting a second later. I usually eventually fall asleep after the third or fourth wave, but last month, after reading about lucid dreaming, I decided to “fall into” them. I experienced a falling sensation before images began appearing. One of them was the Old Hag, who was shouting at me throughout. She even followed me into the dream, though for some reason ignored me and attacked a group of guys. I lost lucidity a few seconds later.

    • Hi Jim

      Thanks for sharing your interesting sleep paralysis story. It’s often difficult to tell the difference between sleep paralysis, dreaming and other phenomenon as you rightly point out. But the main thing is that you managed to overcome your fear…well done!
      And if you do decide to ‘go with it’ and see what happens, then you may end up having some very interesting experiences!
      Regards
      Ethan

  11. I apologize if my last post was lengthy but i guess i had a lot of points to be made. I didnt realize how long it was.

    • Hi Trenton,

      Thank you for your interesting and very descriptive comment. And don’t worry about the length – I gave up a long time ago trying to encourage people to leave shorter comments. It seems to be a topic people feel compelled to write at length about, so until my server crashes, it can carry on:-)

      I am going to start reducing my responses to long comments though due to the sheer amount of time it takes, much as I wish I could always spend time on each one individually.

      Hopefully your quite frightening experiences will not continue with such intensity. Assuming you’ve read all the comments here, maybe you’ll find something which will help you to deal with it when it happens.

      Thanks again for taking the time to describe your sleep paralysis experience.
      Regards
      Ethan

  12. Hi. I used to be a strongly religious Christian. This was before i realized that religion and faith are 2 different things. I know not every one will believe the same as me. But i will say that i believe What my Bible says is true. I DO. NOT however agree with all the religious things that society has put upon my faith. NOW THAT BEING SAID….HERE’S MY STORY. Before i tell of my experience i will say that i agree that there is something biological taking place. But it doesn’t answer enough. 2 years ago i had a failed suicide attempt. As a sophomore in high school i went through a lot of mental grief and problems. I had abandoned what i thought was my faith. Until one night i was asleep. I suddenly became aware. Not in my physical earthly body but i was in a dark nexus. The best i can describe it is the loading screen on assassins creed video games. But i was accompanied by a tall dark figure. He was pointing at me. He said “Trenton. You are mine. If you cant escape this dream you will die and i will own your soul.” It was more real to me than any lucid dream i have ever had. I was aware that what he said was true. I tried crawling away into this black and empty infinity to no avail. He laughed as i sat crying. I felt the devil himself in my presence. He said “now you’re mine” and without thinking i turned and said “no. I belong to God” he didn’t like that. Then i saw a figure appear that i can only describe as light. He looked even angrier than the dark figure. The Man clothed in light took the dark figure away to where i couldn’t hear what was being said. He pointed and scolded at the dark one and the dark one looked like the kid in class who doesn’t care what the teacher says but follows orders always (you know that guy) He pointed back at me. Then the dark one smiled in my direction and nodded his head at the light One and the light one opened the light where i crawled from the nexus back to my bed. It was more than lucid. I know no amount of explaining could be convincing but it was real enough that i am still convinced. Since then i became TRULY saved. But that hasn’t rid me of my worn in anxiety and depression.DON’T GIVE UP HERE COMES THE MORE RELATIVE STORY. Last fall i was lying in my bed.(asleep) this time it was just a dream.almost all of my dreams have about a1.5 second continuity span.not this one. It was all one solid flowing dream I saw a girl. Half of her face was the most beautiful thing i have ever laid eyes on. She needed no make up. But the other half was decayed. There was bone showing. It was the most frightening sight i could imagine. She kept sort of singing “im the angel ghost” over and over. I have a weak spot for beautiful girls. I went to ask her if there was something wrong.she looked at me and said “now YOU are the angel witch IMMEDIATELY i was attacked. I woke up as if i were having a night terror ONLY TO REALIZE THAT I COULDN’T move. Something was on my chest.it was patting me. At first it felt like a huge mouse had gotten on top of me and started jumping on me.i was screaming internally when all of a sudden my body came back to my mind and i had yelped and screamed like never before while throwing my blankets across the room. I had realized that my arms were tingly and asleep and nearly numb and still paralyzed. But i wasn’t sleeping on top of my arms. I was on my back with my arms to the side-ish. SOMETHING was holding my arms down while i was lying there. THE NEXT TIME was a week ago today. It was just a simple experience.(compared to the others) i was lying on my stomach this time and knew what was happening(afterwards). I was having SP. I panicked. I felt a dark presence but couldn’t see it. THE MOST recent episode was about 5 hours ago. It lasted for 1-2 hours. I felt like this presence was constantly waking me up.but i couldn’t move. It put me back to sleep. I ended up becoming aware within my sleep. Then i woke up. Still paralysed.this cycle continued for about an hour and a half. I told myself “its just sleep paralysis. The demon will go away if i ignore it” well apparently it heard me. It had found. a way to press down on my chest as if it was giving some violent form of cpr. My heart was more than racing and pounding at this point. It was fluttering as i panicked.then. i was relieved. Now here i am on the internet looking for answers. Not the wisest decision but also not a dumb one.thanks for reading. Again this is all my true account as truthful as i can tell and to the best of my memory. I am still interested in seeing what happens down the road. I am only 18 but i am always seeking to know more. GOD BLESS you all.

  13. I’ve had an experience, but I’m not entirely sure if I was really awake or whether I had a false awakening. It was all exactly the same as when I definitely woke up, except I couldn’t move, speak or breathe properly.
    I didn’t have any demons or anything, but my housemate came into my room and walked up to my bed and tried to shove a drink of something at me. Since my housemate never actually did that, I’m pretty sure mine, at least, was a hallucination.
    The strange thing is that my housemate is actually the nicest guy ever, but I continually dream he’s like, messing with my head in my dreams. >.<

    The thing that makes me convinced some of these experiences are more than just dreams/hallucinations is the content of what some of the creatures say, if it is they say anything. From experiences I've read online, the creatures sometimes say stuff like 'We're finally in her head', 'You're not ready, I'll come back when you are' and 'She's waking up, we have to leave'. I mean, that stuff is truly concerning.

    Also I read several people experiencing sleep paralysis, and maybe seeing a creature, and their partner's who are asleep beside them wake up saying they felt something sitting on their chest, crushing their breathing. I mean, that's pretty spinny.

    Also, I've read that this phenomenon tends to happen to people when they sleep on their backs. For some reason, my whole life, I've never been able to sleep on my back because it makes me feel really, really vulnerable. Perhaps there is some subconscious reasoning behind my irrational fear?

    I also understand that many of these experiences come after somebody, willingly or unwillingly, had been lucid dreaming. I always felt that lucid dreaming/astral travelling was quite literally when somebody's soul leaves his/her body, but I'm pretty spiritual like that.

    Anyway, assuming that theory is correct, isn't it then possible that:

    a) people experience sleep paralysis because their soul is not entirely one with their body yet? And for some reason, part of their consciousness IS in the body, but not enough that they have full control of their body?

    and

    b) That during these periods where our soul is outside our body, that we might encounter creatures usually outside of the 3rd dimension, outside of most people's usual field of vision? Certainly some of these creatures will be of ill-intent.

    And that really scares me. If the soul is outside our body, thus rendering us vulnerable and semi-conscious, and we're interacting with this dark creatures whilst so vulnerable… well, the possibilities terrify me.

    I wouldn't want them 'inside my head' or 'coming back when I'm ready'. What purpose would they have? What would they be coming back for?

    Scary, scary stuff.

    Hopefully, I'm not correct and the scientific explanation is truly what's going on, 'cause otherwise, there's some terrifying stuff that science and thus, most of us, will never, ever understand.

    • Hi andromeda,

      Thank you for your comment, and adding your thoughts and theories to the on-going discussion. I won’t go on too much in response to you, but it does seem that you’re worrying a lot about things you’ve read online, rather than your own experiences. For example what you’ve read that ‘creatures’ sometimes say. I think it’s good to take what you read online with a pinch of salt, and not think too much about what other people say. If you worry about everything everyone ever reports about what they see in their dreams, nightmares, hallucinations or sleep paralysis, then there will be awful lot to worry about! If you do believe in astral travelling, lucid dreaming etc, as many people do, then maybe you could try to think about the good things you’ll potentially see. Just a thought for you.
      Thanks again for taking the time to comment, and you may find one or two other readers respond at some point to your thoughts.
      Regards
      Ethan

  14. I have experienced these scary sleep experiences, throughout my adult life. I actually had one last night, and for the first time ever, do not feel scared today, as I usually become petrified for days later! It was the usual experience, I am waking up, or just falling asleep, I am aware I am lying in bed, and can hear noises like cutlery drawers opening and shutting in my kitchen, people knocking on my door, I am filled with sense of terror before I realise I am paralysed, I try to move and shout, bit I can’t, I manage to open my eyes, but it feels like I m drugged and am falling back into a sleep of horrors, I fight so hard to wake, I feel a tingling sensation starting at my feet, the pressure is intense, and I feel if it reaches any higher it’s the end! I also feel like I m being thrown up walls and being pulled under the bed, but very fast! Last night, although still scary, I managed to laugh in my head, and say, do whatever, I will not give my energy in fighting u, I still went under the bed, but I wasn’t afraid anymore, I tht, when else would I ever get to experience this feeling, I I removed the fear, and it somehow evolved into another dream! I for years thought I was being possessed by demons, I visited a doctor, petrified, he could see how terrified I was and sent me for therapy, they didn’t address the dreams, and just asked me questions about my life, I felt so utterly drained and terrified! I would talk to people about them, as I was desperate for help, and I would clear the room, lol, even my own family just tht I was nuts and didn’t take me seriously. As a child I was always terrified at night, I would sleep with the covers over my head, and wearing shoes, and putting lines of socks at the bottom of by bed as a barrier!! At times I have tht I m crazy too! I am now in my 40’s and have reached a new level of awareness, and I agree with your theory, I’d much rather turn my experiences into a positive experience, as I have no control over these episodes, than be consumed with fear of being possessed by demons every night! I have wasted so, so, so much energy and fear and made my self ill with worry, that if have made the decision to not be any more, and I was as easy as that! I look forward to my next one, and am curious to see how I can handle and control it again! Common sense is kinda shouting at me, telling me if it can happen to me so many times, nothing bad ever happens,it always ends, and it is what it is, I will never find out what is really happening, so ride the roller coaster of sleep terrors, and turn it into your own crazy ass theme park of rides, that no-one else but u will get to experience!

    • Hi Kay

      Thank you so much for this comment, it’s a really interesting and positive story of how it is possible to change your mindset towards sleep paralysis, and therefore hope to deal with it better. I’m really impressed by how you managed to take the decision to change your perspective, especially considering the fact that you were so traumatized by it for so many years.

      It’s a shame that you had to experience people, yourself included, thinking you were going crazy. I often wonder how many people out there have had the same problem, or not spoken or it because of the fear of being branded crazy.

      Good for you for dealing with it in the way you have, and I hope it only continues to grow easier to deal with as time goes by.

      Thanks again for sharing this as I’m sure it will help one or two others who read it.
      Ethan

  15. Hey
    After reading all about SP on the internet i just wanted to share my experience with all of you to feel a little more comfortable sleeping tonight. I know this sounds like a big lie but both of my two SP experiences kind of merged with a lucid dreaming state and were quite a scary adventure. On my first experience i was tired. I mean really tired i have been attending a math course for the big university exam.(not the finals a different one to enter a university). On that night i woke up and saw a kind of muscular black figure in the room standing far away. It moved like a human and looked like he would be in his thirties if it had a face or other organs or skin or i dont know. Just as it started to walk towards me i noticed i had a set of syringes tied to my belt and started to inject the figure with them. With each injection the figure got smaller and shortly there was nothing but a little black puddle on the ground. I knew if i did one more injection it would be gone but there wasn’t any syringes left.Then the puddle started to reform and grow in to a more muscular frightening figure… Then I woke up. I know this doesn’t fit the sleep paralysis but the whole time my body was on my bed and i felt the whole can’t move, what the *&%*? sensation as i battled that guy.

    The other one was much more interesting but damn, its hard to recollect the memories to write it down as a storyish thingie. Sorry mainly i fought against a book character named Abdi ağa ( From İnce Memed) with a rifle then an mp40. Again i cant move, OMG, why is my body over there, have i done this before?, and other thoughts came to my mind.

    And there was another i forgot to mention at the beginning. The most pleasant one (actually the only nice one of them). When i woke up i saw my girlfriend sitting on my chest and dangling her feet from the bed, but not in a scary way. She had a warm smile on her face. If I could move I would just think it was a nice dream.
    So … Yeah

    • Hi acceptably cool name:-)

      Thanks first of all for taking the time to describe your experience. I think, as you point out yourself, that it’s hard to tell whether what you experienced was really sleep paralysis or not. I think when people describe waking up but being frozen, it’s easier to attribute it to SP. But when people start doing things, as in your syringes ‘attack’ it’s harder to work out whether you’re just dreaming, or lucid dreaming, or a combination of different sleep states where a dream merges with a lucid dream as you suggest. And you may never really know!
      Nonetheless, they are interesting experiences there, especially the variety between the 3.
      Thanks again for sharing
      Ethan

  16. I’m 20. I’ve had more than a few experiences of SP before, all during the past year… my very first one however was when I took a nap on my mother’s bed downstairs and started dreaming. The dream wasn’t bad at first, but near the end I was sitting high up near a ceiling alone where a lot of fake clouds were or were floating or something very light hearted and calming… and I start seeing small half a foot tall at most, imp-like black things with sharp teeth … I wake up and realize I’m on my mother’s bed but I can’t move at all except for my eyes. I look to my left and one of the imp things is near me and it’s growling or something. With great effort I manage to free one of my hands and I grab the thing (the one near me, there were two others) and squish it in my fist. I manage to fully wake up my limbs and start moving freely and snap out of it.

    The other times SP has happened to me I haven’t seen any creatures I’ve just been unable to move and one time I saw spidery black shapes on the ceiling of my room. The most recent experience I’ve had involved me waking up in my own bed and I hadn’t opened my eyes yet, but I felt like something or someone was stroking my hair and at first I didn’t mind it because it felt nice. Soon I got a bit creeped out by it after a few seconds and I opened my eyes. The stroking stopped just before I opened my eyes. Nothing was there and I don’t remember not being able to move but the stroking felt so real and I was calm almost the whole time.

    I haven’t had any more for a half a year now and I don’t necessarily fear my experiences all that much because I haven’t seen a demon like entity or experienced any pressure on my chest or anything like that. But I am very interested in the topics of SP and lucid dreams and supernatural entities. I have read almost all the comments and just now noticed that it is almost 6 am hahah.

    I am a Christian and I do believe that a spiritual realm exists and so do demons and spirits (I don’t call them ghosts because I feel like that’s the term people use when they say they don’t believe in them). But I haven’t had any supernatural experiences or seen any truly terrifying demon before. I believe the scientific explanations for SP but reading some of the other comments on here one in particular where an entity entered a man’s body and was forced back out in billowing black smoke, I believe that some of them could be truly supernatural in nature.

    By the way most of my experiences I was laying on my back. Seems to be a recurring thing with people.

    • Hi Meg

      Thank you for sharing your sleep paralysis experiences, and also your interesting comments on the previous readers’ stories. I’d love to know what time you started reading the comments if you finished at 6am! I can only imagine it took a very long time. I also imagine that your mind would have been so full of the countless horror-like stories, you could easily have had bad dreams! Some of the stories send a shiver down my spine when they arrive in my inbox to publish…

      I really likes the way you describe being able to ‘squish’ the imp in that one experience. I think it’s very rare to actually get your hands on something because whatever you are seeing tends to disappear shortly before or as you regain movement. So you’re very unique there!

      And it’s interesting again to hear from someone who experiences SP but doesn’t always find it scary. It’s curious how there is such a wide range of reactions to similar experiences.

      And if you do believe in supernatural things, then I imagine it’s helpful to not be so scared by what happens to you. To believe and be scared must be a difficult combination for some people to cope with.

      Thanks again for the comment
      Regards
      Ethan

  17. I am so interested in this subject. I have had several episodes of SP. It started when I was in college. My roommate and I had twin beds with a dresser inbetween. I can remember falling asleep on my stomach, then being awake, I could see my roommate sleeping on the other side of the room, I could see a black cloaked figure at the foot of my bed pulling me by my left ankle. I would try to scream to my roommate, but nothing would come out, I would feel myself being pulled from the bed scared to death. When I would wake up, I would be in the same position, but would not have moved. I always attributed this to nightmares, this happened several times when I was in college. Years later, during my first marriage, my husband, who was an emt would work 24 hour shifts. On the nights he was gone, I would experience these episodes. Different from the ones in college. Many times I would fall asleep while reading with the bedside lamp on. I would wake up to all kinds of noise and people in the living room, as if there was a party. I wouldn’t be able to move or speak. When I would finally wake up, of course I was alone. I would be afraid to fall back to sleep because these “dreams” would happen more than once in a night. It’s been several years since I have had an episode, but they do pop up occasionally. It’s very unnerving and maybe the reason that I don’t always like to sleep in bed and always have the tv on.

    • Hi Linda

      Thank you for taking the time to share your story. The ankle being pulled nightmare really doesn’t sound nice at all! And what you describe as possibly sleep paralysis whereby you hear people in the living room is quite an unusual one. I wonder if it is sleep paralysis, or you are dreaming of being paralyzed and hearing the party? As I was saying to a previous reader, I think it can be very hard to tell the difference sometimes.
      At least you’re not having them so often now, whatever the episodes may be. If you’ve found keeping a TV on reduces it, then it’s good you’ve found something which helps.
      Regards
      Ethan

  18. Hi,

    I just wanted to comment on what my experience was. I just woke up to not knowing if I was sleeping, awake, hearing things, or just going crazy. I have two dogs and a cat who usually go nuts if they hear things themselves so this is why it’s even more freaky. I sleep with my husband and rotate from front, to side, to back. Last night I kept hearing things which sounded like they were coming from the other room, almost like an empty water cooler jug being pushed around ( we have several empty ones in basement as we have a cooler). I though maybe it was the cat as none if the dogs seemed fine. I then woke up at 3am and couldn’t fall back asleep which is weird but whatever. I then went on my phone for an hour looking at Facebook till i felt tired and fell asleep again, I then dreamt ( or though I was dreaming) of hearing noises again like things in the kitchen, they kept getting louder and louder, I felt like I was awake and was trying to move but couldn’t. I then heard what sounded to be like our swifter vacuum go off and get louder and almost like someone was coming in our room with it. I couldn’t even grab my husbands hand even though his hand was touching mine. I opened my eyes so confused he didn’t hear it, but never woke him as I realized the dogs were still fast asleep and so was my 6 month old. I also forgot to mention while experiencing all this while I was hearing noises I felt like my bed was bubbling up someone was pushing up on the bed. So scary. Still trying to figure why no one else heard anything. :{

    • Hi Vanessa

      It sounds like you had an awful lot going on that night, so I’m not surprised you’ve been left feeling a little confused!

      From reading all the comments on this article and various others, a feeling I often get is that people sometimes have experiences which cover various different areas and end up in a big confusing mess. For example you can have some complex and bizarre nightmares which then turn into sleep paralysis. And perhaps float between the two several times over the night.

      Because of this I think it’s probably impossible sometimes to say definitely that an experience was one thing or the other. Perhaps you may need to just put it down to a very bad night’s sleep, which involved possible nightmares, sleep paralysis and who knows what other unexplained sleep parasomnia.

      I don’t know if that is helpful in any way, but my overall sense is that sometimes it’s too hard to unpick something completely, so maybe try to file it away in the brain in the ‘uncategorized’ section if at all possible!

      Hopefully this was a one-off experience and you won’t have to go through it again.

      Thanks for sharing your story
      Ethan

  19. Hi Ethan, i had the very same experience you had. But my experience is much clearer than yours. . . I always sleep with a zero watt bulb in my bedroom. So my room is always dimly lit and that makes everything in the room very visible. It was around 12:30 in the night when i opened my eyes. And i saw what looked like a black wisp of air a little behind my head,it resembled BLACK SMOKE. And i could see it easily, as clearly as i see my computer screen right now. Before i stretched my neck to see what it was, it quickly moved around my bed and sat upon my chest, and after that i could do nothing, i felt like it was rolling my tongue and i couldnt scream….I am a Christian. So i had the faith that if i said the name ‘Jesus’ it would leave me(childish faith, i know). I tried to say the name, but obviously could not. But after many vain full attempts, with the balck spirit still hovering over me, i said ‘Jesus’, and it left me that very instant. . . I have never had that experience again. I have strong faith in God, and hence i believe that the ”DARK SMOKE” was an evil spirit . . . . i thought i was the only person in the world with this terrifying experience, but im glad i bumped into your site.

    • Hi Edrick

      Thanks for the comment, and you’re definitely not the only person to experience this, as you now know from the sheer quantity of readers who have shared their sleep paralysis story.

      As time goes by, there’s a clear pattern developing of the kinds of things which help. And for those who have firm religious beliefs, focusing on calling on a religious power definitely seems to one of those things.

      It’s great when people find something which helps stop the SP, so I appreciate you sharing this. It will no doubt be very helpful for other readers who also share the same belief.

      Regards
      Ethan

  20. I had extremely vivid, frightening dreams when I was 3. Sometimes I would experience lucidity during these nightmares, which eventually progressed to lucid dreaming all the time. This is when I started experiencing SP.

    I still remember the first time clearly. I woke up unable to move anything but my eyes. There was something big, heavy, and ice cold sitting on my chest. The creature was a strange amalgamation of insect and mammal parts. I could feel its enormous beetle legs digging into my flesh as it sat on me, but the worst part was the smell. It was a mixture of rat urine and cockroach odor so strong I could taste it in my mouth. In the periphery of my vision I could see a shadowy black figure standing in the corner of my room. The words, “This isn’t real”, flashed through my mind. I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

    I kept having the same hallucinations of the shadow man and the malodorous bug, sometimes together, sometimes separately for many years. I thought they were just extra vivid nightmares, that frequently preceded some really insane lucid dreams. Then I read about SP and realized that’s what I was experiencing.

    I haven’t seen the shadow man in about a decade now, and the malodorous bug hasn’t returned in the last 8 years. My usual SP hallucination these days is someone I know in real life. When I “wake up” he’s sitting on my chest reading. He’ll tell me that I should go back to sleep. Sometimes I die in my dreams and “wake up” in SP. Then my hallucination laughs and says, “F*****d that up, didn’t you?”

    It was interesting reading others’ experiences. I’m glad that I’ve never felt so afraid in SP that it started affecting my waking life. For me, SP is bizarre and not the most pleasant experience, but it’s not deeply terrifying. I always know the hallucinations aren’t real.

    • Hi C

      Thank you for your very eloquently described story of SP. You’re a good story teller I think! And I don’t mean that as in making it up, but as in the way you wrote it:-)

      Your description is also interesting as it connects with a previous couple of comments about the significance of people seeing roughly the same dark shadow figure. Even though you also do, there is the rather unique ‘malodorous bug’!

      And yes, you’re probably one of the ‘lucky’ ones then who experiences SP but doesn’t find it truly terrifying. I hope it stays that way!

      Regards
      Ethan

  21. ok so i just found out about sleep paralysis and it’s only cause it happened to me about a couple times now but i remember a dream i had when i was a kid and well now i know what that was ,anyway describing it in one word terrifying ,you lose movement/control including your voice and you can’t do anything at all ,it’s like you’re being haunted and you’re left un armed and motionless with no power at all it’s worse than torture i couldn’t see who was in the room but the closest thing i could relate to was a ghost/spirit a vengeful one ,that can harm you unlike normal ghosts that aren’t suppose to be able to. but i could feel there was a presence there an evil malevolent one ,i felt like all the evil in the world was gathered there and i could’nt do a thing except stay still and watch in horror waiting for my doom,i tried forcing myself into moving so i could run away ,shouting but i lost control over my entire body and voice it’s like at one point i didn’t even have a body then the spirit or ghost starts pulling me off the bed onto the floor from my legs or blankets and i wake up terrified turning the lights on but last night’s episode was worse cause i started slowly tilting my head in extreme horror to see what was in the room i did it more than once but i saw nothing the presence was still strong and as real as can be just invisible i think this thing is somewhere in between science and the paranormal i mean nobody knows there’s no proof that the paranormal doesn’t exist and there’s also no proof that it’s solely based on scientific facts another thing that happened to me in the dream/sleep paralysis episode is that my grandfather had just finished taking a shower when i was dreaming i was aware of it in fact i even tried calling out to him but to no avail and it was real cause when i woke up he was still in the corridor i also heard that astral projection/soul travelling just like insidious is connected to this and that makes it even worse i mean what if people with this condition or disorder or whatever it is really do leave their physical bodies and by doing so doors to the astral world open up and spirits or demons try to steal your body while you’re outside of it cause they crave life or something.

    • Hi Luneice

      Thanks for sharing your sleep paralysis experience, and like so many others it sounds like you’ve had to cope with some very unsettling events.
      It’s interesting that you mention people being open to having their body taken over by evil forces. This is something which throughout history (not to mention horror films) has been a human fear I think. For example, one explanation for the origin of saying ‘bless you’ when someone sneezes is that people used to fear the soul was shot out with the sneeze, leaving the body vulnerable.
      Hopefully we can assume that people are not taken over by demons during sleep paralysis. It is such a common occurrence, there would be an awful lot of possessed people wondering around if this was the case!
      But still, I know you’re not alone in thinking that the explanation for the horribly scary things that happens lies somewhere between the scientific and paranormal explanations. And of course there is always room to question either explanation.
      Once again it comes to personal choice what to believe, and how much comfort that belief will give you.
      Regards
      Ethan

  22. I believe I have sleep paralysis but it is not real common or to the extent of what others with SP might have. I have dreams of seeing a small demon running at me and I yell out in my dream I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. It was something was told to do if I ever had an experience with a demon. After I wake I feel stiff as a board, can’t move for a couple minutes, and feel like something is in the room with me. I was brought up in Fundamentalist Christianity but I would consider myself to be agnostic more than anything else. It is hard to say whether it is psychological or supernatural. I don’t know if it is anything because I am uncertain anything supernatural exists or doesn’t exist for that matter.

    • Hi Shane

      Thanks for your comment, and I think you hit on something that I suspect many people have – a bad dream which then changes and lingers on into sleep paralysis. Though I think it’s possible to get confused sometimes with whether or not it’s still a bad dream or sleep paralysis. People seem to have such varied experiences.
      I’m glad to hear that you don’t get it very often though.
      Regards
      Ethan

  23. I’ve had a couple of sp experiences very similar to everyone else’s. I started sleeping in a different room 4 years ago bc of the “sp” and it all went away. I never really spoke about it to a lot of ppl. 3 years ago there was some guy renting my old room and after a year of getting to know him, we’re drinking having a few beers. He starts telling me about what had happened to him a couple of times at night in the same room I use to sleep in. I looked at with wide opened eyes and I didn’t want to tell him I had the same thing happened to me. I didn’t want to scare him, so I told him it happened to me 10 years ago in a different house. I don’t know what it is. I’ve read both sides and all I can say is that, it’s a wierd creepy experience like no other.

    • Hi ‘steppingonurtoes’

      Thanks for your interesting comment. I’m assuming from your choice of name, and the content of your story, that you’re hinting that our recent discussion about people not experiencing the same thing isn’t 100% accurate? :-)

      I’m always happy to hear different perspectives on this site, so your story is very welcome even if it contradicts what I and a previous reader were talking about. I’d be interested to know exactly what the experience was? Did you both describe exactly the same SP experience, or was it just the fact that you both had SP in that room? Hopefully you’re following this thread and can tell us a little more.

      Best wishes
      Ethan

  24. some people seem to be having out of body experiences, painful experiences, even just not being able to move. when ever i have sleep paralysis i am always tormented by either a small or large black misted creature. when i first had this experience, i recognized the sensation, so i must’ve had the problem as a younger child. sometimes i cant remember the dreams, and sometimes they’re clearer than daylight. it always starts out when i get these bright colors flashing behind my eyeballs. and then i realize that i cant move or speak. the whole time i’m laying there in this condition i’m screaming in my head. and then something grabs me. my worst experience yet was when i was dreaming that my legs were dangling off of the side of my bed. in one foul swoop my feet and body were seized and something large and menacing and it moved me across the bed. i’ve never felt a more powerful night terror. this one had me by my neck, choking me as i called out for jesus, to no avail could i speak. in all of my SP experiences the being is close to my face, speaking in a low demonic tone, too quiet for me to understand, but loud enough to hear the mumbling. in this one it was translucent, but i could see the air shaping around the curviature of the being. in other SP accounts they are always humanoid, and almost all are misty black colored. some jump up and down on me, taunting me while i can’t move, some just whisper in my ear. as im just about to give up the fight, i wake up coated in a blistering sweat, breathing hard and exhausted. sometimes i get one dream, sometimes it feels like i had SP all night long. for me, i think it’s because of my stress. but i have to say, i fully hate the experiences i’ve had. its been a while since i’ve had one, but it seems that it always comes back.

    • Hi Amanda

      Thank you for sharing your stories of sleep paralysis, and like so many other readers they seem truly terrifying! It seems from reading, though I may just be misinterpreting what you’re saying, that you have a combination of sleep paralysis and nightmares/night terrors? But whatever the case, I can fully understand why you hate the experience so much.
      Hopefully you’ll find something in the article or other readers’ comments which helps you to deal with it. There have been lots of good suggestions from people which could help you.
      Regards
      Ethan

  25. Thank you for starting this forum I feel a lot better knowing that I’m not the only person going through this. I’ve been having SP for about 6 months now, but as a child I had dreams of someone chasing me but never knowing who or what was chasing me. I also frequently had dreams that I was a very small and inferior being lying in bed while the presence of a dominant, powerful being was above me. I hate having SP, and before writing this I just had one where my arms and legs are stiff and I can only move my eyes, I usually feel the pressure of someone sitting/pushing down on my chest. During my SP I also feel a strong desire to give in, to close my eyes. I try and fight this feeling then I try and scream out for help but nothing comes out. I then begin to pray and say ‘return to sender’ and I then come out of the SP. On this night when I had the SP I seem to come out of myself and it was as though the being that was in the room with me held a mirror up to the right side of my face and I could see my reflection in a warm dream like slightly romantically dead red, yellow and orange colours. I have also noticed that when I wake from SP I’m lying on my back. In the past I’ve heard and seen women chanting like witches with a picture of myself tied around her neck. I hope SP is scientific but my experiences have told me/ lead me to believe that there is more to it than what science can call normal. I hope this STOPS for good!!

    • Hi Lacos

      Thank you for sharing your sleep paralysis stories. It sounds like you’ve had quite a range of unpleasant experiences, so I’m not surprised you’re hoping it stops for good. But I’m glad you feel a little better knowing that you’re not alone.

      It’s great when people find a way to snap out of the sleep paralysis, not matter what technique they use or what they say. And saying “return to sender” is certainly a new one, and made me smile when I read it. Does it still work, or was that a one off moment?

      You’re also not alone in being torn between the scientific explanation and thinking there is more to it. But whatever you choose to believe, I hope you find peace with it and manage to deal with SP swiftly if it happens again.

      Regards
      Ethan

  26. Ok just wanted to share my recent experience, i’ve had many but this one was the worst. Its making my eyes water and giving me shivers just thinking about it. So i was in bed asleep next to my wife, and i slipped into sleep paralysis, i later found it was about 3.45am. There was the most evil looking figure stood beside my bed, glaring at me, i am convinced this figure wasn’t just a demon, it was the devil. Straight away i panic and try with every ounce of energy i had to get out of it and move or open my eyes, but i was frozen. The devil moved towards me, crouched down next to me and put his face an inch away from mine, and was slowy but heavily breathing in my face, so much so i could feel my hair and eyelashes moving, never has anything in my life terrified me so much. I was convinced if i didnt snap out of it, i was going to die. After another failed attempt to move i paused to save energy for one final push and managed to wake, sitting bolt upright in my bed, covered in sweat and shaking, i had to turn my bedroom light on and tv and sit up in bed for half an hour to make sure i didnt fall back asleep and slip back into the paralysis (which has happened many times before). I didnt sleep again that night. I know sp is fairly common, but why the demons? Surely every person who gets it would see different scary things like snakes or aliens for example? I had never heard of sp or seeing the demons until it happened to me so it wasnt stored in my brain already. It creeps me out!

    • Hi Paul

      Thanks for taking the time to share your sleep paralysis story…and a scary one it is at that!

      You raise an interesting question about people seeing the same thing, i.e demons. However, my view is that people often describe quite different kinds of demon or dark entity. If you look back through these comments you’ll see all sorts of descriptions of dark forces.

      I think if the whole planet described exactly the same looking demonic entity, then we could perhaps start wondering what is going on. But even though you say you hadn’t heard of demons before, you will still have been exposed to images and ideas of demons/ghosts/monsters etc through media like television. Even if you never watch horror films, it’s hard these days to never catch glimpses of scary images.

      So assuming the scientific explanation is correct, it makes sense that your mind conjures up some kind if demon with inspiration from a film or picture you’ve seen…even if it was a long time ago. So naturally, people see scary figures which might share some similarity, but are not all the same.

      That’s what I choose to believe personally. It’s up to you though to decide where the line is between coincidence and something else.

      I hope you don’t have such a scary experience again, and thanks again for your thoughts.
      Ethan

  27. I would like to start this post by saying I read every comment above and feel grateful I’m not alone and for Mr Green your desire to share your information. I believe my SP started in my teens but I always thought it was a recurring bad dream. The dream started about when I was 15 or 16 it was always the same dream this force or dark entity is the best way I can describe it. It only happened at night when I went to bed, the force that I felt was of an evil nature. This force (shadowy black figure) would always approach me and without touching me forcefully shove me to the other side of the room or down a stairway then I woke up but was still in my bed I was in a paralyzed state while it was happening. Same dream for the next 3-4 years off and on. I finally after many dreams decided to tell my parents the dream. I came from a very loving and stable family life, my mother told me to confront this entity/being the next time it happened and let it know I believed in the good in the world and would go towards the good light not the dark and in my state of feeling I couldn’t move or talk i muttered the words I want the light. That was the last time that entity visited me. Now fast forward 25 years I have my own family I often have very lucid dreams that I often feel as if I travel to distant places while I sleep. On August 18 2010 I had my worst nightmare come true I received a call that my youngest son had been in a horrible car accident he was hit head on by a drunk driver and was being transported to the Trauma center for his injuries. The 2 weeks we spent in ICU and the year long recovery was nothing short of a miracle that he survived and I thank God everyday for that! But that is when my SP started again and this time one of my episodes was of the most peaceful nature I have ever experienced. I was asleep and started to go into that state of waking up so I thought! I was met by this man with long blonde hair and a blue & white robe, this did not seem odd to me in my mind it was his eyes they were as blue as the bluest blue you could ever imagine and that’s how he spoke to me through his eyes I could read his thoughts through his eyes. It will be the episode that will be permanently engraved in my mind it was nothing but pure peace that I came away with. I guess that was my miracle that saved my son that night according to the state police the crash should not have been survivable. Still to this day I have on and off sleep paralysis episodes and yes the shadowy figures still visit and are still scarey but I also feel that people who have these have a gift in a way, there is a common connection between all these post they are real to us and if we can find a way to understand why this is happening to all of us. I still think we are in the minority of the population as far as having these episodes but as more and more people have them and discuss them others can come away from this feeling you’re not crazy or losing your mind and you’re not alone. I did purchase the book SP a guide to Hypnagogic visions and visitors of the night – as I was told it was a great book. I believe everyone has their own religion & beliefs and so does science but there are some things you just can’t explain. I wish those of you that have scary SP episodes peace and those of you in the scientific belief keep searching for your proof. I’m truly grateful to have read and shared my story with you all!

    • Hi Different

      Thank you so much for sharing your fascinating story. I’m so glad your son survived that crash – it must have been a unimaginably terrifying time for your whole family.

      As you’ll know from reading the other comments (how long did that take you?!), other people have also felt that their SP is tied with family members and events in their lives. It makes perfect sense to me that in the strange world of sleep paralysis, dreams and other nightly occurrences, that not everyone experiences it in isolation from the rest of their life.

      It’s great that in the past you were able to confront whatever was happening and deal with it with positive thinking. It’s a shame that so many years later though the scarier elements seem to have reappeared. But once again it does show that it is possible to tackle the frightening ‘entities’ in sleep paralysis with your own positive mind. I’m especially grateful when people share these kind of experiences because it will give hope to those who are still trying to deal with the terror of SP. I hope you manage to once again get rid of the scarier experiences.

      Thanks for the feedback on the book by the way. I’d be interested to hear if you found it just a good read, or of practical use as well?
      And thanks on behalf of everyone else for your positive wishes – I’m sure anyone else who reads this will also wish you peace:-)
      Regards
      Ethan

  28. I do not believe the science behind this as if hallucinations will occur people will experience differences from their own mind not the same things. The first time I experienced sleep paralysis I was not able to move anything apart from my eyes and I could feel a presence over me and could only see a shadowy figure in the corner of my eye I tried to fight out of it but I couldn’t and ended up falling back asleep and waking up remembering what happened but feeling perfectly fine …last night it happened again and I was able to force out of it but I could see a shadowy figure to the left of me getting closer, I fought till I could move again. the thing is I was not deeply sleeping or tired I had just laid down and closed my eyes for a while. I HATE THIS STUFF. crazy

    I beleive I’ve experienced more but I cant remember them specifically.

    • Hi F

      Thanks for sharing your story with us, and sorry to hear that it has been a struggle for you to deal with – as it has for so many others. Perhaps reading this article and the other comments will give you some ideas of things you can do to cope with it.

      What you say about people experiencing different hallucinations might appear to make sense, considering the fact that we are all different. The thing is though, our brains are filled with a lifetime of the same kinds of ideas. For example, as children we tell scary stories, we see and read things about witches, monsters, vampires, demons or whatever it might be. As adults we hear stories of people being burgled, grow to learn that strange men in the shadows in the dark might be something to be scared of, watch and hear about even scarier entities in films or television. Many people also have religious influences on their idea of good and evil.

      My point being that even though we are individuals, we share the same stories, images and ideas about what is bad, scary or dangerous in the dark. So I think it makes sense that if you have many different people lying in their beds frozen, and their brains need to decide what it is happening to them with a minimal amount of information, it is unlikely to be a completely alien monster that nobody has ever thought of before. It is likely to be something we fear, and have possibly seen in a film, read in a book or the news, or heard someone tell us about etc.

      This is my personal view on that topic, though it’s certainly not my own theory as it does have a basis in Psychology. I hope the idea makes sense to you as I described it.

      All the best and I hope you get some peace soon
      Ethan

  29. I have had 2 very distinct and disturbing experiences of sleep paralysis in which my mind has become completely detached from my body and time and space both dissolved around me. In both cases it occurred in the middle of the night (middle of my sleep) and my mind “awakens” to the realization of detachment from my body. I am aware my body is paralysed yet I am above my body. I no longer have the sense of sight, sound or touch and my mind seems to exist in a separate plane of existence – a non physical one. I am acutely aware of everything around me without physical confirmation. I am also extremely frightened that my body is in danger and I am in desperate search for help. I can’t move, speak, hear or see yet I am “floating” outside my body. The first time I “screamed” out for God as I felt my body was being scanned by some foreign entity that was inside of me. This entity scanned by body from toe to head going through all my organs before exiting through my left eye. Once the entity left my body my paralysis was over and my mind and body instantly reconnected, I gasped for breath and regained all my physical abilities. The second time this happened I perceived my body as being restrained by forces trying to hold me down and I tried to call for help or run for my bedroom door even though my body and mind were detached. Finally at the last second I re-entered my body and found myself calling for help in a weak, frightened voice. The most terrifying part of these experiences is that I remember them in absolute clarity and detail and can describe them definitively years later. Out of body experiences, alien abductions, sleep paralysis or near death experiences are all possibilities to me as these experiences are terrifying but not physically harmful.
    Jeff L

    • Hi Jeff

      Thanks so much for sharing your sleep paralysis stories. Not many people have described the out-of-body experience ‘type’ of sleep paralysis, so it’s great that you can remember them in such detail. They do sound very frightening though!

      I think it’s experiences like these which can very easily lead to questioning whether some alien or other entity was involved; it sounds very intense, and the fact that you can recall it so well only adds to the difficulty in explaining them in a scientific way, I imagine.

      I hope for your sake that it stays at just the two occurrences, and you don’t have to deal with this kind of experience again.

      Best wishes
      Ethan

  30. I am 23 and have had sleep paralysis for about 2 years now. It mainly started quite mildly with no hallucinations when I had a disrupted sleeping pattern during shift work in early 2012. Then in the summer of this year when I went to a festival and had a pretty wild 4 days of virtually no sleep and some recreational ecstasy use, I had the worst SP imaginable. Full on hallucinations with demonic entities and bizarre semi realistic dreams in which my mind created an almost perfect replica of my bedroom in which I tried to walk around and get to my phone to ring my parents; only to awake in an SP state moments later with the knowledge that I was dreaming all along. It took me a week of persevering and numerous SP episodes to get over that bout and I would say to people from my experience ecstasy use DEFINITELY exacerbates SP when you are prone to it. Despite how unsettling it can make you feel, sleep paralysis certainly makes you realise the power of the subconscious/dream state mindset. I would say to anyone who is going through a period of really bad SP that it is a sleep disorder and not a mental disorder and for most people who aren’t narcoleptic trying to get a stable 8 hour sleep over a period of a week usually stops the episodes. Also I would say those prone to SP please note that many drugs (even, I believe, alcohol) will make the episodes worse and last longer! Great to see a strong thread of comments and make for an interesting read – cheers Ethan

    • I’ve actually just realised that my comment didn’t really address what the main topic is about. I personally believe wholeheartedly in the scientific explanation BUT I can completely understand how a person would be tricked into believing that there were supernatural elements at work. I am an atheist and quite a cynic at heart but during the episodes even I questioned if there was not something other worldly at play during these SP episodes. I am sure there are those who will believe that the hallucinations are related to some fourth dimensional or astral projected world, however I would argue that what we are in fact witnessing are the awesome power of our minds during R.E.M sleep coupled with the other biological ‘fight or flight’ response which causes our minds to create these strange visions, worlds and OBE experiences. The sheer intensity of SP and other parasomnias could lead even the most cynical (me!) into questioning the religious/other worldly aspects of SP, but I would urge anyone who is uncertain about what they’re seeing that the episodes are a biological quirk with dramatic and at times mind bending results. I would just like to supplement that with the knowledge that this is my opinion and there are those who will call me a classic cynical narrow minded atheist but I believe that the scientific explanation of SP and the accompanying hallucinations is far more rational than the supernatural explanations. That said though, I wonder how many ‘ghost visitations’ could be attributed to sleep paralysis?! I know if I had been born in a pre internet era I probably would have been too scared to go to the doctors for fear of being called mad and would have probably thought a demon was in my room!!

      • Hi David

        Thank you for adding your very eloquent comments and analysis of sleep paralysis. And I’m glad you appreciate the comment thread – I’m still in awe at how much people have gotten involved with this discussion, and I hope it continues!

        Anyway, back to your comments, and I think you make a couple of very interesting points.

        Firstly about drug-taking. This isn’t something I explored in the original article, and not something that many other people have mentioned either. But it wouldn’t surprise me if many people have experienced parasomnia ‘moments’ when taking recreational drugs; And I can imagine that some drugs could have an impact on experiences like sleep paralysis – either making them more vivid, worse, or increasing their likelihood in the susceptible – as you suggest. I think it would be very hard for anyone to predict what effect they would have though, with so many factors involved, so it’s interesting to hear your views on it.

        Secondly, like so many people, you explain really well the issue of being a skeptic but also having some very strong experiences to deal with. I like the concept of the internet changing how people are able to find answers to things like this, and how that may have influenced the way we do find explanations. I think you may well be right about not wanting to go to a doctor about this kind of thing. And looking back, how easy would it have been to find information on sleep paralysis in a library before the internet?

        Interestingly I can see the phrases that people put into Google which brings them to this article. Although many people do enter ‘sleep paralysis’ there are also many more who enter phrases like ‘can’t move in the night demon on chest’ or ‘frozen in bed with ghost in room’ etc. It’s the fact that you can enter a search like that and arrive at an explanation like this that makes it easier for people. I have no idea how easy it would have been to find a library book when all you have in your head to start with it ‘demon on chest in the night’! Maybe I’ll have a go one day and see how easy it is to find an answer in my local library.

        Thanks again for raising some interesting points
        Ethan

  31. Hi Ethan,
    I have literally in the last hour had a very intense case of sleep paralysis. Hence, here I am investigating my ‘situation’ on the internet and then I came across your blog.
    I am no longer afraid of when the paralysis kicks in (normally once a month approx) however I am becoming more interested in what I think, I feel, hear and see.
    I consider myself a relatively logical person and wouldn’t necessarily assume that I am having a spiritual experience and at the same time I understand some of the biological reasons for the SP happening.
    However, I can’t help but be surprised from today’s occurrence. Earlier on today my sister told me that she went to see a psychic at the weekend, she discussed with me a few points which I found interesting – One of which was knowing that my Dad who passed away from bowel cancer 3 years ago was at my wedding last year looking over me. Even if it’s not true… It’s nice to hear!
    Anyway, for the first time I mentioned to my sister about these strange and almost embarrassing dreamy experiences that I have encountered over the years. I hear voices, whispers, I’ve held someone’s hand, and I’ve seen things – however I’ve always had a very good imagination! My sister said to me that I have a gift and things like portals / 4th dimensions!!! Which I laughed and replied – it’s more like a curse than a gift! She said to me next time it happens, why not try exploring it and push what you can see and then write it down.
    After a long day at work I got home and had tea, followed by a snooze on the couch… the next thing I know I have SP. But this time, rather than wriggling to get out of SP, I embraced it for longer – it might have been a few minutes. I could hear lots of voices all talking at once, it sounded like a playground from when I was at school, it was also incredibly windy. I also had an overwhelming feeling that my dad was stood behind me in the hallway. I tried to get up to turn around but couldn’t. Only when I finally became fully conscious to sit up and turn around to find the hallway empty.

    I’m still no more spiritual than I was yesterday (I don’t think so anyway) however, the coincidence of what happened to me today following the discussion with my sister was quite interesting and I thought I would share it with you.

    Like I said earlier… Even if it’s not true, it’s nice to think my Dad was there.

    Nik

    • Hi Nik

      Thank you so much for sharing your fascinating story. There have been a few other readers going through a similar experience of trying to balance their natural scientific belief system with what they’re met with during sleep paralysis. I always find these stories interesting to read because I think it’s one of the most logical reactions to sleep paralysis: knowing that what you saw probably didn’t really happen, but being challenged by quite how real it seemed at the time.

      It’s also a nice explanation of what happens when you don’t fight sleep paralysis but try to just ‘go with the flow’ and come out the other end, hopefully not so terrified in the process. Perhaps not everyone has the ability to let go, and lose control essentially, but those who do might just find a constructive way of dealing with SP.

      How much further you try to explore it will be up to you of course. I tend to duck out when people talk about other dimensions, even though I find the topic interesting. But I do know one or two previous readers are very much interested in that side of things. Perhaps any who are still following these comments will pop back to give you some ideas on that.

      I agree that sometimes something can feel nice even if we know it’s not true, as long as it’s kept in perspective. So I can imagine how it would have felt good to sense that your dad was somewhere nearby.

      Most importantly for anyone else reading this is the fact that you say you are no longer afraid of sleep paralysis. This will hopefully be a heartening thing to hear for anyone who is still struggling with it. So thank you for providing some hope that the fear can be overcome.

      All the best
      Ethan

  32. I have had a few experiences with sleep paralysis. They were, luckily, minor yet still quite scary. The first one was in my first apartment when I was 18. I was sleeping when all of a sudden I felt like someone was near me so I quickly opened my eyes and right there in front of my face was an old ugly woman’s face. I stared at her for a moment and shut my eyes again as soon as I felt I could.
    The next was back in early October of this year. I was staying in a friend’s house on post of Fort Carson. It all happened the same only this time it was a fat creepy man, but just the top half of him. The next time was just last night in my barracks room. This time it was a full bodied male soldier. This one lasted the longest but still quite short. Each time, I abruptly open my eyes from sleeping and have enough breath to gasp at what I am seeing. I am frozen in place and cannot move until the being completely disappears. The last two experiences, the beings floated above me and once I saw them they slowly floated up in to the ceiling and then they were gone. I also heard someone singing a strange song right before seeing the soldier. I dislike these experiences very much. They seem to disturb me a little more each time. My mom suffers from the same thing but hers are much worse. Hers are violent. I hope I can prevent them from happening now that I have more knowledge on them.

    • Hiyah

      Thanks for taking the time to share your sleep paralysis stories. And they do sound quite disturbing, as so many people’s do in these comments. I also hope for your sake that a little extra knowledge will go a long way to dealing with them. There are many great suggestions from people in these comments, so hopefully you’ll have some new ideas on ways to handle it.

      Regards
      Ethan

  33. I was asleep with my newborn right next to me, when out of no where around 2:00am i woke up unable to move. I was able to talk like a whisper but not scream for help I tried to grab my daughter but something was holding me down. I soon felt like i was being drained trying to fight my way up. my fingers started to move but… I wasn’t controlling them. I wanted to cry for help, but no single noise came out. As soon as my body returned to me I saw a dark not so human figure leave my room. Now I feel like I’m not alone and I fear for my daughter.

    • Hi Monica

      Thank you for sharing your story of sleep paralysis, and I’m sorry to hear that it has frightened you so much. I can understand why you would be worried. Anyone who experiences something like that finds it unsettling. And of course then you have a mother’s natural instinct to not put your child in harm’s way. Hopefully this will be a one-off, assuming it is the first time, and you’ll be able to put it behind you soon enough. Many people do only experience it once or twice in their lives; let’s hope that is the case for you. You might find it helpful to sleep with a kid’s night light on for a few days just for some reassurance.

      All the best
      Ethan

  34. I’ve had sleep paralysis a few times in the last 6 years, the first time really scared me, I was 15 and I woke up my whole body felt fuzzy like pins and needles without pain and I couldn’t move; then I heard car horns outside my window which moved inside on top of me along with the car, I felt like I was under a car with it’s fog lights shining in my face. I tried to shout my dad but I couldn’t talk. I always get the weird fuzzy feeling, especially if I try to move my head I can hear it too like my brain is vibrating. I’ve had bright lights come through my window, I’ve heard chanting and recently I had a sleep paralysis episode and felt someone come into my room and drop a puppy on my bed.I felt the puppy walk up towards my face, I couldn’t move but I wanted to pet it so I opened my eyes but nothing was there I just felt the puppy move to the bottom of my bed, a few moments later I snapped out of it….no puppies :(

    Hannah

    • Hi Hannah

      Thanks for sharing your sleep paralysis stories. Just when I thought they were all about demons, monsters, witches and other dark forces, you come along with a story about puppies! It makes an interesting change from the horror-film style stories many people have had. Though I’m not belittling your experiences – I’m sure they still seemed very bizarre and probably a little unsettling at the time.

      Thanks again
      Ethan

  35. The first time I ever had sleep paralysis was when I was in college (probably around 7 years ago) and it completely freaked me out. I didn’t know what to think and I was afraid I needed to go to the doctor to get a brain scan. However, when I started getting them on a ‘regular’ basis (once or twice every couple of months or so), I started to research this on the internet.

    The episodes were frightening and the way i would describe it is that I couldn’t move my head, fingers or arms. I was completely paralyzed – and breathing was difficult. Also, the feeling on your chest/abdomen is so weird! I would describe it as someone tightening a belt (really hard) just below my chest cavity.

    I’ve never hallucinated until a recent episode a few weeks ago. It was bizarre because it was visual and auditory. I woke up in the middle of the night and could feel the sleep paralysis onset. However, I could “see” my comforter over my face (which wasn’t the case) and all of a sudden, my comforter was lifted off me. However, right when this happened, I heard a loud sound that is comparable to a symphony – except that it was the music you hear in scary movies during a suspenseful scene. I had this feeling of fear – and once I was able to move, I just noticed a small light that was the smoke detector in my room. The light seemed brighter during the sleep paralysis episode. Very strange – I’d rather never experience this and like I said, they started when I was 21 years old. Thankfully, they aren’t that frequent, but it is a frightening experience. When I feel them coming on, I usually try to mentally relax and I tell myself that this will pass…and obviously it always does. Cheers.

    • Hi Richard

      Thank you for taking the time to describe your episodes of sleep paralysis. Interestingly the last person to comment also talked about it being so scary she went to hospital to get checked out. I imagine there are many more who have thought about doing the same.

      Hearing scary movie style music must have been truly bizarre for you! It’s a good literal example of just how intense sleep paralysis can be.

      It’s great that you’ve managed to develop a coping mechanism in trying to relax and allow it to pass. A few people have described the same, and it is growing to be a trend in people’s explanations of how they deal with sleep paralysis. And I dare say probably one of the best ways of coping with it, given that you don’t have a lot of choice when in that situation.

      Thanks again for your comment and I hope they grow less frequent over time for you.

      Ethan

      • Thank you for your feedback. I forgot to mention one thing. In most of my sleep paralysis episodes that I have experienced, I feel my eyes moving very quickly. They always seem to be moving up and down (as opposed to a side-to-side movement) and this happens very quickly. It feels weird, but almost relaxing in a sense. Since sleep paralysis occurs during a conscious awareness during the REM cycle, I guess this makes sense. Cheers.

        • No problem at all Richard. I enjoy discussing this topic with people, so it’s always a pleasure.

          I think you’re the first to mention the eye-moving phenomenon during sleep paralysis in these comments, if my memory serves me correctly. But yes, it does make sense what you’re saying if you experience it while waking up from REM sleep rather than while falling asleep. Very interesting!

          Thanks
          Ethan

  36. I have to admit that at first I was afraid I was being possessed or “something” like that when my episodes would happen ….I’m glad that I’m not alone and there is “somewhat” an explanation. Sometimes it happens over and over again in one night if i dont keep myself awake. The scariest part is feeling like I cant breathe. Next of course is being completely paralyzed and can’t talk, “scream” or move at all. I’ve even gone to the hospital explaining I thought I was having seizures of some sort and they told me I was fine and they had no answers for me :( …. it is particularly scary because EVERY time it happens I know its coming on. I start to feel like I’m sinking fast and deep and the heaviness sets in ALL OVER ME. I’m 23 and have been experiencing this for about 2 years now. I have to say it is terrifying and I wish this upon nobody. Thank you for this forum – truly it has helped me feel “not so alone”.

    • Hi Vanesa

      Thanks so much for sharing your story of sleep paralysis. I’m glad this article, and all the other people presumably, have helped you not feel alone. If only not feeling alone worked as a complete cure!

      You’re not the only one who has multiple episodes in one night, and I think that must be particularly difficult to cope with and be able to trust yourself to go to sleep and have a peaceful night. And knowing it’s going to happen is something other people have described too, and is understandably quite scary.

      I don’t know if you read through everyone’s stories, but there are I think some useful bits of advice scattered throughout which you could pick up and see if they help. Depending on whether you’re the type to learn to control it and ‘snap out of it’, or to just try to stay calm and wait for it to pass, or even to try and control it as a way of having a lucid dream. There are all kinds of ideas to explore.

      Regards
      Ethan

  37. I’ve been having SP since I was about 8 years old. When I was younger I used to have hallucinations of Grim Reaper like figures (5) 2 on each side of the bed and 1 at the foot. They never hurt me in any way, but the fear that came from their presence was INTENSE!! One time, one of the “reapers” leaned over and put his face right in my face and my heart beat SO FAST! That was the most fear I have ever felt in my entire life. After about 16, the figures went away, although SP is almost daily with me. The thing is… I have full control over my SP. I can wake up paralyzed and in second break out of it like it second nature. I posted here because i wanted to know.. have you ever known anyone else with the power to control SP?

    • Hi NaTodd Lee

      Thanks for coming along and adding to the discussion. That does sound pretty intense, and I’m not surprised it’s remained number 1 in your life’s scary events.

      A couple of other readers have also said they can snap out of sleep paralysis at will I believe. And I think one or two more try to control it in a way that they can then use it as a kind of springboard to try to have lucid dreams or out-of-body experiences. So it would appear that you’re not alone in being able, or trying, to control SP.

      If only everyone else was able to – some people really seem to suffer badly because of the trauma they experience with sleep paralysis. So even though you have to deal with it almost daily as you mention, at the very least you’re not totally powerless. And a good thing too if you experience it so often!

      Thanks again
      Ethan

  38. Hi there, I am relieved that I am not the only person experiencing Sleep Paralysis but I am also frightened by it as well. It started when I was 19 years old the morning that my best friend died, I woke up at 4am and I couldn’t move or speak all I could do was move my eyes and I felt someone there. 10 min later I got a call that my friend had passed. Ever since that morning I have experienced it about 6 to 8 times. I am 26 years old now. My husband is aware of it because there has been times im yelling for him and hes right next to me but nothing comes out until I come to and cry out. every time it happens to me I am on my back EVERY SINGLE TIME and I ALWAYS hear foot steps coming down my hallway. It usually lasts about a min then its like I re-awake and that is why ive never thought to look it up or ask people or doctors about it, I thought I was just dreaming it…. Today is Thursday nov. 14 and it happened to me 3 times this morning after my husband left for work, I was fighting the urge to pass out but at the same time I wanted to wake out of it, only this time besides the foot steps I felt like something was pulling on my leg. I decided to google “falling asleep and cant move” and I am intrigued by all the information. I had no idea it is something quite a few people experience. My husband and a few other family memebers know about it but now I have proof that I am not crazy!!!!

    • Hi Summer

      Thanks so much for sharing your story – it’s great when people take the time to describe their own experience of sleep paralysis, and I appreciate it:-)

      I think you can probably rest assured that you’re not crazy – at least not in terms of what you’ve described, and my definition of crazy!

      I’m sorry to hear you had such a distressing introduction to sleep paralysis though. That must have been very difficult for you, having that on top of your friend passing on.

      The one you described with feeling like someone was pulling your leg sounds quite frightening. It’s bad enough dealing with the paralysis, and perhaps sensing something else in the room or walking as you describe. But having a sensation of your leg being pulled really doesn’t sound pleasant.

      You’re also not the first person to say it always happens when sleeping on your back. Maybe try your side and see if that helps if it carries on, which I hope for your sake it doesn’t.

      Thanks again for your comment.
      Ethan

  39. I have had SP a few times, out of body, a terrifying one and most recently the most lovely although sad one. The day after my dog of 16 years died he arrived over my shoulder and I was paralysed and just cried and cried and he panted above my head, telling me he was ok I think. It was pretty cathartic to see him again and tell him I loved him. God I miss him even now and it was 2 months ago. Point being, all my episodes have been in relation to serious stress in waking life, I lucid dreamed a lot as a child and even sleep walked so I was told, I am generally strong but susceptible to anxiety. I find the best “exit” to any SP is to ackowledge that what it is during it. To try to remember your brain is awake but body asleep and reassure yourself so not to be frightened, just wait for it to “pass” Since I did that after my last scary one it ended quite quickly, just wanted my dog one to last longer so I could be near him. I had tears running down my face even when i did wake from it. Very odd. Defo think it happens when your so exhausted as the body sleeps and the mind worries and stays alert. Its really nothing to fear if you can remind yourself of that during an episode. I am sorry to hear some of the stories on here. I wish you all some positive , releasing thoughts in your next episode and see if it helps.

    • Hi Dupree

      Thank you for your comment, and the positive wishes for other readers. There have been some very distressing stories of sleep paralysis and probably many other things along with it, so it’s kind of you to think of the people who experienced them.

      Sorry about your dog – I can well believe you still miss him. And I think you are probably right about some sleep paralysis being related to everyday stress and anxiety. Your idea of dealing with sleep paralysis by both reassuring yourself that it will be ok, and that it will pass, is very sensible.

      Thanks again for taking the time to share your experience and bringing some positivity:-)

      Ethan

  40. Hi Ethan,
    In the cold light of day I would say that I’m agnostic as to whether the experience I have described was an out of body experience. I try to be coolly objective, althoug when I make a recording I’m generally quite excited and taken in quite a bit by the experience. However, neither do I reject the experience and those like it as just delusion. It certainly felt real, as do many of the other experiences I’ve had. Visually, there are always discrepancies with the physically real environment, but I’m not sure that how things appear visually necessarily correlates with what is true, meaning because things appear visually at odds with physical reality doesn’t necessarily invalidate it as existing somehow in spacetime, somehow being the important word.

    As to background, like a lot of people attracted to this site, my acquaintance with sleep paralysis began in overwhelming terror, in childhood, in nightmares in which i found myself running in painfully slow motion away from one monster or another and then finding myself in bed unable to move while a black shadow stands over me beside the bed, or some other crazy scene takes place in the bedroom while i screamed silently and to no avail. Terrible experiences! However, while growing up I became fascinated by the hallucinatory elements associated with this state, still frightened by them, but intrigued too, like the proverbial moth to the flame. The experiences were rare, but frequent enough for me to remain interested. From youth into adulthood I was also interested in the idea of astral travel, the nature of dreaming, parapsychology and the like and at some point I made the connection between sleep paralysis and phenomena such as out of body experiences and lucid dreaming.

    My explorations began in earnest when I discovered that while the body was paralysed, it was nevertheless possible to move ‘phantom arms’ and ‘phantom legs’, to touch my ‘pillow’ with my ‘phantom hand’, to even ‘lick’ my ‘phantom fingers’ and taste them. Then I pushed it a bit further by just ‘rolling’ and ‘falling’ out of bed with my ‘phantom body’, and so on, often just ‘crawling’ around on the ‘floor’ before just learning to use suggestion to lift myself up and away.

    I am perhaps lucky in that sleep paralysis doesn’t generally happen spontaneously for me, although of course it did in the beginning. I generally have to want it to happen and over time I have learnt the various conditions that allow me to experience it. I actually have to work quite hard to render myself susceptible. Stress doesn’t help. A lot going on at work or at home doesn’t help. Talking about having out of body experiences does help. Reading about other peoples experiences does help as does reading about advanced ideas in physics, for example, and I know some of the readership will appreciate that last trigger. Each night that I attempt to enter what I euphemistically call the ‘state’ presents a small window of opportunity (usually between 3 and 6 in the morning); it’s really like stalking some rare exotic predator; I often just fall asleep waiting for it to make an appearance, and at other times, when it does emerge, I succumb to the easy panic that is so difficult to avoid. And even when I have successfully engaged sleep paralysis (and when I’m on a roll, it does just keep coming), many of the experiences are marred by blocking ‘entities’. However, I have had enough fascinating explorations in which my critical faculties are engaged and in which my consciousness is free to play and investigate, to make every attempt worthwhile.

    I do find that suggestion (whether in the previous day or during the experience itself) does have a lot to do with what happens during the experience. In waking life, I am not a great hypnotic subject. However, during sleep paralysis I become as suggestible as the best of them and often give myself playful suggestions – go up, go to a specific person, go to some time in my past, grow large, get out of the building, fly…and observe my consciousness respond accordingly and take me to unexpected lucid dream situations. However, suggestion on its own rarely works on what I call the ‘blockers’ and this is something which does really interest me.

    Anyway, I’ll wind up at this point. I never did see the Melba character again, certainly not in a form that I recognised. I read through my description again before I posted it and noticed that one of the names I associated with the character was Elva. Elva is actually quite pertinent in an eery sort of way. In Norse/Old Germanic, it means ‘elf’.In German, the word for nightmare, “Albtraum” still translates to “elf dream” (I googled that) while “an alp (elf) attack is called an Alpdruck, or often Alpdrücke, which means “elf pressure” “(and I googled that). It’s just interesting that one of the names I spontaneously ascribed to the girl in the experience, completely unconsciously, was Elva. The mind is a wonderful thing!

    • Thanks very much for coming back with answers to my questions TO. What’s even more interesting now is the understanding that you actively try to enter states of sleep paralysis sometimes.

      Where most other people are terrified of sleep paralysis and hope they never have it again, you’ve turned it on its head, so to speak, and try to encourage it so you can have these other experiences.

      What an interesting perspective. Thank you for sharing that, and good luck with your future explorations:-)

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