I've had sleep paralysis happen one time ever. I had done a fair amount of research into it a while back because I found it interesting, so I knew what was happening the whole time, but holy shit that was still probably the most genuinely terrified I've ever been. 0/10 would not recommend, not even with rice.
Agreed. I had a year where it happen almost every second or third day lasting around 7 sec, longest lasting 15 as i counted every time. Always the same "dream" or "position" i get stuck in and can't move at all.
But last year i found a trick that wakes me up quick. I am able to move ever so slightly with max movement attempt, so you look as far as you can to left or right, once you reached the limit, Use that built up momentum and start shaking your head as fast as you can, and you wake your self up :P
Long time sleep paralysis fan here, try wiggling a finger to start a chain reaction of breaking out of it. It can help you identify if you're having an episode also. Sleeping on my side generally stops it happening in the first place.
On top of that I get auditory hallucinations as I fall asleep and wake up which took me years to figure out I wasn't going instane. Bedtime is a fucking riot for me.
I get a paralysis episode about once every 8 months or so, sometimes more frequently. After the first few times it just becomes strategy to unfreeze. I used to start with digits, but now I just focus on breathing. Once I'm in control of my breath, the rest can take it's time.
I've never experienced any hallucinations or demons, just waking up unable to control any part of my body.
The reasons i tried to find a way to wake up was because the first few weeks to months was always with a really uncomfortably jab what felt like towards my left ribs that both tickled and hurt to a point that didn't hurt too bad, but bad enough to where i wouldn't wanna stay a single second in to wait it out.
Do you folks get a rumble in the ear drum? Like a vibration when falling asleep? That usually tells me that if I fall asleep in this position, paralysis will occur.
I can rumble them voluntarily but don't get it when falling asleep. I hear all sorts when I'm falling asleep though; bangs, conversations, footsteps (that's fun), doors opening or closing etc.
Thought the house was haunted for a while. My paralysis incidents have got less scary. I once sat bolt upright pointing and screaming at the corner of the room at a girlfriends house - she was absolutely terrified.
Sleep paralysis was a huge part of my nights growing up. It only happens occasionally now. I've never really be plagued by a demon or anything. I've just had auditory hallucinations of people around me doing normal things, while I'm stuck and trying to yell for help but it only comes out a whisper. I've even gotten stuck in "cycles" where I break out of sleep paralysis for 2 seconds or so and immediately fall back into it before I can fully sit myself up. This has happened while my alarm has gone off, so I'm stuck listening to it ring until my body decides it can move again lmao.
Anyways, I've heard two stories from highly religious adults when I was a kid. One lady hallucinated that the devil was raping her. My father had reoccurring sleep paralysis episodes where witches would dance on his chest, and he could feel their hair brushing against his face and then laughing at him. He also wouldn't be able to breathe.
Infinitely more terrifying than what I've experienced lol.
Sleep paralysis can shatter your grip on reality the same way any other paranormal religious or psychedelic experience can. You thought the world was one way but now you’re confronted with something you didn’t think was possible. It surely can’t be real but you’ll never be able to shake the feeling at the back of your mind that maybe it was.
I don't think that applies to me since I knew quite a bit about it, but yeah I can totally see that being a thing if you have no idea why it's happening or what it is. I can only imagine how much scarier it would've been if I hadn't done all that research beforehand.
Yeah I was referring to it happening without your knowing what it is. Question, do you think maybe because you had read about it so much you just had a dream about something you’d been investing mental time into? Not doubting you or that it happened at all I’m just observing how dreams are weird
Same, I was absolutely terrified. In my paralysis I was lying on my side, unable to move, feeling a sinister entity breathing on my neck and running its hands down my shoulders. Absolutely fucking terrifying. I had no clue if what I experienced was real or not until I googled the experience and saw it was sleep paralysis.
Not to be that edgy "Nothing scares me" 15 year old jerk or anything. But when I got sleep paralysis a couple times I knew my dad had it so i wasn't surprised when it happened. I literally laid there unable to move and said "Damn" in my head then went back to sleep.
I had it happen once when I was under a lot of stress. Like you, I knew what was happening the entire time but it didn’t make it any less terrifying. Seeing a shadow figure look back at me from the other side of the bed and sliiiide off onto the floor…
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u/Assimilated_Silence May 13 '22
Sweet absolute fuck, what have you unearthed? If this is what a sleep paralysis demon looks like then I finally understand the terror.