Right now seems like a good time to answer this question, as I sit here unable to go back to sleep after what was probably my 40th episode of sleep paralysis. I tend to have extreme hallucinations along with the paralysis, making the experience extremely traumatic.

My first experience was when I was 19 or 20, in college, and 3 days after being terrified in the theater watching The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Perfect. I will never forget the experience. I woke up (so I thought) and looked at the clock. It was 3:00 a.m. exactly. I felt a looming, very dark, evil presence in my room and realized I was completely paralyzed, with the exception of my head (this is part of the hallucination; I now know that in all actuality I was hallucinating being able to move my head and look around the room). Then it started. I had a lovely white, extremely fluffy white down comforter pulled all the way up to my chin. I felt the extreme pressure on my chest, I felt something pushing me into my bed, suffocating me. When I looked down, I saw a huge impression in my comforter where I felt the pressure, and saw it getting deeper, pushing me down further. I tried to scream when I heard the bedsprings squeak under me, as whatever this thing was pushed and pushed. I couldn't speak. The best I could get out was hushed gargling. I then felt like there was pressure on my neck, choking me. I can't express how deeply terrified I was. I couldn't move a single muscle in my body. My arms felt like they were too heavy to lift. I couldn't sit up, despite trying with every bit of strength I had. I, at the time, considered myself agnostic/atheist/whatever college students who think God is for stupid people say that they are, and I actually thought there was a demon on my chest, trying to either kill me or possess me. I thought it would never end, and it seemed to last forever. And then, I felt myself close my eyes, and the thing was gone. I said my roommate's name to see if I could speak again. I could. I looked down at my comforter, and there was no trace of anything unusual. I immediately JUMPED out of my bed, hysterically crying, trembling, and scared the shit out of my roommate when I woke her up this way. I spent the rest of the night, sleepless, in her bed. I was completely traumatized, and so was my roommate. The next day, this happened:

Yep, that's me, and my bed that I moved right next to my roommate's. I'm a big baby. But, so was she, so it was ok. It stayed this way until the end of the year. We moved her desk into my room and made it "the office." I couldn't sleep in my room alone again.

I didn't experience another attack for about a year, but the next time it happened it happened a lot. Each experience was a bit different during that first phase of episodes. I experienced violent shaking of my bed, to wake up to a dark figure standing to the right of my bed, physically shaking it. Another time, I felt my bed turning over, and felt myself sliding off, or being pulled off, along with my covers, and not being able to hold on and keep myself from sliding due to the paralysis. Other times, I felt like I was being held in whatever position I woke up in and was having a seizure. Now, I tend to experience a lot of these at once, along with a "floating" feeling, where I can't move myself, but I'm being lifted, or parts of me are being lifted by something else. I see things moving/shaking often. Tonight I woke up in the position where I was looking at a chandelier above and to the right of my bed, and felt like my head was being pushed that direction by whatever was to the left of my bed, but I couldn't direct my eyes to whatever it was, it was just out of vision. But as I looked at the chandelier, it was swinging back and forth, I had the seizure sensation in my whole face, and my upper body was being "lifted" up and down. Oh, and I thought it was storming outside (it wasn't). Every episode I try to scream. I don't exactly know why, as at this point, I know good and well nothing more than a faint gurgle will come out, but it's not something I can control. The panic completely consumes me.

I'm much more educated about what I'm actually experiencing now, after 7 years of dealing with it, but I can never shake the panic. After the episodes I experience now, I'm much more clear-headed about what just happened than I was as a 20 year old who felt like a demon had it out for her...but it's still terrifying. The hallucinations, in that moment, seem as real as can be. I stay quite scared and lonely for a while after, and almost exhausted from trying to fight the paralysis in panic. I continue to see shadows and think things are moving around me a few minutes following, and the "looming" feeling tends to stick around for a moment, as well.

For me, these episodes happen in phases, due to stress and lack of sleep, for the most part. When I do experience an isolated incident, it is usually on a night I've had a lot of trouble falling asleep, as was the case tonight. I laid in bed for hours, tossing and turning, and the minute I "realized" I was asleep (those who have these will recognize that moment, I think), I "woke up" to paralysis. I've experienced episodes while dozing off to sleep, but usually I am woken up by them after dozing. The paralysis I've experienced while drifting into a doze is usually less frightening because the hallucinations are not as present, it's more just the paralysis and trouble breathing, but I tend to come out of it and then fall right back into paralysis multiple times before being able to actually sleep when this is the case. But I prefer that over the hallucinations, 100x over.

Sleep paralysis has been the source of some of the most terrifying experiences of my life, particularly before I was able to figure out what was happening to me, but after I've learned about the disorder as well, as I am overwhelmed by my panic in each hallucination. I come to after, but during that time, I'm almost always just as terrified as the time before.

Tough to say, but if I had to estimate, I'd say anywhere between 10 and 50 times.

I know those two numbers are miles apart, but the thing is most of my experiences happened a long time ago. I had a phase when I was much younger where I experienced sleep paralysis quite often, but it's all just a blur now. There are only a few experiences I actually remember.

I still experience sleep paralysis, but very occasionally, and these days, the entity isn't able to fully paralyse me. My movements might be sluggish, but I'm able to move. I'm able to mouth words too, but not loudly. Guess you could call it partial paralysis.

Also, I've managed to throw the entity off me on 2 occasions which I remember. But this was long ago, when I'd get fully paralysed. It wasn't easy, and I literally had to muster every ounce of strength I had, but I managed. You need some serious willpower as well, because often I'd try, and then just give up, but when I gave up, the pressure felt unbearable, so I'd continue to struggle until the entity left me.

Once I saw the entity, clear as day. I've written about this experience previously, so forgive me if I don't elaborate on the incident. Perhaps I'll post a link at the end of this answer.

I'll tell you this much, with absolute certainty…

Sleep paralysis is caused by jinn. Perhaps there is a medical condition which also causes it, but I highly doubt it. I think it's caused by jinn, 100% of the time.

Forget about what people tell you. All they do is make assumptions.

I'm speaking from a point of absolute certainty, and I've also seen jinn in my complete wakefulness on numerous occasions. This is all very “matter of fact” to me. Unfortunately, you guys are never going to see everything I have, but I know that some of you have seen at least some of the things I have.

As for you naysayers, please keep an open mind. Just because you haven't experienced something for yourself, doesn't mean those who have are deluded.

Keep an open mind, and if you truly desire truth, InshaAllah (God willing), sooner or later, you shall receive it.

Here's the link I said I'd post..

Shahin Ebrahim's answer to Do you only see spirits at night?

BANG! BANG! BAAAAANNNNNGGGGG!!!!!

I awakened abruptly to what sounded like a literal car crash at the foot of my bed. Though I was startled and my heart pounded like a drum, I had yet to open my eyes. And then…

BAAAAANNNNNGGGGG!!!!!

…another ear-piercing car wreck. The second one, however, appeared to strike a few feet to my right. I was in such a mixed state of panic and confusion, my eyes still closed, I hadn’t the slightest idea what to do.

Just as I was about to open my eyes, I heard—clear as day—a dark, menacing laughter. I opened my eyes and saw the silhouette of a large man standing at the foot of my bed.

A visceral terror and panic instantly overcame me. As I went to jump out of bed to defend myself against the intruder, my overwhelming terror and panic infinitely increased when I came to a disturbing, inconvenient realization:

I couldn’t move.

Except for my eyelids, my entire body was literally frozen. I went to open my mouth to yell for help, yet I could only mumble. My eyes were still fixated on the shadowy figure which stood at the foot of my bed.

I continued to mumble for help when, all of the sudden, the man began to slowly lurch forward. As he sauntered towards me, he began to levitate off the floor. His maniacal laugh continued to fill my bedroom, as I watched him hover up and over my frozen body.

He leaned towards me in midair while I laid helplessly paralyzed. He was only a few feet away from my face when, next thing I knew, my bedroom door flung open. In the blink of an eye, the shadowy figure disappeared, the laughter ceased, and I shot up in bed—once again, able to move.

“Are you alright?” my brother asked. “I think you had a bad dream…”

The above incident, which occurred in early-2015, was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.

It was the one and only time I’ve ever experienced sleep paralysis. Thankfully.

If you haven’t experienced it yourself, take it from me, you ain’t missin’ out!

I have insomnia and suffer frequently from sleep paralysis, a terrifying condition where I feel I am awake but cannot move or speak. Sometimes I have trouble breathing.

I try to wake myself up - or try to move - and it's impossible.

I tell myself I will suffer less if I remain calm.

In this state, I almost always feel like other hostile people are in the room (which makes remaining calm pretty much impossible.)

If you look up "sleep paralysis", this sense of someone else being there is reported by almost everyone who has experienced this condition, which I find oddly comforting.

Last night I was waiting for Boyfriend to come home and he texted to let me know he'd be later than expected. Nap lover that I am, I fell asleep on the couch.

Sleep paralysis set in and I felt the presence of a man standing behind me.

Unable to speak and trying to keep calm I thought "Go away. My boyfriend will be home soon."

"Tell him it's Abraham" he replied.

If you have ever experienced sleep paralysis I don't have to tell you how incredibly real this feels.

I finally woke up (or returned to a condition where I could move) and was still peeling the nightmare off me when Boyfriend walked in.

"Thank God you are home", I said. "I had one of my terrible, vivid nightmares. I felt the presence of a man in the room. He said to tell you it was Abraham."

"Oh" Boyfriend said. "Abraham was my grandfather".

I am an optimist and am very pragmatic, even skeptical. I don't believe in spirits or ghosts.

I can still hear the deep voice.

"Tell him it's Abraham."

Eyes open.

Attempt to move.

Nothing works

PANIC

“Just breathe.” I think

Can’t breathe.

There’s something evil in the room.

I feel it from the shadow in the corner.

“Oh god. It’s gonna come for me.”

“Why can’t I breathe?!?”

“I’m going to die this time.”

HEART POUNDING

“I need to wake my body up”

“Get someone’s attention”

SCREAM

Hear a whimper that can’t possibly be mine

The thing moves from the shadow

It’s a woman, scraggly hair hanging over her face.

“Why is this person in my house?!?”

“My partner and I are going to die. She needs to wake up.”

She’s getting closer.

Her movements jerky and glitchy looking.

Her dress old and ragged.

I can hear her breathing.

A rattle, a whisper

“Focus. Move a finger.”

“Move anything”

“Hurry”

PANIC

PANIC

“Oh god. She’s almost here.”

She climbs on top of me.

She’s starts to choke me.

PANIC

“I’m gonna die this time.”

“No one will know this is how I died.”

“She’s going to wake up and I’ll be dead.”

I feel her weight on me.

Pushing me into the bed.

Pushing the air out of my lungs.

Hands around my throat.

Hair hanging down, dirty, scraggly.

“MOVE YOUR FINGER”

The hag looks between strands of hair

Her eyes black and soulless

Her mouth a gaping maw

Filled with menace

I focus everything I have left into my pinky finger.

It twitches.

The hag disappears.

I bolt up in the bed.

Gasping for air.

Looking around wild-eyed for evidence that it happened.

Hands shaking, heart pounding.

My partner sleeping blissfully unaware

That someone just tried to kill me

Have seen this question from so many lately. I am beginning to present. And myself, having considered myself a full-blown metaphysician/spiritualist, am beginning to intuit that there have been a tremendous amount of spiritual entities that originally came here at birth and forgot that they were going to be a part of “a plan” that was formulated before choosing to come here? I suppose was a veil put over faces? Because Sleep Paralysis is the most important thing to occur when the astral body/spiritual body/our real bodies are about to exit the physical body. It is referred to as, THE CATALEPTIC STATE!:)

It is absolutely possible to have 'nightmarish’ experiences and remain cool as a cucumber.

In terms of sleep paralysis, I've only experienced it a few times. My introduction to them was though out of body experiences which prejudiced me to consider any 'strange' experience as simply wonderful. I did not fear them. I did not worry that they were dangerous.

None of them proved to be frightening. I focused instead in how incredibly interesting these experiences were.

One time it felt as though 'i could not move and there were bats in my hair'… I was simply happy something truly interesting was going on. I did not believe I was in danger. I tried, despite the excitement and adrenalin, to relax and observe in a detached fashion. There were no bats, only a curious sensation around my head and a fluttering sound.

Another time I was 'sexually assaulted’ by an invisible entity. I was thankful that I had already read about succubi and took the same detached, almost bemused attitude about it. I playfully asked the invisible entity to 'be gentle’ and observed the experience, which was profoundly unsexual really, especially without the charge of fear or violation. Just the motions of rape upon my floating and paralysed astral body, devoid any violent or sexual sensation.

In both of these circumstances I believe that if I had lost the balance of my mind it could have proven disastrous to my psyche and might have turned me off the spiritual path.

There are practices, meditation & ritual, which cultivate detachment and remind us that we cannot be manipulated by these entities without a subtle form of consent. Having practiced these before my experiences I felt prepared.

Sometimes I regret all the time I spent not doing what I was supposed to do with my life; build a career and raise a family… and sometimes I revisit a snap shot of my life and I'm happy.

Thanks for the question.

I was lying in bed on my right side, and I believed that I was awake. I was wrapped in blankets and tried to get out of bed, but I suddenly felt blocked from above, as in a sort of “paralyzing hug”.

I immediately thought that someone broke into my flat, but then I remembered that I had locked the main door, therefore I brushed that idea off.
I suddenly glimpsed a sort of dark shadow with yellowish eyes. Strangely, I was not afraid nor did I try to scream, but I wondered why it was there, and I unsuccessfully tried to free myself.

Afterwards, I glimpsed the shadow fluttering away across the room, and apparently dematerializing. I believed that I was free to move. I tried to get up in order to check where the shadow had gone, but I realized that I couldn't. My eyes were closed, and I couldn't move because I wasn't actually awake. Everything had been a dream.

I tried hard to open my eyes, and after a few attempts, I finally succeeded. I got up, checked my bedroom, all my flat, the locked main door...everything was fine.

I was probably not scared because my mother had a similar experience a long time before, but she believed that it was her father’s last hug. He had died a few days earlier.

I was laying in bed and felt like I had awakened but I couldn’t move and couldn’t speak. I could feel an evil presence and out of my closet came a black cloud with eyes that terrified me. It came up my body to my head and said “Let me in.” I said “No” probably just in my mind but it came in through my mouth and nose anyways. I woke up sometime after but I have never forgotten this one time. I didn’t know what sleep paralysis was or that I had it until a few years ago when I heard the term and realized it described my episodes to a T. I also realized that if I controlled my breathing and began breathing really fast I could wake myself up. I rarely get SP anymore.

Scores of times.

I would become aware while sleeping and realize that I couldn’t move my body. I was frightened. I made an effort to move just my toe, and when I finally moved my toe, it broke the paralysis and I could move, fully aware.

Finally, I decided to be unafraid, after all, nothing had ever happened, it was just scary. So the next time it happened I just let it happen. I went from being paralyzed to visualizing a dream. Except I KNEW I was dreaming and I could control my actions. I wanted to fly and just leapt up (in the dream) an flew like Superman. Eventually I lapsed into normal sleep and woke normally in the morning. This is called lucid dreaming. I soon started lucid dreaming without going through the paralysis stage.

Once, while lucid dreaming, I decided to go visit a friend. They were asleep, so I imagined I woke them and was visiting with them. They emailed me the next day and told me I had visited them in a dream. I had been there, somehow.

Now I skip the paralysis, skip the lucid dreaming and I visit people and places I want to go. I get feedback that tells me what I see is what is real. Some call his astral projection or astral travel.

To do this, I start my night lying in bed and enter a state of meditation - as if I’m going to sleep, but I stay awake and aware. At some point my awareness of my physical body diminishes - I no longer feel the mattress or covers or pillow, and I decide where to go. I seem to get there instantly. It’s interesting and fun.

My first experience: I had this “being’s” face at arms length in my face..It was like the head of a tarantula ( short ,tan hair all over, several black pearl colored eyes, and it's jaws opened sideways like a big ant’s or a beetle's does..it was just the head, moving at such an erratic pace it was almost a blur…I heard a very , very loud horn blow and instantly woke up……to nothing ,but me alone …

2nd experience:. A large , grey , armored head was right in front of me…it could have passed off as metal armor , but the shoulder length helmet, which covered everything but it's face , was part of it's anatomy..it's mouth was comparable to the prehistoric “ mega mouth's" .large bone plates over each cheek for the mouth to hinge from…It was not moving at all, I remember every detail…then I heard the sound of a very heavy mechanical door shutting ..and BAM, I snap out of the paralysis . Mid yell ..and again found myself all alone in dead silence…

I started having sleep paralysis when I was 23…I think due to the long drives , long hours, and averaging 4 hours sleep per night on jobs that were 7 days a week and 10–12 hours a day, for months at a time..I had it so often that I figured out how to breathe in and out so hard that if my wife was near me , she would wake me up…I still have sleep paralysis at the age of 47, it occurs at least once every two weeks ..but each individual time , in my case , actually consists about 5 to 10 episodes of paralyzation, waking up, and falling back asleep, repeat…

I've been lucky ..these 2 experiences are the only times that I actually visualized anything or felt like I was not alone…it was pretty frightening, …..the spider-headed gentleman was extremely upsetting ..the helmet headed dude was not so invasive, but still upsetting …oh …and these both happened within a month of each other in 2018…God Bless

Sleep paralysis is not one of the great sensations you want to feel at night. Sleep paralysis is a physical condition when your brain stays awake but your body sleeps on and you fail to command your body.Like a crazy person, you try to break free from this situation but you can’t as your body is no longer taking commands from your brain. Generally, it happens when your rem cycle has come to a certain point and your body has not noticed that your brain has woken up.Also,some people[including me]think it is a prerequisite for **O.B.E** and can trigger lucid dreams.

Though it is not a great feeling to feel but it quite different from other things.Not everyone feels it but those who have an aware soul and mind feel it. For the first few times, it is very scary and can frighten you out.

**Too much introduction is given,now let’s come to the main point.** During sleep paralysis, you feel like you are chained to your bed and can’t move an inch.You will be able to see the whole room in a blurry vision but your eyes will be closed.If you are lucky and mentally aware enough ,you will be hearing a buzzing sound along with the sound of rushing electricity.vibrations will be rushing throughout your body,from head to toe.you will also be able to hear scary sounds especially sounds of laughter and someone talking.But it’s a pre-phase of obe. If you are feeling it for the first time,you will be very frightened and will try heart and soul to break free from the situation.After some time you will break free and you will be able to open your eyes.they will be paining but it’s nothing dangerous.everything will be fine.

Basically sleep paralysis indicates a change of life and start of a new journey,a journey you haven’s experienced before. At first,I was very frightened about it but now I long for it.

People who are obe aspirant and meditators or spiritually awake experience it.

Sleep paralysis is related with rem cycle. I can tell you that this cycle is the thing to induce sleep paralysis.messing up this cycle causes sleep paralysis.

I had sleep disorders from under age 1, by 1949 until the critical change on May 21, 2003 and I have never had sleep paralysis since my first sublingual MeCbl. It took 2–3 more years for me to get enough methylfolate to restore normal dreaming.

I can’t tell you how long or how often a sleep paralysis continues. Can you tell me the difference between sleep paralysis, conscious dreaming, mystical experiences or dreams? An eternal experience could be 1 second long or 4 hours long. I can’t tell lengthy, or how “many” repeated experiences.

Perhaps you could try the nutrients that some find useful, like me; MeCbl, AdoCbl, L-methylfolate and l-carnitine fumarate. Generally these might stop half a dozen varieties of sleep disorders. Narcolepsy might having a person fulling asleep watching the news or eating.

I've lost count.

I remember having it as a child. I would wake up with my face buried in the pillow and I'd be struggling to breathe, and I would find it difficult to lift my head to draw breath. I remember wondering why it took so much effort but never realised what it was at the time.

I don't recall it much throughout my teenaged years but it really took off again in my early twenties. I would wake up but be unable to move. I would be fully conscious of everything around me but wouldn't be able to open my eyes or even move.

I'm in my early forties now and I had it a couple of weeks ago. Nowadays, I don't try to fight it but instead go back to sleep. It's a horrible sensation but that's the only thing I've felt deals with it.

So how many times? Who knows, but it's in the hundreds.

I've been experiencing sleep paralysis for about 18 years. Last night was by far the most horrifying.

I had just fallen asleep and woke up paralyzed. I thought my eyes were open but in hindsight I suppose they weren't. I felt a presence in the room coming closer to my bed, but even though my eyes felt open I couldn't move them to see that presence. My 10 year old is on the opposite side of the room. My 4 year old is asleep next to me. I'm 8 months pregnant.

I'm terrified and so strongly driven by the need to protect my children from this ‘thing’ and I can't do it. After using all my strength, I manage to move my eyes, which results in them opening. But the presence is right next to me and envelopes me in darkness and in unable to see; unable to move; unable to resist. I hear my 10 year old whimper. I feel my three year old begin to squirm. I can't do a thing. My growing baby inside goes still and I feel this presence trying to rip the child from my insides.

I woke up screaming. I tried to go back to sleep, each time being paralyzed within moments. I'm done. I'm exhausted and my head is pounding and my body aches from what happened. I wish I could fully believe that it's just mind trickery.

I've recently been ruminating about how sleep paralysis likely had a formative effect on my personality and worldview. When I was young they were rather frequent. These days, it's something that happens to me maybe once a year on average. Some of the instances are so brief and inconsequential that I don't commit them to memory. Sometimes, though, they have such a haunting effect that they bother me for years after.

I had always been of the impression that everyone will experience sleep paralysis at least once in life; certain people are just predisposed to having them more frequently. Learning that it's much less common than I supposed (affecting somewhere between 8-40%) has given me some closure, it makes it easier for me to process how powerful my experiences were now that I know it's not a universal routine.

To put it into blunt terms, growing up with sleep deprivation inculcated a deep skepticism of reality itself. I'm not a Matrix acolyte, but the easiest thing to compare it to is Neo's sense (at the start of the first movie) that something about the "real world" isn't quite right. For much of my life I funneled this into an effort to route out what's really going on. Later, I went the opposite direction and used it as a way to gain an informed view on how susceptible we humans are to delusions.

So, among many other factors that make me the person I am, sleep paralysis gave some direction from a path toward an aggressor of weird views to a critic of them. It's forced me to be analytical and skeptical of everything, it just took me a while to focus that energy correctly.
---

Now, what were these experiences like? They took all kinds of forms. The most significant ones, those of my childhood, usually involved a featureless face floating between the ceiling and me. So, you know how the Michael Myers mask was created by painting a William Shatner costume mask white? Take that mental image then think of holding a picture of your bedroom ceiling. Imagine a drawing a translucent charcoal sketch of the Michael Myers face on top of the picture. Then imagine it getting bigger and smaller and saying weird, threatening things. Then imagine it opening its mouth and screaming, and somehow the sonic energy forms a blade that stabs you in the gut. Your head is locked in place so you can't look down to see what's happening, but you can feel your organs swirl around in your belly like the melted wax in a lava lamp. You wonder if you feel an actual cutting sensation, or just weightlessness, but it's so unpleasant it doesn't seem to make a difference. It's just awful.

That's what the routine was when I was ten and 11, happening maybe once a month. In the past few years I've had two instances that were memorable. Keep in mind that I wasn't an impressionable, gullible kid in these latter tales; I was an adult who knew that reality shouldn't work this way.

I was living in an old house on the near-north side of Indianapolis. I kept the bedroom door open so the cat could come and go as he pleased. I went to bed and didn't remember going to sleep; I just sort of time warped a few hours forward. I was laying on my stomach and I heard a noise that "woke" me up. Probably the cat. The cat continues to make noise and I think I should go pet him, but my muscles won't respond. Okay, it must not be the cat. I must have not locked the door. I must have deactivated the alarm by accident. There must be an intruder in the house. Okay, now I need to get up and fight him. Thank God I have so many blunt objects I can use to defend myself! Wait, I can't. The muscles still won't work. I can't even move my head to get a better look out the door. It's the intruder. He's taken away my nerve control. Maybe he'll just take some stuff and leave. No, no. He's telling me telepathically that he's here to stab me to death. He's holding me down now, stabbing. It doesn't feel sharp, just blunt and swirly.

I timewarp again to the morning. I get up and make some coffee, then I stop and wonder if I should look to see if the intruder stole anything. Then I ask myself why I didn't just get up and bludgeon him before he stabbed me. At that point, I notice that I've not been stabbed, and even if I had been, it probably would not have involved a telekinetic burglar stealing my motor coordination. This jarring event that I was trying to process became much, much more difficult to process because it didn't happen. The memory of it happening was much more real in my memory than anything that happened in real life for the previous week. So, the morning after left me with the uneasy fact that I couldn't feel at home in my own brain.

A year later, I'm in an apartment. I fall asleep in my ground-level bedroom then wake up somewhere else. I look around and realize that I'm in one of the spare bedrooms at my grandmother's house. I'm immediately confused because everything looks exactly as it should, I simply don't remember how I got there. I start to panic that perhaps I had a fugue state (not something in my history) and drove for an hour to my grandmother's house. Did I have plans to come here? Who did I talk to before I went to sleep? Do they know I'm here? Should I get my phone and call someone? If this is a fugue state, I can't assume that yesterday really was yesterday. How much time have I lost? Days? Months?

I need to get up and call my parents, maybe they know why I'm here. The muscles won't move. I'm stuck. The panic turns on, my amygdala switches on the fight or flight mechanism. I can't move my head, but I see that a closet door dissolves into the air like sugar in hot water. Out of the black void of the closet, a mountain of smoke flows out to the foot of the bed. The smoke shapes itself into a plume, then into a vaguely humanoid shape. Maybe Jabba the Hut is the best shape to describe it; a dark grey silhouette of something neither human nor benevolent. It's staring at me. It has no eyes that I can see, but I can tell it's focused on me like prey. Before I can try to devise a strategy, the specter opens a maw. The specter grows black while more smoke comes out of the closet, abundantly and violently. The demon screams with a deep, primordial roar which blends in with the howl of a tornado that is wrapping around. The tornado is ripping off my flesh with wind and debris.

I wake up, go through my routine. The episode doesn't enter my mind, it's filed deep into long-term memory. I don't put any more thought into the tornado I experienced last night any more than I think about my third-grade teacher or a hotel bathroom I showered in a year ago; the memory is there but not really pertinent. Sometime in the middle of my day, I pause and wonder: how did I get back from my grandmother's house? Do they need help cleaning up from the tornado?

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When I watched the trailer for The Nightmare, the recreations were completely familiar to me; I felt a sense of gratitude that somebody did such a great job of capturing the imagery. Then I realize that one of the figures has a hat. I've read before about experiences of The Man with the Hat, but I've never experienced him myself. So, then I realize that I can't put a finger on any episodic memory when the dark forms like the others in the trailer were present, yet they seem completely familiar. The black forms with red mouths and eyes--definitely seen that before, I just don't know when. My assumption is that they were regular features of my childhood experiences but, over time, they lost their novelty. It's like going home and seeing a toy that you know very well and it brings back deep emotions, yet you can't isolate a single memory of actually playing with it as a child.

A few years ago I was on a date and I was talking about a job prospect I was mulling over. In the middle of describing the practical details I mentioned that it pays very well because of the high fatality rate, then I started to talk about the timeline I had in mind to start. My ex interrupted me in a scolding voice, "Aren't you afraid you'll die?" This was a rather stupid question; there were several risks I was considering, that's the conversation I was having with her right now. The moral weight of dying young was one of several factors I was evaluating along with financial arrangements and travel plans. What is fear, anyways?

Because I didn't realize that sleep paralysis isn't a perfectly normal experience we all go through, I didn't really realize how often people are dominated by fear. In order to function as a human being, I became desensitized to fear; it exists philosophically for me as an ethical or pragmatic guideline, but I haven't felt the emotional, biochemical response of fear during waking life in a long time. Outside of severe sleep paralysis episodes, February 2005 was the last time I experienced actual fear. I've had all kinds of horrible anxiety, despair, and hurt in the last 11 years, but not fear. Perhaps if I have children that'll change someday.

The emotional experience of fear is something we all need to be human. I'm grateful that periodically, a sleep disorder kicks my ass with a dark reminder of what it feels like. It keeps me human.

Things seem a big foggy, like regaining consciousness, for a bit. Then slowly I begin to see and to feel. I am laying on a hard surface, I know, its pavement. I see car tires going past me. Now the panic beings to build. Good Lord, I’m lying in the middle of a street, I don’t know how I got here or why I’m here.

The only thing I know for sure is that I have to get up and get off that street before I get killed….my (http://killed….my) brain says”move”and nothing happens. I try again. Panic Deepens. I try to move just one arm. ONE ARM to push myself up. I”m trying to focus my brain waves 100% on that arm and just nothing happens. I’m also trying to scream “Help”

Then suddenly, out of nowhere “Help!” actually comes out and when it does it comes out L-O-U-D! And its over. My partner will speak to me, ask me if I’m ok etc, and we go back to sleep….oh sometimes we had to remove the cat fro the ceiling afterwards haha!

And THAT is what Sleep Paralysis is like.

The first experience happened when I was very young. It was so incredibly frightening, that as a 4 yr old, I still remember the incident vividly.

Between the ages of 13-19, I do not recall any episodes. Crazy and scary dreams, yes, but no SP.

KEEP IN MIND. …. I had never heard of SP until rather recently. I just assumed my parents were correct when they told me I had a “vivid and creative imagination”. In hindsight though, I always had a gut feeling that something else was going on.

When I was 19 I had my first intense SP experience as a young adult. When it happened there was no doubt that it was not a vivid imagination. There was definitely something wrong.

My life at this time was starting to take off. I had a great job, a beautiful apartment, and a wonderful boyfriend. Exercise, vitamins, and everything healthy was my hobby. Those big juicers had just made their debut in the USA and I bought one and used it constantly. I had adapted this healthy lifestyle because I always felt tired, even after a good nights sleep.

It was midweek during the day and I had a day off. I had just returned from the store with my fresh fruits and vegetables, made my strange concoction of juice and headed for the living room. I became overwhelmed with the heaviness that I have become so accustomed to when I get sleepy and decided to take a nap on the couch.

I sat my juice down, threw my legs up and leaned back on the couch to lay on my back. I could hear the maintenance man start his lawnmower to cut the grass around my building, and in doing so, he inadvertently set off a car alarm. I clearly remember thinking “well so much for taking a nap with all this noise going on”

Suddenly, I felt this strange vibration through my body. The closest comparison would be that feeling you get when you are at the most intense part of a long stretch. In a stretch, it is a good feeling that only lasts a second or two. However, there was nothing good about this feeling. It wouldn’t stop and I had no control over it. It felt like a force was pushing my chest down and pinning me down. I kept saying to myself “stop, stop, if this doesn’t stop I’m going to die’.

The next thing that happened was what truly terrified me………

I heard the front door open. Briefly, the lawnmower and car alarm were a little louder from the opened door. The door shut. The lawnmower became a distant rumble and the car alarm finally stopped screaming. Someone or something came into my home. They stood behind me, over me. I could hear breathing. I could feel the slight breeze they created as they walked past my frozen body. I wanted and tried to scream but nothing would come out. I wanted to fight, but I couldn’t.

Then finally…….I jumped up, ready to fight. There was no one there. There was definitely someone there. I felt them, I heard them. The lawnmower was still doing its thing. I ran through every room in my apartment, even looking under the bed.

I was alone. What the hell just happened to me? I was wide awake. I never fell asleep. The lawnmower. It was only 2–3 minutes ago that I had put my feet up and my head back. I was cold and trembling.

…………………………

That is what SP is like for me. Some episodes have been worse, but this one was unforgettable as it set the stage for what I thought was something demonic or evil for many years.

Hi Mahogany, I love your name and the wood, My husband used to have it frequently, He wouldn't be able to move or speak, and his eyes would be closed. The only way he would be able to come out of it was by me touching him. I could hear him calling my name , From his throat. He couldn't move his lips or open his mouth. I don't know how long he would lay there before I heard him and woke up. He was from Mississippi, down there they called it a witch riding your back. I never thought about it before , but he had to have experienced it when he was a child. Or someone else in his family had it.
The first time it happened when I was with him , It scared the hell out of me. We were living in an apartment that had a ghost and a ghost dog, My two year old son could see both of them , He would talk to the man. He was having a one sided conversation with this man. He would answer questions , and laugh at nothing. One day I asked him who he was talking to. He said that man over there and pointed toward the kitchen, I told him I didn't see him, He said the man over there with the dog. I asked the guard if anyone died in my apartment ? He didn't want to tell me at first, then he said The man died alone with his dog . They didn't find him for a couple of weeks. The fire company had to come in to hose everything down, but the smell never really went away. I thought there was a dead mouse in there ,so I tore everything apart looking for it. I even pulled the carpet off the floor. My son even described the man, he was wearing black clothes, tall and skinny.
So naturally when my husband had this attack I thought it was the ghost, He had it a lot when we lived there. Not as frequently after we moved out. But he still had them. He never went to a sleep therapist to find out why. That's probably your best bet, go have a sleep study done. They should be able to give you a answer. Good luck and God go with you.

Well, I did and still do sometimes. Why? What could be the reason that it happens to me? The answer is I still do not know but as per my understanding, it happens when I am stressed and I always had problems with falling asleep. In simple words, it takes me ages to actually sleep. No! it is not insomnia or at least I would like to think that way. But The verdict is that I DO NOT KNOW.

Sleep Paralysis usually happens when you are about to wake up and experience a feeling (but it actually happens) that you want to move but cannot. It can be scary and can cause anxiety. I experienced it multiple times but I did not know what it was and I never told anyone about it. It is a horrible feeling and feel helpless because I want to move my finger or foot but I cannot do even that simple movement. It is scarier when I realize I cannot even let anyone know that this is happening to me or tell them to help me. It makes me anxious to think that I do not know what is going to happen to me. It is always a different feeling at times it is like someone is actually in the room and stopping me to move or at times I feel pressure on my body as if someone is trying to suffocate me. So, when it happens, I try to calm myself, think it will not last and it is temporary. I let it happen and do not try to do any movement because more I try to do something more it makes me anxious and I run out of breath. I like to think that my mind is awake but my body is not.

I only came to know what it was when I first heard/learned about it when I was studying different phases of sleep. Basically, it is defined as parasomnia (sleep disorder associated with experiencing unwanted events). The events can last a few seconds to minutes but are not life-threatening or serious risk to one’s health. There are various factors that can cause sleep paralysis such as stress, irregular sleeping pattern, family history and sleeping on your back. Therefore, fixing these issues can resolve the problem: getting enough sleep, sleeping on time, daily exercise, balanced diet, etc. If it lasts longer or on a regular basis then there is need to get professional help.

I am no expert to comment on it too much but all I want to do is share my experience and perhaps spread some awareness because some people might have experienced such events but do not know what is going on like it happened to me. From my personal experience, I understand that it can be scary when you do not know what is happening to you. These events can vary from person to person, intense or mild but it is always an unwanted and unpleasant feeling. Maybe getting some answers, clarity, reasons can help to ease and calm yourself.

Hi there,

This is Ryan Hurd from Dreamstudies.org; Derek told me about your question and let me jump in on his account to answer it.

Sleep paralysis is awareness of the body’s muscle paralysis that normally happens when we are dreaming. But during sleep paralysis, we are conscious during this experience, and it’s usually pretty creepy. Sleep scientists have determined in the lab that sleep paralysis is REM intrusion during light sleep or arousal from sleep. In other words: mind awake, body asleep.

The experience has several components. First, the feelings of immobility, including not being able to talk or scream. Secondly, activation of the inner ear brings on weird bodily feelings, such as floating or sinking, as well as strange noises like buzzing and rushing sounds and voices. These are called hypnagogic hallucinations. The amygdala is also activated, which is the part of the brain that regulates emotions and especially fight or flight. This activation can bring intense fear that, coupled with the strange feelings of being held down, can heighten into sheer terror. Many people also experience the uncanny sensation that someone else is in the room.

Finally, about 20% of sleep paralysis experiences include visual hallucinations beyond the voices and sounds. Often, the hallucination is a human figure who stands over the bed, sits on the dreamer’s chest, or even touches and torments the dreamer. The strangest thing about sleep paralysis is that you feel completely aware and rational—it’s no ordinary dream.

Sleep paralysis is not always nightmarish. People who frequently experience sleep paralysis can turn the experience into lucid dreaming or an out-of-body experience. How you react to the experience plays a hand in what is possible, just like with lucid dreaming.

Sleep paralysis is associated with some sleep disorders such as sleep apnea and narcolepsy. However, sleep paralysis without these conditions is known as isolated sleep paralysis (ISP), and it is caused by a variety of sleep health issues such as insomnia, jet lag and irregular sleep patterns. Strong emotions and generalized life stress are also common triggers.

Yes, it’s a real condition. Most humans will only experience it once in their lives and then never again, but in some people, it happens regularly.

When we dream, our body releases a hormone called glycine that paralyses our muscles to prevent us from acting out on our dreams. Usually, the effects of this hormone wear off as soon as we wake up, but in some people, they don't, and they find themselves fully awake, but unable to move or to speak. Moreover, because of the paralysis, they also have trouble breathing, and this state can last several seconds. Reports of visual hallucinations like denonic creatures sitting on the people's chests or standing next to their beds are very common, but so are sensory hallucinations (the feeling of floating or sinking into the bed), and auditory ones (hearing things) : Most people are utterly terrified when it happens to them for the first time, but knowing about this phenomenon, and that it « goes away » within a few seconds make things better already. Only people who experience it regularly ought to seek treatment in the form of medication, because it's detrimental to the quality of their sleep. Anyway, people should avoid exitants like coffee and tobacco, and avoid watching crime or horror movies before bed,,, After, a lot of stress in their lives can trigger them, too.

I really do believe that it is a very personal experience for everyone. Some experience frightening hallucinations with demons and evil spirits, some don’t.

The key element is being half awake in a hyper realistic dream world where you are not able to move - or having trouble with moving. Suffocating or dread is not necessarily a part of it.

My sleep paralyses weren’t scary in the classic, monstrous sense - they were awkward, weird and seemingly unnatural. A common reoccuring part was being in the room paralyzed while my mom was trying to wake me up. I had no way to prove her I was not dead, no matter how hard I tried. She was worried about me and I had absolutely no chance of telling her I am in fact just in sleep paralysis!

As the years passed, I learnt to recognize that state and was completely aware of it while it was happening. Yet, I could never enjoy lucid dreaming since the paralysis made it impossible for me to move or move certain body parts of mine.

In one case I dreamt I had to give a public speech in front of a larger audience. I went up the stage, stood behind the pulpit with the mike and this is what I told the crowd:

“Dear ladies and gentlemen! I am really sorry, but I cannot perform today as I have sleep paralysis and I cannot move my eyelids.”

Then I left the stage with my eyes still closed, yet somehow being able to see nevertheless.

As this ridiculous example shows, sleep paralysis doesn’t have to follow any given recipe - but it can.

I used to live in a first floor (2nd floor for Americans) flat. Very early one morning I heard someone put a ladder up against the balcony directly outside my bedroom window. After hearing someone climb the ladder I decided to get up and confront them. Upon not being able to move I realised it was a dream and I had sleep paralysis.

Fair enough … go back to sleep.

Oh wait, they're now forcing open the door to the balcony to gain access to the flat. Easily solved, since I was coherent enough to realise that I HAD been dreaming with the paralysis, I must now be awake. Up and confront!

Er … still can't move. Strange, but obviously I'm still dreaming. Oh well.

And then some time later I hear the ladder against my bedroom door (there was a small glass panel above that door). Why on Earth would someone want to look through a frosted glass panel into a darkened room? Anyway, get up and sort them out.

Oh wait, I still can't move.

Mentally note this as “Completely f*cking nuts/ weird” and actually go back to proper sleep until a reasonable hour.

For me, it was one of my worst experiences ever!

I've had it like once or so in my lifetime and it's terrible…

Okay… So it's exam time, and I haven't got much sleep in the last few days. LIKE VERY LESS SLEEP. So this one day I thought I'd go to sleep early just to catch up.

My bed is next to the balcony windows and there are street lamps outside. So even if the light is switched off and the curtains are open, light does come into the room. Not a lot though.

I sleep like within a minute or so and going in through the night, I suddenly wake up. I remember switching on the AC that night but I was sweating like crazy. I tried to drink some water from the bottle next to my bed by I couldn't move my hands at all. I couldn't move my legs too.

It was traumatizing. I kept hearing this “hisss” sound and occasional knocks. I felt like someone was watching me, about to attack me but I couldn't do anything about it. I felt like a creature was moving toward me. Moving closer every second. It feels like some sort of pressure pushing down on your chest, or like something choking you.

I saw everything but couldn't do anything. I tried shouting and screaming but didn't hear anything. I felt this weird feeling like I was hit in the ears or something.

I was sweating like anything and suddenly every feeling of scary shit went away. And I woke up afterward in the morning realizing what had happened. Just vague visuals though.

It's TERRIBLE!

Three years ago, it would happen back to back. I believe it because in 2015, was the most challenging year of my life. I had no outlet to the negativity I was absorbing, let me tell you it enhance my fear in an SP (Sleep Paralysis). Even though I was afraid, I would still fight back. For me I've learned fighting back is by far the worst experience, I've ever gone through later in life. Muscle spasm an feeling my head turning on it own, to where I would desperately try to regain control of my body before my neck snap. All the while trying to ignore the clown I felt getting closer, what I believed to be puppets pulling on my leg. Noises I can't explain but there was always creepy laughter getting louder which only mean it was getting closer. No, it wasn't the clown, for the clown always had a slow but deep laughter. This one sounds like a dozen different voices yet, it was one. All I know is that once I regain control I'm exhausted, I barely have any energy to move but f##k that I WILL. TURN. ON. THE. F##KING. LIGHTS!!

If only I knew how important focusing on my breathing was an the control you have once you feel you're about enter SP.

I remember one night when I was sound asleep, I woke up suddenly.. I was still very much sleepy, couldn't open my eyes fully and tried switching positions but to my realization, I wasn't able to move my body.. the harder I tried moving my body, the more difficult it was getting to move. I panicked. I tried calling my brother but than again, I realized I wasn't even able to talk, even if I could say anything nobody could hear me.

I tried again to move my body but this time it got harder and felt as if my heart was fluttering rapidly. I was only able to see my room, where I was sleeping. It felt really weird as I wasn't able to move or talk, but just breathe and see things. It felt as if I died and my soul was wandering around.

I guess this lasted for not more than 4/5 minutes and as I was very much scared, I tried closing my eyes and fell asleep instantly. I woke up tired the next morning and told my mom about this thing.

Well, that felt like a nightmare for few days, but as days passed by.. I feel it's normal.

First, sleep paralysis occurs only in Deep Sleep, which is about 2/5s of a 45 minute sleep cycle.

Second, you cannot ordinarily think during paralysis and why people wake up completely is a mystery. When you do wake up, you are usually lying on your back. Your eyes open and become accustomized to the dark but you cannot move your limbs. It scares the hell out of you and you may start sweating profusely. You can hear things, crickets, car horns. If you struggle against the paralysis, you will start to move, first fingers, then hands, then arms. Or toes. If you don’t struggle against it, you likely go back to sleep.

I believe there are parallels with being put out for surgery. There are a number of cases where people woke up during surgery and started talking to the personnel in attendance.

I’m not diagnosed, so these may be mild cases.

I woke up to the sensation that I was being swallowed by a big sock thing next to the bed. I struggled, and after a difficult time, I woke up. I still felt there was probably a big sock monster next to the bed. This situation happened several times over a few months, almost like it was getting more scary. Gradually, after years of thinking about it, I decided it was probably not real. But I still felt scared that it might happen again. However, it seemed to stop.

I woke up to the impression that there was a little witch who was doing something evil, maybe with my foot, or maybe trying to cook me up. For a long time I puzzled over what it might be, and gradually it seemed more humorous. Then the witch laughed an evil laugh but she disappeared. I still wondered if maybe she was in the other room, possibly cooking spaghetti. Then I seemed to be awake. I looked around, and the fear seemed to go away. Then I got a jolting feeling that maybe there was someone in the next room. It turned out there wasn’t.