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.
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.
Poll 3
Poll 3 shows that many readers first experienced sleep paralysis during adolescence.
Poll 4
Poll 4 shows that most readers don’t experience sleep paralysis on a regular basis.
Poll 5
Poll 5 shows some of the ways readers deal with episodes. You’ll find more coping mechanisms below.
The not so scientific explanations for sleep paralysis
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.
I just had an unusual and disturbing experience. I was stressed and deprived of sleep as I have been having irregular sleep routine because my exams are going on. This might be one of the reasons behind what I experienced some minutes before.
I went to bed around 2:30 with my room locked and light out, maybe this was one of the factors that made me experience what i experienced.
I was trying to fall asleep but i remember i was very much disturbed…as far back as i can recall it started with me thinking about a recent happening -news that i have been waiting for. Then I in no time found me losing control over my body, I found one of my cousins was lying next to me with her son and shouting and talking loudly to him, maybe she was asking him to go to sleep and a lot more. Then i tried to clear my mind and go to sleep because I thought this is just a dream at the same time i knew that It can’t be a dream since i was awake and constantly reflecting on what i was experiencing and even hoping her to shut up. Then in less then a moment or i can tell how fast it was that i was made to experience some more loud voices – this time there were two more cousins talking in their usual loud and irritating voices.
I was continuously trying to get rid of all that but I could not Then all this dreamlike experience took a disturbing turn when I started thinking that there is something wrong. I who had already heard about these incidents from my family. Members thought in the same way that maybe it is someone over me not letting me get up. Then As i was thinking and believing in a ghostly presence while lying in bed, unable to control my thoughts and mind, I actually felt that there is something that is not letting me move my leg which i was trying to move to come out of that terrifying experience. I even found my mum standing near my bed saying it’s a “nevla.”
I finally, after having told myself to try to move my body no matter how difficult it was, could get up. Thank god it did stop because i was sure that I would die today because the door was locked.
I suffered from sleep paralysis with hallucinations for years during a time in my life when my sleep was frequently disturbed. I always had a sense of a profoundly evil presence standing behind my left shoulder. It would take control of my body, lift me off my bed and spin me in the air. One time I felt myself drop back to the bed from about a three-foot height and looked over to see my husband peacefully sleeping beside me. After suffering for years, I found I was able to control the hallucinations using lucid dreaming techniques. What a relief! Those episodes were terrifying.
It happened to me Two days in a row, however, mine was a white spirit like a shadow with no face, then I saw a woman lying next to me dressed in white, told me not to be scared that she was my angel.
This morning my husband woke me up to give me a kiss as he was going off to work, the clock said 6:13 am, it happened again, this time I fought it and tried to scream I sat up on my bed and saw my mother (she passed away in November) I was in an unfamiliar room. I jumped out of bed and ran to her. I felt her hands, I smelled her perfume and she gave me a message to give to my sister. When it was over I found myself in my bedroom s looked at the clock and it was still 6:13 am.
I’ve had sleeping problems literally ALL my life, remembering when I was 4 years old laying in bed bored for hours in the dark because I couldn’t sleep. I always had really weird dreams that didn’t make any sense and frequently remember a majority of my dreams, dreaming every night. I’m 26 years old, and had my first encounters with sleep paralysis at around age 18. It started off as just my mind being awake while me
Not being able to move, nothing more than that at first. I also didn’t have them frequently, probably every couple of years or so. It was a frightening experience each time but when it became more than just not being able to move is when it really terrified me. I was about 22 years old when it happened. Naturally, in my mind I would be like “oh great it’s happening again” and would just focus all my energy on moving my arms, fingers, or opening my eyes. I never felt like there was a weight or something holding me down like many experience, just felt like there was a “disconnection” between my brain telling my body to move and it doing so. So as I laid there trying to get myself up I began hearing a demonic voice…it was laughing at me. I didn’t see anything, didn’t feel it, but it just kept laughing. I was freaking out, thinking if it was me somehow making the voice. I’ve had dreams where I knew I was dreaming and was able to manipulate the dream. The voice was coming within my head also, not like I was hearing it with my ears within the room. I just thought to myself “wth what that?” And shrugged it off and began concentrating on getting my body up. I heard the laughter even louder and once again it was within my head, within my thoughts. It began talking with this monstrous voice, I forgot what it was saying to me but I’ll never forget the sound of it’s voice. I immediately thought I was going insane, having two sets of voices in my thoughts. Finally I woke up in sweats and was horrified, but also relieved it wasn’t real. That’s when I did research, since I was scared I was becoming a schizophrenic or something. Thank god I read about sleep paralysis and there was a scientific explanation. However, like a day or 2 later it happened again! But this time I spoke back to it. I told the voice to leave me alone, that it’s not real. It got angry with me saying that, sounding more furious the more I said it. Luckily, I reciprocated, getting louder and angry myself with each reply. Yelling louder and louder “leave me alone you’re not real!” Then it stopped.
I might’ve had one or two sleep paralysis encounters since but none with the voice, until two nights ago. This time it wasn’t a voice. I had a dream where I knew I was dreaming, it took place in my home. I actually was unsure during the dream, trying to decide if I knew this was a dream or not as weird as that sounds. Finally, I “woke up” and realized it was a dream. So I lay in my pitch black room, unable to open my eyes or move anything. I’m like “great not this again.” Then I start experience projects on my ceilings, cartoon like, turning into these monsters. I guess at this point with my experience it’s like they didn’t phase me anymore. Then my cousin pops up and I think to myself “oh nice he’s here, I bet he turns into a monster pretty soon……(he does)” and I nonchalantly respond with a “And there it is” lol I ignore these things and focus on getting up. I finally get up, look at my hands as I move it and at the time didn’t realize that my glow in the dark stickers on my ceiling weren’t there. I walk over to this dresser near my bed (I don’t have a dresser near my bed) and there’s this head sculpture of a boy that immediately turns demonic when I walk over to it. I get upset realizing that I never woke up, For a second I just thought I did not realizing the clues of this dresser or the stickers on the ceiling not glowing in the dark. I yelled at the things “you’re not real! Helloooooo, you’re not real!! I KNOW you’re not real so just stop!!” And finally I woke up. For real this time. The glow in the dark stars stickers on my ceiling confirming it. I now wonder if it was actually sleep paralysis or a weird dream of me dreaming about sleep paralysis
I would like to accept the notion of “sleep paralysis” being just a dream , however,how do you explain your spouse waking you during a episode,you still see the dark figures,and you ask her to turn on the light but she won’t because “they are coming towards us”…. Yes Im diagnosed with Combat related PTSD,
however it started when I was probably 9-12 years old
I had a similar experience except I could see my boyfriend trying to wake me up and I could hear him. And then the entity in the room looked at me and smirked and said he can’t see me…once I was fully awake I sat up all night thinking it was just going to show back up… I would also like to add that this says not to sleep on your back but I have to because when I sleep on my stomach I feel myself floating around the room uncontrollably and that is even scarier. So I purposely sleep on my back to avoid that because I have sleep paralysis often.
I see a black shadow staring at me, i cant move myself, i am completely paralyzed.
No matter how much i use my power i am overpowered.
I see it moving towards me, sometimes a man or a women shadow appears.
Once it said its here to kill me and i answered – not today.
Last night i saw a man standing right next to me completely black at around 3:30-4 and i got paralyzed.
It scares me a lot sometimes, yet i never give up and overpower the unknown.
I have always been reluctant to take naps as I have suffered with sleep paralysis for years. It is terrifying. A few years ago I had fallen asleep on my futon and I awoke to my tuxedo cat biting my face and punching my chest with his paws until I woke up. It happened another time and each time afterward I had the lingering effect of suffering a sleep paralysis episode. I am convinced he senses the onset and saves me as a therapy dog would a PTSD victim. I will only nap now if he is nearby so convinced I am of his therapeutic sense of protection for me.
I am 24 yrs old (f). About a week ago I experienced a spirit on me that didn’t want to let me go. The first time it happened that night I brushed it off I said to myself its sleep paralysis, maybe I’m just tired I had woken my partner up and told him about it and then we went back to sleep. The second time I actually heard the spirit telling me to shut up in spanish and was also laughing, my partner had woken up he said because he felt the bed shake and he said I was shaking. He kept yelling out “babe!” and I could hear him but I couldn’t respond or wake up. Then when I was able to get up but still unable to speak or breathe. Then suddenly i feel a really big relief of weight off my body and can finally breathe and talk but even then I was scared I started crying hysterically and I couldn’t talk right due to me being scared and panicking. After that happened I had someone help me do some things that might help and it did until last night around 1:30 am, I had fallen asleep while my partner was in the bathroom taking a shower and I felt my body getting heavy and I couldn’t move so then I just woke up and brushed it off. Then when we were ready for bed we slept and it happened again and again just every time I slept. At one point it was about 2:45 am I heard the same voice as last time and I felt it touch my face both my eyes and my forehead and I said stop touching me and he let out a growl that I let out but then he mentioned my partners name and I yelled leave him alone and he growled even louder and I let the growl out. My partner woke up instantly he said he felt something and got chills all over his body for a whole minute or two. I just don’t know what to do or whats going on I need help I feel like I’m going crazy. Please someone give me advice or something.
Hi Zayda. I’ve experienced a lot of those experiences in sp, I have this every night since I was a child, so I kind learn to deal with it. (I might commit some grammatical mistakes bcoz English is not my native language, so, sorry) Idk if the “level” of this thing is the same as mine or if all this thing that happened with is us something supernatural or psychological, but I believe that this would help u. Techniques for wake up from paralysis will make u run away from the problem, not to face them. First of all, put in mind that you are stronger than this thing. Try to not feel so afraid of him, Ik that this should be difficult, he is scary. But u need to not be so afraid of him for overcoming this. At least not stay in panic. U can see that most cases of sp don’t have any physical symptoms. What it really attacks is your mind. Soon, your body paralyzed doesn’t mean that he is in a superior or stronger stats than u. If the attack is more psychological than physical, u don’t need a strong or a moving body. U need a strong mind. Put in mind that you are the superior. You are stronger than him. Force yourself to believe in this. Yes, be arrogant with him. It works with me. U can’t show that weakness to him. It’s like an animal: it sees that u have fear of him and feels like it is the ruler there. Put in mind that no one can attack your mind. No one can attack your body. Doesn’t matter if its human or inhuman. U r the only master of u. They only would damage you or him if u accept that he can. Those things will try so hard to use your weakness against u for u lose to them. So, no matter how hard this hurts u, u should never give up. Till you discover how to finish with him, (if he doesn’t give up from u bcoz of this, like a lot of creatures like him that haunted me), stay brave. U are stronger than this. If u aren’t, become.
This just happened to me for the first time. Its 3:30 am now and I am feeling nervous even though it’s been 15 mins. I usually fall asleep with a film on, but I didn’t tonight. I remember hearing the film but it ended. After a few minutes, I felt the other side of the bed bend down and two hands or something pin my arms down (I still feel it a lil near upper biceps and triceps). After 10 seconds, I could talk or make noise and 20 seconds later, I could start to move. I have my pistol under the pillow on the other side of the bed in its holster, safety on, nothing in the chamber. I immediately grabbed my gun and swept the house. How can this be so real? The bed was literally pushed down and even made some noise as it happened. A split second before, what felt like a sheet hit me in the face. 35 years old and never experienced this before, but as a child, I had very vivid nightmares.
I woke up breathless and I wondered if I had a stroke /heart attack in my sleep. During my dream I was in a room with 2 people we noticed an animal in the corner of the ceiling. I’m not sure if it was a moth, giant butterfly or a raven. We tried to coax it outside of the room. Suddenly this big animal had me laying flat down on the ground suffocating me on my chest and I kept screaming get it off of me, get it off of me no one was helping me. I think I scream that about 20 times and then I woke up breathless. I went to find my holy water went back to my bedroom wrote a cross from the water and my body and the bed. And said remove the dark forces from my life. I followed that up with listening to a video on YouTube on how to remove curses from your life. An hour after waking up, I still feel traumatized from this experience.
Hi all, I started having these experiences in my early 20 s and I am still having them now in my 50s, just had them 2 nights on the trot. The fist time was without doubt the most frightening, that was the demon in the room which was trying to possess me, being honest I was terrified and afraid to go back to sleep. I always know when it’s going to happen, just as I am about to nod off I get a vibration or buzzing sensation in my head, as soon as I feel it it’s a race to try and stay awake and a usually lose it’s almost like a fight and I feel myself slipping into this state. I’ve lost count of how many times it’s happened but I think I’ve experienced most of the sensations associated with sleep paralysis from hallucinating with my eyes open, to out of body experiences being touched and so on, but what I will say is having them for so long and lots of them just on a few occasions I have managed to gain some control and actually enjoyed them especially the floating sensations. Who can say they have run around the area where they live like a man on the moon jumping as high as a house and feeling weightless and I can tell you it feels 100% reel, so it’s not all bad, I hope all you people who have this problem don’t get too scared by it and if you’re lucky have some good ones like me (sleep well)
Hey, I just woke up from mine, I had it last night after about a month gap of not having one. I think I know what triggered it, there is a watch in my room that I was focused on the ticking of also I was a little scared already as I thought I heard a knock on my window. With the combination of these two I was facing towards my wall and could somewhat feel my body not being able to move (wasn’t in the SP yet) and then got an urge to look on my phone but I couldn’t and was quickly pulled into the SP. The thing that got hold of me was like a big grey demon type thing with a lot of hands and fingers and was trying to pull me off my bed, at one point there was combustion of bright light, shapes and then buzzing noises and I was trying to get away from this demon. I remember getting up and going to the other side of my room but the SP wouldn’t end. Throughout all of this, it felt like my whole body was tingling and if I even thought about a certain body part like my arm all the sudden it would feel like someone had grabbed ahold of my arm. I remember then going to my dad’s room and then my brothers and they were just paper under their sheets. I then returned to my bed and tried to scream and call out for someone as well as move my body. It felt like it lasted 3 minutes and then it all faded and I was back in my body.
Hello, I have been experiencing sleep paralysis and other sleeping problems since I was 15 (now 36). I often have dreams where I wake up and I’m somewhere else and have the sense something is after me. But I am unable to move or talk and feel as if a weight is on me just like paralysis. I guess sometimes I wonder if this is still considered sleep paralysis or a nightmare or terror. In these dreams I also try to shake myself awake just like in normal sleep paralysis. It is frightening and exhausting. I often feel like there’s no escaping it since I can never predict when it will occur.
Scientist call it Sleep Paralysis, I call real paranormal stuff. But if you don’t believe in that then stick to SP for your own good. Believe in God but also believe in ghost or demons that stuff exists. Try not to be scared cuz if they perceive your weakness they’ll intimidate you. I just look around and in my mind tell IT that I ain’t scared, it is desperate but it usually leaves you alone.
The thing is, I can’t tell if I’m experiencing sleep paralysis or if there’s actually something wrong with me. I’ve only got these episodes after I got laced. Usually, I wake up not being able to move and feel as though something is standing on my head and choking me at the same time. The only real time that I got freaked out was when I fell asleep but didn’t actually fall asleep. Like I was asleep but could still see everything in front of me, even behind me. as I was looking behind me I saw this shadowy figure come into the area I was in and when he approached everything behind him started to fade. It grabbed my hand that was hanging off the couch and proceeded to kind of curl my hand into a ball and move it towards my chest and boom everything went black. I felt like I was being choked and I couldn’t move. When I finally came to I had my hands around my neck which really freaked me out. Again, I don’t know if that’s sleep paralysis I’m experiencing or something else but the pain I get while in and after these episodes is pretty much unbearable.
I fall asleep on my side and I feel something in my bed laying next to me, something slides it’s arm around my waist like I’m being hugged then I feel like I’m being held in place, I try to scream but nothing comes out. It’s completely terrifying. This has happened twice to me. I’m scared to fall asleep and wake quite often during the night afraid it will happen again. I have an uneasy feeling when I’m in the room. The first time I was visiting my parents and the second time which was last night I was visiting my daughter. I’m terrified to sleep.
Suzanne, I had exactly the same last night. I also sleep on my side and felt an arm winding itself around my waist and it was terrifying. I try to speak and can’t, so then I realise what it is (kind of lucid dreaming) and I tell myself it will go and telling ‘it’ to go in my mind – whatever has its arm around my waist. It’s horrid. The sensation leaves after about 30 seconds and I can speak again.
I first experienced sleep paralysis when I was a very young child and since then not often, but every few years. I once felt hands around my throat. I didn’t want to open my eyes in case there would be something there. I just told it to go and eventually it did.
I’m now a psychologist and am aware of sleep stages etc., and so understand the processes that are thought to be causing it. But it doesn’t seem to help when you’re in the middle of an episode! Interestingly, I attended a lecture on sleep only two days ago and wonder if that prompted this episode last night. I’ve also been sleeping badly recently (probably more so now!) and poor sleep is thought to be a risk factor. Perhaps for you it is the strange environment, maybe you are sensitive to different noises in a new place at night. Dreading going to sleep tonight but here goes… Best wishes. Diane.
Me and my mom went to the casino and stayed a night at one of the hotels close by. When we got in the room the air conditioner started making weird noises that me and her heard. about 12 at night we went to sleep about five minutes later I started to have sleep paralysis I woke up and couldn’t move and started trying to call my mothers name when i couldn’t talk i kept on till I was able to call her name. My head felt very weird. this happens around 6 times then the 7th time it happened I felt a had on mine and I closed my hand and felt another had closed on mine. In my head I was saying to it leave me alone why are you doing this who are you and out of my mouth came out saying a man. then I finally was able to yell my mother’s name again so I told her to let’s change beds to see if it would happen again or to her and it never happened after we changed beds.
Just came across this website after having an episode for the first time in years. The first time it happened, I can’t remember exactly how old I was but I was still kinda young, maybe 11-12. I can vividly remember waking up and seeing the sun shining through my blinds and everything but I could not move. I eventually did roll over, confused as to what was happening but I dismissed it as a dream. But then I fell back asleep and it happened again within a few seconds. A black shadowy figure then suddenly materialized right in front of me and I could’ve pissed myself. It sat down on the bed, making whispering noises and then touched my arm. I tried to focus so hard on screaming, doing anything but nothing worked. Finally I squeezed my eyes closed and then I shot up out of sleep, gasping for breathe. It happened again one night, the same figure opened my door and just stood there, and my heart felt like it was gonna fly out of my chest. I did the same thing, squeezing my eyes really tight and then I woke up again and turned on my lamp. I am now 19 and haven’t had a sleep paralysis episode in years….until tonight. After reading this article I believe it was more than likely caused by my horrendous sleep schedule, as I’m a college student. But I fell asleep at 11, the earliest I’ve slept all semester, and remember waking up once to check the time cause it felt like I was sleeping forever and it had to be morning soon. But it was only 3:30, so I fell back asleep. Within seconds, I felt everything around me shift into a bleary state and then I heard my door creak open. However this is the first time I didn’t feel immediately terrified, and though I didn’t hear footsteps I felt a presence making its way towards me. It sat down in the chair in my room, which was directly in front of my bed and spoke to me, saying my name in my mother’s voice. It all felt so real I thought my mom was actually visiting me in the middle of the night, trying to wake me for some reason. I said “Mom?” and that…. THATS when the vibe in my room changed into something ominous. The figure began to choke me, though the pressure and pain was being felt in my chest instead of my neck. After several failed attempts I finally jumped out of the state and quickly turned on the flashlight on my phone, checking to see that my door is still locked as always and that my chair is facing the direction of my desk and not towards me. I’m still up, scared to go back to sleep….
So i went to sleep very early one night and i woke up at around 10 pm. i could hear my family getting ready for bed and i tried to get up and i couldn’t. i tried to call out to my mum and all of a sudden i hear this weird noise and it sounded like someone was saying “in” and as soon as i heard it, it was like a spirit literally entered my body.in my head i was screaming “out” and i was trying to scream out to my mum but i could not move at all. i was scared for my life because when that presence felt like it entered my body it was like static and it felt like i would be stuck like that forever. i kept trying to move and then i moved my leg and the presence left my body and i still couldn’t fully move but eventually, i did it. before this happened i must have dreamed of closing my window but it felt so real that i thought it was shut and when i managed to get up it was open causing me to believe that the presence in my room got in through the window. i tried calling it again and lay very still. and in my head i had a name for it that i couldn’t remember so i tried to call it without saying its name and said you can come in again in my head. but it wouldn’t come back so i left it. i think im going insane.
My one and only experience. Everything you said was true about the feeling of being held down and not being able to move, but I heard people walking outside my window and kicking rocks. It was a man and a woman. I live in the middle of nowhere and have a long driveway so the people walking on the rocks woke me I could hear them talking and I when I tried to get up and look I couldn’t, felt like 5 minutes. At the time I could hear them vividly but now I do not remember what they were talking about. Very scary.
Not sleep paralysis but last night, my child woke and came into my room where I was sleeping. I reached out to pick him up, 3 times but my other arm kept pulling me back. Each time my hands would disconnect and flop on to the bed and when I would reach out again my other hand would pull it back, very forceful. I was still half asleep so I thought it was my partner doing it. I called for him to stop it and my hand flopped, again on to the bed. Then i reached for my son, 4th time, and i managed to pick him up. Everything was normal after that. I can not find anything that explains what it was and it’s really confused me.
Hello, my experience happened in the 1990s. It happened a handful of times over several years. The most terrifying experience was hearing footsteps over my head (I slept on a daybed in the living room at the time due to a roommate situation in NYC) and then the presence came over to me and slipped its arm down my chest and between my breasts and as it did that it said in a very creepy, low voice “yeah…yeah. There was NOTHING sexy about it and I couldn’t wake myself up. The next time it happened, I had a friend visiting from out of town and told myself if I woke up right after an episode and if she and my cats were not noticing anything strange, then it must be in my head. It stopped for a while and then started again a few years later in the late ’90s. Sometimes it would happen while sleeping next to my fiancé. He never noticed anything when I was in this state. I started to become afraid of sleeping, which is a terrible thing to go through. The final straw was when it happened to me in another state while visiting my mother. It was always the SAME presence and to this day I wonder if it was just a dark spirit harassing me. I was going through stressful times every time it happened, but then why didn’t it happen during other stressful times? I am also a pretty spiritual person, so was baffled why this kept happening. Not until I said some pretty intense prayers did it finally STOP and never happened again. But like I said, to this day I don’t understand WHY it happened since I have definitely experienced major stress over the years since then, but it has never happened again. Truly a mystery and I am not 100% convinced it’s always a simple REM sleep explanation as opposed to something more supernatural. Anything is possible in this life and to assume there are no other levels of a spirit world existence is very close-minded in my opinion.
I get the whole “scientific” explanation, but I stick to my belief that it’s caused by evil spirits in my case, and here’s why. I just woke up from an incident and in the “dream” I was not sleeping on my back, I was sleeping on my left side. I felt someone or something lay on top of me, I tried to wiggle it off me, but every time I moved the weight got stronger. Since this is not the first time this has happened to me, I have learned to pray and move my body at the same time to fight back. So I prayed the Lord’s prayer and wiggled my body out from under the weight and the pressure got off me, and I woke up for a few seconds. But I was too sleepy to wake up fully and I drifted off again. As soon as I was dreaming again, the person laid on me again, with twice as much pressure as before, I tried to wiggle and they pinned me down with more weight, I tried to pray and my tongue got twisted in my mouth to the point where I was mumbling out the sounds of the prayer but I never stopped praying and fighting. I wiggled myself to the edge of the bed trying to fall off the bed and out from under the person. When I got to the edge of the bed, I got my head to hang off the bed. That is when I saw a very skinny, pitch black arm extend across my shoulder to the side of my neck, as an attempt to hold me down further. It was crazy how the arm was so skinny, yet it weighed a ton. I turned my head and bit the arm hard, the weight shifted a little, so I bit even harder and it lifted off me. That’s when I forced myself awake. When I woke up my head was pounding and my heart was racing. I knew I wasn’t alone, so I prayed out loud and forced myself not to go back to sleep.
Very scary experience. It happened about 10 times so far to me. Feels like a dark presence. The 2 strangest that happened to me: 1) I heard a voice say “this is the one I was talking about” 2) felt punched in my chest and actually bounced my body slightly. Freaky stuff!
Happened last night, awoke to see a shady outline directly in front of my face and could sense one behind me. I immediately panicked and realized I physically couldn’t move. This is following weeks of dreams getting gradually worse. Hope it doesn’t happen again tonight.
I wasn’t awake when I had sleep paralysis I was in a dream. This happens to me out of the blue with the pattern of months. This only happens when I’m sleeping on my back as well. Today around 7 something, I was laying on my back when I drifted off to sleep. When I opened my eyes I felt an unpleasant presence in the room. Then I felt something crawling on my bed, as I was laying there I look to the side of me to see what it was and sure enough, it was a doll but not just any doll, it was evil. I tried getting up to destroy the doll but unfortunately, I was not able to move. I finally got the strength to get up halfway with a lot of struggling but every time I got up the doll would push me back down flat on my back. I remember me insulting the doll and the doll saying things back to me but I can’t really remember what the doll was saying. I tried praying to God in my dream which usually works but this time it didn’t. I also tried closing my eyes and keeping calm but that didn’t work either. Then out of nowhere, I got out of it in relief.
I had two episodes of sleep paralysis several years ago during a time period when I was having trouble sleeping and would stay up very late. Both times I fell asleep on the sofa watching TV and then woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t move or make a sound. Each time it lasted probably for I’m guessing no more than 30 seconds. Then I’d shake it off and go back to sleep. It didn’t bother me really, and it didn’t happen again for several years.
Lately, I haven’t been sleeping well for various reasons, and last night I had an episode where I thought I felt my cat climbing on top of me, but then I realized it wasn’t my cat and it felt like a man. It felt like he was holding me down and then I felt like he had his face right above mine and was shaking his head and making odd noises to try to scare me. My perception was that it was a “shadow man”…not a solid person. I struggled and tried to call out for my mom (that was definitely a reaction rooted in childhood because my mom is 90, frail, and couldn’t possibly help me lol). That didn’t work, so I started to recite the Lord’s Prayer because I felt like whatever it was that was on top of me was some type of evil. A few seconds into saying that, the shadow man went away and I was able to move again.
I know this episode was sleep paralysis, but it really freaked me out and I realize that I need to stop my habit of waking up in the middle of the night and then staying up reading for a few hours. I’m definitely sleep deprived.
I think I was 17-18 yrs old. My boyfriend and I moved into a house that had been in a fire, the bedroom was freezing cold, couldn’t get warm for anything. I had this happen over and over. I try to wake up but can’t. This went on for hours it seemed. I couldn’t keep my eyes open or move or speak and felt doomed and scared to death, of what I had no idea……
I have been plagued since I can remember, probably 8. I always thought my house was haunted until I moved and the dreams happen no matter where I am. I could be in a hotel or sleeping at a friend’s home. It always occurs in the bed I am really sleeping in making it seem real. More often than not there is trickery. What seems to be a friendly spirit or person morphs into a demon as soon as it has my attention. I cannot move or scream and the harder I tried the more it suppresses me. There is intense pressure and in the times I have stopped fighting hoping to have enough strength to possibly speak then it attacks me. My dreams are so real and so intense I can see articulately the detail in the demons faces. Many of them are tiny. They come out from under the mattress or sit atop the ceiling fan. They threaten to go in my daughter’s room. They don’t speak but make awful sounds. I have these dreams almost immediately after laying down, usually within the first 20 minutes. And they happen one after the other for hours. It is debilitating fear mostly due to the trickery involved and my falling for it and it being too late when I realize oh no it’s a demon again.
I think I may have an extreme case of sleep paralysis. I’ve had these dreams since I was 8. Usually an intruder entering into my room. I can hear the door open and a dark shadow appear. Another time I felt a cat walking on my bed and then it’s paws walking on my legs up to my chest. The worst one was a demon. I could here him breathe, grab me and he tried sexually assault me, but I managed to move my toe to wake up. I thought it was real. I could see, hear and feel the awful thing. My husband thinks I’m weird. Lol
The latest one was 2 night ago. A shadow figure entered my room with a cowboy hat on. He was really loud with the door knob and it sounded like he shuffled his feet. I haven’t slept well in the last few nights. Now I’m suffering a headache looking up ways to prevent these dreams. I think my pillow might be too high and I need to stop sleeping on my back.
I have sleep paralysis on a regular basis. Each time its similar. A shadow figure pulls my quilt/sheets off me very slowly so as not to wake me (I think).
In the past I was scared and didn’t know what to do. Now I fight it ( whatever it is). I punch it with both hands and tell it to get lost in my head.( because I can’t speak when this happens).
I found a great site called ‘ true ghost stories’. The members are fantastic and have helped me heaps.
There are so many things that you can do. I haven’t stopped this shadow/sleep paralysis from happening, but at least I’m not scared anymore.
I have had many sleep experience of not being able to wake up while trying to wake up. Once when i tried to run away I tried to stay awake until everyone in house went to bed but i must have fell to sleep. I later had an urge to use the bathroom really bad. I went to get up and could not move. I was trying to scream but I couldn’t hear my voice. My grandfather said he heard me moving and looked on me and saw me moving like I was fighting someone. Then he started shaking me to wake me up but he did not hear me calling him. Next, i had just left church and went to sleep in my dorm. I felt something move in bed with me that was heavy on my back that woke me up. I got very scared and started sweating. I remembered to say the blood of Jesus to an an unclean spirit. So i did.., then tje thing hit the floor like a bowling pin. I got out of bed and ran to my balcony until morning. The same happens the next night when i visit the dorm of my friend. We went to sleep together in her bed and the thing got between us but he spoke and commanded the thing to leave in Jesus Name. I never had those experiences to happen to me again until after i had my first child. I was lying down and was just thinking through my day when I was lost in my thoughts I felt my body going through my mattress then I felt heat. I heard a sound like something was on fired. Then my body felt more intense heat. I felt like I was on hell. Then I prayed but can’t remember how I floated back on top of my bed. Next time I was giving blood at work…, all of a sudden I felt my body going through the chair and I was going further down. To me I was trying to move my body and I was trying to say “help me” over and over. When the nurse nice me I had turned gray and she touch my body. No one heard me repeat over and the words help me. I don’t understand it. Being a Christian since I was very young and all my experiences have been on the demonic feeling hurt because if I had floated up it would make the experience feel like I was witnessing heaven. I hate these experiences. Am 66 years old and have not had an experience like I have texted since I was in my 50ties. Thank God!
i have sp around my menstrual cycle it started when i was 14 and im 28 now i see a doctor fior it but im still convinced im haunted or cursed its pretty scary especially when you have to deal with it on a monthly basis
My experiences with “sleep paralysis” have happened only two times, two nights back to back, while living in an old apartment near Camp Greene in Charlotte, NC around 1998. I was fully awake both times. Weirdly enough, both times happened at midnight. I felt as though demons were holding me down all over my body. As I tried to set up and scream out to my roommate in the other bedroom, I was hearing screeching sounds. Once I finally broke free and told him what had happened, he basically made fun of it. I spoke with my sister who is a nurse, and she told me it sounded like sleep paralysis. The only problem with that theory is that I was fully awake both times this occurred. I purposely spoke to these “demons” on the second night and sort of taunted them to do it again if they were really present. They didn’t disappoint me. I was totally freaked about this as I was powerless against these forces I couldn’t see. I basically sat down the next day and said I was okay with them being there and “playing in the apartment” and to please not attack me again. No other issues with “sleep paralysis” occurred. My roommate got freaked out one night after these happenings and said that he felt like something was watching him while he was taking a shower. I just laughed and said “I tried to tell you this place is haunted”. He was visibly freaked out by the occurrence. At times, I could see shadow people in that apartment. One particular night, while watching tv, I really honed in on one of the grey figures in the corner of the room. My roommate’s cat ran across the room and sat motionless for probably over a minute, starring up to the corner of the room where this thing was hanging out. Later, while having a second phone line installed for AOL, I asked the installer if he had ever heard any strange stories about the apartments and he quickly replied: “you mean about ghosts?”. He had heard several stories of ghosts being the apartments. I stayed in the apartment for a couple of years before moving to Raleigh. Upon returning to visit friends about a year later, I went by the apartment to find where the new renter had placed over 50 tiny cherubs on all the window ledges. They were all facing outward. As a side note, I have had numerous experiences with the supernatural over the years. I also hold a degree in chemistry, so I try to find logic before jumping to conclusions. I just wanted to share my experiences as it irritates me when people try to dismiss everything through science-based reasoning. We can’t and don’t fully understand everything that happens in this world. And you can bank on that.
I just had one of this episodes (I hope).
I took a nap in the afternoon, my daughter was playing with her dad in the living room. I could hear them talk and giggle. All of a sudden, I feel little steps – just like my daughter’s- walking around the bed. I was sleeping on my tummy. Then, I feel this man-like presence in the room, he lays on my back and holds me. I can feel his head next to mine, and his breath on my neck… Very terrifying! I kept trying to make noise so that my daughter and her dad could hear me, but I couldn’t move or talk. I started praying, but that didn’t work either. The weight of this man was still on my back. After a few minutes, I could move again and got out of the bedroom.
I’m 32, and this is probably the 3rd or 4th time I recall having this experience. It is super scary. Thanks for the information. I had read about it before but it’s hard to relax while it is happening.
The first time I remember ever experiencing sleep paralysis, I was 19-20 living with my Grandmother and taking care of her in her bad health. A little bit of a back story on this house: My grandmother had lived there from 1992-2011 when she passed. I had many fond memories of the house but I was also terrified of being in the dark there. Even in my teens, I would turn on lights walking through the kitchen and into the bathroom. I REFUSED to do I to the BG bedroom without a light on and long walk in closet? FORGET IT. I had to have a flash light on just to reach in, pull the string really fast. When I turned the light off I would literally run out of there. Now back to me: My first experience with sleep paralysis, my grandmother was sleeping in the living room because all of her medical equipment was in there so I had taken over the big bedroom. I had rearranged everything and always kept a lamp on, so I was no longer scared of the bedroom, (the closet still freaked me out though). Anyways, one night I had fallen asleep with my lamp on like always. The next thing I know I am opening my eyes and I realize that my lamp is turned off, which is weird because there is a spin switch, so you have to roll it and click it for it to turn off. I immediately started to reach to turn it on and I realized I couldn’t move. My head, hand, legs, mouth, everything was frozen. The only thing I could move was my eyes. As I looked around, I noticed this tall black shadow in the middle of the room. It had no body shape, no idea but I could feel this evil presence wafting off of it and I could feel it staring at me. I started trying to move then and I couldn’t, it came to the bed, still in shadow form and stood over me, by the right aide of the bed, looking over me. I was terrified. inside my head I started praying, “Please help me God, please help God, God don’t let me die, please God don’t let me die. Jesus please help.” That’s the last thing I remember was seeing the shadow figure get close to my face and me praying those prayers. I woke up the next morning to sunlight coming in through the window. I called it up to a bad dream until I realized that my lamp had indeed been switched off. I have had several bouts of sleep paralysis since then. I’ve also had nightmares about being attacked and choked by an invisible force. Every time it happens I start praying. Even in my nightmares where I am being choked, I pray.
Its been happening to me for years and sound and light usually protects you from this entity prayer also keeps the entity from reaccuring, because in my case going right back to sleep only taunts the entity and it usually reappears, i also experienced me looking at me while i was sleeping the outer body experience lasted for about 20 seconds before then i returned into my natural body… the holding me against my will and the no speaking is very common in my
Episodes and is a reaccuring insident….
Yes! Probably 10 times from 19 to 67 years old. I’m still feeling anxiety from my most recent event on 12/01/18 (night before last). In my nightmare I was at the end of a lengthy pursuit. I felt that I was trapped and my pursuers were slowly closing in. I was completely paralyzed unable to even cry out. Apparently, I had been moaning or creating some sort of disturbance, enough to attract my dog’s attention that sleeps downstairs. He awoke me by attempting to manipulate my hand with his nose and barking in my ear. I remember a series of these attacks when I was 19-22. Very few since but, two in recent years.
I experienced sleep paralysis with “hallucinations” for over two decades. During adolescence it happened several times a week, sometimes multiple times in one night. I would experience what felt like strong shocks or convulsions during my paralysis, and I would wake up physically stiff and sore in the morning. One particular episode resulted in an out of body experience, which actually felt as real as reality ever gets, except for the obvious anomaly of not being attached to my body. I try to be open-minded in general, and am therefore undecided about what sleep paralysis actually is. The last episode I had was in my late 30s. By then I had done some research into the phenomena and had decided I would no longer allow the paralysis to frighten me. This seemed to have a significant impact on my experience. During my last episode, I was able to relax somewhat, and I even laughed at the “intruder” who I was no longer certain was real. Strangely, this seemed to enrage it, and I suddenly felt hands under my arms and the sensation of being lifted and tossed towards the ceiling. I was not expecting this, but I just laughed again, and said, “Oh, so you’re throwing me now?!” Then I was launched instantly into what I’m pretty sure was a “lucid dream”, too lengthy and bizarre to put into words here. When I woke up the following morning, my heart was racing and I felt both physically exhilarated and exhausted as if I’d just ran a mile or something. I have had no paralysis experiences since then, and I think being able to relax and laugh during the last episode really helped for some reason.
This morning around 430am I remember falling into a light sleep and suddenly feeling a presence standing over me. I could not move or speak and then I felt a long, thin hand touch my left shoulder and firmly press to hold me down. Next my body felt some sort of dull deep pain and I wanted to yell out but couldn’t. I started to breath calmly and took a deep breath and yelled out my husband’s name it was a forced yell that took all the energy I could muster to get out. Immediately when I yelled-It broke the hold on me and I heard the sounds of what seemed to be a pack of howling dogs.. but it was long mourningful like howling like dogs fleeing away from me and the sound was loud in my right ear then gone. I started praying and it helped me feel much better like the omnious presence had finally left.
This is how it happened to me(sleep paralysis thing) just a couple of days ago from now. I was laying on my back, and suddenly I woke up to this person right on my lap chanting in a language I clearly didn’t understand, facing down so I couldn’t recognise their face, with their hands on my tighs, and very dark in nature.
Initially I thought it was just my mom praying for me, but at closer attention I realized that this wasn’t her and when I tried to investigate the person further and tried to reach out to them that’s when I realized I could not speak non move, and in that realization the thing which I initially thought to be a person started to become more vocal and I could sense that it was happy or excited by the fact that I was acknowledging it presence and the fact that I wasn’t able to move.
I quickly panicked (predictably so) and fought so hard to no avail cause the things was like feeding off my fear and became stronger in restricting my movements.
But I drew enough will power to fight off the dam thing and suddenly I woke up now for real and rose to a seated position from the initial laying on my back and quickly realised that I was hallucinating though the thing felt seriously real, and to my surprise I realized it was just about to hit dawn because I noticed that the birds out side were just starting to sing and I came with an estimation that it must have been between 05h00 – 05h30, also considering the fact that it summer now here in the southern hemisphere, the birds soothed the fear away and I just went back to sleep lol.
I had my first SP a number of years ago while visiting my son and his family.
I woke up at exactly 2:00 p.m.,on my back, frozen to my bed unable to move. The only thing I was able to do was turn my head and look at the clock on the end table. The entire room was filled with like bright stars, everywhere I could see. First feeling was aliens in the room, then thought about trying to warn my son, but couldn’t get up. I turned my head and it was 2:15 p.m. on the clock. The room was still filled with with these bright star like beings. I must have relaxed and just fell back to sleep, as the next thing I remember was waking up in the morning. I totally remembered the entire experience. Never said anything to anybody about it.
My experience is when I felt asleep my body was stiff my eyes was open someone was pressing on my chest stopping me from turning side to side. I thought it was a demon I couldn’t lift my body up . I thought my blanket was going to suffocate my face and I was going to died in my sleep. Somehow I broke a loose and went to the bathroom. I was scared to fall back to sleep.
I was about 14, 15 or maybe 16. I had several occurrences of similar happenings. While I am actually still in deep sleep, I believe, it always felt like someone was pressing down on me, touching me, in an intimate way as well, I couldn’t move, I knew I was still asleep when this was happening because when I did wake up, I would remember it as though I was remembering it, like, it must have just been a dream, but when this happened on several occasions, I started thinking that something really was pressing down on me, something that I knew I wouldn’t ever get to see, or hear, but just feel. When these occurred, I started becoming frightened by it, because little did I know back then and know now from family, was that strange this did happen in our home. I never spoke to anyone about it, so I kept quiet and hoped it wouldn’t happen anymore, but it did, a few more times. Years later, my sisters and myself sat down and started talking about our old home and we just started talking about strange things that happened in the home, many of which I never even knew about, and so, I brought that up to my sister and she said that she wouldn’t have even been surprised by what happened after all the other strange things, so I do believe in other presences, if that’s what you call it or another being.