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Child Item

Weird sleep phenomena

Cold War Kid

Last night when I was not quite asleep but dozing off, I started to hear a loud noise, like seagulls chattering, and it kept getting louder and louder. I started to feel really cold too and the quilt was down at my knees. Then I felt someone's hands grabbing my arm... :eek:

Naturally I was terrified out of my wits, then I suddenly found myself wrapped in my quilt, nobody there, no seagulls sound. I had woken up - it was a hypnagogic (the point between being awake and asleep) hallucination.

I used to get one about once a year - it was always in the morning on a day off when I dozed back to sleep after waking for a bit. It was never scary, well not really (daylight helped) and it would tend to involve me hearing someone calling me (usually someone I knew, not a strange voice) and coming into my room and nudging me awake, and I'd try to reply but couldn't (because of sleep paralysis).

But in recent times, it has happened to me twice very late at night when dozing off, and it's ****ing freaky!
It's mad how real it feels.

So I looked it up, and it's a thing all right - an unexplained neurological phenomenon, related to sleep paralysis. People hear, with bizarre vividness, doorbells, phones ringing, the sound of rustling bags (that's what I heard a few weeks ago), screaming, their names being called. The sensation of someone entering your room seems to happen in all instances, and sometimes there is the feeling of an entity pressing down on their chest (never had that one :eek:) which even has a term: "old hag phenomenon". A scary auld demonic bint going around visiting people.

I would imagine it's sometimes the basis of what are considered haunted houses. I remember reading a haunted house story about a girl who described the sound of paper crumpling while she was in bed at night, and getting louder and louder, which seems exactly like a sleep hallucination.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ask-the-brains-sleep-paralysis/

Anyone else got strange, spooky sleep experiences to share?

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Sir montygom

ardinn wrote: »

Big jerks are fairly normal - the woman is not SP - your house is haunted!

i know the big jerks are fairly normal as i would get one myself on a very rare occasion ...my wife gets them almost every night......she gets the feeling of somebody lying on her also and pressure on her chest......anyhow i told my wife if she sees the old woman's daughter at the end of the bed to wake me:cool:

Unregistered39

TheBrinch wrote: »

It has happened to me a good few times. I only remember one of them properly now.
This entire thing lasted for what seems like 5-10 minutes. I was completely frozen and a dark figure down the end of my bed slowly glided up the side of the bed until it was right over me. I was trying like crazy to shout out but nothing would work (terrifying stuff). Then he pulled out a big knife and really slowly pushed it into the middle of my chest. I was able to feel all of this. He then jerked the knife downwards in a swift motion and I jolted awake and was absolutely bucketing sweat!

Isn't the dark figure thing so bizarre? Must look into it. I get SP about 3-4 times a year and always the figure. I can hear the noise of him (seems like a man) walking around my bed and can hear them brushing against the covers. I've had them pull back the covers to get in (but not get in) and pull me by the ankles. Terrifying, but there's always a very small part of me that's awake and knows it's not real. The fighting to get out of it but being powerless is the worst part...

darkpagandeath

Nothing weird about sleep paralysis, Well unless you think it's aliens abducting you. Used to be before aliens witches or demons.

nocoverart

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Nothing weird about sleep paralysis, Well unless you think it's aliens abducting you. Used to be before aliens witches or demons.

Your last sentence is not coherent. Have the Greys got to you young servant?

darkpagandeath

nocoverart wrote: »

Your last sentence is not coherent. Have the Greys got to you young servant?

Nah I'm older is it not little green men anymore ?

SMJSF

I get sleep paralysis about once a week, it can be more.
Ive had it since about 14, and I thought it was from a portal doorway in my bedroom, it freaked me out so much and thought it was due to leaving my wardrobe doors open (silly child watching too much paranormal tv!!!)
But over the years I learned that it's due to sleeping on my back or on my right side.

the evasion_kid

I get that feeling of falling most nights when I'm just about to doze off,a hypnic jerk as its called and the last few years I've been getting this feeling like my soul is trying to leave my body fairly quickly,only way i can describe it but it leaves me feeling wtf was that.

Cold War Kid

SMJSF wrote: »

I get sleep paralysis about once a week, it can be more.
Ive had it since about 14, and I thought it was from a portal doorway in my bedroom, it freaked me out so much and thought it was due to leaving my wardrobe doors open (silly child watching too much paranormal tv!!!)
But over the years I learned that it's due to sleeping on my back or on my right side.

Yes, a piece of advice is not to sleep on your back.

Maybe too much caffeine isn't ideal for it too, seeing as it's possibly a symptom of stress/anxiety. No more coffee in the evening for me.
/mad yoke

darkpagandeath

Bouncing off the bed is pretty bad as well :P

worded

Thought thrad read "wierd Sheep....."

Ok time for sleep

1 wierd sheep
2 wierd sheep
3 ...........

lulu1

Some of the medication used to treat neurological conditions that cause halucinations. I know a woman that takes her dog to bed with her at night because they seem so real.

She knows if the dog barks there is someone there and if the dog dosen't bark it was all a dream. I also know a person who sees a black labroder sitting on the couch beside him every night.

Must be very frightening

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Is this not what people experience all the time when they sleep? I thought I was normal once

Cold War Kid

Maximo Tall Milk wrote: »

Is this not what people experience all the time when they sleep? I thought I was normal once

Well on this thread of just 40-odd posts, a lot of people are saying they experience it so you're probably ok.

Probably... :pac:

Seriously though, if it's happening constantly, maybe it's worth getting it checked out - to see whether it's a symptom of something underlying. If it were happening every night or close to it, going to bed must be dreadful.

PARlance

I get a form of SP occasionally, maybe once a year or so. It involves me waking up but being unable to move anything bar my eyes.

It scared the hell out of me the first time it happened, I was about 16 and had nodded off while watching tv, woke up and could hear and see all around me but couldn't move or talk. It seemed like it lasted ages but was probably no more than 30 seconds. I thought I was dead

ThinkProgress

I've only experienced something like that once in my life.

I was dreaming that there was a crowd of dead people standing right around the four walls of my bedroom. (if you can picture the entire crew of the flying dutchman ghost ship in pirates of the caribbean)

They were all just skin and bones people, with the most terrifying looks on their faces. And their clothes were disgustingly filthy.

Then I woke up, but for some reason I could still see them. And I couldn't move!

Not sure how much time passed, but it felt like forever. Anyway I found out later I had a really bad fever and was sick for the next two weeks.

But it seemed so incredibly real. And I was almost like hypnotized by them, because I couldn't look away or move out of my bed. Scary stuff!

Fran1985

Absolutely terrifying experience however the more you get it the easier it becomes, but still leaves ya on edge.

My worst case of it was when i was staying in a boat on the shannon. I went down to it for a few days cos every time i looked around there was another night out. I needed a break. My parents were on one so i joined them. That night i was sleeping near the door when it opened. In walked an old man, old indian chief actually and i started ROARING my head off but no sound. Then i realised what was happening so i became calmer while still hyper ventalating. The trick i find when its happening is to close your eyes real tight then when you open you should be awake. You'll then most likely be awake for some time because the fear and adrenalin is racing through you. Nasty experience all the same

Bobby Baccala

Once fell asleep after a night of raving and taking 2cb's and the whole night replayed in my head while I slept, but backwards! Everything I had done that night was rewinded and played back to me it was great haha never experienced anything like it

BlaasForRafa

Paralysis is a normal part of the sleep cycle isn't it? It's just the waking up while paralysed is the unnerving bit because that's when your mind is dreaming.

Shrap

strobe wrote: »

I know that if you go too heavy on the yokes you're in for a spell of it.

Aidric wrote: »

It's the lack of sleep whilst on the bangers that creeps up. That feeling of someone on top of you while you drift off is a dirty one.

Yeah, that seems to be the case. I used to attribute it to acid flashbacks when I was younger (as that's when they started for me), but then I found out about SP and read up on it a bit and it mainly happens when you're well overtired or have had majorly interrupted sleep over a few days.

Christ, it's scary stuff. I don't get the feeling of someone laying on my chest holding me down but I get this incredibly powerful rising dread and there's always someone trying to break into the house.....then they ARE in and I'm powerless to stop them going for my kids (I can hear them climbing the stairs). It's quite fcuking appalling really. A bit better these days as when I wake up (for real) I now know to actually get up and walk about a bit before trying to sleep again. Seems to cause a break in the phenomenon, because I'm sure all you other sufferers have experienced the thinking you're awake, and then the horror of realising that it's still happening.....Brrrr, nasty sh1t.

I always get auditory hallucinations with it too - a massive explosive noise, starting like white noise and then rushing towards a deafening explosion.

My eldest has it now too - scared the crap out of him, so I showed him the research on it. Only remedy is to try not to get to a point of exhaustion, and then not hit the sack early enough. Happens mostly at between 1 and 3am for me.

kowloon

I've had it a few times, some are worse than others. Once I thought I was having a fight with a fox, another time I thought I was drowning. When I snap out of it I can sometimes identify elements of the hallucination around me. The drowning one was in part caused by a flashing blue status light on a computer.

fryup

i remember watching an edition of bbc's coast in Australia

and Neil Oliver was in this coastal town in which the local fishermen told him about a fish called the Dream Fish, if you eat it the following night you will have a terrible dream in which demons will attack you

Neil Oliver ate it just to see what would happen and sure enough he had the bad dream...sounded kinda like SP the way he described it,

So i'm just wondering is there something (toxins) in the food we eat that trigger SP??

watch it here

nervous_twitch

Cold War Kid wrote: »

Yes, a piece of advice is not to sleep on your back.

Sleeping on my back is almost guaranteed SP every time for me. Makes me think it's something to do with our breathing; we don't respire as proficiently on our backs. I also think it's a lot to do with being overtired - this is when I get it most.

I used to hate it sooo much, terrified to sleep sometimes, but now I'm so used to it I can recognise it even in my subconscious.. quite enjoy it now actually, it's always something new. Though there are still times when it is too vivid.

Cold War Kid

nervous_twitch wrote: »

now I'm so used to it I can recognise it even in my subconscious.. quite enjoy it now actually, it's always something new. Though there are still times when it is too vivid.

I'm fine until the physical presence bit. Then, it's hard to convince myself it's not real.

sinead88

Cold War Kid wrote: »

Last night when I was not quite asleep but dozing off, I started to hear a loud noise, like seagulls chattering, and it kept getting louder and louder. I started to feel really cold too and the quilt was down at my knees. Then I felt someone's hands grabbing my arm... :eek:

Naturally I was terrified out of my wits, then I suddenly found myself wrapped in my quilt, nobody there, no seagulls sound. I had woken up - it was a hypnagogic (the point between being awake and asleep) hallucination.

I used to get hypnagogic hallucinations pretty much every night when I was a kid. Just as I was falling asleep I heard creepy voices calling my name, dogs barking, gates screeching open, children laughing etc. It'd always wake me right up again and I'd be too scared to go back to sleep. My parents could never understand why I was so terrified of going to bed. Only looked it up a couple of years ago and found out what it was. I stopped getting it when I was about 13 or 14 but I've always had very intense dreams. Quite often I'll kind of half wake up, but still think I'm in my dream and start acting it out. I had a dream a while back where I somehow trapped a friend in one of those adjustable hospital beds, and was convinced I'd killed her. I can remember frantically trying to free her, and properly waking up while I was in the process of turning over my bedside table to do so. I'd knocked over a couple of other things too.