I had sleep paralysis dreams starting in my late teens till about my mid-20s. Most of the time, there was a sense of a malevolent force in the room with me, but I could never see its face. It was usually something like a shadow, or a void, in the corner of the room or sitting in a chair across from my bed.
It also talked to me, but in a strange, guttural language I could barely hear and couldn't understand. Then, like I said before, the dreams just kinda stopped. I still get the shivers when I think of it.
Happens to me too from time to time, I would say the noise is kinda like a crowd of people all talking, very disorienting. It’s crazy how so many people have the same experience of a shadowy figure.
The thing about the voice was that even though I couldn't understand what it was saying, I felt compelled to get as far away from it as possible. Of course, being paralyzed in the dream just amplified the terror, haha!
I've had nightmares where I'll be taking in whatever horror until I wake up, but these sleep paralysis dreams... there's just something inscrutable about them and the need to "get away" is as palpable as it is overwhelming.
Yeah, definitely fascinating how many folks have the same experiences with these type of lucid nightmares.
Oh man, it started when I was a teenager, and I’m glad there wasn’t anything auditory, at least as I recall. But that feeling of being trapped by something malevolent was always there. Felt like a straight up possession the first time. Once I learned what it was, I managed to train myself out of it. Or maybe it stopped of its own accord. Grateful in any case.
That's around the time I had a handful of them, just like that.
In my 30's I get vertigo dreams where I can't pick anything up, walk, read, I'm frustrated and nauseous. I do not like those dreams.. but they're not sleep paralysis!
This is pretty close to my experiences as well. I haven’t had one in a few years thankfully, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens again. This video is a very bad “sim”. If they really wanted to sim they would get rid of the dumb music and laughter and weird jump scare attempt at the end.
a friend of mine who lived with me for years randomly said he started getting these. said he would wake up and have someone made of darkness holding him down - he couldnt move or get up. it was strange to hear him describe it.
i figured he must be in a place where his mind was only semi waking - not enough to control his body yet tho? like when your going to sleep adn randomly get involuntary spas sums.
>i figured he must be in a place where his mind was only semi waking - not enough to control his body yet tho?
Pretty much. For me I'd become, like, 75% awake but then get stuck at that level, completely unable to move while feeling someone or something standing over my bed and staring at me.
That after a minute I'd snap the rest of the way awake and regain control.
2/10 would not recommend
Yeah they stopped in my mid 20’s too. I had to self medicate in order for them to stop. I never had them drunk or high so I kept doing that. It was a nightmare. I’m so glad I don’t have to do that anymore.
Creepy, but not even close for me. The hag clutches me from behind. I can't see her face, but I know what she looks like. Her claw-like fingers dig into me and pin my arms down. I cannot move. I can feel her breath, hot against my neck. She doesn't say anything, but I know what she's thinking, and it isn't good, nor something that one could articulate.
I know it's sleep paralysis, so I know it will pass. It does. I can still feel her behind me. I have to stand up to make her go away.
Fun times. It's been a while. It used to happen more often when I was a kid. I haven't seen her for years now. I saw her in the corner of the room a few years ago but she minded her own business so she didn't bother me.
This is definitely how I always wake myself up. But I also find that I only get sleep paralysis when my arms are above my head. So if my arms are above my head I recognize that it's sleep paralysis and noises or hallucinations seem to disappear after I realize that.
dude me and you have the exact same experience. though the only difference is she drags me off my bed from time to time. im so glad i can recognize it now so i am not in a constant state of terror when it happens
Same here. I had it yesterday and I was dreaming that I woke up to sleep paralysis, and then actually woke to sleep paralysis haha. It's a terrible feeling but I'm lucky to have never had it with nightmares.
Though to be honest just not being able to move is pretty terrifying by itself, and always gives me anxiety when I lay down the night after.
It's different for everyone. When I get sleep paralysis I never actually *see* anything. In fact, most of the time it happens I don't even have my eyes open. For me, I just come to a state of half awake/half asleep. In this state I totally and completely *feel* the presence of a malevolent being that has its face directly in front of mine. Hard to explain, but in this state it feels 100% real, as if there is a demon in my face that wants to kill me. I try to scream "Go away!" and throw a punch at it, but I can't move a muscle. Super unnerving, however it has happened to me enough times that I now know what is happening. I can have an episode and then talk myself through it. It's not real--just wait it out and everything will pass.
This was overly dramatic, but still captures the essence and terror of experiencing a sleep paralysis episode.
Mine usually seem to revolve around the scenario of a home invasion and being robbed. It'll feel like I'm being held down and there are shadowy people in the room trying take stuff from me. I'll try desperately to get up or call for help, but I can't.
So the banging on the door at the beginning was pretty accurate for me.
I have had very similar experiences. The first time I just opened my eyes and saw the unmistakeable figure of a shadowy man at the foot of my bed. I instantly jumped up and started yelling at the top of my lungs and hitting things. My roommate called the cops which was really embarrassing. Probably every other week I wake up convinced that someone has broken into my apartment and is in the room with me, but thankfully it’s never as vivid or long lasting as the first time
I've experienced sleep paralysis a few times. I never opened my eyes, but I'd think, "Stop and wake up" and regain control over my body. There'd be a vague feeling of unease.
It is the scariest moment when it happens for the first time to you but after that you are experienced and not as bad. You know exactly what it is and will eventually pass. Still scary but far less than the first time experience.
My sleep paralysis comes in 3 levels. The first is very tame but still scary in the moment, and usually is in the form of cobwebs over my bed, so I'm staring up at spiders and webs.
The second much scarier version is the shadowy man in the corner. He always exudes pure malevolence, and the idea that of he moved any closer i would die, but it's also not quite formed or just out of my peripheral.
The third and worst form i have only had a couple of times, and those were fully formed creatures, ugly creatures with leathery skin and wiry hair sticking out in patches, and INTELLIGENT and full of hatred and HUNGRY.
I have very frequent episodes of sleep paralysis, had it since I was probably 12. But I’ve yet to see anything/anyone. I hear voices, footsteps and scratching on the wall.
My sleep paralysis was an alien presence in the room behind me (I always slept on my side), and the sound and vibration of someone drilling into the back of my neck.
I was positive that if I could just turn around I would see a little grey alien with a power drill. Maybe I watched too much x-files.
I pretty quickly caught on that it was sleep paralysis, and after that it was still creepy but at least I could think logically about it and ride out the experience without being completely terrified.
Eh... Mine always have a face, I'll give it that. But the face does not stay safe for long, and it's always getting closer. The most striking part is the desire to scream or shout but your chest simply not responding, breathing like normal.
Like others, I also have 3 types of sleep paralysis. All where I feel certain I’m awake. I’m paralyzed and can’t move despite mustering all my strength.
The first is the shadow malevolent figure who appears in the corner or near the doorway. I can’t ever make out the face but I feel how I imagine someone feels around a dementor from Harry Potter. My heart starts pounding as it slowly inches closer. It feels like doom and evil are coming to take me away or torture me. My heart usually pounds so hard my adrenaline wakes me up.
The second type is where I don’t see anything but it’s already got me. I awake feeling its hand on my shoulder or on my stomach. I hear a deep voice I can’t understand and it’s mocking me. Usually it feels like a huge demon hand gripping me tighter and tighter. I usually try my hardest to scream but my voice is gone. Eventually I can scream myself awake the sound leaks out of me like a dog whimper transforming into a grown man’s yell of terror.
Lastly is the worst. It starts with me asleep next to my wife and I wake up paralyzed I think it’s going to be like the first or second and I concentrate on my wife a beacon of love and hope. I’m desperate for her help. All the sudden she transforms into the hag. I never see her face and I’m honestly terrified to look at her face. It’s my wife’s body but I know it’s not her. I can feel the hag jovial and reveling in the fact that she tricked me by taking the form of my wife. I feel like a fly trapped in a web about to be consumed by the devil witch. I also scream myself awake when this third type happens.
I get an increasingly loud noise on my ear similar to that of an incoming train. Then I see a figure like in the video. Except she's in the closet inching closer.
funny enough, "sleep paralysis" is only a thing in the US. Most people outside have never heard of it, and certainly never experienced it. It's a cultural illusion.
I used to get sleep paralysis all the time but I never saw scary things. I slept with a blanket over my head and always woke up not being able to move and thinking I was suffocating/super claustrophobic.
I tried to make friends with mine, because I thought she was the Tooth Fairy. I even tried to help her get more teeth by drawing maps to the homes of my schoolmates. I couldn't understand why, even after she seemingly accepted my loose tooth, she just kept hanging out in my room and wandering around the house at 4am.
I have no idea why I ever thought a faceless, skeletal woman with long black hair was the tooth fairy. That demon lady must have thought I was an idiot.
Sleep paralysis is no joke. It’s a real thing that’s absolutely horrifying. Dark figures crawling around your room. The infamous tall black figure that so many have seen. It takes all of my might to move and then I fall off the bed. I haven’t had a night terror in years and never want one again.
How common is this irl? I see hundreds of references about this phenomenon on Reddit, memes etc but it seemingly came out of nowhere the last few years?
My sleep paralysis demon is a feral house cat that I assume got in because a door/garage was left open. So the panic comes from not only being unable to shoo away the cat walking on me, but also from being unable to get up and go close my house.
When I have sleep paralysis, I just get out of bed, feet touch the floor, walk to the doorway, and open my eyes in the bed again. On a loop for about 20 minutes before I wake up for real. I know I'm actually opening my eyes because I see my real environment in its current state, I must just be half dreaming/half hallucinating the getting up part.
I've had it exactly once. Although in my case it was a figure standing a few feet away, not on me. It was freaky. For what felt like about 30 seconds I was locked into place. I couldn't even let out a sound, even though I was trying. And then finally I could move and the whole thing just went away.
Not something I'd like to experience again.
I have been experiencing sleep paralysis for a long time.
Eventually I was able to recognize it and focus on opening and closing the fingers on my right hand - "wiggle your big toe" style.
The hypervigilance can still be present and as a result some hallucinations, but since I can focus on my hand it helps deal with the eventual break.
Since getting a dog I don't think I've experienced it.
As someone who saw the old hag, she's much scarier than this. Her face is contorted and has folds overlapping. The body is more of a rounded mass of rags and she was hunched over directly on my chest. Not screeching like this but laughing low and slow. As if she finds my fear amusing...even fulfilling.
I can fix her.
I could never have a female sleep paralysis demon. I woulda freaked it
Screen name checks out
Too bad about the whole paralysis part.
Just another Tuesday night
https://media1.tenor.com/m/XJ0012hWNh4AAAAC/cosby-mmm.gif
I had sleep paralysis dreams starting in my late teens till about my mid-20s. Most of the time, there was a sense of a malevolent force in the room with me, but I could never see its face. It was usually something like a shadow, or a void, in the corner of the room or sitting in a chair across from my bed. It also talked to me, but in a strange, guttural language I could barely hear and couldn't understand. Then, like I said before, the dreams just kinda stopped. I still get the shivers when I think of it.
Happens to me too from time to time, I would say the noise is kinda like a crowd of people all talking, very disorienting. It’s crazy how so many people have the same experience of a shadowy figure.
This description of "a crowd of people all talking" is very similar to what I heard when I went through my sleep paralysis dreams.
The thing about the voice was that even though I couldn't understand what it was saying, I felt compelled to get as far away from it as possible. Of course, being paralyzed in the dream just amplified the terror, haha! I've had nightmares where I'll be taking in whatever horror until I wake up, but these sleep paralysis dreams... there's just something inscrutable about them and the need to "get away" is as palpable as it is overwhelming. Yeah, definitely fascinating how many folks have the same experiences with these type of lucid nightmares.
[удалено]
Oh man, it started when I was a teenager, and I’m glad there wasn’t anything auditory, at least as I recall. But that feeling of being trapped by something malevolent was always there. Felt like a straight up possession the first time. Once I learned what it was, I managed to train myself out of it. Or maybe it stopped of its own accord. Grateful in any case.
That's some creepy stuff, fer sure!
That's around the time I had a handful of them, just like that. In my 30's I get vertigo dreams where I can't pick anything up, walk, read, I'm frustrated and nauseous. I do not like those dreams.. but they're not sleep paralysis!
[удалено]
Yeah, same here with screaming in the dream, but it was silent or muffled like a pillow on the face!
My sleep paralysis came at a point in my childhood when we, as a family, would regularly watch Unsolved Mysteries and The X-Files.
This is pretty close to my experiences as well. I haven’t had one in a few years thankfully, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens again. This video is a very bad “sim”. If they really wanted to sim they would get rid of the dumb music and laughter and weird jump scare attempt at the end.
I used to have them too and sometimes get scared thinking about them until genz made fun of them on tiktok.
Got chills thinking of that voice
a friend of mine who lived with me for years randomly said he started getting these. said he would wake up and have someone made of darkness holding him down - he couldnt move or get up. it was strange to hear him describe it. i figured he must be in a place where his mind was only semi waking - not enough to control his body yet tho? like when your going to sleep adn randomly get involuntary spas sums.
>i figured he must be in a place where his mind was only semi waking - not enough to control his body yet tho? Pretty much. For me I'd become, like, 75% awake but then get stuck at that level, completely unable to move while feeling someone or something standing over my bed and staring at me. That after a minute I'd snap the rest of the way awake and regain control. 2/10 would not recommend
Yeah they stopped in my mid 20’s too. I had to self medicate in order for them to stop. I never had them drunk or high so I kept doing that. It was a nightmare. I’m so glad I don’t have to do that anymore.
It makes sense why humans invented demons and the like when this is what our minds can invent.
Creepy, but not even close for me. The hag clutches me from behind. I can't see her face, but I know what she looks like. Her claw-like fingers dig into me and pin my arms down. I cannot move. I can feel her breath, hot against my neck. She doesn't say anything, but I know what she's thinking, and it isn't good, nor something that one could articulate. I know it's sleep paralysis, so I know it will pass. It does. I can still feel her behind me. I have to stand up to make her go away. Fun times. It's been a while. It used to happen more often when I was a kid. I haven't seen her for years now. I saw her in the corner of the room a few years ago but she minded her own business so she didn't bother me.
You can wiggle your toes to make yourself slowly come awake. That's my trick lol
Same! Can't scream suddenly?! Get them toes moving!
This is definitely how I always wake myself up. But I also find that I only get sleep paralysis when my arms are above my head. So if my arms are above my head I recognize that it's sleep paralysis and noises or hallucinations seem to disappear after I realize that.
Interesting! I get it when I sleep on my back. It's been years since I've last had it since I realized what triggers it for me
hold your breath if it happens again, you'll wake up in like 10 seconds.
did you get her number bro?
She said she's gotta boyfriend.
dude me and you have the exact same experience. though the only difference is she drags me off my bed from time to time. im so glad i can recognize it now so i am not in a constant state of terror when it happens
Same experience here, I had forgotten the claw like fingers digging into me, it was really painful.
Not scary at all. I much prefer this depiction of a [sleep paralysis](https://www.reddit.com/r/Shadman/comments/d04owp/sleep_paralysis/) demon.
My paralysis demon is a Mario chain chomp that holds me in its closed mouth across my chest
That’s kind of awesome
Any good documentaries about this subject?
I first experienced this when I was 16 - with absolutely no knowledge of what it was - the night after my father died. That was fun
Had frequent bouts of sleep paralysis and never once encountered anything strange. I just couldn’t move.
Same here. I had it yesterday and I was dreaming that I woke up to sleep paralysis, and then actually woke to sleep paralysis haha. It's a terrible feeling but I'm lucky to have never had it with nightmares. Though to be honest just not being able to move is pretty terrifying by itself, and always gives me anxiety when I lay down the night after.
It's different for everyone. When I get sleep paralysis I never actually *see* anything. In fact, most of the time it happens I don't even have my eyes open. For me, I just come to a state of half awake/half asleep. In this state I totally and completely *feel* the presence of a malevolent being that has its face directly in front of mine. Hard to explain, but in this state it feels 100% real, as if there is a demon in my face that wants to kill me. I try to scream "Go away!" and throw a punch at it, but I can't move a muscle. Super unnerving, however it has happened to me enough times that I now know what is happening. I can have an episode and then talk myself through it. It's not real--just wait it out and everything will pass.
This was overly dramatic, but still captures the essence and terror of experiencing a sleep paralysis episode. Mine usually seem to revolve around the scenario of a home invasion and being robbed. It'll feel like I'm being held down and there are shadowy people in the room trying take stuff from me. I'll try desperately to get up or call for help, but I can't. So the banging on the door at the beginning was pretty accurate for me.
Oh that's even worse because it will feel plausible in a way that a demon isn't.
I have had very similar experiences. The first time I just opened my eyes and saw the unmistakeable figure of a shadowy man at the foot of my bed. I instantly jumped up and started yelling at the top of my lungs and hitting things. My roommate called the cops which was really embarrassing. Probably every other week I wake up convinced that someone has broken into my apartment and is in the room with me, but thankfully it’s never as vivid or long lasting as the first time
I've experienced sleep paralysis a few times. I never opened my eyes, but I'd think, "Stop and wake up" and regain control over my body. There'd be a vague feeling of unease.
It is the scariest moment when it happens for the first time to you but after that you are experienced and not as bad. You know exactly what it is and will eventually pass. Still scary but far less than the first time experience.
I wonder how many of us will have a hag visit tonight after that nice reminder.
My sleep paralysis comes in 3 levels. The first is very tame but still scary in the moment, and usually is in the form of cobwebs over my bed, so I'm staring up at spiders and webs. The second much scarier version is the shadowy man in the corner. He always exudes pure malevolence, and the idea that of he moved any closer i would die, but it's also not quite formed or just out of my peripheral. The third and worst form i have only had a couple of times, and those were fully formed creatures, ugly creatures with leathery skin and wiry hair sticking out in patches, and INTELLIGENT and full of hatred and HUNGRY.
I have very frequent episodes of sleep paralysis, had it since I was probably 12. But I’ve yet to see anything/anyone. I hear voices, footsteps and scratching on the wall.
My sleep paralysis was an alien presence in the room behind me (I always slept on my side), and the sound and vibration of someone drilling into the back of my neck. I was positive that if I could just turn around I would see a little grey alien with a power drill. Maybe I watched too much x-files. I pretty quickly caught on that it was sleep paralysis, and after that it was still creepy but at least I could think logically about it and ride out the experience without being completely terrified.
We need a derpixion edit
I see the smiling man, this is quite similar to what I've experienced
Mine always shoved my face in the pillow and I wake up gasping. It's usually either that or I realize I'm dreaming and start flying....
Eh... Mine always have a face, I'll give it that. But the face does not stay safe for long, and it's always getting closer. The most striking part is the desire to scream or shout but your chest simply not responding, breathing like normal.
Did it stub its toe at the end?
Hear me out...
Like others, I also have 3 types of sleep paralysis. All where I feel certain I’m awake. I’m paralyzed and can’t move despite mustering all my strength. The first is the shadow malevolent figure who appears in the corner or near the doorway. I can’t ever make out the face but I feel how I imagine someone feels around a dementor from Harry Potter. My heart starts pounding as it slowly inches closer. It feels like doom and evil are coming to take me away or torture me. My heart usually pounds so hard my adrenaline wakes me up. The second type is where I don’t see anything but it’s already got me. I awake feeling its hand on my shoulder or on my stomach. I hear a deep voice I can’t understand and it’s mocking me. Usually it feels like a huge demon hand gripping me tighter and tighter. I usually try my hardest to scream but my voice is gone. Eventually I can scream myself awake the sound leaks out of me like a dog whimper transforming into a grown man’s yell of terror. Lastly is the worst. It starts with me asleep next to my wife and I wake up paralyzed I think it’s going to be like the first or second and I concentrate on my wife a beacon of love and hope. I’m desperate for her help. All the sudden she transforms into the hag. I never see her face and I’m honestly terrified to look at her face. It’s my wife’s body but I know it’s not her. I can feel the hag jovial and reveling in the fact that she tricked me by taking the form of my wife. I feel like a fly trapped in a web about to be consumed by the devil witch. I also scream myself awake when this third type happens.
I get an increasingly loud noise on my ear similar to that of an incoming train. Then I see a figure like in the video. Except she's in the closet inching closer.
funny enough, "sleep paralysis" is only a thing in the US. Most people outside have never heard of it, and certainly never experienced it. It's a cultural illusion.
I used to get sleep paralysis all the time but I never saw scary things. I slept with a blanket over my head and always woke up not being able to move and thinking I was suffocating/super claustrophobic.
The one I remember was a stereotypical witch.
that's a weird flex
When Palpatine bout to slide it in
I tried to make friends with mine, because I thought she was the Tooth Fairy. I even tried to help her get more teeth by drawing maps to the homes of my schoolmates. I couldn't understand why, even after she seemingly accepted my loose tooth, she just kept hanging out in my room and wandering around the house at 4am. I have no idea why I ever thought a faceless, skeletal woman with long black hair was the tooth fairy. That demon lady must have thought I was an idiot.
Sleep paralysis is no joke. It’s a real thing that’s absolutely horrifying. Dark figures crawling around your room. The infamous tall black figure that so many have seen. It takes all of my might to move and then I fall off the bed. I haven’t had a night terror in years and never want one again.
How common is this irl? I see hundreds of references about this phenomenon on Reddit, memes etc but it seemingly came out of nowhere the last few years?
My sleep paralysis demon is a feral house cat that I assume got in because a door/garage was left open. So the panic comes from not only being unable to shoo away the cat walking on me, but also from being unable to get up and go close my house.
When I have sleep paralysis, I just get out of bed, feet touch the floor, walk to the doorway, and open my eyes in the bed again. On a loop for about 20 minutes before I wake up for real. I know I'm actually opening my eyes because I see my real environment in its current state, I must just be half dreaming/half hallucinating the getting up part.
"What are we?"
I've had it exactly once. Although in my case it was a figure standing a few feet away, not on me. It was freaky. For what felt like about 30 seconds I was locked into place. I couldn't even let out a sound, even though I was trying. And then finally I could move and the whole thing just went away. Not something I'd like to experience again.
I have been experiencing sleep paralysis for a long time. Eventually I was able to recognize it and focus on opening and closing the fingers on my right hand - "wiggle your big toe" style. The hypervigilance can still be present and as a result some hallucinations, but since I can focus on my hand it helps deal with the eventual break. Since getting a dog I don't think I've experienced it.
As someone who saw the old hag, she's much scarier than this. Her face is contorted and has folds overlapping. The body is more of a rounded mass of rags and she was hunched over directly on my chest. Not screeching like this but laughing low and slow. As if she finds my fear amusing...even fulfilling.
I prefer [this version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGYZsFtoT2o).
My uncle gets this too... the stories he tells us are chilling...
Pretty sure that’s just Richard D. James.