You are here: Real Ghost Stories :: Old Hags / Night Attacks / Sleep Paralysis :: Paranormal Or Regualr Sleep Paralysis?

Real Ghost Stories

Paranormal Or Regualr Sleep Paralysis?

 

I have read a lot on Sleep Paralysis (for those who don't know what it is, when someone is about to fall asleep, or just waking up from sleep, they can't move or speak, but they can move their eyes and breathe), but I am still uncertain on whether or not paranormal things can happen while experiencing this. I still do highly believe that this was paranormal, and not just a dream.

I was about 9 at the time and I lived just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. I'm almost 18 now and still vividly remember this experience.

I remember it being a snow day, and being very bright outside when I woke up. I quickly realized that I couldn't move, nor speak. I tried to scream for my dad, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't scream.

I ended up just laying there in my bed. (My bed was faced where the end of it is towards the door, so I had a clear view of outside my room with the door open.) The house was fairly new at the time, and no one was home except my dad. He was downstairs taking a nap while all of this happened.

I started staring out the doorway, and quickly noticed something go past the door. It was very tall, and full black. It almost looked like it was wearing a robe that flew back while going from one place to another. I remember just noticing that it was almost hovering, and going too fast than anyone could run, it was as it was flying.

At this point I could speak again, but was too afraid to scream or run. I just kept watching, as it repeatedly went back and forth down my hallway. Eventually it stopped and I immediately ran to my dad downstairs. I still don't know what exactly happened, but I do consider it paranormal.

Hauntings with similar titles

Find ghost hunters and paranormal investigators from Georgia

Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, wowbummerdude, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will participate in the discussion and I need help with what I have experienced.

SoniaMary0023 (4 stories) (35 posts)
 
8 years ago (2016-02-25)
Sds

Thank you... I guess everybody is just trying to look for answers...
sds (14 stories) (1436 posts)
 
8 years ago (2016-02-25)
Hi SoniaMary0023, I don't know if I am a right person or not. Let me not venture into that dialogue. But, if you have experienced shaking of bed when you had the first sleep paralysis, then that is something different. What I was trying to say is that sleep paralysis, by itself, is not paranormal. Even though in my place, I mean in our country, India, sleep paralysis is continued to be believed as paranormal.

Coming to your query, why your bed started shaking in your first experience of sleep paralysis, is something I cannot answer or for that matter, no one can, unless you give us some input as to how every time when you had the sleep paralysis, you had other different experiences like bed shaking etc. This is where Rook's suggestion/advise to maintain a journal comes into use. So, to have an answer to your question, more than any of us, you should ponder over, think about every occasion, if possible. If you want any suggestions from us, then we should have details.

Hope I have clarified. Sorry that it is a lengthy reply.

Regards and respects to you.

SDS
SoniaMary0023 (4 stories) (35 posts)
 
8 years ago (2016-02-24)
Sds

I see what you're saying. But the question I was really asking was why is it that the very first sleep paralysis I had experiences with the paranormal... As soon as I got out of SP, or maybe during (I don't quite remember), my bed was shaking?

Maybe I'm just asking the wrong person...

Thanks, Soniamary0023
sds (14 stories) (1436 posts)
 
8 years ago (2016-02-24)
Hello SoniaMary0023, I think Rook, one of the experienced posters in this site, has explained to you about what you have raised in your comments. Yes, I forgot about maintenance of journal. Thanks Rook for clarifying (thats the experience).

But, SoniaMary0023, I would like to tell you I have had a number of experiences on sleep paralysis. Even though, I was a little frightened when I had experienced sleep paralysis initially, that was years ago, over a period of time, when I started doing some investigation, I came to know more about sleep paralysis. Secondly, I haven't experienced anything like shaking of bed etc. That is totally a different aspect altogether. And people I move with, who had sleep paralysis, have shared their experiences with me and nothing untoward happened to them. That is why I said that sleep paralysis has got nothing to do with paranormal.

If you have any other experiences while having sleep paralysis, then it calls for some closer examination like what Rook said.

Hope I have explained my position. Thanks Rook for your clarifications and support.

Regards and respects to you both.

SDS
SoniaMary0023 (4 stories) (35 posts)
 
8 years ago (2016-02-23)
Rook

Thank you for explaining.

I apologize for misreading it.
rookdygin (24 stories) (4458 posts)
 
8 years ago (2016-02-23)
SoniaMary,

There is sometimes a fine line between science and the paranormal.

S/P is a REAL thing...

BUT some paranormal encounters may mimic S/P and therefore be hard to classify...

This is where a Journal comes in.

If the ONLY journal entries are records of the feeling of being held down and the 'vision' of something sitting on you... Even if it happens repeatedly... I would have to side with science and say it's S/P.

HOWEVER...

If the journal entries also record 'other' phenomenon... Bed shaking, thumps, bumps, knocking... Voices and even 'sightings of manifestations' then there is a better chance of the experiences being paranormal this increases exponentially if other individuals have experiences as well.

We simply cannot say...

"People only say its a sleep disorder because scientists don't really believe the paranormal. They think of it as science."

We as believers have to use science to PROVE what we 'know'...it's hard, the scientific community seems to dismiss any evidence captured as 'faulty equipment' or 'pareidolia' or any other 'natural explanation' they can come up with... No matter how far fetched. Just like with any other theory it is up to us to find supporting evidence, enough to prove our theory, because until it is proved that is what it is... Just a theory.

Respectfully,

Rook
SoniaMary0023 (4 stories) (35 posts)
 
8 years ago (2016-02-23)
Sds

It has everything to do with the paranormal. People only say its a sleep disorder because scientists don't really believe the paranormal. They think of it as science.

If you beg to differ then please explain to me why my bed shakes WITHOUT having sleep paralysis? It all started with sleep paralysis, I've talked to a handful amount of mediums and the gifted, they all say its part of what happens when you have sleep paralysis. Explain to everybody else why they see things even 10 minutes after or even hours after sleep paralysis? When only sleep paralysis lasts for, the most, a minute?

Thanks, Soniamary0023
sds (14 stories) (1436 posts)
 
8 years ago (2016-02-23)
Hi wowbummerdude, I beg to differ with others. I have had a number of experiences as far as sleep paralysis is concerned. Even though that it might appear to be paranormal, it is not. We do feel hallucinations or sight apparitions but I don't think they are for real. We might try to scream, we might try to wake up the person sleeping next to us, we might visualise something scary but I don't think they are for real. They are not. They are pictures in your mind. From your narrative, I do feel that it is sleep paralysis and nothing else even though you might have felt that it was paranormal sighting what you saw just outside your room's door.

Regards and respects to you.

SDS
Jenysue (7 posts)
+1
8 years ago (2016-02-21)
On many occasions I have these sleeping experiences. Yet, only difference is that nothing paranormal would happen. On a few occasions of this happening it was almost like I was having an outer body experience. I was able to see myself sleeping and also able to travel to different rooms throughout the house. Crazy weird. I would always wake up feeling normal. I haven't had an experience for a while.

My theory is that I believe it's our own state of being at the time. For example, when our bodies are in a deep sleep... We suddenly wake up... Therefore, This is the experience we encounter. Or wake up suddenly... Yet at a half asleep and Simi sleep status. However, doesn't explain me floating throughout different rooms huh hahahahaha

Any thoughts?
SoniaMary0023 (4 stories) (35 posts)
+2
8 years ago (2016-02-21)
Bonshaw75

I'm currently trying to get rid of the entity that messes with me. Its really difficult... The only thing I can say is to keep praying and stay positive because I've tried everything I can as well. Protective stone, sage, prayers.

I also suggest looking into "gifted" people or paranormal investigators, most should have gifted people in the team. They could possibly help...

I wouldn't know much, I've only learned a handful of information over the years it has messed with me
Bonshaw75 (guest)
+1
8 years ago (2016-02-20)
SoniaMary0023

A lot of what you said is similar to what is happening to my daughter. She is 13 and gets sleep paralysis and says that her bed sometimes vibrates or shakes pretty hard (as if there's a big dog sitting on it scratching itself).

She "sees" stuff too. It just used to be figures in the corner of her bedroom, but now she sees things in every room of the house and outside of the house too.

She's pretty scared.

I have put Dreamcatchers and crystals and crosses in the bedrooms and I am doing an energy cleansing of my home. Most nights my daughter wants me to sleep in her room with her because she feels that the sleep paralysis won't come if I'm there with her and that this bad energy that is bullying her is afraid of me.

What is strange though is that on some nights, when she has woken with really bad nightmares, I have soothed her with calm words and suggested that we pray together. I'm not a super religious person, I'm more spiritual than religious, but I do know and believe in the Lord's Prayer. I have said it at bedtime pretty much every night since I was a little girl so I know every single word. On the nights when my daughter has these sleep paralysis attacks and nightmares, sometimes when I try to say this prayer I can NOT remember the words! I have to try to recite it over and over but have to keep going back to the start. It is very eerie!

I don't know if this means anything? Or if it means that I'm maybe just tired in the middle of the night? Who knows? But it never happens any other time.

Have you found your attempts at fighting these things difficult?

Thanks!

Bonshaw.
Macknorton (5 stories) (646 posts)
+1
8 years ago (2016-02-20)
Hi WBD, thanks for sharing your experience.
There's a wide and diverse range of opinions on sleep paralysis. I agree with the posts here in that it appears that in some instances, negative entities somehow take advantage of our bodies being " subdued" by chemicals and decide to terrorise us (there must be a serious lack of decent entertainment where these idiots dwell 😊)
It's happened to me only once many years ago in a story I posted on this site, but there was no doubt I was awake and no doubt it was a subhuman spirit.
Anyway, your experience was a good read and I hope things settled down for you after that.
Regards
Mack
SoniaMary0023 (4 stories) (35 posts)
+2
8 years ago (2016-02-19)
I believe that sleep paralysis is a way for entities to get to you easier. I'm currently in that situation, at 16 I experienced sleep paralysis and since then my bed wouldn't stop shaking or vibrating and feels of electricity along any part of my body.

I had sleep paralysis every once in a while, but I haven't had it for over a year now.

But the thing is, I finally saw it for the first time in 4 years since it started messing with me.

I was beyond scared, but showing fear will only encourage it. I advize anybody who reads this to FIGHT it away! Itll only get worse if you dont.

Pray, stay positive, and whatever you do, DONT get scared. It can't harm you, only scare you.

I never knew as much as I do now about the paranormal. And still currently trying to get rid of this negative entity that most likely attached itself to me.
DandK (11 stories) (344 posts)
+1
8 years ago (2016-02-18)
I am wondering if you could answer a couple of questions about this to help me with some possible scenarios that come to my mind.

First, you say your dad was sleeping. Was that before you went to lay down or when you went running out of the room you found him asleep?

Since you could see out towards the rest of the house from your bed, is it possible that your dad was awake and walking around momentarily and cast a shadow that appeared like a figure moving by your doorway?

Thanks for your help with these.
Calamity (2 stories) (53 posts)
+1
8 years ago (2016-02-18)
I share Tweed's opinion that some incidents of sleep paralysis have a basis in the paranormal. I believe that negative entities can use it to their advantage because, let's face it, it's a terrifying thing to go through.

I will ask one question though. Were you sick when this happened?

The first time I experienced sleep paralysis I was also nine. I woke up to an entity that looked just like a witch dancing along the left side of my bed. I tried to scream. I tried to jump out of bed. I tried to cover my head with my blanket. I couldn't move. I couldn't make a sound. She quit dancing and put her face right up to mine and cackled. I was beyond scared. If I wasn't already paralyzed I may have been catatonic I was so frightened!

Suddenly I was able to move and I jumped up, ran past her and into my parents' room. I got in bed next to my mother and watched different entities dance around the edge of the bed about four feet off the ground. They looked like little demons. Eventually I fell asleep.

What happened to me had nothing to do with anything paranormal though. We were living in Norway and getting ready to move to the Ivory Coast. I had just been vaccinated against cholera and unfortunately had a hideous reaction to it. I was running an impossibly high temperature, hence the hallucinations.

If you weren't sick, I think that in your case, the fact that you were able to continue to see the entity after the paralysis ended makes a paranormal explanation plausible.
Tweed (33 stories) (2475 posts)
+2
8 years ago (2016-02-18)
hahaha, I love your name!

Glad you shared this, I too believe sleep paralysis can on occasion include a paranormal influence.
Many people have ghost encounters upon waking up. While some of these could be explained away by a waking dream, it stands to reason some would be paranormal too. Because when we're asleep we're probably tuned in more to the other side anyway, like meditation.
Maybe what happened to you on this day was your sixth sense/inner awareness (whatever you want to call it) was receiving this presence, like a radar, because of your waking consciousness in the moment this entity was mucking around outside the door. (What on earth was it doing I wonder?😕)

Hope that made some sense. As for the entity itself, no idea. But your description reminded me of another experience on here, where a bloke encountered a dark robed flying human shape. That guy was wide awake when it happened. I wonder if you both encountered the same type of entity. Here's the link to his:
Http://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=22554

To publish a comment or vote, you need to be logged in (use the login form at the top of the page). If you don't have an account, sign up, it's free!

Search this site: