Hmm, I may have experienced that a few times. I felt like I was half-asleep or barely conscious, and this figure who looked a lot like the outline of my mother, a silhouette or something, stood beside me and watched me, and I was powerless. Sometimes she would stand in the doorway to the bathroom area (my bedroom leads into it). It was creepy as all-get-out, and what I think it was was that for some time in real life she had made the habit of, after saying goodnight to me as usual, would stand in the doorway for a few seconds, like a final check to make sure everything was all right, and then go to her bed. I guess that really unnerved me, having her silhouette standing in the doorway like that, and perhaps it manifested itself as some sort of creepy weird thing. I talked to her about it once or twice, and she was surprised and profusely apologized for whatever she may have done to make me upset (whatever she thought she had done wrongly, I guess, which was nothing intentional on her part).

But I haven't had one of those experiences in years. (Plus, that was before I started to take my anxiety medication for other reasons.) XD

 

This is taken from a post I made a few months ago.

I was not alone. Ok this might be a bit creepy, but I want to mention it. Before I fell through the sofa, I was aware of something near the window. Not a person - it was like a shadow in the shape of a person, or an almost shape...like a blotchy person...but it was so black. Like...I noticed this thing in darkness...through closed eyes...under a blind fold, and it contrasted the dark like a black hole. I felt how dark it was. Anyway, this black hole dude, I've had a weird feeling about stuff like this for years now and I genuinely decided 'pfft, I'll get back to you.' like he was an inconvenience. I didn't actually feel threatened or anything, but that could just have been because I was all 'Oh, class, I'm trying not to move and now I'm falling face first into the sofa...Worst - attempt - ever. Oh, and there's a shadow monster sleeping at the window...bonus.'

But yeah, I don't know what to make of that last part, but I figured if I was a shadow dude that nobody could see, I'd like a mention - so, there we go.

Source: World of Lucid Dreaming Forum • View topic - 3rd day - bumbling success

If you want to debunk it because it's "astral projection crap" (which has been scientifically validated for like three decades), that's your prerogative, but I've found myself to be sensitive to this sort of stuff all my life.

I don't think they're malicious unless you yourself are malicious. If I had to define what "they" are - I'd say they are like empty bubbles that reflect negativity. If you're scared, they will manifest as your worst nightmare - if you don't give a shit, they'll just sit there, unaware.

 

I have nightmares almost every night. I'll get these dreams occasionally. Many times I'm paralyzed and I sense someone in the room, but I can't open my eyes or move to see. Sometimes they feel dark, but sometimes it's neutral. Nevertheless, you want to know who is in your room! I've had some where there's this dark being running down the hall towards me and I can't move. One time I had a sleep paralysis dream where I knew someone was there and I think their hand was on my chest because I knew they were close and I felt a strong pressure on my chest. Luckily I've mastered lucid dreaming, so I have some control over nightmares. I think it's just a projection of anxiety.

 

One time I had a sleep paralysis dream where I knew someone was there and I think their hand was on my chest because I knew they were close and I felt a strong pressure on my chest.

Pressure on the chest is a common feature, from what I've read. I knew a guy who described the dark figure as looming over him, kneeling on his chest and pinning him down with the full weight of his apparent body.

I had sleep paralysis a few times but I never saw the shadowy figure, fortunately. I wonder if this somewhat universal dream image is what the 'grim reaper' is based on?

 

l've never experienced it,only started hearing accounts of it a few years ago from other people online.


l was talking with someone on a another forum who didn't know what it was, and he thought he was developing a psychotic mental illness or possibly being possessed (he was religious) and was OVERJOYED when l suggested sleep paralysis.

So relieved that he wasn't losing his mind, l couldn't help but feel for him. H'e turned the entire thing into a ''confession'' of sorts instead of a medical issue because he really feared he might be insane, said he waited a few years to tell anyone about it.

 

The first time I experienced it I thought I was either going crazy or I was seeing a demon/demon possessed/insane. Both scenarios scared the crap out of me and I was afraid I was going insane and that was my new insane world. The next day I researched it and was relieved it was just...sleep paralysis. I was so afraid to be alone, and I was terrified to go to sleep. Terror. Like, and OMFG is this shit real? This shit is real?? Am I crazy? Am I insane? HOw long will I be crazy, what do I do? Will they lock me up?

When I first had it the figures were very very scary, evil, malicious and vivid and over time grew into friendly people. The first one was a man laughing at me. The laugh was, very disturbing. He had a distorted, colorful face that would shift and shape. He sat on me, I couldn't breathe or scream at all. The next ones were just black figures, once I hallucinated my arms and legs shriveled up into nothing while people watched from the window. The last one that I saw was an old lady asking me for a pillow. I had one a couple months ago that was choking me but at the same time I wasn't afraid of the choking...I guess I'm just not afraid of it anymore.

 

Makes you wonder. I won't lie though, these things scare me to death. Though you just close your eyes as my brother says, their not that scary, just really weird.

Its probably just your mind, or something similar to what you suggested. Otherwise you'll wreck yourself with fear. Last summer I could barely sleep because I was getting paralysis so much it blurred the line between my dreams and reality. The person I saw was a recurring hallucination too. Its a pretty primal experience. Don't bother yourself with the theories about it that carry no evidence, they're a complete waste of time.

 

I've had some bizarre experiences with sleep paralysis. One time I was in training at Ft. Gordon and I thought I heard the Drill Sgt on duty walk into the room to do bed check. The bootsteps walked in and were beside me, but he didn't leave... I was confused so I opened my eyes and there was a shadow figure that had a fedora and old trench coat type outline. I knew it was malicious immediately and I felt "sucked" into a dream instantly. I woke up in the morning what felt like a few seconds later. I couldn't remember what had happened in my dreams but I felt like I was running and fighting all night. I was exhausted the entire day. :/

Another time I was falling asleep and had sleep paralysis. I "saw" a figure enter my bedroom and sit beside me. I was more irritated by this presence because I just wanted to go to sleep. I'm told him to go away and ignored him. He began to push a "finger" in between the ribs on the right side of my body, which I found to be very painful. It was only then I became frightened. I asked him what he was doing and he said, I'm going to make you mine. I screamed and he seemed irritated and told me to stop it. I screamed again and he threw up his arms and got "sucked" back and up somehow which is when I startled out of the paralysis finally. I was really freaked out when I saw a large unusual bruise at the site where he attempted to penetrate me physically. I still have like a shadowy little mark and that happened like 10 years ago.

I can see why these delusions and strange manifestations would lead to the religious superstitions we have developed culturally.

 

I went through Basic at Ft. Gordon, July and august of 1963 - that alone was enough to give me nightmares! We were in barracks built for WW II training - hot, humid, rainy, muddy - bad!

I have had sleep paralysis long ago. I do not have a reference but have been told by a psychologist that the image seen is most likely the blind spot in the eye and general eye fatigue from not blinking. There can not be scientific proof on astral projection: it is, if it exist, not part of the physical world. Believe or not, your choice. I do not.

 

I get sleep paralysis a lot but I've never seen a dark figure. I do, however, get a huge sense of impending doom, like something awful is going to happen if I don't move soon even though I physically can't. I really have no idea if it can be logically explained.

 

I get SP frequently. Infact the last time I had SP was just a night or two ago. I saw this dark hooded figure walk from my door to the foot of my bed to the ladder (which faces the other side of the door, bunkbed). I heard it grunt as it was coming closer and closer.

The problem is, as scary as SP is it's also incredibly relaxing. So while you're struggling to get out you just end up getting this relaxed feeling stronger and stronger and fgdfgdg

 

I've experienced it twice, the last time in the summer and also felt a dark presence in the room. I woke up from a nightmare, a recurring one (in which there's a dark being on a steep hill in a room in a chest). When I woke up I saw a fully black human figure. It felt as if it had purely evil intentions. I was terrified and waited until the sun rised. The following day it felt as if a demon tried to take possession of me. In the evening I went over to a friend, since I couldn't handle it on my own anymore. At night I was afraid to go back to sleep again. A couple of days later the feeling faded. And I'm not even religious...

It's the most scary thing I 've ever experienced.

 

I did some research when I was recovering and this seems to be a helpful and interesting book for sleep paralysis sufferers:

Sleep Paralysis: A Guide to Hypnagogic Visions and Visitors of the Night: Ryan Hurd: 9780984223916: Amazon.com: Books

 

I read about this a few years ago, but I've never had it myself. They're hallucinations that are caused from still being in a semi-dream state, and, coupled with a fear from not being able to move, we get visions or the feeling of some king of evil presence. Apparently it can be stopped by simply being aware that you're in sleep paralysis still. I read one person opened their eyes during sleep paralysis and found Death looking straight at them, inches away.

 

Quite interesting that people who experienced sleep paralysis had terrifying hallucinations/dreams as well.

My experience with sleep paralysis only occurred once, about a decade ago. I "woke up", as in, I could see and am aware of my environment, but couldn't move any part of my body or speak. I thought I was going to die or something...being "awake" and suddenly paralyzed was scary...

 

I've never seen a figure, but I'm always intensely afraid of a girl around my age with dark hair getting me...wait, I'm a girl with dark hair haha. It's so scary it's like I'm a character in a horror movie. Eek it scares me to think about. I've literally slept with the lights on a few times after coming out of sleep paralysis.

 

I've dealt with sleep paralysis since I was like 6 or 7 years on, off and on in my life. But it wasn't until 3 years ago that I ever encountered a dark figure while experiencing sleep paralysis. It's only happened three times, but that was seriously enough. Two of them were minor and one was so intense I slept with the lights on for two days afterwards. The two lesser occasions I was lying in bed and woke up in the middle of the night and there would be a dark figure standing/hovering over me. One time I felt the pressure on my chest that many people claim to experience and it felt the figure had placed a large pillow over my head and chest area. The other time the figure grabbed hold of m wrist above my head.

But the most intense and terrifying experience I had was the first run in with the dark figure. I was asleep and woke up and for some reason my door was cracked slightly open so the light from the hallway kind of came into my room. But there in the doorway was this tall dark figure and it had glowing yellow eyes. But the weird thing was that the outline of the figure was unfocused and fuzzy like it's whole body was buzzing. I quickly realized I was in sleep paralysis when I tried to move and immediately tried to wake myself up because I had never encountered a figure before so I was freaking out. The figure then sudden rushed up on me and I felt fingers curl around my neck and begin to choke me! By this point I'm super panicky and really start trying to move some part of my body. But when I do this all of a sudden I hear all these loud and harsh whispers in my ear but I can't understand anything and the grip on my neck gets tighter the more I struggle. So I force myself to calm down as much as possible and then the whispers kind of subdue but don't completely stop and I'm no longer being choked but I can still feel firm hands wrapped around my neck. Then I feel numerous hands roaming all over my body as the whispering kind of picks up again and then I finally wake up.

 

Has anyone tried closing their eyes? IF the shadow figures are merely hallucinations stemming from the mind, could closing your eyes physically, to then control the projected imagined figure away until paralysis is passed, help?

After reading these stories I'm getting quited spooked out! I've only experienced the SP episodes but have never opened my eyes until I can move my body. I often feel weirded out for some reason after an episode. But it's a rare experience thankfully.

 

I think some people's description of sleep paralysis is very strange. Maybe there is a dark entity for some, but never for me. I've experienced sleep paralysis since I was 4-5 years old, all the way up until a few years ago. I think the last time I experienced it was in 2010. Anyhow...

Let me describe my particular experience to you. Every time, it feels more or less the same.

I'm lying in bed, and all of a sudden I feel heavy, dense. If I remember correctly (and know my memories of these events are rather phantasmagorical in nature and not the most trustworthy), this sensation has also occurred upon waking.

When sleep paralysis first gripped me at a young age I felt tinges of panic, because my conscious mind is still present, but my body is not. There is a particular and intense dissonance between the conscious mind and the unconscious body, and all control over the body is gone. You can see how this is very disturbing.

However, I started to experience sleep paralysis on a very frequent basis. I don't know why. Maybe it's the ghost of my father. Maybe it's just my brain chemistry - who knows? And very quickly, I basically got over the fear of it. I embraced it as something normal, not precisely within my control (because it was definitely not within my conscious control as far as moving my body is concerned), but not unmanageable either.

I never saw dark spectres or haunting images. The phenomena I experienced were purely physical.

After a certain time (maybe a few months or years - I cannot be certain), I learned how to either "combat" or "alleviate" the phenomenon of sleep paralysis. The first method involved mustering as much willpower as possible to "shake" my body - usually around the shoulders or the torso as a whole. This method I found very psychologically taxing - upon fully waking, I would always feel like I was involved in an epic struggle. The second method involved simply letting go of any feelings of discomfort or fear and instead of fighting against the lack of control, I would just relax and fall back asleep. I ended up pursuing option two most of the time, except in rare occasions.

The times sleep paralysis felt most terrifying is the moment between consciousness and unconsciousness. I think this is actually reminiscent of dying, and my body's natural reaction when I am actually consciously aware of my falling into unconsciousness (and the subsequent loss of control over my physical body) to "jerk myself to consciousness violently" is actually a natural reaction against the body/mind's false interpretation of death.

Just a theory, but it's better than nothing.

As you know, most of the time we fall asleep without actually realizing it. So when we do realize we're going into darkness, it can be rather frightening.

When I experience such a feeling again, I'll try to not fight it and just let go.

 

This was kind of how I dealt with sleep paralysis too. I've had in come and go in and out of my life since age 6 or 7. And at first I was afraid because I couldn't move my body, but it started to happen so much that I became used to it and rationalized it as me just dreaming and it became common.

I used the relaxing method and just going back to sleep a lot when I was in my first two years of high school. I was also like you as far as my sleep paralysis being purely physical, aside from the three encounters I mentioned earlier. It wasn't until then that I ever experienced a dark figure and felt myself being harmed or in some kind of immediate danger. I really haven't had sleep paralysis happen to me a lot, since maybe around April of 2013. And the last six months or so before they stopped were the strangest experiences with sleep paralysis I had ever ran into, because I began to feel vibrations travel throughout my body, starting at the base of my spine.

Now I'll get it maybe once or twice every few months and I'm fully dreaming when they happen now (as opposed to how I'd usually just be on the edge of sleep or waking up) and are usually paired with at least one false awakening. There's no dark figure anymore and all the experiences are rather short and mild now.

 

My dad's told me he was attacked a few times in the night by some dark entity during his sleep. This thing was on top of him, choking him, but thankfully, my dad fought that thing off and resumed sleep soon after. The thing is, my dad is a really stoic and rational guy who doesn't get scared of stuff pertaining to paranormal phenomena and the like. He nonchalantly retells that story and thinks nothing of it. So in other words, he doesn't deny the existence of dark entities or ghosts, but he also doesn't harbor the weird fascination others seem to invest in such things. He'd much rather talk history or baseball to be honest. Guess it doesn't hurt he's a true Te-dom and doesn't give a fuck about this stuff.

Chances are, some people are just imagining this because they're in between dream-and-wake states, plus it's dark or not bright enough to get a really clear look at what is, or isn't, present. Our fears can lead us to imagine the worst. I also think some reports of people seeing an actual entity are true because I for one do believe ghosts and demons or some malevolent spirits exist in this world. What if some people are being attacked by an incubus or a succubus? Ugh, that would be horrible.

 

When I experience it, I don't see a figure. I can't see anything. I do, however, feel a malevolent presence that laughs maliciously, breathes heavily (I think it's me perceiving my own heavy breathing while my brain can't associate the feeling of breathing with the sound of breathing) and chokes me. I know it's sleep paralysis now, so it's not a big deal.

 

I used to hallucinate 100% of the time, and during sleep paralysis I still see a dark figure standing at the foot of my bed, his fingers reaching for me. But I'm trapped.

It's terrifying, to say the least...

 

Ugh, sleep paralysis...I've had a huge problem with it all my life.

Weirdly, the hallucinations I got from it always seemed to kind of connect with what I was interested in my life at the time. When I was a little kid I remember a cartoon vulture coming out of the wall at me really menacingly. I thought he was going to kill me but then he just stared at me, then turned around and walked back into the wall, periodically staring evilly back at me.

When I was in college I got the 'dark figure' hallucination three times. The first time was in my boyfriends house. I was sleeping on the couch and it came out of the hallway. It looked like a hooded figure with bright red eyes, with two shorter shadowy friends behind him. The second time I got it it was in my house, I got the same hooded figure and then one more the same size with no eyes, and it attacked my dog and chased it around the house while I was paralyzed. The third time I was in my dorm room and it walked up to me and grabbed my arm, causing a lot of pain. I ended up pretty freaked out for a while, thinking demons were after me.

When I moved into my apartment I had a freaky ones where police burst into my room and were questioning me about my neighbors. Which, in hindsight, was pretty funny because we were having a really hard time with loud parties and my other neighbors were constantly calling the police on them.


When I read about sleep paralysis, it was a huge relief. Weirdly now when I get it, I don't hallucinate at all because I know what it is, but I still get a really panicky feeling. I have found sleeping on my stomach or side really helps, I never get it when I sleep on my stomach.

 

I've had very slight sleep paralysis. Only to the point where I had trouble moving my head and limbs, but not to the point where I would hallucinate.

 

Welp, I am never going to sleep again, ever.

 

Demons are attracted to fear. Sleep paralysis can cause intense fear, and when it does, the demons come to take advantage of it. I have seen them, and others have described seeing the same things (even in this very thread). Most of my romantic partners saw them at some point while dating me. They are real.

 

I only experienced this when I had a significant amount of unprocessed trauma. I think they're real, and that they're attracted to the energy of the unconscious parts of ourselves which are unconscious due to self hate and have become toxic due to their lack of exposure to consciousnesses, the shadow as jung would call it.

The greater the shadow the greater the possibility and extent of possession and things like these happening. But i guess it could and does happen to people without the aforementioned stuff, I think they're real but they exist in a strange sort of way that I'm not sure I really understand. Imo they exist in the same substance form as dreams exist, but I believe dreams to be a part of physical reality though a as of yet hidden mysterious part of reality to modern science.

 

Happened to me quite a bit growing up. Over time I realized it was just a creation of my half dreamlike state and the paralysis is just a natural occurrence in the body to prevent injury during sleep. Once I trained my mind to accept death, therefore feel no fear, my illusions started to become ridiculous. One time a red demon thing climbed on me and I ate him because I wanted my sleep. I haven't seen anything crazy in a while during SP (sadly), but I occasionally see hexagon and swirl patterns on my walls and ceilings when I wake up, not to mention a stick like figure with tentacles flailing around as it recedes to the back wall of whatever I look at. Or I could be wrong and I'm just being experimented on by aliens, who knows. I don't really care I have life insurance and current preoccupations are more of a hassle than threats on my life by the unknown.