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Night Terrors

 

For a six-month period, my son would have episodes that people typically attribute to night terrors. This began at the age of 2 ½, and ran until just after his third birthday. He slept in a twin bed nestled in the corner of his room with his 1-year-old brother sleeping kitty corner to him in his own twin bed. Ian had begun to wake up in the middle of the night hysterically screaming and crying. When his mother and I would walk into his room to see what was wrong, he did not even acknowledge our presence. His eyes were open, but nobody was home. When we tried to hug and comfort him, he would scream "No!" and push us away. Eventually after 15 minutes or so (Or maybe it just felt that long), he would calm down and get back to sleep. These "episodes" would occur once a week in the beginning and eventually increased to every night of the week towards the end.

After consulting his Pediatrician and countless other parents, the consensus was that his behavior was the result of night terrors. All of the signs pointed to an accurate diagnosis. He would resist comforting, he would be hysterical and he seemed disoriented. We went with this and did our best to get him through these terrors.

My son would speak to me when I was putting him to bed about shadows that were in the corner of his room that made him feel uneasy. I showed him that his teddy bear on top of his bookshelf was casting a shadow. He did not seem convinced. He was, and remains, sensitive to spirits. This "gift" was passed down to him through me. I was aware of the multiple entities in, and around the house. What I did not realize was that he might be able to sense them as well.

One night after having countless discussions over the weeks about the "shadows" in his room, he again woke up screaming. I ran into his room to comfort him and this time I held him in my arms (a no-no according to professional opinion during a night terror) and I was able to assess the situation more clearly as this was now a daily routine and ceased to thrust me into the role of helpless parent. To my surprise, I was able to sense an entity in the corner of his room. I screamed at the top of my lungs "you leave my son alone and get the hell out of my house!"

That was the last "night terror" he ever had.

We have since moved (not due to paranormal activity) and live in a house that is active as well. There were no spirits when we first moved in, but after a few months, that all changed. Ian is now five years old and he is becoming more aware of the spirit world and is better able to verbalize what he thinks and feels. That however is another story, which I will post at a later date.

Does anyone have any comments regarding my son's experience? The select few people I have told (all skeptics) try to pawn it off as "coincidence." I happened to order the entity out of my house during my son's last episode. Whether I did that or not, that was going to be the last time that he had a night terror. I feel differently, but I am always open to all opinions.

Thank you for taking the time to read my first posted experience. I was so happy to find this site and have a place to talk about this with people who are curious and understand what I have dealt with for as much of my life as I can remember.

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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, Jackets, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

JimD (431 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-02-12)
My comment is that the spirits are 100% demonic. Commanding them to leave is great, but must be done in Jesus' name to be effective. Also, the Rosary, Holy water, blessed salt, and prayers to Mary and St. Michael the Archangel would be teriffic.
scrapmetalkitten (306 posts)
 
14 years ago (2009-11-07)
I think you did the right thing. He probably is sensitive to spirits and just got a nasty one. I mean if you were a spirit you would have to be pretty low to scare a child like that mercilessly.
I remember my dad told me that when I was two I came and got him saying "someone is in my room and I can't sleep." Something to that effect and my dad sat on my bed in the dark for a few minutes to see what I was talking about. He said within a few minutes a lego flew past his head and I think he cussed it out and told it to leave, and I didn't have any more problems after that. I still have encounters with spirits but most of the time I'm no longer afraid and just deal with it.
freakb345 (6 posts)
 
15 years ago (2009-04-13)
freaky dude I would run out of the house right away! And I also felt a chill run down my back while I was reading 😨 😨 😨
ash_122 (1 stories) (8 posts)
 
15 years ago (2009-03-15)
This same sort of stuff used to happen to my nephew. He would wake at the same time every night screaming like this. One night his mother and I actually saw a shadow walking up the hallway into his bedroom, that's when we knew what was scaring him.

He's fine now, but I think he remembers.
Kinger (1 stories) (4 posts)
 
15 years ago (2008-11-25)
I am a new parent with a baby boy. He often screams in the middle of the night an is unconsolible. We think he might have night terrors since I had them as a child. I doubt there's a ghost involved but my fiance claimed that the rocking chair was moving by itself once when he was freaking out.
dreamergal72 (6 stories) (793 posts)
 
15 years ago (2008-11-14)
Hi I did had night terror when I was a child I don't know why I did ask my mother about that and child who seen things and parent don't believe things that children seen just like my parent don't believe to seen things that I do.
whitebuffalo (guest)
 
15 years ago (2008-11-14)
Oh, totally understood, Jackets.
I would never suggest that someone try to help their child sharpen their "skills". I am more for supporting them lovingly through the process. If there comes a time in which MY son decides that this is just too much, I will assist him in blocking as well.
It sounds as if we come from just about the same place in our journey. I could see and communicate when I was very young. Sometime in my early teens (or maybe it was more in the middle, I do not really recall. It was a "rocky" upbringing when it came to this subject) I chose to shut it down.
Quite successfully, I might add. That is until I became a parent. Then, it would appear, that THROUGH my children, I gained that sight once again. I believe that the reason I slid right back into that same slot was that the environment was just right. I may not have had parental support, but I had shared experiences (Not at first. At first I was just trying to help Essie through what it was that SHE was going through) with my child.
Then when the second seer in the family came along (eleven years later) things just kind of cemented themselves. It was just about written in stone. I, personally, WOULD NOT encourage my child to tone this muscle. But I WILL help them with it.
I guess that is really what I was trying to say all along. I would be just as proud of my children if they DID NOT have such experiences. Honestly, MY five year old scares me at times.
But I would not sit out this dance for the world.
Thank you again.
Jackets (3 stories) (71 posts)
 
15 years ago (2008-11-14)
whitebuffalo,

Thank you for your comment. I will follow your advice about how to help him along with this. Although I want to make sure that he is the one to make the ultimate decision as to whether he wants to keep and develop this gift when he gets older and grows more wise and mature. In the meantime, I will be open to his experiences and hearing what he has to say seems like it has opened up some new channels for me. I had seen spirits in the past, but that went away after my teen years. I actually made a concious effort to make it go away because as I said, I never had anyone to explain this to me. I thought I was either crazy or had a gift, and both of those posibilities were scary to contemplate. Ever since my son started speaking to me about things and then when I found this website, I have gotten over the fear and for whatever reason I have begun to see things again. It's nice to have a visual every once in a while to confirm the feelings I have been having.
Jackets (3 stories) (71 posts)
 
15 years ago (2008-11-14)
rhodes68,

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and post a comment. I agree that if it was negative it would not have responded to a simple command to leave my son alone. The energies remained in that house until we moved. There was a spirit of a young boy in the house. Perhaps it was him. He stayed in my room a lot. I would feel him constantly and see him every once in a while.

As for his gift, I will post more stories about his experiences. As of right now they are limited to a very few as he either hasn't completely opened up, or he doesn't understand it yet. Either way, I will tackle this situation very carefully. I am just glad that he doesn't have to grow up trying to figure out answers for himself like I did. It was scary and lonely time filled with lots of questions and no one to turn to for answers.
Jackets (3 stories) (71 posts)
 
15 years ago (2008-11-14)
Tonith,

Thank you for your comment. I felt like something more was going on and I acted on it. I am going to have to approach helping him with his gift carefully as he is so young that I fear that he will begin to blur the line between imagination and his gift. While I can feel things with him when he is having an experience in the house with me, I need to make sure that he learns to seperate the two. Again thank you for your comment. I have been reading your posts as well as the posts of whitebuffalo and rhodes68 from the first day I logged on and I was hopeful that you three would be in the mix of those that took the time to post your thoughts.
whitebuffalo (guest)
 
15 years ago (2008-11-14)
"Any comments...?" Uh, yep.
Welcome to the club that seems to be growing in memberships, Jackets. THANK YOU for listening to your son. He needed that. And so did you, though you may not be able to see that just now.
Parents have a "secret weapon" when it comes to ghosts invading the space of their children. It is called love. We tend to feel a bit over protective, but this is not something that we can call the police and get backup for. These are not playground bullies who thump and steal our kids lunch money. There really are no real support groups for parents of children starting out in this area of their lives.
WE have the power to assist when necessary, and THEY have the power to come to us for additional forcefulness when desired. Now that your son is five, he will be able to articulate some very interesting things to you (in that you also have the gift, 😉 pay attention. SOME of the things he will point out do not LOOK the same to HIM as they do to YOU).
The first piece of advice that I would give you is to be alert. You KNOW your son. You KNOW when he is imagining or seeing. Use that to BOTH of your advantage. Feed off of his clues. There MAY be times in which what he comes to you with sounds absolutely preposterous. WALK him THROUGH it. Ask. Listen. Advise. Try, with all your might (as it MAY take that, at times), to understand COMPLETELY what it is that he is seeing.
And KEEP the experience POSITIVE, even if you have snatched him up in your arms and have run yelling and in the midst of a panic attack through the house to the safety of the out of doors.
An LAUGH. Laugh at all of it (NOT in a disrespectful way) and show him that fear is not an option. After all, LIVE persons are SO MUCH more dangerous than those who are life impaired.
Thank you.
rhodes68 (14 stories) (1596 posts)
 
15 years ago (2008-11-14)
Hallelujah! A parent who doesn't think his child's "crying wolf"!

There are certain experiences that one might be wise to consider as "scientifically or medically explained" but ever since we invented science we seemed to have grown a little too confident about "possessing the ultimate wisdom behind all things" and tend to disgard the mere possibility that not all things are physical or natural.

Sometimes shadows are just "areas where light from the light source cannot reach" but at other times, shadows are the actual impression of things tangible/visible or not.

Obviously the energy keeping your son awake was not as evil as you might have thought despite the terror it caused. Sometimes, energies wish to be recognised and once they find someone who perceives them, they will attempt many things to get their message across.

Had it been something negative, it wouldn't have stopped at command-that I assure you.

I think your boy has a "gift" some call it that. Maybe when or if you ever decide to share some more of his experiences, we will be able to see what he sees.

Thank you.
Tonith (1136 posts)
 
15 years ago (2008-11-14)
I know night terrors can be the expression of stress for a child. I know of kids having them when there is turmoil in a family or when there is a move or a death or a divorce. All this said it seems like this is not the case with your son. I think being sensitive yourself you did exactly the right thing and it wasn't just a coincidence. My son at age 8 being very shy by nature didn't want to be in a school play and had an episode sort of like that but more akin to sleepwalking but was talking and crying and I knew he was actually still asleep. He had no memory of the event and it only happened that one time. That to me was brought on by stress but I don't think that was the case for your son being that he inherited your gift. I think it's wonderful that you have knowledge of this and can help him as he grows with his gift. Doesn't seem like it messed up your life and you can make sure it doesn't mess up his.

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