Poll: Sleep Paralysis

[PsykoDragon]

Let me explain what sleep paralysis is first. Experiencing sleep paralysis is usually like having a dream: you tend not to be sure whether you're dreaming or not. You open your eyes and are completely aware of your surroundings, but no matter how much you focus on moving your body ("Wiggle your little toe... Wiggle your little toe...") you can't seem to move the slightest bit. Paralysis. This is Sleep Paralysis.

Sometimes, dreams merge with your half-awake eyes while you're in sleep-paralysis, & you see things, not sure whether your eyes are open or not. Among my friends who have experienced this, most of them got the shivers when I told them that I saw a silhouette of a man (basically just an empty black void in the shape of a man) standing next to my bed, then he would reach out & caress my forehead... then his hands would surround my throat & start squeezing, & I scream myself awake, I HEAR myself scream, but when I ask my mother later on, who was awake all along, she claims not to have heard anything...

The reason my friends would shiver is NOT how frighteningly realistic my dream felt... it's that they have seen the void-man too! Though he did different things with them, sometimes even just standing still, freaking the hell out of them.

So, who here has experienced sleep paralysis? Did you see anything? What was it? & have you seen the void-man?

 

[Ursus Astrorum]

I have, and yeah, shadow-folk can be pretty frightening at first, though they're not always solitary-or male. I've once gone into SP to find about five or so lounging about, though they seemed rather disinterested that I could see them.

I had a whole dream involving them once, stemming from an even more complex recurring dream... It's a long story. Suffice to say I still wonder what it meant.

A quick question: Did he have a hat?

 

[Kubanator]

I have. No man though. My body just felt numb. I regained control after about a minute though.

 

[YouGetWhatsGiven]

Umm yes I had it once. Not the void man by my bed though. My bed is aligned with my closet. So I couldn't move and a black shape crawled out of my closet and across my ceiling. I then dropped onto my bed, with its arms twisting around to land on them. It had a hood and it pulled it back and all there was was blackness. I moved my bed away from my closet. I am telling you, I could not sleep for the next week.

 

[Jharry5]

Yeah, I've had sleep paralysis whilst also in the midst of a really messed up dream...
I (sort of) woke up and couldn't feel my legs, couldn't move my arms. Then, I swear my legs moved like they'd been tied and pulled with rope, all whilst this shadowy figure (that looked too much like Chucky for my liking) watched from the door to my room. Then things got a little hazy...

 

[implodingMan]

Never. I've heard that a lot of people see creepy old women in their sleep paralysis episodes.

I've also heard that sleep paralysis happens more when you sleep on your back with your face up. Can anyone confirm this? I sleep sprawled out on my front like a dead guy, so maybe that helps.

 

[Jamash]

I've had sleep paralysis 'dreams' one or two times where I've been visit by those shadowy bastards.

The most terrifying time was when I woke up and felt this malevolent female presence in my room. I was lying on my front and I could move as I felt her move across the room and mount me, touching my back which felt terrible, not nice at all.

But I've also had quite a few experiences with shadowy folk who were benevolent, although these occasions weren't because of sleep paralysis, but Ketamine trips in my bedroom, which could be like chemically induced sleep paralysis episodes.

 

[kickin wiing]

although im not sure i was experiencing SP i do recall being half awake while my mom was getting ready for work one morning. i could see her getting her coffee and such from my door, but i could also see a black hooded figure following her around. it eventually stood in my door way and i feel back asleep.

i cant remember if i could move or not.

 

[PsykoDragon]

A quick question: Did he have a hat?

Nope. Now that I think of it, he look like one of those shadow people from Shadow of the Colossus, except much more opaque. Somewhat sexless actually.

Maybe it was because you, or another friend, told them about the figure and it was planted in their subconscious mind and made them think about it whilst in sleep paralysis.

Highly doubt it, I've had such SP dreams since I was a little kid, & this conversation came out of nowhere with most of us confirming seeing the void-man.

I've also heard that sleep paralysis happens more when you sleep on your back with your face up. Can anyone confirm this? I sleep sprawled out on my front like a dead guy, so maybe that helps.

True, I recall that every time I got that episode, I was lying on my back.

Hmmm... I wonder why people/creatures seen during SP tend to be so freakishly shadowy & dark?

 

[Labyrinth]

I would say that there may be an explanation for this. There are several different stages of sleep, one of which is called REM sleep. Rapid Eye Movement sleep. This is the sleep in which you dream. For some reason, people in REM stages of sleep are unable to move their bodies as the muscles are held in place. If you've ever seen a dog twitch and yip but not in other ways move, they're in REM sleep.

I'm not sure how this directly relates to the sensation you spoke of, only that it's the most logical conclusion to my knowledge.

 

[Clashero]

I haven't had an episode of SP for some months now, but the last time I did was the most frightening.
See, usually when I get SP, I feel like I'm awake, but in my mind I "know" that I'm asleep, and it scares me a bit than I can't reconcile what I perceive through my senses with what I "know" is actually happening. Then I feel like I'm floating, but I still feel the bed under me, and it messes my mind up even more than there's yet one more thing I can't reconcile. All this while, I can't move, can't breathe, can't roll my eyes.

Now, my last episode was just like this but at the same time I could hear sounds. A lot of it sounded like a man, about 20 (judging by the voice) was speaking gibberish, and at the same time I could hear many other sounds: metal scraping against metal, the sound a glass plate makes when it's moved accross a wooden surface, things like that. Then I stopped my "floating", fell loudly back into bed and woke up, paralyzed with the shock of the dream.

 

[PsykoDragon]

I would say that there may be an explanation for this. There are several different stages of sleep, one of which is called REM sleep. Rapid Eye Movement sleep. This is the sleep in which you dream. For some reason, people in REM stages of sleep are unable to move their bodies as the muscles are held in place. If you've ever seen a dog twitch and yip but not in other ways move, they're in REM sleep.

I'm not sure how this directly relates to the sensation you spoke of, only that it's the most logical conclusion to my knowledge.

Yeah, I didn't wanna go into detailed technical info on SP to prevent many tl;dr's, but in people without any deficiencies (like narcolepsy), Sleep Paralysis is explained as such:

When you sleep, you dream. & in your dreams, you tend to move. To prevent you actually moving in your bed, so as not to hurt yourself, your brain tends to shut down your motor system, effectively paralyzing you. Sometimes you experience this paralysis before you sleep, &/or after you wake up.

...Then I stopped my "floating", fell loudly back into bed and woke up, paralyzed with the shock of the dream.

Oh shoot, you reminded me of some recurrent dreams I've had as a child.

I'd be in the process of waking up. Suddenly it's as though I'm looking at myself in bed from the other side of the room, & I look up & see another myself floating near the ceiling! Same posture as the me that's in bed. Then, in a flash split-second, I'm back in the real "me", eyes shoot open, & I "bounce" on my bed, as though I just fell onto it.

 

[Easykill]

Erm... Shadow men? That's pretty messed up. Never had it happen to me, and I haven't had anything remotely scary happen in my dreams since I was little and had a dream about cannibalism.

 

[ElephantGuts]

Yeah, I heard about this when some guys were explaining why it's so common for people to wake up and find ghosts, demons, or other shadowy figures either by their bed or on their bed, and often trying to hold them down or kill them. It's because your body sort of paralyzes you while you're sleeping to prevent sleep walking and acting out your dreams. And when people are just waking up and are in that half-awake state, and find they can't move, they tend to hallucinate something stopping them from moving.

That was probably a pretty crappy explanation, I'm just paraphrasing what I remember from the show, go ahead and look it up for a convincing scientific explanation for your night (or morning) terrors.

Personally, I have thankfully never experience such things, which I attribute to my advanced intelligence and perception, though if I was religious I would probably attribute it to God keeping the demons away from my holy self.

 

[Stewie Plisken]

I've experienced it about 3 or 4 times in total. First time kind of freaky, because I've never heard of it before, but the rest were fine. I generally sleep quite lightly anyway, so I always know when a dream is a dream. Every time this happened, I was aware of my being awake, just unable to move. I usually just go back to sleep.

Never seen anything supernatural though; heard of several versions of it, however. The most prominent one is that of the "old hag". Especially if you sleep on your back, if you wake up and can't move, you might on occasion see a ghostly old lady sitting on your chest. Supposedly, when you do get up and check your chest, you might see a dark imprint on it. I've heard people saying they've seen it and freak out. For me, this particular legend falls through from the simple fact that I've experienced sleep paralysis, but I never sleep on my back.

 

[PsykoDragon]

...And when people are just waking up and are in that half-awake state, and find they can't move, they tend to hallucinate something stopping them from moving.

That was probably a pretty crappy explanation, I'm just paraphrasing what I remember from the show, go ahead and look it up for a convincing scientific explanation for your night (or morning) terrors...

Actually, that was perfectly fine. I was also starting to wonder whether or not the void-man was strangling me simply because I was wondering why I can't move. Or breathe, come to think of it.

That's really annoying though. If you just wake up from deep sleep & find yourself unable to move, you're bound to feel frightened, unless you're lucky enough to remember and tell yourself that this is natural. In which case I would try to hallucinate a good friend sitting in my chair, smoking, & chatting with me. Or hallucinate one of my guiltier pleasures

 

[Jack_the_Knife]

I've never seen anything whenever I'm experiencing the phenomenon, but whenever it happens I have a tendency to start thrashing around. Or attempt to stat thrashing around.

 

[ElephantGuts]

Actually, that was perfectly fine. I was also starting to wonder whether or not the void-man was strangling me simply because I was wondering why I can't move. Or breathe, come to think of it.

That's really annoying though. If you just wake up from deep sleep & find yourself unable to move, you're bound to feel frightened, unless you're lucky enough to remember and tell yourself that this is natural. In which case I would try to hallucinate a good friend sitting in my chair, smoking, & chatting with me. Or hallucinate one of my guiltier pleasures

Yeah, if I ever wake up and find myself in that situation I hope I hallucinate not being able to move because there's a hot naked girl straddling me. There, I said it.