Why should you believe me? Why should I believe you?

These are both genuine personal accounts described exactly as I perceived them. They are anecdotes, without corroborating eyewitness testimony or physical evidence.

I was 24 and still living with my parents. I had come home tired from work at around 3:30pm, and felt I could use a little nap. So, the family dog and I hopped onto my bed and I proceeded to set the alarm clock for 4:00. I sleep on my left side, facing the clock, so when the alarm went off I reached over with my right hand and reset it for 4:30, to give me another half hour rest. I then rolled over onto my back. To my horror there was a young nude man crouched next to me on the bed, staring curiously down at me. I am not easily frightened, and certainly not afraid of any man, but this was different. It was all wrong... impossible. I was overcome with terror and covered my face as my mind reeled to make sense of it all. After what seemed like several minutes I gathered up my courage, telling myself that it had to be just some crazy guy that snuck into the house, and I could overpower him and call the police. I uncovered my face, ready to lunge, only to find my West Highland White Terrier quietly staring at me as if I were nuts. I jumped up and ran through the house searching for the guy, but found no evidence that he was, or had ever been there. I wasn't alone in the house, and I asked my father, who was in the living room at the time, whether he had seen or heard anything out of the ordinary. He hadn't. I would have dismissed it all as a dream, had I not been fully awake at the time. I had spent a while staring at the alarm clock, debating whether I should take another half hour nap before finally resetting the alarm. The "apparition" was as clear and real as anyone has ever appeared to me. The strange thing was the dog’s reaction... or lack thereof. That occurred to me later. I called my best friend immediately to tell him what had happened. We had made a pact... one borne of watching far too many horror movies together... that if either of us called the other after experiencing anything supernatural, the other would believe without question. He did, and I felt better. We tried to make sense of it together... was it a ghost? Did I catch myself astrally projecting [the man was nude, and looked somewhat like myself]? Alien? To this day the only thing I know for sure is how "real" and terrifying it was.

One night about 15 years ago I was sleeping on the sofabed in the basement when I was suddenly shocked awake. I felt like I was being pressed face down into the bed with a tremendous weight, unable to move or cry out. I had a sense of presence, as if there were small beings in the darkness around my bed. There was a deafening buzz... like a billion cicadas, and just over the sound I heard "you will not have this technology for another 2000 years". Then suddenly everything was normal. Scared the crap out of me. It wasn't until years later that I learned about HSP. While my experience had all the makings of a classic nocturnal Alien abduction scenario, it also matched the common symptoms of hallucinatory sleep paralysis [HSP].

Why should you believe me?

There will be those who are willing to accept both accounts at face value and consider them evidence of extraordinary events. I would not list myself among them, were they someone else’s, but I would not completely discount them out of hand. The problem with believing personal accounts such as these without corroborating evidence is that there is no way to distinguish between the sincere and the fabricated, and there are plenty of both to sort through.
Does the common theme of my accounts make them more likely to be true? Does the sheer volume of similar reports affect the authenticity at all, or does it just make it more likely that I copied aspects of them from other sources?
Would my public face of skepticism add to the legitimacy of these stories, or should they be discounted as baiting?

The short answer is that you shouldn’t necessarily believe me, but rather weigh my experiences against those of others and available conventional explanations like the ones to follow:

Hypnagogic/Hypnopompic Hallucinations

Symptoms: Hypnagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations occur in the few seconds/minutes before and after sleep. The person will awake, often with a start, to find that they can see, hear, feel or smell something in the bedroom that either disappears or is later found not have happened. The most common hallucinations are: thinking that a name has been called out or that the phone is ringing; bright or dark amorphous blobs that hang in mid-air and slowly fade; a feeling that somebody has touched the face, feet or hands; the appearance of a person by the bedside who rapidly disappears.
Causes: The hypnagogic state is the period when the brain is falling asleep after being awake, while the hypnopompic state is the period when the brain is waking up from sleep. Hallucinations occur, like sleep paralysis, in the confused period of time between sleeping and consciousness when the brain is neither fully asleep or awake. During this time the dream state can intrude into our waking world, producing hallucinations through all the senses. Our brain can also misinterpret signals it receives from the senses and create hallucinations from these as well. For example, a shirt hanging on a wall can, in the first few moments after waking, be misinterpreted as a human figure.
Paranormal Phenomena it Resembles: Hypnagogic/hypnapompic hallucinations are most likely to be misinterpreted as being various types of ghostly phenomena. The paranormal investigator should make a conscious effort to look for reported cases of strange phenomena occurring to people who have just woken up or who are very relaxed or falling asleep. The chances of seeing a ghost are greatly enhanced if the person is sitting or lying down and in a relaxed state. Similarly, a majority of the several hundred cases of crisis apparition collected in Phantasms of the Living occurred to people who had just woken up. This is not to say that there may not be a paranormal element in some of these cases (eg. telepathy), but the link with hypnagogia/hypnopompia is quite unmistakable.

www.assap.ac.uk...

Hypnopompia would seem to explain the key elements of my first experience.

Common Features of Sleep Paralysis

Sleep paralysis is often characterized by a transient inability to move or speak during sleep transitions. In general, the ability to move your eyes is preserved. Some people try to scream or call out for help, but this may manifest only as a soft vocalization. For example, you might only be able to whisper, squeal, grunt, groan or whimper. Many people have a sense of suffocating or breathlessness during sleep paralysis, which likely relates to the limited muscles that are active to help you breathe. During REM sleep, the diaphragm acts as a bellows to help you inflate your lungs and breathe, but few of the other accessory muscles of breathing are active. Some people experience this as a chest pressure or as if someone is standing or sitting on their chest. The level of awareness during sleep paralysis varies. Some people insist they are completely awake and aware of their surroundings, while others describe only a partial awareness. Infrequently, people may have an out-of-body experience, the belief that they are outside of their bodies looking at themselves.

The Important Role of Hallucinations

Vivid hallucinations may be part of this experience. In other words, you perceive an experience of something that is not there. In a broad sense, the hallucinations associated with sleep paralysis can be divided into visual, auditory, olfactory and tactile experiences. The visual experience can be quite profound. Many people report seeing the presence of a human figure, often described as being a dark figure, shadow or ghost. This figure may be standing at the bedside, just at the periphery of your vision. Some people report seeing multiple people in the room. Others report that they see flashes, bright colors or lights. Sometimes the visual hallucination can be quite elaborate. For example, some have reported seeing a disembodied hand, a gargoyle, bugs or even a cat. In other cases, the visions are vague, described as being blurry or shimmering or simply having a sense that things are floating. Similarly, the experience of auditory hallucinations in sleep paralysis can range from the routine to the bizarre. Many people hear various noises. It is most common for people to hear voices. The language used might seem foreign. There may the perception of whispering, screaming and laughing. Nearly as often, a loud buzzing or static noise is reported, much like the sound of a radio that is on but not tuned to a station. Some people hear breathing, footsteps, knocking or a ringing sound. Even unusual sounds like a horse carriage or growling may be perceived. Sometimes the sounds heard during sleep paralysis are nonspecific, difficult to characterize or not well remembered. One of the most often reported phenomena of sleep paralysis is a tactile hallucination, the experience of being touched when you are not. Many people describe feeling a pressure or contact, often sensed as if something or someone is holding them down. Some people with sleep paralysis describe tingling, numbness or a vibrating sensation. Others describe a sense of floating, flying or falling. A few people report feeling chilled or freezing. Less frequently, there may even be a sense that you are being physically moved or dragged from your bed. Some people report sexual contact, including physical sensations involving the genitalia or even rape. Other physical experiences have been reported as well, including a sense of being bitten, bugs crawling on the skin, breathing in the ear or an uncontrolled feeling of smiling. The least common hallucination in sleep paralysis is of an olfactory nature, relating to your sense of smell. As with the other types of hallucinations, you could imagine a range of possible imagined smells that you might experience.

sleepdisorders.about.com...

Sleep Paralysis is a nearly perfect fit for my second experience.

So why should I believe you?

I am of a skeptical nature, so I would consider both explanations as applicable. However, to this day I have difficulty reconciling the realism of the occurrences with the “it’s all in your head” explanations. I can identify with so many on this site who proclaim “I know what I experienced!”. I can’t say that I believe in Alien abduction or ghosts, and my tendency is to seek conventional explanations over exotic, but having experienced both I can’t say that I have completely ruled them out.

a reply to: draknoir2

You shouldn't use the word anecdote when describing personal experiences, it means different things to different people.

an·ec·dote
ˈanəkˌdōt/
noun
plural noun: anecdotes

a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person.
"told anecdotes about his job"

an account regarded as unreliable or hearsay.
"his wife's death has long been the subject of rumor and anecdote"

Your first story rang a bell. Sometimes personal encounters of the spirit kind are sudden, out of the blue events that startle us. Especially since it seems improbable and too 'real'.

I've had a couple of those, one even sleeping on the couch with a dog by my side. In that case though, the dog responded with the lowest deepest guttural growl, giving me a heads up to something he was also aware of at the same time without any prompting from me. This dog would bark at intruders, leaping off the couch and attacking them. Instead it was, grrrrrrrrrrr and then, silence.

its good to have some other corroboration, helps keep one sane.

So we have sleep paralysis, and a couple types of hallucinations to choose from. Humm...?

Nah, you were abducted and implanted with false memories inserted.
Just because it's in this forum that takes precedence.

a reply to: draknoir2

Perhaps a better way to present this would be as, Anecdotal evidence.

The expression anecdotal evidence refers to evidence from anecdotes. In cases where small numbers of anecdotes are presented, there is a larger chance that they may be unreliable due to cherry-picked or otherwise non-representative samples of typical cases.[1][2] Anecdotal evidence is considered dubious support of a generalized claim; it is, however, within the scope of scientific method for claims regarding particular instances. Anecdotal evidence is no more than a type description (i.e., short narrative), and is often confused in discussions with its weight, or other considerations, as to the purpose(s) for which it is used. This is true regardless of the veracity of individual claims.[3][4][5]

en.wikipedia.org...

Did you smell anything usual during your first encounter? Like a rancid, or rotten smell?

a reply to: intrptr

I always used anecdote as a cure for a disease or a solution to a problem. Thanks for making look that up. It does not seem to have that definition anywhere.

Perhaps you are thinking too hard?
No one believes anyone anyway, so the point is moot.
a reply to: draknoir2

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

I think you were thinking of antidote.

What's interesting is a few stories I have had. Living in a third world country many times, the father is absent. I lived with my mother and my stepfather. I was being left alone at home at the very tender age of 7, had my own house keys and a school bus would let me off. I'd be terrified most days. It was a MASSIVE 3 story house and here in Jamaica crime is not limited.

Now everyday I got home I would run upstairs close all grills and stare through the window while watching tv anticipating when my mother would reach so I could be freed of this heavy stress. It was really hard for me. I'd hear DAILY people having conversations in my house down stairs and I'd hear footsteps. Sometimes I'd say hello and you'd hear what sounded like footsteps running away(The floors of the house were board). Now the more I grew up the less that happened. That was me suffering from paranoia at a very tender age. It took me a few years to realize that, it's completely stupid to rule out everything else and stick to "IT WAS ALIENS" every time.

The grills of the house were never opened, we have 7 dogs, all protective German shepherds, The house was fully grilled and every lock was bolted. We have had 1 break in and we confirmed who the guy was, we have never been subject to missing items nor house invasions. If you told me this at age 7 - 12 I'd have told you that you were wrong with utmost conviction that there were intruders in the house constantly.

a reply to: bananashooter

That's it damn I am stupid. Thanks.

a reply to: draknoir2
Fine account drak. I appreciate your open mind in your attempts to understand your experiences. Like you I have had a number of 'experiences' that can be explained away by either just exaggerated brain activity, or, something more. And like you I strive to understand them from both perspectives.

I suppose that for people who have not undergone experiences such as these, it is easy to explain them away as mental aberration while those who have not studied the workings of our brains it is easy enough to just insist on the 'objective reality' of the experience. Me? Like you, I reserve judgment on my own experiences, holding both in abeyance.

The short answer is that you shouldn’t necessarily believe me, but rather weigh my experiences against those of others

Which of course I do not believe you yet, as I also have dramatic experiences of this sort, I take yours into account, as I suppose you might mine. I think it is belief that is a problem with us all. How easily we believe this or that, one way or the other. I myself, am not so sure of either way, of either yes or no, of this or that, and I admit to being quite excited by being somewhere in between with the freedom to explore seemingly opposing possibilities from as many perspectives as I can.

What it really comes down to is faith. If what happened to you, whether real or not, YOU believe it to be real and you must have the faith to make it and keep it real. You had the experience and then after tried to explain it, whereas skeptic look at your evidence, after the fact, and search for an alternative answer than ET.
Now my problem with the sleep paralasis and other sleep disorders comes to one question "why do the majority of people who have these experiences only have these episodes say once every month or every three or four years"?
Do you get this scenario. If it is a sleep disorder why aren't people having episodes every night? OK I recognise some do but the vast majority do not, it's sporadic. That tells me that it's a lot more than a sleep disorder.
Just tell me why it can't be a genuine episode just because a skeptic can prove some other state can bring on certain aspects of it.

a reply to: draknoir2

I believe you
No questions asked.

a reply to: draknoir2

So why should I believe you?

I dont even believe myself half the time. Besides having theses types of experiences as well, I have been finding my recall of past events completely wrong sometimes. I caught myself here telling tales. One story I would like to tell was how i was with someone who thought Venus was a ufo and how i was smart enough to see that it wasn't moving because it stayed in the same relationship to the moon. So almost 2 years after that i get Stellarium and because i was at a wedding, i knew the exact dates of said event so...easy to prove how smart I was. Wrong. The moon wasn't even visible at the time. Apparently i remembered a moon that wasn't there.

Dont believe a word i say.

There are some odd abduction stories about people being found far away from home without any memory and whatnot...

But my thing is this: If an alien species can build a ship capable of interstellar travel, why would they need to keep abducting human beings?

If they have the technology to solve the energy requirements for warp drives/inter-dimensional drives -- why keep exposing themselves through abductions? You only need a skin cell or hair from someone to study their DNA. Surely they have the technology to clone people in artificial wombs.

And crash landing? Really? They'd make it all the way to Earth only to crash.

We're talking about beings that are thousands of years more technologically advanced, and they have nothing better to do than come into people's bedrooms at night and freak them out? Crash in our deserts? Really?

I'm betting that over 90% of abduction stories are sleep paralysis. Some people will refuse to believe this, they want to be special. These people want that scary incident to mean more than just some misfiring neurons in their brains.

I've had sleep paralysis many times. I've had it where I swore beings were either there, or "coming". I've been dragged out of my bed, bound to the bed, heard loud buzzing sounds...but it's not real, it's just something the brain does to people.

When human beings don't understand something, they like to make up fantasies to explain the unexplainable. We used to think the world was flat and sea monsters would destroy ocean going boats if they went to far from land. We know better now.

In 200 years we'll look back on abductions and see that MOST of them weren't anything more than sleep paralysis.

But that still doesn't explain ALL of them....

I vote for "discounted as baiting."

Harte

This is a very good question, and not an easy one to answer. I mean, why should you believe me if I say that I have seen a flying disc land in the field behind my house, and a little alien being waves at me from an opening in the side? If I was ever lucky enough to have an encounter like this, I really wouldn't have a problem with people refusing to believe me. A story like that is just too sensational to accept without some kind of proof. And when I say "proof", I don't mean "a bit of flattened grass in the field". After all, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

a reply to: draknoir2

Until something truly shocking happens to you

You won't know it, and then you will join the believers telling skeptics

..... until it happens to you

Sleep paralysis is paranormal. But you can believe what you want. I've never experienced sleep paralysis, but 2 of my sons have.

Going to add this, no one has to believe what you had for breakfast either. In a world run by psycho's who know perfectly what's going on, thank goodness people are brave enough to speak what has occurred to them, and to trust their own memories, and share them, and help put a wedge in the lies, and work for freedom, truth and an upgraded world without slavery. Because that is what this comes down to.

As to why ET abducts, DNA, ongoing projects they use, body suits they were, many of greys are pirates for example. At other times, people are being patched up, and helped, inserted, children altered. There are 2 sides up there and quite alot of different things happen.

This entire solar system is run by some heavy duty bad guys, and they deal in souls.