This is for those who awake with someone standing by the bed in the dark hours of the night. Those who can’t move or open their heavy eyes to see or open their mouths to scream. They can’t defend themselves against the terror that is shortly to come upon them. And worst of all, they’re too ashamed to tell anyone about it.
This I know all too well.
I wish I didn’t.
I awake to a man beside the bed. He is evil and he is there to kill me. He’s got tools of torture. I can’t utter a sound and I can’t move to defend myself. I see him, but my eyelids feel like weights are attached to them. Just too hard to open fully.
This began to happen on a regular basis and would destroy the rest of the night. There’s no way I could go back to bed after those experiences. Sometimes, it would wreck sleep for weeks or months at a time because a fear of sleeping slowly begins to creep in. With less sleep, the fear makes more sense and grows. A bad cycle.
“Fear not,†said the Master.
This is not supernatural. Being given the answer right before my eyes on the asking, however, could be. ;-)
It happened again one night, and I cried out to God. I came here, to my computer, as I waited on the coffee pot to do its magic. Flipped the lid and within a few seconds the answer was staring me in the face: sleep paralysis. The brain was waking seconds ahead of the body. Out of sync.
My brain half-awake but my body soundly sleeping, the worst fears tucked deep inside were being played out and I could not move my body to help myself. Once I understood what was going on, I was able to take a breath the next time and realize that I just couldn’t move my body. I focused, fuzzy as the focus was, on the fan in the bedroom and tried to remain calm. I went back to sleep. No terror. It dawned on me later that in every instance I never really opened my eyes to see anyone. My eyes were closed even though I would have sworn that I had opened them and would have sworn that the man was in the room. “But,†I said to self, “don’t you remember how you were trying so hard to open them and you couldn’t?†Then answered I, “That’s right. I already know what the room looks like, I don’t need to open my eyes to see it because my mind already “sees†it.â€
“But remember how you could work out so many features and even knew what he had in his tool kit? Remember how it was pitch black dark, but you saw everything?†Not really. There’s no way for that to have happened … that I “saw†a man but couldn’t see anything about him but absolutely without doubt “knew†everything. ‘Course I did, because it came from my own mind. I invented the whole thing myself.
It’s called by some, The Old Hag. In some cases, “she†sits on the sleeper and they feel they can’t breathe. The brain is forced to try to make sense of what is going on with the fact that the person can’t move, so what does it do? It digs around in all the sewage of the mind to dredge up the worst because when you can’t feel your body, you’re in pretty bad shape. A mind’s got to do what a mind’s got to do: it needs an explanation. And it’s going to have to be a darn good one, right?
So, what’s the solution? Best I recall was to not sleep on your back and not go to sleep with a full stomach. It’s extremely important to not allow yourself to become exhausted before going to bed.
If it happens again, I plan (ha ha) to try to turn it into something beautiful. I’ll try to retrieve something from the better parts of the storehouse, where all the file cabinets are full of the good stuff.
The information helped me greatly, and I thank God for it. Maybe someone will read this and it will serve them well, too. Sometimes it’s just a relief to know what “it†is and that others have “it†too.
God is good.
“..sleep paralysis. The brain was waking seconds ahead of the body. Out of sync.”
I get that too. Usually about 20 minutes right after I go to bed and fall asleep. Nothing to distinct - other than thinking that there is a presence of someone in the room. Sometimes I figure it out while I’m in that state and tell “it” to F-off in my mind. Other times it will freak me out a bit - but then realize the dog isn’t barking - so all is well!
Thanks for all the good information SC! The figure my husband believes he saw was glowing green, according to him. He dreams in color I guess! He didn’t have sleep paralysis but does sleep on his back. Me, I sleep on my side or on my stomach. I had one incidence of sleep paralysis when I was a teenager, and that was it. We live in a 200+ year old farmhouse. Except for my husband’s dream/vision, we’ve never had any weird experiences except right before and after my mom passed away, and that was completely unrelated to the age of the house.
The first time that happened at the grandparents house the lights were on.
I've wondered though why is it always shadow people and never a dog or a cat or anything else..