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September 29, 2006 / Friday
Sleep Paralysis
When I was little, my mom used to tell me that the house we lived in (a 200 year old rental) was haunted. She said that at night she would "bay gwai tsahk", which roughly translates into being held down or pressed down on by a ghost. She said the ghost would press down on her and laugh in her ear. Weird, I thought, but not much more, because at that age I was too busy playing astronaut under the covers to think about creepy apparitions floating about.
This morning, after a fitful dream about playing in a hockey tournament with 17 skaters and being part of 4 lines of D and somehow not getting to play even a single shift the first period (waah! nightmare!), I "woke up" and felt a creepy presence in the room. I was partially on my left side and it was hovering just over my right shoulder. I wanted to see what it was, but couldn't manage to fully open my right eye or turn my head in that direction. I tried for what felt like ages, and every time I tried, I'd hear the creepy thing go "NOOOOO!" in a sort of muffled low voice. Finally, my head moved and my eye opened, and, just as I thought (and was trying to prove), there was nothing there.
Wow, that was creepy. I immediately thought of what my mom had said about the ghost thing. Amusingly, my first thought was, "Fuck yoU! Go pick on someone else." I kind of hoped something would appear so I could take a swing. Then I woke up some more and thought, "Okay, what's really happening here? Strange brain! What does science have to say about this?"
So I looked it up, and it's called sleep paralysis. Huh, interesting.
Here's a slightly edited excerpt from someone's webpage about sleep paralysis that I thought described this morning's episode pretty well:
Upon realizing one is paralyzed, a whole gamut of hallucinations may occur. Many people report hearing, seeing, and/or sensing a person or people in the room with them while they are paralyzed. There is also the common experience of a usually sensed, malevolent presence (or SMP). These SMP's usually seem to be just out of view of the person experiencing the sleep paralysis. The SMP is incredibly intimidating the person feels that this very evil, terrible "thing" is just right outside their field of vision, and if they weren't paralyzed and was able to turn their head just an inch or so, they would be able to see this horrid thing.
I don't know that it was horrifying, but it kinda pissed me off. Come back, so I can kick your ass!
September 29, 2006 10:51 AM | Dreams
Comments
Sage, burn it and close your room to the SMP they have no asses to kick.
Posted by: Shadow at September 29, 2006 11:34 AM
you'd be the first to die in a horror movie, wouldn't you? although, were i watching, i'd totally root for you. =)
something like this happened when i was younger, but i was more paralyzed by fear. there was a storm outside and the lightning lit up a section of blanket so it looked like a girl was kneeling across the room. i couldn't breathe, i couldn't move, CERTAIN that if i did, it would leap across the room and kill me. i finally got tired of being freaked out, lept up and turned on the light.
this is why i hate thunder and lightning, makes me see things.
Posted by: i, andrea at September 29, 2006 12:18 PM
Yeah my foot would go right through it, huh? :-/
I'm scared to death of thunder and lightning. The T (kind of like BART) used to run just behind my backyard, and at night it'd be loud and make sparks. I'd hide under my sheets until it passed. Rumble, flash, eek!
Posted by: Viv at September 29, 2006 01:03 PM
Hmm, I had something similar happen when I was younger...except I was going to fall through a black hole in the middle of my bed (instead of an evil person). I was on the top bunk and I was "dreaming" that I was holding myself up with just my arms and my legs were hanging down in the middle of the bed (into the black hole). I kept trying to call to my sister but I couldn't talk or move my arms or legs. Then I managed to somehow force my arms open and "wake up"...I could've sworn I felt my legs come back up from the hole and back onto my bed.
Then there was the time I dreamt that I was sleeping and while sleeping in this dream, I was dreaming about an evil man in my room. In my dream, I forced myself to wake up from my dream's dream...only to discover that there was a man in my room. Then I really woke up and felt like there was still someone in the room. So I put my head under the covers and came close to waking up the hubby to check the room. :-)
Posted by: KarenB at September 29, 2006 02:15 PM
Whoa, crazy stuff!
You didn't want to fall in and explore the black hole?
Posted by: Viv at September 29, 2006 02:21 PM
Hm.. I think that's the same thing that happens to me on occassion.
I'm dreaming someone is in the house/room and want to get up but can't. Then I realize I am dreaming and I know someone isn't in the room, I'm just dreaming it. I try to wake myself up but can't. The more I try the more I feel like I'm getting a headache. I give up trying to wake myself up and instead try to think of something else, convince myself it doesn't matter if someone is in the room (after all Chris is around to deal with them), or try to get myself to fall into a deeper sleep.
Often what happens is shortly (or what seems like shortly) after trying to give up waking myself up, I wake up. This whole experiences typically happens when I've woken up kind of early, fallen back to sleep and am now sleeping in late and the room is stuffy or too warm. I feel stressed after it happens though which defeats the purpose of sleeping in.
Oh, and Karen, that was me pulling on your legs from the bottom bunk.
Posted by: LisaK at September 29, 2006 03:31 PM
That's pretty much what happened this morning. I woke up, fell asleep again, and then it was late and getting stuffy in the room. That should teach me not to sleep in on a weekday!
Posted by: Viv at September 29, 2006 08:50 PM