Refuge51

I have several times...it's horrific! Want to share experiences?
Here is the link to explaining it which does nothing to lessen the terror.
http://www.castleofspirits.com/sleepparalysis.html



In the dark depths of the middle of the night you are woken suddenly with a feeling of evil surrounding you, you can't breathe and your chest is heavy, is someone pressing down on you or trying to suffocate you?
To your horror you can't move, something is holding you down! You think you can hear voices and see a dark shadowy figure swooping around your bed...are you being visited by Demons or are you merely suffering an episode of Sleep Paralysis?

S L E E P P A R A L Y S I S
O L D H A G S Y N D R O M E

Sleep Paralysis (SP) is a common medical condition and usually tagged nowdays as a Sleeping Disorder.
The symptoms can sometimes include complete to partial paralysis of arms, legs and upper torso, a tight or heavy pressure on your chest sometimes with a choking sensation and almost always experienced as you are about to fall into sleep or just come out of sleep.
The most remarkable symptoms of SP are the accompanying audio and/or visual hallucinations often causing extreme terror and panic in it's sufferers, who more often than not mistakenly believe they are being visited by aliens, malevolent beings and other evil presences.

Research shows that SP is linked with REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. When in REM sleep you are usually dreaming, your body does not act out your dreams as you will hurt either yourself, or someone else, so evolution has worked its merry little way of getting your brain to switch off your muscles (so to speak) and relax you while dreaming, essentially paralyzing you to a degree.

The cause for a state of SP is when your mind wakes up, usually still in a semi-REM state, but your body is still relaxed and semi paralyzed, bringing on a the sometimes horrifying sensation of being paralyzed while still in a semi-dream state yet awake. The consequences of this state are usually nothing short of terrifying to individuals with their dreams suddenly becoming reality as they are trapped in an inbetween sate of consciousness. The usual result is panic to try to release oneself while sleep creeps around your brain like a slow fog trying to drag you back down to it's depths again. I know what it's like, I've suffered this myself.

Of a recent survey it is suggested that between 25-30% of the general population has suffered some form of SP with 95% of these experiencing a perceived horrifying event. It is now considered to be a common disorder among the population, but not many people admit to suffering SP. Yes, it does run in the family, if you have suffered an episode, chances are there's a member within your close family who has also experienced this. People often feel they are experiencing something paranormal with SP due to the bizarre symptoms and don't realise that they are in fact suffering from something many others have experienced with a perfectly reasonable explanation.
At Castle of Spirits, by my calculations, over 15% of ghost stories submitted to us are mistakenly describing an obvious case of SP as a ghostly account or sometimes Demon possession, this is further evidence that even though it is classified as "common" it is in fact still a widely unrecognised condition among the general public.

Of course there are many other symptoms besides the paralysis and hallucinations, sometimes including shooting pains in the arms, back, neck or head, paralysis of only one limb (partial paralysis), choking and suffocating feeling, pressure on other parts of the body such as back, neck, arms or legs the feeling of someone touching you, feelings of an evil presence behind or beside you, and sometimes squeezing or hugging around your body.

The term "perception" needs to be used in the case of SP, as the feelings of a presence are usually only perceived and not actually sighted in the majority of cases reported. The presences are in fact not real and only hallucinations induced by our brains in this dream state, you could say they are in fact a waking dream. An interesting fact is that in most cases nothing is actually ever seen, and only felt. A feeling of someone watching over, lurking about, walking around, but never actually sighted, and within these cases the feeling being of a dark humanoid figure or figures.

More commonly than the visual perceptions are the reports of audio hallucinations. These include scratching, laughing, scraping, buzzing, ringing, voices, radio music and other noises all seemingly very real. We now believe that many alien abduction cases have been merely suffering an episode of SP, let alone the amazing amount of cases reporting Evil presences and ghosts.

Old Hag SyndromeOld Hag Syndrome


"Old Hag Syndrome" sometimes referred to as "Night Hag" is another commonly used term for SP among many different cultures mainly in the western world. The term Old Hag is probably derived from a couple of sources, one being the word for Nightmare; Night -of course, we know this already, Mare being derived from the old English term Maere meaning demon or incubus (an incubus is believed to be a demon that visits during the night). Other sources as listed by Dr. J. A. Cheyne, University of Waterloo Psych. Dept include German mar/mare, nachtmahr, Hexendrücken (witch pressing), Alpdruck (efl pressure), Czech muera, Polish zmora, Russian Kikimora, French cauchmar (trampling ogre), Greek ephialtes (one who leaps upon) and mora (the night "mare" or monster, ogre, spirit, etc.), Roman incubus (one who presses or crushes) ge, (evil spirit or the night-mare--also hegge, haegtesse, haehtisse, haegte); Old Norse mara, Old Irish mar/more.

I S T H I S C O N D I T I O N H A R M F U L ?


General medical research shows SP is not generally harmful and will only ever last from a few seconds, to maybe a few minutes. Of course reality is severely altered in this state and sufferers can have a feeling of being trapped in a state of SP for what seems like hours, when in fact it is merely minutes. Further research does indicate that a predisposition to something more traumatic, such as social problems due to lack of sleep and a disruption to normal daily life, may be a result of many episodes of SP. We do strongly suggest you seek out further medical help with a licensed practitioner if you feel you need more help or more information about any health issue including SP.

C A U S E S

The most commonly reported cause of SP episodes is in fact stress.
It's believed that stress can seriously alter sleep patterns, causing episodes of sleep paralysis.
Another cause can be your sleeping position. Reports and research by Dr. J. A. Cheyne show that sufferers sleeping in the face up position are five times more likely to suffer an episode of sleep paralysis than others who attempt to sleep in a different position during normal sleep. Avoidance of sleeping on your back and attempting to not roll over into this position during the night is strongly advised. The use of a small squash or tennis ball placed behind your back can sometimes help with this.

P R E V E N T I O N & R E S C U E

Prevention is all about sleeping in the correct position (not face up), not eating large amounts of food, drinking caffeine or excessive smoking before sleep. Reducing stress levels in your life is also another key factor to preventing SP as mentioned before, stress can severely alter sleep patterns inducing SP episodes.

A good way of trying to release yourself when caught in a state of SP is attempting to concentrate on moving a body part, whether it be your finger, toe or even blinking your eyes, this works quite well and is a common remedy for most SP sufferers as the instant a body part moves, the SP episode should cease. You can also do this in your mind if you cannot move any body part, merely trying to imagine shaking your head or moving a body part can keep your mind active enough for your body to catch up and be able to move for real, essentially fully waking yourself up and again ending the SP episode.

But why aren't people visited by Angels instead of Demons?

The reality is that SP causes a situation where fear and terror are induced by the very condition you wake up in. Being immobilized with a sudden choking feeling plus hallucinations, of course the brain's natural reaction to this is to panic, however slow your reactions may be due to sleep you will feel a sense of danger. This reaction leaves little room for vivid imaginations of good things such as angels and with the introduction of horror movies and ghost stories into our lives, of course we immediately jump to conclusions from what our surroundings dictate; darkness, paralysed......must be EVIL!!.
However, I have personally had many tales of Angels reported to me, in fact some people have found religion by believing they have in fact had a visitation from the Holy Spirit, when it may have been an episode of SP.

It is not for us to say whether SP is in fact the case in every situation, each individual has their own experience and needs to interpret it the way they want by using deduction and intelligence.
We cannot also say that every reported case of paranormal activity while sleeping is in fact mistaken and merely SP. As with any reported case of a haunting, it requires much Investigation and sometimes medical review to rule out things such as SP, but we do offer it up as an explanation for you to consider your options and be aware of what you may or may not be experiencing.

Refuge51

My experience:
I've had many. One was years ago, when I went back to sleep after my husband left for work. I remember feeling like I was so heavy my body was pushing into the mattress. At first it was a good relaxing feeling, then this noise like the roar of the ocean or a buzzing sound was in my ears getting louder and louder, then a popping and a crackling sound. I tried to open my eyes, but they wouldn't open!

I tried to move, but I couldn't budge a muscle! I felt panic, then I heard it..a presence had crept into my room and I 'saw' it as it climbed up onto my stomach, then my chest..it was heavy and it's face was demonic and troll like. It was breathing hot air onto my face and I tried to scream but no sound would come. I was 100% paralyzed. I finally screamed in my head "God help me!!"
And it was gone, I was awake and what a relief!!


The most recent was two nights ago. My heart was fluttering, jumping, and I just couldn't get the beat to regulate itself, so I couldn't sleep. I finally got up searching for something with magnesium. A handful of cereal, a cup of hot cocoa, a few raisins and I was ready for sleep. My heart had calmed way down and it was already 3 am. so as I fell asleep I didn't fight off the roaring sound in my ears. I 'woke' up lying on my side facing the wall. And I was completely paralyzed. The fear set in because of all the noises and footstep sounds, especially knowing I cannot escape, get up, or wake up. I'm totally vulnerable to this unknown thing. I remember seeing myself sitting up a little as I tried to un paralyze my muscles.

I know I was crawling up the wall..and I saw the wall, but everything was in black and white and I was trying to yell, but all that would come out was a sort of high pitched moan.
I saw bright lights and of course the popping sounds were there and I was terrified. I then woke up, and turned over to see I was in my room, safe in my bed. I was scared to go back to sleep but finally, I did. I always remember if the roaring sound starts, to get up immediately and not sleep. Then try again and if there's no roaring sound or buzzing as some people call it, I'm going to be just fine. I hate sleep paralysis!!

Kana

I've had sleep paralysis many times since I was a kid. The most frequent kind I have takes any background noise in the room (like the hum of an air conditioner) and turns it into voices. It's like a sea of voices all murmuring unintelligibly. Even though I know what it is when it's happening, it is still frightening so I struggle to wake up. I feel like if I could just move my hand, I would wake up and it would be over. It's also annoying because even when I manage to wake up, if I go right back to sleep, I'll go right back into the sleep paralysis.

Occasionally, I will have a visual aspect, as well. This particularly happens if I fall asleep with the lights on. It's usually a man standing over my bed. Those aren't too pleasant.

Refuge51

Oh my gosh that is so true. If I go back to sleep, the same thing happens. Lots of voices like in the Sixth Sense movie. They say if you're anxious, overtired, have any narcolepsy or panic disorders or even if you're bipolar, it will happen to you at least once in your lifetime. My family has sleepwalking problems too. But only during really stressful times. I have never had sleepwalking episodes, but my older sister has.
I should have outgrown it, but I have panic disorder and bipolar II. Even though I know what it is, when it happens, it still terrorizes me. Maybe next time I'll try to move my toe

Refuge51

I particularly like this part of the article:

But why aren't people visited by Angels instead of Demons?

The reality is that SP causes a situation where fear and terror are induced by the very condition you wake up in. Being immobilized with a sudden choking feeling plus hallucinations, of course the brain's natural reaction to this is to panic, however slow your reactions may be due to sleep you will feel a sense of danger. This reaction leaves little room for vivid imaginations of good things such as angels and with the introduction of horror movies and ghost stories into our lives, of course we immediately jump to conclusions from what our surroundings dictate; darkness, paralysed......must be EVIL!!.

serum114

This happened to me a couple of times about twenty years ago. I never realised it was something other people experianced. Just wrote it off as a nightmare.

Refuge51

I thought people would think I was crazy so I never said anything until I saw it once in an article about three years ago. It was such a relief to know others knew exactly how I felt. My sister scoffs, but if she'd experienced this just once, she'd never scoff again. I told her about mine yesterday when she said she was going to take a nap and I said "I wish this would happen to you just once" She decided she wasn't really all that tired after all

Do you remember your experience Serum? Hard to forget huh?

Teri B.

OH . . . MY . . . GOD! I've never had this, but when I was a kid my Mom had to hide the medical encyclopedias from me cause I'd constantly be deciding I had some terrible disease from reading the descriptions.

Thanks . . . now I'm worried.

Seriously, that sounds TERRIFYING!

serum114

It literally felt as if some evil force had folded my matress over on top of me and was holding me down. Being an atheist and not believing in good or evil forces it was easy for my mind to work through it. But god, I would imagine for someone that was spiritual in some way it would be pretty terrifying.

Refuge51

But you don't have to be spiritual to be scared shitless from some creepy monster. You could get that from horror movies without ever knowing spirituality. I'm a Christian, but this last time, there was no monster or demon..just a panic from not being able to move. Not a good thing with a bad heart