Hauntings

Le Rack

Does anyone know the most haunted place/house in Ireland?
Has anyone had any seriously scary encounters?

Last year I was doing a "contact the dead" thingy with a friend in school, it was my first time doing it and i didnt know the "rules". If you broke the link either the devil or the spirit you were in contact with would come to torment you in the near future. I didnt know this but I broke the link by accident, anyway that night really late, I suddenly woke up with this strange feeling that there was someone there. There wasn't anyone in my room but despite that I felt I couldn't move, I was lying flat on my back arms by sides, and in the dark it "felt" darker. The room also felt an awful lot colder than it usually did, gradually I felt a pressance above me as if some one were lying face-down on top of me but yet about a foot above me. After a minute I could see a woman in a white dress with long black messy hair, but it was also as if I couldn't see her, I was seeing her in my minds eye. I felt a heavy force pushing down on me and felt fear in my very soul. I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night but it wasn't out of fear it was different. I can still see it. The next day I found out my friend had bad dreams that night but nothing serious, so as a fledgling wicca and firm believer in the paranormal I let it go but I still get a littled creeped to think about it.
Any comments?

Zillah

Thats a classic case of sleep paralysis. Google "sleep paralysis".

GuanYin

Zillah wrote:

Thats a classic case of sleep paralysis. Google "sleep paralysis".

Classic sleep paralysis happens on the cusp of sleep not in the middle.

Le Rack

okay considering sleep paralysis but how do you explain the woman, I could actually feel her there, its hard to describe but i could, and the fact that my friends had had bad dreams that night too?

Gillo

I've only ever experienced sleep paralysis in the middle of sleep, ie, I have been asleep for a number of hours also I have always been fully aware and never had a "vision" or heard anything out of kind.

I did wake up one night to "see" someone in my room, was not paralyised in this instance.

It wasn't sleep paralysis you had. Possibley you woke up and if the heating had been left on it might of felt quite stuffy abnd oppressive hence you felt a weight on you. As for seeing someone on top of you, could you of imagined it?
when I saw someone in my room I put it down to imagining it, they reason why was that I wasn't scared at all and I figure I'd be kacking it if I actually saw someone.

Zillah

psi wrote:

Classic sleep paralysis happens on the cusp of sleep not in the middle.

Patently untrue.

From dictionary dot com on "sleep paralysis"

A condition in which, upon waking, a person is aware of the surroundings but is unable to move.

I was pretty sure this was the case; sleep paralysis cases occur when a person wakes up from sleep.

To Le Rack:

The idea of seeing something, feeling an evil presence and feeling something pushing down on you is actually pretty common with sleep paralysis.

The stanford university web page says this:

Episodes can be associated with hypnagogic hallucinations or dream-like mentation (act or use of the brain)

Also, here is a very good web page on sleep paralysis. Theres a few nice articles there.

Here's a few tasters that I think show how your experience fits

Among the best-known experiences associated with sleep paralysis is the sensation of a strong pressure on the chest or back. Most often it is on the chest since sleep paralysis is also associated with lying in the supine position. Often it seems that there is someone or something sitting on one's chest. Sometimes this entity may also be experienced as choking the victim, or just pushing forcefully on the chest

Supine=on the back, like you were.

One of the most commonly reported experiences associated with SP is that of the sensed presence. It is also the least specific and perhaps most fundamental experience of the HHEs, one that may serve as a primary source of the development of elaborated interpretations associated with incubus attacks, the old hag, and alien abductions.

SP=sleep paralysis
HHE=Hypnagogic and Hypnopompic experiences which are associated with SP

SP with HHEs differs from dream experience in that the sensory cortex may be receiving both externally and internally generated information.

Finally, here is their page on prevention and coping. Good luck

79cortinaz

certainly sounds like sleep paralysis to me. its happened to me a few times, minus the visions, but i was watching a documentary on research into sleep paralysis and they reckon that it is possible to imagine things that arent there as well as feeling paralysed

kirn

this happened to me when i was fifteen.

couldn't move, thought i saw something, scared the pants off me.

had to move out of my room.

pretty much put it down to SP now though...

The_B_Man

u were probably just freaked out by what u did that day. no different to watchin a horror film and havin a nightmare. when u sed u saw the woman, but dodnt see her, it was probably just ur brain messin wit u because u were still half asleep.

GuanYin

Zillah wrote:

Patently untrue.

Wha? If you thought I meant that then you obviously wouldn't have made any sense of the post.

Sleep paralysis occurs on the cusp of sleep, ie, waking slowly, not in the middle, ie. waking suddenly.

:rolleyes:

Zillah

I have no idea what that means...

79cortinaz

psi wrote:

Wha? If you thought I meant that then you obviously wouldn't have made any sense of the post.

Sleep paralysis occurs on the cusp of sleep, ie, waking slowly, not in the middle, ie. waking suddenly.

:rolleyes:

happened to me in the middle of me sleep one night. now ive no idea if i woke up slowly or not, but i was certainly alseep for a number of hours beforehand

Le Rack

but i wasn't freaked by it, i love all forms of paranormal activity. nothing really freaks me except scary old drunk men coming on to me.....

Zillah

Le Rack wrote:

and felt fear in my very soul.

Le Rack wrote:

but i wasn't freaked by it

I'm almost sorry I took you so seriously...

stevenmu

I'm guessing Le Rack "wasn't freaked out by it", "it" being the "Contact the Dead" thing but the "fear in my very soul" part was during the sleep paralysis part ?

Le Rack, it really does sound like sleep paralysis, if you do a search on this forum for "paralysis" you'll find plenty of threads that describe very similar experiences to yours, along with resources to learn more about it.

It's spooky that it happened just after you'd broken the chain. The plausible explanation would be that it was weighing heavily on your mind, even though you may not have realised it, or conciously dismissed it. Many of us (I'm assuming you're Irish here) have catholic values embedded in our psyches even if we have never actually believed in the catholic church or even been raised as catholics and this can have a stronger influence on you then you realise.

Oryx

Le Rack, when I read posts like yours I get worried! You have described something that you say scared you, but your post begins with looking for more! I know everyone else here is saying you suffered sleep paralysis, and perhaps you did, but believe me what you are dabbling in should not be done as a joke. I did something very similar when I was in school, and it took a long time to get over. Im not saying youll have a hollywood ghoul climb into your bedroom anytime soon, but stuff like this can cause stress and bring up deep seated fears and worries. It can cause panic attacks or depression if you let it get into your head, and thats without anything paranormal going on, (which Im not getting into because I think it would only encourage you!)

Le Rack

yeah the fear bit was freaky but the actual deed itself didnt bither me at all, I am Irish and come from a catholic background but have no part in christian baliefs I studied theology as such for three years for junior cert and if I wasnt against religion before that (which I was) I was sure as hell against it after!

Oryx

Generally 'the deed' is usually exciting and you dont worry, cos youre with mates, its afterwards in a quiet bedroom that your mind starts to mull things over. All Im trying to say is maybe be careful, I shouldnt dictate to you, cos god knows I didnt listen to anyone else at the time

As for religion, that seems to be the way of it these days, you get force fed catholicism and then reject it all as soon as you have a choice!

Gillo

Le Rack wrote:

I studied theology as such for three years for junior cert and if I wasnt against religion before that (which I was) I was sure as hell against it after!

Theology is not thought in schools. It's religious education from Catholic point of view, part of which covers theology, but to say that you studied it for 3 years in all fairness is far fetched, but so as not to start an off topic debate I'm not saying that you're against religion, just that your case for it IMHO sounds to be lacking.

I'd go with KatieK if you're not sure what you're doing (as with alot of things) the results can be messy. I know of a girl (a friend of a guy I worked with)who years ago did a Juigi Board(sorry about spelling) and in the spirit of fun asked when she was going to die and a date came back, it was about 6 months in the future. The week before that date she was very freaked. Now whether or not the board did communicate with someone "not of this world" or someone there was controlling the pointer, the end result was very undesireable.

Le Rack

i didnt say that i had actually studied it i said "i studied it as such" in the meaning that i had done it for school as you said and sat a state exam in it, but foe the course we had to study all five/six of the major world religions in detail.