Your Worst Nightmare (Sleep Paralysis Documentary)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-oazrI5SU8

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One in five will experience the terrifying phenomenon of sleep paralysis. Victims wake to find that they are paralyzed and unable to move or speak. Many experience frightening visions of demons, shadows, or an old woman known as "The Old Hag". For others there is simply the unmistakable presence of evil. In extreme cases, these potentially supernatural attacks can occur for decades. Overwhelmed, exhausted, and entirely alone, victims can lead shattered lives dominated by the fear of social stigma. Those who seek medical advice are often misdiagnosed and labeled psychotic or schizophrenic.

In "Your Worst Nightmare - Supernatural Assault" Soul Smack explores the surprisingly common and greatly misunderstood phenomenon of sleep paralysis. In this ground breaking documentary, Soul Smack interviews actual victims, consults with experts, and offers advice on how to live with what might be your worst nightmare.

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Very interesting documentary! Enjoy! :lol:

What is everyone's opinion on this? I personally think they are experiencing sleep paralysis hallucinations.

Yeah, it is definitely HI. I didn't watch the video because I'm suspecting that it's going to attempt to show examples of the terrors people go through. Personally, the worst I have ever gotten is just raspy whispers - and that's far enough for me. I'll stick to little/no HH/HI, thanks!

The HI is usually whatever your thinking about. But usually, your brain likes to pick something at the back of that dream to hallucinate about.
It also tends to drift towards fears. >_>

I think that document is giving a bad rap of SP, especially since if you understand SP, you can stay calm, visualize a beach or something and make that demon go away. (for the most part. You'll likely stop hallucinating a demon and start hallucinating a shark if you visualize a beach XD)

Didn't really like the video, sounds like SP is like this huge negative thing. I think the reason why people are getting so scared in SP is cause they don't understand what it is, that's just how humans are. And when u don't understand what it is, people tend to think it's a negative thing, and that's what u will get then in SP.

I love to be in SP, cause i learned how to deal with it, and change it to a beatifull experience. Not to mention it can bring u to lucid dreaming! I think people are just searching to mutch behind it.. And then u get sucked into all this spooky stuff. While for most people in this forum, it's probably a blessing when it happens.

Or.. i'm just completely wrong and we are all haunted!! :cry:

Indeed. Once you get used to SP, it's not that horrible. It can even help a lot with achieving lucidity.

Personally for me there is a constant fear feeling while i'm in SP and this is uncontrollable, so even if i'm not scared, this feeling stays. I got told here on DV that it's not like that for everyone, so i guess it's just me :) But even that can be disregarded if you can keep it in mind that what you see is not real and you have no reason to fear.

I think deep inside everybody feels a little bit of fear in SP, it's human instinct but like u said once u know how SP works and u control that fear, it's easy to turn things around. The people in that video seems like they let fear control them and then your probably not gonna get a good experience in SP. But i don't think ur the only one Littlezoe, it's more then normal to feel a little bit of fear in situations like this.

You didn't fully understand what i meant :) The fear feeling i get during SP is UNCONTROLLABLE. No matter if i don't actually fear the hallucinations, this feeling just stays in the background constantly. It's like a second level of fear, which you can't get rid of.

For example there was a moment when a zombie was crawling up on my bed and i was laughing at it in my mind since i knew it's not real, but at the same time i had this fear feeling that i just can't get rid of.

I guess it might not be too clear if you don't experience it :)

Oh, my bad! Didn't really see this part "and this is uncontrollable,". woepsie! :paranoid:

It's always nice to know what SP is before you experience it. And even better to know that staying calm and reassuring yourself that "Hey, That zombie isn't real. That demon isn't real." can keep the hallucinations relatively under control. They're Hallucinations of the mind. A side effect that can be controlled to an extent. I realize when I experience SP I will feel fear, even though i reassure myself. It's nice to be armed with this knowledge beforehand, and that the reward is worth the underlying background fear.
:shadewink:

I'm so tired of SP being touted as this all-important, scary thing. It's just REM Atonia, for God's sake -- your body is shut off so it doesn't act out the things you're dreaming.

There is nothing supernatural, no "attacks," and it's only scary because it's a feeling of helplessness that we're not supposed to be exposed to (we're supposed to be asleep when it occurs).

The flawed mythology being built around SP is getting tired, I think. People really shouldn't be finding things to be scared of -- the world, and our dreams, already has plenty of that.

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Originally Posted by Sageous

I'm so tired of SP being touted as this all-important, scary thing. It's just REM Atonia, for God's sake -- your body is shut off so it doesn't act out the things you're dreaming.

There is nothing supernatural, no "attacks," and it's only scary because it's a feeling of helplessness that we're not supposed to be exposed to (we're supposed to be asleep when it occurs).

The flawed mythology being built around SP is getting tired, I think. People really shouldn't be finding things to be scared of -- the world, and our dreams, already has plenty of that.

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I know! I dont get it! Everywhere SP is referred to as a disorder or condition. But it happens every night. I know some people do really have trouble with it. But on the most part it a natural occurrence we experience every night. I personally have come to really enjoy SP. Especially the vibrations I get before them. Its like a full body massage.

Continuing to be afraid of SP even after you know what is happening is childish. This may seem dismissive to people that have had truly frightening SP experiences, but that's how I mean it. We know what SP is now. We know the hallucinations are just an extension of a dream. We know it is completely harmless. The fear is understandable for people who aren't aware of what's happening. We all fear the unknown. But when we fear the unknown we should be drawn to making the unknown known. We should be striving to understand. We understand what SP is now. They actual work of discovery has already been done for us.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel any fear in SP, though. But I wouldn't describe it as fear. More like a sense of nervousness or unease that occurs when you don't know what may be coming next.

Even if you know what it is, that doesn't mean it can't scare the shit out of you.

It's like a scary movie, just cause you know it's a movie doesn't mean you don't get scared, albeit, some people don't get frightened by them. Still, being easily spooked doesn't make you childish- it's perfectly natural.

And similar to watching horror films, the more you watch them (or the more you go into sp) the less frightening they become.

I hate when people encourage stupidity and superstition. I agree with everyone here. There's nothing supernatural in this. This documentary is bullshit at its finest. :|

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Originally Posted by OctoberWind

It's like a scary movie, just cause you know it's a movie doesn't mean you don't get scared, albeit, some people don't get frightened by them. Still, being easily spooked doesn't make you childish- it's perfectly natural.

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You don't feel fear when you're watching a movie. When you're watching a scary movie you might feel uneasy and nervous. But actual fear? I don't think so. You feel fear when you believe you are in a potentially dangerous situation. That's why it's understandable that a person might be terrified by SP when they don't know what it is. But continuing to fear it even now that the mystery has been solved I still think is childish. You might as well be afraid of your own shadow. I expect kids to grow out of the fear of their own shadow just like I expect an adult to grow out of the fear of sleep paralysis. Unless they enjoy being emotionally crippled by their own ignorance.

I have a question. I used to have these in a house that I once lived in. Now I would wake up , unable to move, yet I would see a figure of a woman on the side of my bed and I would smell smoke. This happened time and time again for about 3 years. It would happen even when I was wide awake I would see a figure in black , the same in my dreams, yet I was able to move. Still the electrical smell of a fire (those who know what an electrical fire smells like) lingered. I would search and search for the smell and could find nothing. I moved out in 2003 and left the guy I was with, New Years Eve/Day at exactly 12 am the house that I moved out of had an electrical fire. It consumed the house in less than 45 minutes. The people living in the house , my ex and his friends, and his dog got out. Two cats died there. It could have been my daughter ,myself and my ex who died that night. No one was sleeping in the bedrooms in the back where the fire started and where I would smell the electrical smell. How do you explain that?

Wow 3 years? this problem you have is actually "beyond dreaming" and maybe this is a spirit communicating with you, you might be a natural medium. And about that fire just happened probably the spirit was telling you something about it, OR it used to happen years ago and someone died in that very house due to a fire, maybe that house isn't correctly constructed concerning electricity, and things get caught on fire easily. Could be history concerning that house.

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Originally Posted by MWM

I have a question. I used to have these in a house that I once lived in. Now I would wake up , unable to move, yet I would see a figure of a woman on the side of my bed and I would smell smoke. This happened time and time again for about 3 years. It would happen even when I was wide awake I would see a figure in black , the same in my dreams, yet I was able to move. Still the electrical smell of a fire (those who know what an electrical fire smells like) lingered. I would search and search for the smell and could find nothing. I moved out in 2003 and left the guy I was with, New Years Eve/Day at exactly 12 am the house that I moved out of had an electrical fire. It consumed the house in less than 45 minutes. The people living in the house , my ex and his friends, and his dog got out. Two cats died there. It could have been my daughter ,myself and my ex who died that night. No one was sleeping in the bedrooms in the back where the fire started and where I would smell the electrical smell. How do you explain that?

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I think the fear most people describe is caused by ignorance. Sleep paralysis might be something we are all familiar with here - its directly related to lucid dreaming. But for someone who has never heard about it, not being able to move or scream might be the most frightening experience they have lived. Humans in general tend to explain or simply give supernatural aspects to things that they don't understand; maybe this is the reason why when one googles 'sleep paralysis', 90% of the information is about demons, monsters, extreme fear, death, and a very reduced amount of info is actually scientifically based facts.

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Originally Posted by OctoberWind

Even if you know what it is, that doesn't mean it can't scare the shit out of you.

It's like a scary movie, just cause you know it's a movie doesn't mean you don't get scared, albeit, some people don't get frightened by them. Still, being easily spooked doesn't make you childish- it's perfectly natural.

And similar to watching horror films, the more you watch them (or the more you go into sp) the less frightening they become.

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I do agree with you that even if one knows whats going on, it can still be quite scary. And this is because its not something that we 'see'; its something we 'go through'. However, I personally believe that things are much less scarier once they are explained in a rational, logical and scientific way. Idk, maybe its just my personal interpretation because of how much science has helped me realize some things in life.

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Originally Posted by Sageous

I'm so tired of SP being touted as this all-important, scary thing. It's just REM Atonia, for God's sake -- your body is shut off so it doesn't act out the things you're dreaming.

There is nothing supernatural, no "attacks," and it's only scary because it's a feeling of helplessness that we're not supposed to be exposed to (we're supposed to be asleep when it occurs).

The flawed mythology being built around SP is getting tired, I think. People really shouldn't be finding things to be scared of -- the world, and our dreams, already has plenty of that.

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i take it that you yourself suffer from sleep paralysis then?? cause if not don't be so quick to judge. I've suffered from S P since i was a toddler. my earliest memory is one that I'll carry with to my grave. i was four and i awoke to find myself unable to move. i vividly remember seeing all sorts of creatures around the room. it didn't frighten me at first, i didn't quite understand what i was seeing. this is when i glanced at a dark figure out the corner of my eye on the ceiling. it reached out with both arms at me and i glanced at my pillow i was sleeping on and out of what seemed like a tiny hole in that pillow millions of bugs suddenly poured out covering everything around. i was terrified. i started to gasp and choke with fear trying to get a breath. my mom who was laying next to me seen i was in distress and picked me up. she held me for what seemed like hours but was more like five minutes, and for that time i could still see a portion of that being floating on the ceiling out the corner of my eye.when i finally came to i was horrified . i tried to explain what i saw but i was so young i couldn't properly describe what i saw so i would saying things like " it was a alligator that had no tail standing on two legs" or as a puppet with glowing eyes and sharp teeth. what happened to me seemed real enough. when it happens now a days i really try to calm my self and try to keep from freaking out. what i found is that no matter how hard you try the feeling of absolute terror still over takes you. as if forced on you unwillingly.

The thing is, if you are not prone to SP in normal life, you will most likely not get it when lucid dreaming. SP has nothing to do with lucid dreaming. If you have disorder, you have been getting them often and it's nothing new to you. If you never had it before, you may get it once or twice in your lifetime. But it's not connected to lucid dreaming.

If you have SP, you can WILD. If you don't have it, you can WILD the same.

SP explained

^^ Thanks Gab; 'nuff said, I think.

Scorge: sorry to hear about you affliction, but for what it's worth, actual SP has little to nothing to do with what's described as "SP" on these forums.

I was not judging, only speaking from the point of view that actual SP sufferers like you are a statistical rarity; I was by no means saying you didn't suffer from what you do suffer from.