I was trying to sleep yesterday evening and couldn't fall asleep, no matter what I tried. After twisting and turning in my bed for what felt like hours, I finally decided to lay down straight on my back and stop moving entirely. Little did I know that that would induce one of the worst experiences, but also most interesting experiences, of my entire life.
After around 30-40 minutes laying straight on my back, not moving a single muscle (that includes not close-eyed-blinking, moving my eyes, etc) I noticed that my body slowly fell asleep while my brain didn't.
This is where things started to get really nasty. I heard footsteps in my room and was terrified to say the least. I opened my eyes and wanted to sit up straight to investigate but that didn't work. I couldn't move, I was able to open my eyes and move them (although with restraint) but I wasn't able to move my body, it has completely fallen asleep I assumed.
As I looked around my room, unable to move, I noticed a dark figure standing next to my feet. Height and statue indicated that it was a man, but although my room was sufficiently lit by the lights outside my window, I could see no detail in that person at all. It was just a pitch-black silhouette with glowing red eyes.
Needless to say, I was horrified and tried to yell "who the FUCK are you" or scream for help, move away, but all to no avail. I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything. I was pinned there, observing what was going on but unable to move a muscle.
I am 100% certain that it couldn't have been a dream because I was able to look at my alarm clock and see the time, it changed accordingly to real time and aside from not being able to move and the dark figurine, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
I closed my eyes again and tried to sleep, seeing as there was nothing else I could have done, and after a while, it actually worked. Nightmares came along with that though, but who can blame me for having nightmares after witnessing what I have just witnessed.
Either way, today I went on google to find out what the hell had happened to me the night before and it turns out that it's something called "Sleep Paralysis" coupled with "Hypnagogia". That thing that I saw was apparently something called "Shadow Person" and is normal. Usually people who do this (i.e. lay straight in their bed with their bodies asleep but their minds half-way-awake), they tend to see those shadow people.
So I investigated it a little further (by the way, all research was done on wikipedia because I couldn't be arsed to look elsewhere). As it turns out, when you are in that state OBE (Out of Body Experience) is not too hard to achieve. That is, when you slip out of your body and can float around or look at yourself. Now it has been rumored (I haven't tried this) that when you do this and look into a mirror you look like.. guess what? A shadow person, with glowing red eyes. Furthermore, it has been rumored that those shadow people are bodyless entities in search of bodies to posess.
Now obviously, I don't believe in the shadow people thing and assume that it was just a hallucination but it still fascinates me that a lot of people experience that exact same image.
I have had similar experiences previously, but within dreams and without shadow people. I was dreaming that I was lying in my bed (I knew it was a dream though, because it was the bed in one of our previous houses) but I couldn't move. I was able to try but it was like there was a bungee rope attached to me, pulling me back whenever I made any kind of progress. Those dreams I couldn't wake up from and they seemed to last for several hours.
Anyways, has any of your experienced anything like I just said? OBE, sleep paralysis while your brain wasn't asleep, sleep paralysis within dreams, lucid dreams, or even maybe seeing those shadow people?
sleep paralysis is unscary after the first time
PUSSY!
one time i had a half-conscious nightmare where there was this horrifying, disfigured demon snarling at me from the foot of my bed so naturally i got out of bed, jumped out of my window (in pjs) and hid in the gap between cars in my driveway before cautiously getting back inside via the backdoor and spending the rest of the night on the couch in the living room
WOW!!!!!!!! wow
Quote from: Gladius on March 20, 2012 04:13 PM
sleep paralysis is unscary after the first time
PUSSY!
I have only experienced it once.
Unless you are talking about the thing I mentioned in the second to last paragraph, I am not scared of that stuff per-se, I am just very uncomfortable with it seeing as it's incredibly annoying.
Quote from: psi on March 20, 2012 05:03 PM
I have only experienced it once.
oh fair enough
after a while you realize you can just fall back asleep and everything's ok
but as for the shadow boogeymen i suggest you stop smoking crack or watching bad anime (it's all the same)
Quote from: Gladius on March 20, 2012 05:06 PM
Quote from: psi on March 20, 2012 05:03 PM
I have only experienced it once.
oh fair enough
after a while you realize you can just fall back asleep and everything's ok
but as for the shadow boogeymen i suggest you stop smoking crack or watching bad anime (it's all the same)
yeah well that's the thing, seeing those "shadow people" apparently is somewhat common (and by that i mean that seeing those is experienced by a lot more people than other things). That's what makes it so interesting in my opinion, people who have never talked to eachoter see the same thing. Or people like me, who have never even heard about those shadow people, see them either way.
Quote from: Flee on March 20, 2012 04:12 PM
I personally haven't experienced that before but alot of people are prone to sleep paralysis/night terrors. Like the whole population of /x/.
And that's why they browse /x/. ;)
Quote from: psi on March 20, 2012 05:26 PM
Quote from: Gladius on March 20, 2012 05:06 PM
Quote from: psi on March 20, 2012 05:03 PM
I have only experienced it once.
oh fair enough
after a while you realize you can just fall back asleep and everything's ok
but as for the shadow boogeymen i suggest you stop smoking crack or watching bad anime (it's all the same)
yeah well that's the thing, seeing those "shadow people" apparently is somewhat common (and by that i mean that seeing those is experienced by a lot more people than other things). That's what makes it so interesting in my opinion, people who have never talked to eachoter see the same thing. Or people like me, who have never even heard about those shadow people, see them either way.
I think experienced something along these lines too. It makes great writing material, I'll say that much. So if it does happen again, write it down immediately as soon as you wake up.
i sometimes get sleep paralysis too, can't move a thing except my eyes. it's a frightening feeling not being in control, and can definitely feel a presence when it happens.
I often have dreams about lifeforms not from this world or dimension. The thing that makes me feel at ease about it all though is the fact I am still alive, and nothing has ever hurt me. I've heard the more fear you have within you, the worse the experience is.
I've never had it before but it does take me "hours" to fall asleep once I get into bed every god damn night, not that that counts at all.
On a side note though I've heard of a lot of different ways to induce these kind of things, but I'm guessing it's all BS.
well probably
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_awakening (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_awakening)
this thread made me look this up
annoying mind-bending motherfuckers, it's weird to imagine rolling out of bed and smashing your head against the floor/nightstand in a recurring groundhog day-ish manner before actually waking up :grr:
I would say you were probably in dream state but didn't realise it.
The red eyed shadows are a regular trope in most media, if you lived a hundred years ago they would be gargoyles or something.
I see the romance in it though as I do any out of cell existence.
I used to get sleep paralysis too. I never saw shadow people or anything, probably cause I was always facing the wall. It's the worst feeling though. I try and concentrate on moving my feet and working my way up and it usually works. Although sometimes I pass out again straight after and this shit starts all over again five minutes later ack.