Sleep Paralysis – A Paranormal Phenomenon?

I have had sleep paralysis happen to me at least 100 time in my life and im 24. The one question i have is why is it always evil in nature. I have never ever had a SP that Involved a pleasant experience. EX. Mickey mouse come walking out of my closet to say hello or some type of happy loving animal. Its always evil, always dark, and scary as H***.

Im totaly up to the idea that its my mind playing tricks on me but i have had some attacks that can not be explained.

One night i was sleeping with my dog on my bed. i feel asleep then wake up to find myself paralyzed un able to move but can see everything in my room even what time it was. i look to the corner of my room and start to see this very dark figure darker then the darkness of the room start to appear. it then starts to hiss at me and scream. it then rushes to my face and screams in my ear. and i cant do a thing about. at this time my dog gets up and starts barking at it as it hovers over me. I finely snap out of it and get out of SP. i sit up and there is my dog standing on the edge of my bed with her hair standing on end looking at me.

The next morning i talk to my mom and ask her if she heard the dog bark last night and she said yes. she thought it was strange because our dog never barks at night and thats when i started to tell her the story of what happen to me and why our dog was barking.

thats just one story of many i have. one thing im starting to notice is if i dont pray at night and ask god to pretect me this S*** happens. last week i forgot to pray to god to pretect me and it happend. i snaped out of it and conected the dots. i forgot to pray.

praying is what helps for me. thats my little nitch to help me sleep at night.

Camaro

About 8 months ago I made a major life style change "for the better" and oddly, I experience SP To the point I'm afraid to fall asleep. I have an amazing sleep schedule now and great eating habits..work 4, ten hour shifts a week 8am to 6pm..I uually...6 nights a week..go to bed at 11pm. Turn on 970wfla and fall asleep to Snoory..I mean George Noory on coast to coast. About 3 months ago...(dying is my biggest fear..just talk about being paralyzed with fear)... the topic was "near death experiences" well... I remember laying in my bed..1am...and I could see the red glow of the alarm clock radio...I was laying on my back..and it was an odd black "cloud" flashed ontop of my stomach that I quickly looked away from...I could hear the caller talk about seeing the light...feeling peace...well, I was scared as hell. I started trying to scream...heh..and I could "feel" my body grumbling...(my roommate said he stood by my door and heard me go "heeellpp" before he opened the door and it got me out of it)...anyhow, it felt like bass from a speaker in my throat..foriegn...

I woke up, ran to my roommate, hugged him nearly crying. Now I get them once a week. (Eating a lot of fish and olive oil and working out).... and when I'm falling asleep to c2c I sometime "feel" myself falling asleep..get scared _of falling asleep_ and turn or open my eyes..and this is when it occures and has driven me quite "worrysome" and I made a long post on facebook about it...made my self look crazy...glad people here understand.


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reply to post by camaro68ss


Wow, that's a fascinating story to say the least and I'm glad you shared and all I have to say is personally I don’t believe in religion too much these days and I don’t use religion as protection when dealing with paranormal circumstances but that being so It may be surprising to hear that I am such a strong believer that It can most certainly keep a person safe.

The issue I have is whether It is actually a God or if you will a ‘higher being’ that is keeping us safe in the first place or whether our own personal believe that doing something such as praying for example would be more than enough protection for us therefore the fear and dread is put to one side and we focus on simply being protected.

Anything is possible and we are indeed powerful beings, maybe the powers always has been and will be within.

Again im totally up for the fact that my mind is playing tricks on me but i also am up for the fact that it could be a real Phenomena. I talked to my priest “Father” I’m catholic, and he says the Catholic Church recognizes it and calls it being spiritually Attacked. He says it happens to a lot of people and when it happens demand the evil to leave in Jesus’ name. I’ve always just took it a step further and prayed before I went to bed. I can’t recount one time that I prayed before I went to bed and it happened to me. it seems to happen when I forget to pray. Who know what that means. I’m just adding in my findings and my experience in the matter that help me. by no means am I pushing religion on to the matter.

The one thing I would like to add and I touched on it on the beginning of my first reply is if it is a mental thing and it can be scientifically be explained by hallucinating in the SP state why is it 100% evil all the time. If it was a hallucinating experience statistically you would have 50% of the episode have being good experiences and 50% being bad or evil. And I’m talking about the ones where you see and hear things. Why is it 100% evil by nature? Any thoughts???

reply to post by camaro68ss

I’m just adding in my findings and my experience in the matter that help me. by no means am I pushing religion on to the matter.

I don’t want to offend here genuinely but from that religion surely they would be led to believe it to be a demonic attack and not something such as what I have shared which is more backed up by science than anything else.

Again I don’t say that to offend but it just seems that’s a possible reason for a catholic priest to say something such as that.

Now Please I should apologize as I should have made my post slightly more clear as I fully understand you’re not trying to ‘shove religion down my throat’ or bring religion into this thread and be the main focus or anything like that for example, In fact I'm more than grateful to have your input here.

I have no problem with discussing religion at all, in fact surely it can only be a good thing to 'cove all the bases' of any subject to fully understand it.

And believe me I do believe that the power of prayer can work....The issue I've always had is whether it's a 'God/higher being' or the ‘power within’ that is what is really happening here and influencing us.

And I’m talking about the ones where you see and hear things. Why is it 100% evil by nature? Any thoughts???

Well that is a great question in all honesty and as far as I'm aware not all SP cases are ‘Evil’ all the time, As far as I know and this is through my research some people actually do experience a positive effect of HSP but it is alot more rare than a positive one sadly.

Now I don’t have a definitive reason for this and all I can really do is speculate on why this would be but If I was to try and take a logical guess the only reason that I can think of for there being more negative (by far) HSP cases than positive ones would be because of the fact that being help down in such a way so to speak and experiencing paralysis and for a great length of time, even a short time might I add does not feel in any way feel like a positive experience at al.

In fact it can be terrifying for some people and so maybe because of this there mindset is also automatically influenced negatively and so the hallucination because your mindset is in such a negative stage could only produce negative experiences.

Of course As I have mentioned this is simply an idea but it would make sense to me that thinking negatively creates negative results.

Who knows though I could be 100% wrong and it is a demonic attack..But I doubt it.

The possibilities are endless.


ETA: Anymore questions on Sleep Paralysis as I'd be more than happy to try and tackle some more that you may have?

[edit on 1-6-2010 by Rising Against]

Everything you say sounds logical and I would except that and have. Fear feeds fear and I used that a few time when I’m in the SP state. I would have an episode and know full well that it was my mind playing tricks on me. I would lay there calmly and I would leave SP and awake with no struggle. But I have also had the adverse affects where I was calm and clear in SP and I start to see things and hear things. To tell you the truth I believe it would be both at times demonic and scientifically explained. Like the episode with my dog.
I’ll tell you about another episode I had about a year later after the one with my dog happened. I fell asleep and entered SP. I felt an evil presence in my room and I started to panic. At that time I felt I left my body and moved to the stairs were I seen my mom coming down. ( she wakes up at night and gets tea from time to time) I then move back to my body and start to scram for help because I knew she was coming down the stairs. but all I could do is grunt under my breath. She then opened the door a crack and looked in but I was still in SP and this was before I seen any demons or whatever. She then closed it and went to the kitchen. I later got out of SP without any demonic hallucination happing.
The next day I ask my mom if she checked in on my that night and she said yes. I asked her why and if she does often and she said she does not check on my often but heard me grunting and having a bad Dream. I then told her the reason I was grunting was I was in SP and I seen her come down the stairs even though I was in my room with the door closed. I don’t know how to explain it but it happened. Weird.!?! Have you heard of any out of body experiences when in this state?

Thanks,
Camaro

Well I'm glad it makes sense to you and seems like a logical explanation also and yes, I would 100% agree that not all 'occurrences' that one would assume to be Sleep Paralysis are as such.

I mean there is alot to this world that we are yet to fully understand and the paranormal is sadly one of them which is frustrating to say the least especially for people like me who are just looking for truth!
so yes I would agree that demonic possession is a possibility but I’m in all honesty uncomfortable telling someone that is what is the cause for their ‘experience’ until I know for sure that it is the only possibility as it i is in my opinion slightly irresponsible really as it really can scare people a lot and because of that fear cause more unwanted phenomenon to occur.

So Yes, It’s a possibility, No doubt but Unlikely and I would need real proof before I claim it is in fact demonic.

Have you heard of any out of body experiences when in this state?

Actually Yes, I have heard of OOBE during sleep paralysis funnily enough, So don’t worry it’s not something that ‘shouldn’t happen’ as it most certainly does happen, Although sadly at this moment in time It's something I'll have to look up a little bit more but I've heard of instances of it occurring to people who have experienced HSP most definitely.

In fact funnily enough I was reading not too long ago about people experiencing it after being in a HSP state for quite a while...Something around 10 - 15 minutes or so..Not sure if this is the case with you as I'm sure anyone can experience it after any length of time but it's just more common with a higher length of time in HSP stage.

I could be wrong of course so take it with a pinch of salt but It's something I would have to look up a little bit more right now further.

well like you, SP happens to me alot and all i want is awnsers to questions and to get to the bottom of this. Im open to everything and never will close my mind to anything.

Is OOBE when in SP something you can look into and post on this thread? it all seems conected and we should look at all aspects of SP ether, Demonic, Scientific, and spiritual. I will do some looking up myself and see what i can find.

I've never had SP, but a freind of mine had it twice and he actually burst into tears and hugged me one night when we were talking about it (we are both guys and he was training to be in the Royal Marines at the time).

One thing that has always struck me is the fact that all over the world people seem to experience two very similar 'characters'- a 'shadow man' and an 'old hag'.

Both tend to start in the darkest corner of the room and slowly make there way up to the bed, sometimes resulting in them standing on the persons chest.

Sound familiar to anyone?

i have posted on this subject as well, it happens to me almost every night and i am telling you that if your stuck with an encounter of the old hag the best way to wake up is tell your self 1 2 3 wake up 1 2 3 wake up it works promis

ty friend

nephi

my incounters have always been the Dark shadow man/ demon, always hooded tall and lanky. I have never had the old hag. I read up on the OOBE and next time im in a SP (when im napping in the day because i wont try it at night to scary) ill try and reproduce a OOBE.

I had a series of very bad hypnogogic hallucinations combined with sleep paralysis when I was a teenager, and can totally understand what many posters are saying about being afraid to fall asleep, which I was at that time. Fortunately for me, my mother actually came into my room when I was having one, because I had fallen asleep on the side of the bed and had fallen out when it started, so she heard the thump and came to investigate. She was terrified because I had my eyes wide open but was totally rigid, she told me that it was as if every muscle in my body was taut, so when she tried to move me, she couldn't!

That facilitated a trip to the GP who referred me to the neurological unit at a hospital in Glasgow just in case there was something more sinister going on (epilepsy etc) and I was wired up to a range of machines to test my brainwave patterns. They concluded that my Rapid Eye Movement (REM) was particularly active in the stage of falling asleep (though I didn't actually have to go to sleep for them to see this, I'm not sure how they worked that out) and basically told me that this was a result of the brain still being awake whilst the body is going to sleep (in simple terms as I was just 15 at the time) and that it was very common, and that the muscles tensing up, is the way in which the brain is trying to get the body to wake up

For me that explained a lot about what was happening and also what my mother told me about my muscles being tensed up, as part of the hallucination felt like my limbs were being pulled and twisted (by unknown entities) and of course as we all know if you tense your muscles it can be quite painful. So it was a worthwhile trip to get tested as I'm sure not many people will be offered that reassurance, although the most traumatic part of the investigation was when the fire alarm went off and everyone had to evacuate to the car park and there was me standing with all of these electrodes stuck to my head, like Frankenstein and everyone looking at me like I was a loony

I still get sleep paralysis, but it doesn't frighten me anymore and I think that this is an excellent thread to give accurate information about a naturally occurring phenomena, which can be very frightening to those who don't know what it is!

S&F from me!

Hi,

Just a quick post to say I`m bookmarking this thread and will read it through tonight.


But also to say that I fully believe from experience that sleep paralysis should be embraced, it is absolutly wonderful when you just let it be and take over you. I have had many lucid dreams of flying and all sorts after allowing the feeling to envelope you. It can be very frightening at first and you may feel like fighting it, but really, trust me it`s fantastic once you "breakthrough" so to speak.

If you experience sensations of not being able to breathe or you feel like you are being crushed, try to remember, it`s not real, and let it happen. WELL WORTH IT!!

reply to post by psilo simon


I agree, just by letting go and not being scared always opens up to an amazing experience, and now I love getting the "buzz/vibrations" and just go with the flow and when I wake up properly I feel extremely rested and relaxed, whereas before the buzz/vibration stage would obviously frighten me at which point my muscles would tense and it would turn into a horrific hallucination!

reply to post by destination now


destination now...You keep popping up in all of my threads for some reason.

Anyway seriously I'm glad you enjoyed this thread and seemed to take something away from it which is always a good thing when reading threads although I'm quite surprised to hear that your mother touching you didn't 'break you out' of the SP since as far as I'm aware sound and touch are 2 of the main causes for SP to stop happening.

I'm glad you've managed to turn SP into a positive experience as well though as it's really not an easy thing for a lot of people to do and IMO it take s a strong minded person to do so as HSP is something that really can scare people alot and potentially completely ruin their mindset and force them into believing that they have no control which could be devastating so seriously Kudos for that!!

I just wish more people knew about SP to be able to embrace it and turn it into something positive as most seem to be convinced no matter what you tell them that it was something extraordinary and might I add real (although Yes, I fully agree that not all cases are SP, Some are genuine) such as Demonic possession for example.

Also I'm sorry but Ohhhh man I couldn’t help laughing at the image of you in the car park with all these electrodes stuck to your head etc
That made my day haha.

reply to post by Rising Against

destination now...You keep popping up in all of my threads for some reason.

I actually don't post that much, but I enjoy reading, particularly the paranormal forums, and it just happens that your threads are the best researched and most interesting threads in the section and I often feel I would like to add to the discussion - so kudos to you for making the forum interesting

I understand what you mean about not waking up when I was touched and even more surprising that I didn't wake up when I fell out of bed! I wonder though if sheer terror can keep you in that state for longer than normal and the longer you stay in the state, whether it makes the experience more intense and as such more difficult to come out of (could explain why some people cannot accept the natural explanation because they feel the experience so intensely) To add to which, I was a very weird teenager (and am probably still a very weird adult :lol and was very interested in the paranormal and as a result, perhaps I was adding to the experience from my own sub-conscious. And of course teenagers have a flair for the dramatic anyway, and whilst adults may say "don't be silly" teens tend to actually feel and believe more and the experiences seem a lot more real? Don't know though, but my mother was totally freaked out by it and when I came round a couple of minutes after she came into the room, she was terrified thinking that I was seriously ill, so she was relieved by the diagnosis as well.

But yeah, the car park incident with the electrodes was definitely the worst part, and the gel stuff they used between the electrodes and my scalp totally frizzed up my hair - I was gutted as it had taken me ages to do it that day (long before the time of GHD's )

reply to post by destination now


Haha Why thank you and yes, I do agree with most of what you say (I'll get to that in a second) apart from a very small part here......

And of course teenagers have a flair for the dramatic anyway, and whilst adults may say "don't be silly" teens tend to actually feel and believe more and the experiences seem a lot more real?

I disagree partly because I'm a teenager myself!!!
(Although never let a persons age fool you)

....And also because well I think some adults tend to be that way as well, Maybe more so than alot of teenagers, At the very least more than one would think anyway, I myself though being a teenager do honestly try my best to stay as skeptical as possible (of course without completely disregarding something as many people seem to do for some reason) to understand better what is happening when dealing with any area of any conspiracy or paranormal etc.
Instead of course just blindly believing something which a lot of people do through no fault of their own.
Oh and believe me, There are more of us out there as well! lol

Ok all jokes aside here I think it's more than possibly than being in an intense of even mild state of fear would be more than enough to prolong paralysis and maybe even intensify hallucinations that may occur.

I mean to me it almost seems illogical to suggest or believe that fear wouldn’t really have an effect at all or at the very least have a minimal effect on a person and what they would experience.
It’s no lie that fear is a very powerful tool especially when dealing with paranormal phenomenon and it can greatly affect us and what we experience.
Parapsychology can tell you that.

And yes, I've always believed or should I say assumed that people tend to believe these experiences through SP are more than what they seem because of how amazingly real it all seems, I’ve experienced how real it can be and I fully understand why people immediately assume it was something paranormal or even alien (depends on the experience) but As you say you really should try and embrace it and you would be amazed at what can happen and how SP suddenly changes from being a negative to a positive.

All through ridding yourself of the fear and remembering that the negative isn’t real and what it happening isn’t supposed to be bad at all.

Ok Bringing jokes back in:....Damn!!! I soooooooo wish I was there to see this car park incident! lol
Ok, that is all. lol

[edit on 2-6-2010 by Rising Against]

reply to post by Rising Against


Great post on a fascinating subject I've suffered from SP for as long as I can remember, it happens a couple of times a month. For me it's directly linked to stress and sleeping habits and in my opinion there's nothing paranormal about it. I think it's important to be aware of that many documentaries over dramatize the phenomenon for entertainment purposes.

Nice Thread well presented S+F
I had suffered myself with SP for about 35 years of my life until I took up meditation when it just stopped. Also I have been fortunate or unfortunate to have experienced other traumatic events of which I now can decern the differences between them all.
I would wake up in the mornings from my sleep but my body and even my eyes would not move, nothing Paranormal, it is SP a subject I later studied for a matter of personal interest. I used to panic as in the OP's very well put faq but through my years of suffering I developed a knack(a ritual) for escaping the state..........simply try to cough.....the bodies convulsion slaps you back into the driving seat.
SP isn't being possesed as when you're in a true possesed state its like looking out of a goldfish bowl and that is the most accurate explination, your moving but you can't feel anything but you see through your eyes.... and you have your gibbering older brother crying like a wuss boy because his little bros floating around the room he tried to pull me down and my mother thrashed him rotten, because it can supposedly cause death. But from my point of view if you needed to know ...Possesion like being a goldfish in a traveling bowl. Its definately not SP.
Out Of Body Experiences are not SP either, because from returning from these states its like standing at the bottom of Niagra Falls the rush is very intense no paralysis.
Abductions aren't SP either as you are not expected to be awake during these events and if you are you can atleast move your eyes....in SP you cannot open your eyes.
So SP I'd put it down to stress and sleep, but my stress came from the paranormal so its a kind of catch 22.

Remember Cough!!

p.s I'm dyslexic and my proof readers having a nap so sorry if there are any errors.







[edit on 2-6-2010 by DreamerOracle]

reply to post by DreamerOracle


Thank You for your post and don't worry about the spelling..Honestly It's good!!

But I do have a small issue that I have with your post which I hope you don’t mind me pointing out.

You say that you cannot move your eyes during sleep paralysis, Something which I believe to be untrue because As far as I’m aware during SP you very much have the ability to do so.

In fact in all honesty through my research I haven't really come across anything that said otherwise and I know under paralysis in my own experiences I could move my eyes and look around and others as well plus It seems to be backed up scientifically as muscle atonia (paralysis of voluntary musculature) which is what occurs during REM to stop us acting out our dreams as far I know doesn't directly control our eyes and also our breathing of course otherwise we wouldn’t wake up the following morning.
Therefore they don't suffer the paralysis.

Of course that isn’t an exactly scientific explanation admittedly but I believe it to be true and I’ll look for an appropriate link although at this moment in time I can’t find anything that directly explains it I’m afraid.

Ok I also want to point out a great point you made which is coughing during sleep paralysis!
At first glance it doesn't seem like it could be exactly beneficial but from what I've found it really can be and I'm glad you brought it up.
In fact I mentioned it in my opening post here....

With sleep paralysis a simple method such as coughing the word 'cough' repeatedly can help to stop it. Although you must remember that you may still go into another episode if you try to immediately go back to sleep. Coughing is both a voluntary and involuntary response, which such responses break the sleeping state.

I originally found out about it here as well as other websites but I can't link them all.

ETA: Have a star.

[edit on 2-6-2010 by Rising Against]