Apr 17, 2020 So, living in the PNW for the first 28 years of my life, I'd experienced numerous earthquakes throughout the years and knew exactly what to do in an earthquake situation (which, if you don't know, is to duck and cover under a table or stand in a door frame if there's no table around. If you are outside, just get as far away from any buildings/structures as possible). Anyway, a few nights ago, I woke up around 2:45 to an amber alert-style alarm going off on my phone telling me to duck and cover because a possible tornado was about to pass through my area. I'd never been in a tornado before so I had no idea what to do and sorta froze for a second—one of those rare moments in my life where I was legitimately like...holy s--- I could f---ing DIE in the next 15 min for all I know—and did a quick google/twitter search and confirmed that the storm was heading directly to my neighborhood. I knew being away from windows was good so I threw a few valuables that were close at hand like my laptop in my closet just in case and went downstairs where my roommate was. Luckily she knew what to do since she'd lived here for awhile and you're supposed to stay inside away from windows and on the bottom floor—preferably in the basement or a room with no windows. So I grabbed my mattress pad and pushed it up against the wall as far away from the windows as possible and tried to sleep. So I "woke up" about an hour or two later and was completely frozen in place with this overwhelming feeling of dread (you know like in those types of dreams where people are chasing you, but you can't move? sorta like that but it's in "real" life). Then I look up and see some mother f---er who looked like the BT shadow monsters from Death Stranding (with less tentacles) walking toward me: By the end I swear to god I could feel it on my chest like this as it got THIS close to me (my assumption was it was the cat walking over me, as all the pets were downstairs stressed out too): Anyway when I finally "came to" and could move again, I immediately took a klonopin because I was having a panic attack from seeing a shadow demon summoned by a tornado and went back to sleep because f--- THAT s---. I'm hoping this won't become a common occurrence—I'm doubting it cuz I think it was just caused by stress. Anyway, has anyone else had the fortune of having sleep paralysis before??? @LifeSXN
Apr 17, 2020 There was a period of time a year or two ago where I had them almost every night. The first time it happened I sensed a presence in the corner of the room, like a dark silhouette and a horrible sense of dread like "it's here, it's in the room" but I couldn't move. I didn't get a lot of visual ones, just a few dark presences and a demon-like creature that crept up to me once, but once it got closer it became less scary somehow. More frequently I get audio hallucinations, like whispers right next to my ear while I'm about to fall asleep. I am basically anticipating them every night now, s--- makes it hard to relax and calmly fall asleep, although it hasn't happened for some time. Now I know right before it's about to happen to start wiggling my toes and whatnot to immediately cut that s--- out. Weird thing happens if I take a nap during the afternoon. In that case, I won't get them then, but later that night it's basically guaranteed, so I avoid taking naps. Sleep paralysis is definitely the scariest s--- I went through and I am not superstitious. Makes me question my sanity. One time I felt someone lie next to me and breathe on my neck. Good luck man.
Apr 17, 2020 Yeah, happened to me once and watched the BT k--- my dad while I couldn't move and desperately tryna scream. Most shook I have ever been in my life
Apr 17, 2020 Tornado was real—my neighborhood didn’t sustain any real damage but I think the death toll is at 20 so including surrounding areas. My thinking was just that the interrupted/f----- up/erratic sleep combined with a high stress situation with feelings of anxiety and dread from the tornado caused the sleep paralysis. You should read up on sleep paralysis if you never have, s--- is terrifying but super interesting. @Spatula im so sorry you go through that so frequently man. I assume you get “used to it” to a certain extent but that doesn’t mean it isn’t s-----y
Apr 17, 2020 I used to experience them a LOT when I was in my early 20s. The worst feeling in the world and just as you described it, you feel like your chest is caving in and the apparations you see f--- you up for the rest of your night's sleep. I always chalked it up to being depressed or something. I haven't had them frequently since, just once every now and then.
Apr 18, 2020 Sorry to hear that man (and the others itt). I learned about it during Psychology. And despite me being a huge horror fan, googling that and seeing pictures/reading about it creeped me the f--- out for real. But yes it is also a very interesting topic! As far as experience, I never had that feeling not being able to move etc but when I see some posts in this thread I do recognize some of it; I has been years since the last time it happened, but I sometimes dreamed (or at least thought I did) there was someone or something in the corner of my bedroom. So I 'woke up' and turned on the lights, obviously to see nothing. But it took me at least an hour before I turned off the lights, sometimes not at all and I just went to sleep w it on lol. And I also recognize hearing a voice talking to me and then waking up. It only happened a few times and it was never that bad but when I see certain posts itt, it can definitely be some light version of it. I'm not really sure about the time line but in my early 20's some stuff did happen (nothing that serious tho) that might have caused some stress triggering it. Also, the state the world is in rn I don't think its weird that a lot of people feel kinda s-----y. There has been done research here (and I guess everywhere) that, other than the disease itself, collateral damage -lonelyness, insecurity, sadness/depression, being scared- can harm people the same or even more. So take care everybody!
Apr 18, 2020 I used to go through it a lot, but not much anymore. One time I felt like I left my body and was floating around the room and then dove back into my body, and it wasn't a dream because I had people over and I saw those people asleep while I was "floating" One instance I woke up and couldn't move and felt like I was being held down by 2 female shadow demons with pink eyes, I couldn't even blink, this was when I was a teenager, the s--- really f----- my head up after it ended, it's no joke. I'm sorry you experienced that s---. It was worse when I was a child though, it all calmed down when I got older and embraced the strange.
Apr 18, 2020 I had a few in high school. First one was the most terryfiyng. Skype sound on repeat, flashing lights all around me and feeling like somebody was trying pull me from my bed, like some alien abduction type of scene. 2nd was pretty scary too, there was a girl standing in the middle of my room just screaming. She had big black eyes. I was legit afraid of sleep after the 1st one. I blame my ex. We used to talkon Skype a lot.
Apr 18, 2020 Not yet thankfully but this s--- sounds disturbing af. I've seen a documentary on netflix that scared the s--- out of me lol
Apr 18, 2020 You know I was about to say if they ever make a movie about this and do it right it will blow all fake a--- monster & ghost movies out of the water. Gonna watch this, thanks. Not before bed tho
Apr 18, 2020 Υeah definitely not before bed. I did that mistake and it wasnt wise at all. Some of those stories really got into me.
Apr 18, 2020 Exactly, this is way scarier because its real. Well maybe not a real demon but the experience is. Movies hardly scare me anymore but stuff like this really does.
Apr 18, 2020 Next time it happens one of you lot should try talk to the apparition to see what it says. You never know, it could make you the next 50 Cent.
Apr 18, 2020 d--- sorry to hear about this @Donkey Kong Cuntry , I remember you told me about the sudden tornado alert but I had no clue about the other aftermath it left behind. I had some pretty bad nightmares in my younger days due to my battles with grief, but nothing on this sort of scale. We as Psychologists have a number of theories of why these episodes sort of manifest within our own little machinations, but it's mostly just speculation. Things that are commonly agreed to contribute why Sleep Paralysis happens is stress and a sudden change in sleep cycles during the REM phase. It's important to understand, and this goes for anyone that undergoes this frightening experience, is that it's not real and everything WILL be fine after. That residue that sticks with you after the experience is frightening, but you have to rationalize why it happened (lack of sleep, pre-conditioned stress) and understand that it's an unfortunate natural occurrence. That small reassurance will allow your mind to process it, and it will slowly take care of the rest. As always I'm here to talk about anything if y'all need it!
Apr 21, 2020 I didn’t know this was a thing till the second time it happened to me, one of the most horrifying experiences I’ve ever had in my life.
Apr 21, 2020 3 or 4 times now. 3 of them were impossibly frightening, and one was not. Feeling like no other.