Thread: I just had to share this with someone!

I really enjoyed reading your experience. So this kept going on for 7 years? Did you ever try to see a doctor to get it diagnosed maybe? I am not saying that you should, but I was just curious. That was a really awesome experience I assume. Well, what makes it a "lucid" dream is the fact that you where aware that you where dreaming. It sounded like you where though. When you are in SP it is not unheard of to see shadows, or an old hag (A really ugly hallucination.) Not everyone experiences them but you have. Do they disturb you? Or have you gotten use to it?

Someone made an excellent painting describing SP. Its called the Nightmare.



If you have any more questions just ask us. We are all here for help and support.

The Old Hag? Oh yeah, I know her well. She has a habit of pulling the covers off me and/or dragging me to the end of the bed!

The first time I experienced sleep paralysis I was absolutely terrified! It is easily the most scared I have ever been in my life! What happened was that I woke up in bed in the middle of the night and was instantly aware that I wasn't alone. I could tell that there was something else in the room with me and that it definitely wasn't friendly. At first I just lay there being dead still trying to work out what was going on and what I was going to do. But then I felt the presence of something else next to me! Instinctively I went to sit up and pull myself away from whatever it was but I found I couldn't move, I was completely frozen, I couldn't even let out a scream for help! And that's when the panic set in.

Before I knew it there were two more presences in the room taking the total number up to four. There were three moving around next to my bed and there was one stood at the end of my bed watching over everything.

The three moving down the side of my bed made great slapping noises as their feet shuffled across the floor and they were no more than perhaps three foot tall and had a shape and stature not to similar to ET has (in the Spielberg movie). They would take it in turns to stand next to my face and whisper things into my ear. They spoke in a strange language that I couldn't understand and I could feel their breath against my cheek and ear. Every now and then one would place its hand on my arm or grip me around the chest. They seemed to enjoy making me uncomfortable and they seemed to be working together towards a goal.

Meanwhile the figure at the end of my bed was perhaps seven foot tall and was unnaturally thin. I couldn't make out any features but was aware of a big pair of eyes watching and studying me. It was clear that this guy was the boss of the little ones and that he was running the show. It was from him that the feeling of absolute dread, evil and impending doom I was experiencing was coming from.

Like I have said, I was absolutely terrified. They seemed to be with me for a long time (perhaps three minutes) but it might just have seemed like a long time and in reality it might not have lasted anywhere near that!

Eventually, with a big flash of light they were gone and I found I was able to move again in the darkness. I don't think I've ever covered a distance so fast as I did the distance from my bed to the light switch that night! I hit the light switch, opened the door and was off running downstairs turning on every light I passed on the way down. Then I just sat there until the sun came up drinking coffee and trying to work out what had just happened.

I had at this point never heard of sleep paralysis or lucid dreams and it should be noted that I had been a huge X-files fan back in the 90’s so I’m sure you can imagine where my thoughts were taking me!

I never spoke about my experience to anyone and dreaded going to sleep each night. Every time I heard a creak in the house at night my heart would start pounding and I’d have to get up and investigate before I would be able to relax.

Then about a month after the event I have just described it happened again!! Only this time it was an old woman that was stood at the end of my bed like you mentioned. I had the same feeling of dread/doom and I was unable to move or shout. This time though there were no figures down the side of my bed, it was just her, on her own, laughing at me and slowly pulling the covers off me.

Although I was terrified, I was relieved too because instantly I realised that what ever it was it wasn’t real and it was clear that it was ‘psychological’ in nature.

The next day, I got on the internet and starting researching. By the end of the day I knew all there was to know about sleep paralysis and felt very relieved!

Nowadays I experience sleep paralysis either when I’ve not had enough sleep or when I am stressed. It’s still as intense and ‘real’ as it was the first time but I’ve learnt to live with it a long time ago and I just roll over and go straight back to sleep once it’s over..

And yeah, I’ve seen that painting before. I can definitely sympathise with the artist!