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Classic Archive Merged: Sleep Paralysis?

I had a few instance of sleep paralysis. One appro. 10 years ago, I had mentioned in another thread. A classic instance. I awoke in the middle of the night, feeling heavy (but no weight on my chest). I had a feeling of an indefined presence. I was not afraid, as I knew what sleep paralysis was. But it was certainly displeasing. In the semi-lucid hypnopompic state I was, I was feeling I could easily 'summon' the face of a Grey or a demon had I wished, but I would never have dared.
Last year, one night I was not having a good sleep, I was maybe dreaming, lying facedown, when I suddenly had a vivid sensation of something entering my body through my back. It was penetrating my whole body, arms and back at the same time. It was so displeasing that I immediately woke up. I knew I would feel paralyzed, but in an intense and sudden effort I broke the spell. All unusual sensations had gone. Three nights ago, I had fallen asleep in a soft armchair while watching TV. At around 4.30, I woke up, and felt myself hanged by two arms from below. I thought it was some kind of imp or demon, feeling malevolent. I awoke and moved, dispelt the feeling of his presence, felt asleep back seconds later, but had still a vague feeling that he was there. I just imagined I was burying him deep in the armchair, so that he wouldn't come back again. 13 years ago, I had had another sensation of the presence of an imp, but this time it was in a case more akin to sleepwalking.
 
Sorry for the thread resurrection, this post was linked to in the IHTM "Read Me" so....

I'm just curious. Years ago on here (or was it in the magazine itself, I'm not sure now) someone asked for people that experienced sleep paralysis to contact them. They were writing a book apparently.
I emailed and told them about the things that had happened to me and they were pleased to hear it all.

I never heard any more about it and just wonder what happened with all the info that person must have collected. Was it someone still posting here? Did it ever get made into a book?

It doesn't really happen to me any more, but when it does I grunt loudly until my wife shakes me and tells me to shut up! That wakes me right out of it :lol:
 
While necro-ing threads is frowned upon in most forums, here, we welcome it.

I once had a terrifying bit of sleep paralysis, but for an oh-so-real reason....

I was dreaming that I was in a daycare center (I was 7 or 8 at the time) and I walked through a "shimmer". All of a sudden, I couldn't breathe!

I was well aware (having had "drowning" dreams) that I knew that if I was dreaming, I should still be able to take breaths. Somehow I deduced that I was suffocating in my sleep and did what I could to wake myself up.

I finally awoke, but the sleep paralysis continued. I was face-down in my pillow and couldn't move!

After a profound amount of effort, I finally managed to lift just my head and gasp for air.

Needless to say, I didn't sleep with a pillow for a number of months after that.
 
I had an unusual case this morning. It's one of those rainy weeks when everything feels slightly tacky and it's hard to stay awake, plus I'm always tired lately, so after getting my husband off to work this morning I went back to bed. I was lying on my side when I heard some yowling downstairs and then felt the cats chase each other up onto the bed with me. None of the usual chase noises - no growly hissy stuff, just the thunder of running kitties and the weight of them getting on the bed. Thai, the inevitable chasee, got behind my feet as I was lying on my side, while Bruce - the boss cat whose job it is to get us up to feed them breakfast in the morning, and who is also in charge of lying on us purring when we're sick - climbed up onto me, standing on my arm as it lay on my body. When they're both on the bed at the same time it's easy to tell who's who because Thai is lighter than Bruce and carries herself differently.

But something was wrong with Bruce. He felt too big and too heavy! This struck me as somehow sinister, but didn't rouse any personal fear. I was afraid that the difference indicated some imminent threat to his health and safety, though in my groggy state I didn't even try to think what it might be. It did cross my mind that it might not be Bruce, that the yowling and chasing were down to an intruder cat getting in; but an intruder cat would hardly be allowed to climb up on me with Thai peacefully settling down behind my knees. So I tried to open my eyes and shift under him to pet him and check him out, and I couldn't. I felt Bruce settling down on me, but he was doing it wrong! Something was badly off - about his balance and his weight and his paws. For one thing he's part Siamese and can't retract his claws, but they weren't clipping me even though in the position he was in they should have. I finally succeeded in rolling over and opening my eyes. No cats. No Bruce on me, and no Thai behind my knees.

In fact, when I went downstairs later I found Bruce indignantly perched on the stairrail under the window by the back door, waiting to be let in out of the rain. He must've gotten out when my husband left, because I'd told him it was raining and he didn't really want to go out there.

Most sleep paralysis occurs when the sleeper's on her back or face; and the sense of weight and presence is generally perceived as personally threatening. Plus I don't think I've ever heard of someone having a second presence and weight; or hearing it coming. If Bruce hadn't been outside I'd say that the yowling and the chase were real and incorporated into the hallucination/dream; but he doesn't yowl to be let in, just stares in through the window focusing his telepathic vibes. He reserves the dreaded Siamese yowl for purposes we don't understand and desires we can't satisfy.
 
Sleep paralysis is an event that occurs either at the onset of sleep or upon awakening, where an individual's senses and awareness are intact, but the individual is unable to move.

Sleep paralysis is often accompanied by complex hallucinations and intense fear.1

This frightening phenomenon is recognized in all cultures. In Mexico, it is known as "a dead body climbed on top of me," in Japan it is called "Kanashibari," and in Newfoundland it is referred to as "the old hag."

Although it is not life-threatening, an episode of sleep paralysis can be a terrifying and traumatic experience.

Contents of this article:

  1. What is sleep paralysis?
  2. What causes sleep paralysis?
  3. Signs and symptoms of sleep paralysis
  4. Tests and diagnosis of sleep paralysis
  5. Treatment and prevention of sleep paralysis ...
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/295039.php
 
PeniG said:
Plus I don't think I've ever heard of someone having a second presence and weight; or hearing it coming.
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PeniG, I was very interested to read your account as I just had a Night Cat episode last night.

My husband and I were at my Dad's house and he has an occasional cat (actually belonging to a neighbour) called Lucky. The cat slept with us last night until about 5am when he woke us up by the ingenious method of scrunching on an old jiffy bag to wake us up and be let out. I let him out, closed the door, opened the window and then put a wedge under the door to stop the wind rattling it and went back to bed.

After getting back to sleep I was later woken by the distinctive flumfle of a cat jumping on to the end of the bed. I lay for a bit, confused as I knew that Lucky had gone out of the room and thinking I must have been mistaken. I then felt four little paws treading up the middle of the bed between me and my husband, there was a little pause during which I realised he was about to jump on my chest when CRUSHHHH! He jumped on and was really crushing my chest. I couldn't breathe and tried to push him off. That is when I realised I was paralysed. I also realised I was sleep paralysed and than I had to get the psychic cat off by pushing him off psychically which I did (don't ask me how but I am quite a lucid dreamer). He yowled when I did it in a rather nasty manner I thought, not like Lucky at all.

Very strange!
 
It's interesting that in both of us we got the classic nightmare or old hag feeling of weight on the chest, and both channeled that sensation into our kitties! This may be common among cat owners, who don't think of it as "old hag" or "Sleep Paralysis" but as "weird dream about the cats."
 
PeniG said:
It's interesting that in both of us we got the classic nightmare or old hag feeling of weight on the chest, and both channeled that sensation into our kitties! This may be common among cat owners, who don't think of it as "old hag" or "Sleep Paralysis" but as "weird dream about the cats."
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Same for me recently, but I imagined a hooded figure holding me down by my wrists. Horrible.
 
PeniG said:
It's interesting that in both of us we got the classic nightmare or old hag feeling of weight on the chest, and both channeled that sensation into our kitties! This may be common among cat owners, who don't think of it as "old hag" or "Sleep Paralysis" but as "weird dream about the cats."
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This! I thought I'd not experienced this but I do get the Cat on Chest and Throat dream :D
 
The only time I've felt that pressure was the night after the only time I'd used a Ouija board with some neighbours.
I was pregnant with my first child and their cat had run around in a crazy manner.
It really put the wind up me when I felt that weight and decided never to use it again.
 
PeniG said:
This may be common among cat owners, who don't think of it as "old hag" or "Sleep Paralysis" but as "weird dream about the cats."
Click to expand...

Very interesting thought! This could be way more common than we realise. With mine I found it particularly interesting that although I knew full well there could be no cat in the room, I still felt it walking up the bed and crushing me. Isn't the brain a fascinating thing?

(Because it definitely was my brain and not a terrifying malevolent cat-ghost. Right? :eek:)
 
 
Normally my sleep paralysis efforts are interesting to funny but I had a really nasty one a couple of weeks ago (only just writing about it now..)

I woke to hear footsteps approaching the bed. I knew it was something bad and as they kept approaching I realised it was the actual Devil. I started to shout out "get away, get away" over and over again and as I did it, I realised it would have been better to shout "go away" instead but was sort of stuck on repeat. It was working though and I began to sense annoyance from the devil and the footsteps got fainter and he went away. Phew!
 
Min Bannister said:
Normally my sleep paralysis efforts are interesting to funny but I had a really nasty one a couple of weeks ago (only just writing about it now..)

I woke to hear footsteps approaching the bed. I knew it was something bad and as they kept approaching I realised it was the actual Devil. I started to shout out "get away, get away" over and over again and as I did it, I realised it would have been better to shout "go away" instead but was sort of stuck on repeat. It was working though and I began to sense annoyance from the devil and the footsteps got fainter and he went away. Phew!
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Did your other half berate you for mistaking them for the Devil? :p
 
Mythopoeika said:
Did your other half berate you for mistaking them for the Devil? :p
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Apparently the semi-paralysed shouting translated more as "GRRRRNNN" so I got away with it. :p

Although (seriously) I actually think it might have been triggered by a new dressing gown I recently bought. I remember looking at it when I woke and finding it very sinister. It looked like a hooded figure standing against the door. I just sort of roll it up and put it on the floor now.. (the possibility of mistaking it for the devil in the dead of night is my excuse and I am sticking to it)
 
Is a rolled up dressing gown on the floor not just an invitation to spiders? The terror of finding an enormous spider in my dressing gown with me would more than counter the worry about the sinisterness of a hanging dressing gown and the dreams it might engender...
 
catseye said:
Is a rolled up dressing gown on the floor not just an invitation to spiders? The terror of finding an enormous spider in my dressing gown with me would more than counter the worry about the sinisterness of a hanging dressing gown and the dreams it might engender...
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Ha, you just brought back a real-mare when that actually happened! This was my old one which I am sure would have been hanging up though it might have got in while I was in the bathroom. I put it on, went downstairs and felt something tickling at the back of my neck...

Maybe I should consider the possibility of hanging it in my wardrobe. :spider:
 
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