Seeing Something When You Wake Up In The Night

[Ghost In The Machine]

I’ve only ever ‘seen’ a hooded figure in my first sleep paralysis episode which was many years ago. Then there were three. Three hooded figures in red robes were pulling me out of bed and I knew if they pulled me downstairs and out the door I would be ‘gone’. I was struggling like mad as I felt myself being pulled and deliberately banged my ankle against the wall which allowed me to wake up, heart thundering and all panicked.
The hooded monk seems to be so ubiquitous in ‘waking up’ scenarios and also ghostly sightings. It was written about in the Dyfed Enigma but must have been explored since then.

Not a sleep paralysis one, but one of my kids lives near a place where a "hooded monk" figure is regularly reported - on the street maybe a few hundred metres from his place. The city had monasteries and a friary and all sorts but none in this particular area of the city. Someone else in our family has seen this several times but they're a bit of a costume historian and they said it's not actually a monk at all, that they saw, but more like the standard 18thC "highwayman" - big coat, as opposed to a hooded cloak. I thought it was interesting - the difference between a "ghost" being seen by randomers and then by someone who knows how to reconstruct historic clothing!

Hoods, cloaks, shrouds all a part of our culture's ambient sound, I guess, what we imagine as "creepy"?

My relative's experience did make me wonder how often people may interpret what they see as summat closer to some trope when in fact it's something else (or another trope).

 

[escargot]

LOL ah it wouldn't work on the kids of murderers...

Again, must disagree.

 

[Robbrent]

I've had this happen to me a couple of times first one was a man with long black hair wearing a denim jacket standing in the doorway of my bedroom I shot out of my bed fists flying he stepped back and disappeared. 2nd time the same man sat up beside me in bed which was heart attack inducing I remember saying what do you want he was answering but I couldn't hear a thing. Last one I turned over in bed and there was a little girl about 2 inches from my face I sat up she's chatting away but again I can't hear anything. So I'm thinking none of these are sleep paralysis as I have been able to move. I think I'm attracting the buggers

That's really interesting especially that it looked like they were trying to communicate with you but could not (makes sense really when you think about the mechanics of speech) and the guy in modern clothing we don't see enough of this, when statistically we should see more ghosts (if that's what they are) in modern clothing as there has never been as many people alive and dead and never so many buildings

Like someone has said I would research the history of your house and who has lived in it since it was built (not so easy with newer properties as a lot of the records are sealed )

 

[Kate In The Desert]

He was glowing in the dark - in fact he sort of resembled a three dimensional black and white TV picture.

The above quote from Zeke Newbold's post has prompted me to tell my tale here, because the figure I saw when I awakened also looked like a three dimensional black and white TV picture.

I was about 12 years old, and it was a warm summer evening at the family home. I woke up in the middle of the night from being too warm, and I sat up in bed to put aside the blanket and rearrange the sheets, when the door to my room opened.

There stood my mother, but not as she was in real life that night. In addition to looking just like a black and white TV image, mom was not in her nightgown as I had seen her before bed. Instead, she was wearing a lovely sleeveless dress with which I was very familiar. The floral pattern of the dress was usually shades of pink and lilac. Now it was in shades of grey.

She didn't seem to really be my mother. I called out, "Mom!" but she didn't respond. She didn't even seem to be looking directly at me. Slowly "mom" turned around and walked out of my room.

I was terrified, and hid under the sheets until morning. That woman was lovely like my mom, but definitely was not my mother.

 

[Mr_Hermolle]

On the occasions I've woken in the half-light to a shadowy (and initially sinister) hooded silhouette type figure...in my half-sleep/half-awake state I try to remain logical and relaxed in order to process it.

It invariably turns out to be something innocent like my dark jackets or hoodies on the corner hat/coat stand or open wardrobe forming the dark, hooded shape. I'm never quite aware if I detect movement. When I was younger this would be really unnerving, but with age I've learnt it has a logical, scientific basis so is less perturbing;

'Hypnopompic hallucinations occur while a person is waking up, and hypnagogic hallucinations occur while falling asleep. In 86% of cases, hypnopompic hallucinations are visual. They often involve seeing moving shapes and colors, or images of animals or people. Between 8% and 34% of these hallucinations involve sound'

It's almost like a waking form of pareidolia - although the shapes and patterns tend to initially have a sinister aspect to them.

As most of my experiences involve dark jackets/clothing with hoods - I wonder if this is a common explanation of the description of a hooded figure which is regularly sighted? (and are others experiencing moving shapes/forms/figures for a sustained period of time?)

Even when you know perfectly well what it is, one of the most frightening things in the world to see is a jacket carelessly flung over the back of a chair when you wake in the night.

 

[escargot]

The above quote from Zeke Newbold's post has prompted me to tell my tale here, because the figure I saw when I awakened also looked like a three dimensional black and white TV picture.

I was about 12 years old, and it was a warm summer evening at the family home. I woke up in the middle of the night from being too warm, and I sat up in bed to put aside the blanket and rearrange the sheets, when the door to my room opened.

There stood my mother, but not as she was in real life that night. In addition to looking just like a black and white TV image, mom was not in her nightgown as I had seen her before bed. Instead, she was wearing a lovely sleeveless dress with which I was very familiar. The floral pattern of the dress was usually shades of pink and lilac. Now it was in shades of grey.

She didn't seem to really be my mother. I called out, "Mom!" but she didn't respond. She didn't even seem to be looking directly at me. Slowly "mom" turned around and walked out of my room.

I was terrified, and hid under the sheets until morning. That woman was lovely like my mom, but definitely was not my mother.

A poster on'ere shared a bizarre account of one night when their mother glided into their bedroom, as if on skates, and hid behind the curtains. On investigation, no Mother was found. She was asleep in bed. Poster was dreaming.