What did you see the first time you had sleep paralysis?

[flatearthpandas]

I saw my own doppleganger standing behind me in a mirror who then proceeded to attack me from behind. Then this dream repeated itself about ten times in a row.

About five times in a witch appeared beside the couch (was napping through a hangover) and told me it was going to keep happening forever, which was a bit more worrying than the dream itself, but i knew it was a dream do mostly I just gave my own subconscious kudos for being a dick.

 

[poptire]

I've had it a bunch of times. I kinda embrace it now that I know what's going on, but initially it was terrifying.

The first time I experienced it was after a stressful day of college classes. Passed out on my bed face down. Woke up about 30 minutes later, unable to move, and this overwhelming sense of dread came over me. Then a lady with no face, wearing a white dress and carrying a parasol walked into my room and sat down on the chair next to my bed. I was horrified. Struggled to move and eventually broke free from the paralysis.

A few weeks later it happened again, but with a guy in a green striped sweater who flailed his arms around.

Since those extreme instances I've had a number of times in which I felt that sense of dread come over me, and I also felt an arm reach around my body and squeeze me until I couldn't breathe.

Only once have I had the "old hag" sleep paralysis. It was just as messed up as the stories claimed it to be.

 

[PopQuiz]

The first time: Just the ceiling. Thought I was dead.

The second time: A Chucky-like tiny doll peaking through the door.

The third time: no hallucinations but I could hear people in the other room but they couldnt hear me.

 

[Deleted member 3038]

I was on vacation last year & I had gone to the hotel room to rest for a bit before dinner. I lied down for about 30 minutes & when I wanted to get up I suddenly couldn't move. I was lying on my back and I could see straight up & I knew my phone was right next to me on the bed but I just couldn't grab it. Finally I managed to will myself to move my arms & legs again and I could grab my phone.

To this day I still can't sleep until I'm pretty much about to pass out due to just plain fear that it'll happen to me again, It was probably the most traumatizing thing I've ever experienced and it got me real good.

 

[CSX]

I had inanimate objects coming to life in the room aka nightmare version of Toy Story

The one that frightened me the most when I was a child was the floor lamp in my living room that looked similar to this

Click to shrink...

 

[Shyotl]

Not much. My mind interpreted a coat draped over a chair in the corner of the room as some shadowy figure staring at me, but that only lasted for a few seconds before I recognized it properly. I can usually force myself properly awake if I recognize something's off.

I'm more plagued by recursive dreams. Wake up, only to realize I'm still in a dream. Sometimes this happens numerous times succession. Usually my dreams are pretty realistic, so it can be a bit panic inducing due to being unsure.. Very unsettling.

 

[FaceHugger]

I had sleep paralysis many times when I was a small child, but it never included hallucinations. That didn't start until I was a teenager. I saw my friend stuck to the ceiling, rapidly spinning (talking like 1000 RPM) and laughing maniacally like a goblin. Saw it for about five seconds until I was able to "wake up" completely and snap into a sitting position - at which point the hallucination ended.

Since then I've seen a bedroom wall on fire, strange writing blinking on the walls, what looked like a 50-something year old version of me all in black and white silently observing myself, and heard all manner of things.

 

[Zukkoyaki]

I only ever had a hallucination during sleep paralysis one time.

It was when I was living in a small studio apartment. The sleep paralysis kicked in and I remember seeing a dark figure standing over me looking down. In the moment I didn't think it was like supernatural or anything, I actually thought someone had broken in and I couldn't move. I was terrified and sincerely thought this thing/person was going to hurt me while I was completely defenseless.

My bed was positioned into a corner in the wall and the figure was between me and my door so I had absolutely nowhere to go. As soon as my body control finally kicked back in, I leaped up and actually tried to tackle the person in an act of self preservation 😅 ended up slamming into my bookcase and bruising the hell out of my arm. I was reeeally shaken up for the next couple of days. That was probably 2014 and while I've had sleep paralysis a couple times since, I haven't had another hallucination.

 

[Tunar]

One time was a creature like nemesis from resident evil 3, when I was a young ass kid. Was lying in bed and saw him through my windows break into my front door and then slowly stomp through my house until he came to the back of my bed and grabbed me before I woke up. Been crazy afraid of nemesis ever since so much that the remakes trailers gave me anxiety.
Also had an old lady one time try and suffocate me once like other people have said. She sounded so evil and the one freaked me out just as much. These happened like a decade ago though been a while since I've had any like that bad.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

I use to have it all the fucking time back when my sleep schedule was shit. But, I never saw anything. Just laid there in a half awake state being unable to move. Sometimes I would have a sense of fear, like I was responding to a nightmare, but no demons standing over me or anything.

 

[Kitsunebaby]

I was laying on my side, and I felt my 10 foot boa constrictor slither over my neck. I just sort of gave up and figured it wasn't an awful way to die, at which point I could suddenly move again. In reality he was still in his terrarium next to my bed.

 

[Kard8p3]

Sadly I've never had sleep paralysis, but I've always wanted to experience it at least once.

 

[Baphomet]

Sadly I've never had sleep paralysis, but I've always wanted to experience it at least once.

Click to shrink...

You are fortunate, when you do see something , it is one of the most terrifying experiences of your life.

 

[Last_colossi]

It was always a shadowy figure like this:

Lately it's been this Sadako looking thing like this:

You are fortunate, when you do see something , it is one of the most terrifying experiences of your life.

Click to shrink...

100% true. I only get sleep paralysis when I sleep on my back, which is why I sleep on my side most of the time. It always feels like the worst fear I've ever experienced x1000 and I can't move or scream, I'd honestly never wish that feeling on anyone.

 

[Deleted member 4034]

I feel like I've had something close to sleep paralysis, as in I wake up and literally can't move and have to do some wiggle your big toe shit and work my way up, but I also can't open my eyes during this so I've never seen anything.

 

[sphagnum]

I only ever experienced it once, when I woke up in the middle of a nightmare. In the dream, Satan was descending into this gloomy realm with these pulsating waves of colors all around and then he looked at me and I woke up frozen. Didn't see anything in my room itself, I was just paralyzed.

 

[Pangorogoro]

I fell asleep at my grandma's house on the couch, it was like i couldn't breathe and some dark figure was standing over me. Awful

 

[Mavis]

Darkness, my eyes were closed, I would get a feeling of someone nearby but visual hallucinations were never a thing. After a while I started relaxing into it and quite liking them, once that happened they stopped, I sort of miss that feeling of being asleep and paralysed but being able to think.
Handy hint for anyone who still has them and can't learn to enjoy them, concentrate on breathing, I could still control my breathing so I'd wake myself up by hyperventilating.

 

[Kard8p3]

You are fortunate, when you do see something , it is one of the most terrifying experiences of your life.

Click to shrink...

I have no doubt that the moment would be terrifying, but it always seemed like such an interesting thing to me.

 

[Baphomet]

I have no doubt that the moment would be terrifying, but it always seemed like such an interesting thing to me.

Click to shrink...

It is certainly an experience you won't forget.

 

[gillian03]

Like. A shadowy otherwordly figure crawling through a hole in the wall. I dunno if there is a "sound" for gravity, but I could "hear" how the shadow was trying to alter the laws of physics in this world. So it punctured my ears because of how thick the sound was. It crushed body cuz how heavy the air was was. It burned my eyes because light was bending in all sorts of ways.

It was truly frightening.

 

[Darkwing-Buck]

I saw an old woman in the dark corner of my room watching me.

Kinda like that one scene from hereditary

 

[CKOHLER]

First time was when I was around seven years old. I fell asleep on our couch. I woke up aware I was still on my couch but paralyzed except I also couldn't breathe. After 10 or so seconds I finally awoke, panting and shaking. I cried but my parents didn't believe me that I had been suffocating. I don't really know for sure if I had but it felt like it. While scary, it wasn't as scary as the second time...

The second time was when I was around 12. My bedroom had sliding glass doors along one wall that I could see out from my bed. I woke up with sleep paralysis and when I looked out the window I saw a flash of light and the mushroom cloud from a nuclear bomb. I watched in horror as the blast wave approached and woke up the moment it hit, falling out of my bed and panting. This was in the early 80's during the cold war scare and around the time "The Day After" had aired on TV.

 

[Kaneda]

Saw a shadowy figure in a trenchcoat and fedora slowly walk to my bed. He put his hand on my forehead and I instantly got up.

 

[Shroki]

The few times I have experienced this, I've never hallucinated anything visual. It's usually just a weird noise from the other room that I construe as an intruder and I can't move to save myself.

 

[MinimaulAK]

I get bad night terrors regularly. After having one I'll be awake and unable to move for a minute or so. Sometimes I just fall back asleep right away. Sometimes after having a night terror my legs will convulse / twitch for a short while--a minute or so. I'm not sure if that is sleep paralysis after a night terror, or if night terrors cause some sleep paralysis or if it's just the night terror or something else entirely. I just know it sucks. It can also happen multiple times a night.

The things I 'see' are usually something coming at me quickly and directly to my face (my night terrors are always in first person perspective). Some of them are like monsters, sometimes it's people I know or TV/Movie stars, sometimes vague shapes of people who come at me, like a ghost or something. It sucks and it's always terrifying.

Reading what happens to others it seems like what I experience is more to do with my night terrors than actual sleep paralysis. Either way, I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks it sucks.

 

[eosos]

Ugh hate sleep paralysis. There are nights where I'll have it happen 5 or so times in a row smh. Most of the time I don't see anything, but sometimes I hear a very low rumbling sound that continues to increase in volume. Sometimes that's coupled with a dark shadowy figure in my peripheral that creeps closer.

Not a great time, but I've mostly gotten used to it and can keep calm.

 

[Shroki]

Just be happy that you aren't Mike Birbiglia. He has REM behavior disorder, which means his body fails to paralyze him during his sleep and he sleepwalks while having night terrors. He once jumped out of the second story window of his hotel room because he thought a missile was going to strike the building.

He has to sleep with mittens on in a sleeping bag to keep his body imprisoned during sleep.

 

[Baphomet]

Just be happy that you aren't Mike Birbiglia. He has REM behavior disorder, which means his body fails to paralyze him during his sleep and he sleepwalks while having night terrors. He once jumped out of the second story window of his hotel room because he thought a missile was going to strike the building.

He has to sleep with mittens on in a sleeping bag to keep his body imprisoned during sleep.

Click to shrink...

Damn that's a miserable existence.

 

[fontguy]

Saw a shadowy figure in a trenchcoat and fedora slowly walk to my bed. He put his hand on my forehead and I instantly got up.

Click to shrink...

You are not alone. They call "him" Hat Man. It's maybe the most common sleep paralysis hallucination.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Why don't people see something not spooky?

 

[Deleted member 69573]

I "woke up" and it was pitch black but I could still vaguely see things, like at 1% vision or something. Something was on my bed and sitting on my chest and covering my mouth trying to suffocate me. It had a demon like shape and very dull reddish-yellow eyes and sharp teeth. I struggled and tried shouting (and tried to wake up because I must have realised it wasn't real) for what felt like a few minutes until another bigger one came over fast and I somehow was free. At that point I thought I was awake and so I groggily got up and opened my bedroom door to go out and get a glass of water and go to the bathroom. But as I opened the door, I got the sense that one of them was chasing after me, so I swung the door open to start running and when I did another shadowy figure pushed the door open and started reaching out for me. I managed to push past it but running felt very slow and sluggish. The last moments of it was me running down my hallway towards the kitchen really slowly, trying to dodge the things that were running and reaching out to me until I got to my fridge. I think I ended up grabbing something and went to attack one of them then I woke up for real real.

I've had a few minor, much shorter versions of it after that but that one still sticks with me because of the layers and the fact I pretend woke up twice, Inception like.

 

[Shadow]

I heard some creepy noise that kept getting louder and saw a yellow glow out the window, like some alien space ship. Couldn't move or talk at all. Turns out the noise was the fan noise, just a weird version of it. I had sleep paralysis 10+ times after that. Found out that if I sleep on my back I get it, so now I sleep in my side, haven't had one in over a year.

Way later on I pretty much found the noise I heard in the dream, on a game(or show?), but I forget what it was now. It was pretty freaky when I heard it.

 

[reKon]

Ever since I've stopped sleeping on my back, I've never once had it

 

[somajunkie]

The first time I experienced it I felt a dark demonic presence climb from under my bed...I could feel the pressure as it climbed on to the matress and eventually on top of me. I couldn't move and wanted to scream but couldn't even let out a whimper. It pinned me down and then started slowly humping me and it was the most terrifying thing ever. I don't remember too much imagery just what I felt and a dark shapeless figure that I knew was always looking at me.

I kept getting sleep paralysis fore years - mostly a dark presence hovering over me or slowly making its way to my bed and sitting at the foot of it and caressing my body. Whenever the presence sat on my bed I wanted to cry because I knew what was going to happen. Feeling the weight shift on my matress was too real. Sometimes the presence would just sit there and look away from me, sometimes it would turn it's head and stare at me.

I then figured out when I was having a sleep paralysis episode coming because I would hear a loud buzzing, like the inside of a beehive but more distorted and then I would feel and sometimes see the dark presence. It got to the point where I normalized it, having done research and experiencing it enough made it manageable. I haven't had an episode lately and I don't know how I'd react if I did. Weird, weird stuff, I get goosebumps thinking about it.

 

[ChunkyChowder]

I woke up in the middle of the night unable to move anything except for my eyes and my fingers. I couldn't even yell out for help. Any attempt came out as a soft moan. I could hear footsteps in the hallway outside my room and someone violently shaking the door knob, trying to get in. This lasts for a few minutes but it felt like an eternity of pure terror.

 

[Quantum Leap]

I pretty much had sex with my sleep paralysis demon

 

[DrScruffleton]

I dont even know it is considered sleep paralysis, but when I was a little kid I vividly remember waking up and seeing a tall shadowy figure at the end of my bed by my feet. I was terrified and felt frozen. Think I eventually pulled the covers over my head after a long time and cried myself to sleep. But ive never experienced something that intense since.

 

[Aranjah]

Fortunately nothing, because my head happened to be turned towards the wall that was right next to my bed at the time (was sleeping on my stomach), instead of out into the room. So luckily I only had the "oh god I can't move WHY CAN'T I MOVE AAAAAH!" panic, not the additional "OH GOD WHAT IS THAT?" panic.

Also, luckily it was morning and I was supposed to be getting up to get ready for school soon, rather than in the middle of the night when it would have been way more creepy.

 

[discotheque]

I've always just pictured my room, no demons or whatever.

Edit: This is a bad thread to be reading before bedtime....

 

[DeepBlueDay]

Lying on my side, facing the room. Not able to move, but fell someone /something holding me from behind, like really felt a heavy "body" or something leaning against me. Lay there for a couple of minutes trying to get out of that grip, then the weird laughing/giggling began, right next to me where I couldn't see...I literally screamed for my parent's cat, who was the only in the house at that time. That's how terrifying it was.


Another one more recently was after I spend the night watching the Oscars ( wasn't worth it) , which fucked up my sleeping cycle. When i went to bed afterwards in the morning and then tried to get up a few hours later, I literally couldn't. I was trapped inside my body, knew I was awake, but couldn't see anything or move it. I had to really focus on being able to move again, eventually it worked.

 

[Corporate Clown]

Had it once maybe 10 years ago. Basically, this woman dressed in black rags emerged from the hallway into my bedroom and slowly approached me as I was frozen in bed. She began to laugh as she got closer and closer to my face. When her face was finally right next to mine I woke up to see my cat's face right in front of me and i freaked out lol.

I had never heard of sleep paralysis before, but when I told my friends they were like, "oh, you saw the old hag? Shit sucks!" I googled that shit and was surprised how common the experience was.

 

[Unspoken90]

The first time I saw a cloaked figure just staring at me.

 

[Kaneda]

You are not alone. They call "him" Hat Man. It's maybe the most common sleep paralysis hallucination.

Click to shrink...

Oh wow I did not know that. I wonder why it's so common then.

 

[SupremeWu]

I had it once, I didn't 'see' much but I felt the weight, heard some strange voices etc.. but I knew what the phenomena was and basically did some old Hindu prayers from childhood (lol I'm not religious but they tend to stick with you, and have a calming effect). Eventually I was able to move my fingers and toes and stuff.

 

[Pau]

Are people actually awake during sleep paralysis? When I first heard about it, it sounded like what I experience, where I dream about the room I'm in and see stuff and feel paralyzed and other symptoms. But I'm actually jerking around (with my eyes closed) according to my partner.

 

[Kcannon]

None. Although my brother claims to have seen "colonial ghosts" during an episode of his own.

 

[Nelo Ice]

O I'll never forget my first sleep paralysis. I was in HS and right outside my window I could hear Gollum. I was freaking the fuck out couldn't move but screamed as loud as I could to wake up. My mom came rushing in wondering wtf was happening. Otherwise after that I knew how to avoid it and anytime I felt it coming on I struggled as much as I could to move and scream before it set in.

 

[Baphomet]

Are people actually awake during sleep paralysis? When I first heard about it, it sounded like what I experience, where I dream about the room I'm in and see stuff and feel paralyzed and other symptoms. But I'm actually jerking around (with my eyes closed) according to my partner.

Click to shrink...

In my case I was fully awake, I knew that it was not a dream and I tried to move but I couldn't , it was like I was heavily medicated but also fully aware of my environment.

 

[CrimzonSamurai]

I've only had it twice, thankfully. The first time I woke from a dream that had featured a wax figure (the main dream had taken place in some kind of museum) but I opened my eyes and was unable to move and saw her standing next to the bed hovering over me. She said something really cliche like she wanted a kiss or not to leave her alone in the dream or something, and then slowly opened her jaw way too wide and making grudge noises. To my credit I put all my effort into taking a swing at her, and as soon as I snapped out of it I threw a haymaker that made me fall out of bed lol. But I'd call that an archetypical "hag" encounterThe second time I didn't see anything but thought it was carbon monoxide poisoning or something and was trying as hard as I could to wake my girlfriend up so maybe she could save herself. Then when I regained movement I realized what it was.

Why don't people see something not spooky?

Click to shrink...

I know a woman who has had many episodes but no scary episodes. She usually has a lion come and chill by her bed like a pet.