Shadow people

[Jenasaurus]

wondered if anyone has experienced something similar to this and could help me find someone to talk to about shadow people. I have been having a few issues recently with seeing dark shadows and thought it was my imagination. But last night I woke up to see a black shadowy mass hunched over me. I screamed and my daughter came to check on me. I am sure I wasn’t asleep and it feels like the earlier shadowy figures out of the corner of my eye were probably real too. I want it to stop as it feels sinister to be honest. I sleep with a night light on already but it still appeared. Not sure who to talk to as they may think I’m insane. The only thing I have going on on my life at the moment that may be causing me heightened emotions is my son is moving out into his new place at the end of the month but I am happy for him. He keeps asking me if I will miss him and will I cope when he leaves but I am honestly excited and pleased for him. I love him dearly but he is almost 30 and needs to become independent so it’s natural. I also work with my other son and have my daughter living here so not lonely. Has anyone ever encountered something like this or know what it is and how to stop it. Do you think sage may work or is it all in my head.

A few years ago when I was going though emotional trauma I had a couple of episodes of sleep paralysis. This wasn’t the same though as I was able to scream and move this time while the shadow was hunched over me.

Prepared (in fact I hope) to be told it’s in my head

Really IS in your head. Sleep paralysis, very common esp when one is stressed or anxious. I'm not diminishing the fear you've felt, it is a horrible phenomenon but the shadow people are not real.

Have a non mumsnetty hug.

This is a manifestation of your anxiety. It seems very real to you which is why you feel confused.

Shadow people are a figment if your imagination.

Perhaps a word with your GP and a talk about how to reduce your anxiety, whether it be by medication or other ways.

You will get through this frightening time.

Hi, could this be sleep halluzinations? I often see things in my room when I am about to sleep or sleeping, but feel I am awake when I see them and react by running out of the room. In my case it is not a shadowy figure, but a person, though I could not say what they are wearing, or twice it were hunge spiders. I wonder if, because you have sleep paralysis, you might have the halluzinations, too?
My DS has sleep paralysis and his GP explained that it is about the body falling asleep before the mind. I assume sleep halluzinations might mean that the imaginary brain department is still active?

Oh that must have been really frightening. I had sleep paralysis a few years back and was convinced some thing pulled my ankles down the bed.

I was really stressed out at the time. It’s never happened again

For some perspective, many years ago I was suffering horrendous stress. When I turned my Henry Hoover on I could hear voices. Horrible weird voices that sounded like demons and they were shouting at me to do horrible things.

I knew of course that there were no demons living inside my hoover and the voices were my imagination but I could swear blind that the voices were as real as someone being in the room talking to me.

It was horrible at the time and I was scared I would start hearing the voices elsewhere but thankfully I didn’t and to cut a long story short I overcame my stress at that time and never heard the voices again.

Thanks for the reassuring posts. I really am happy to think it’s in my head as that’s something I can deal with. It was the fact I Screamed and woke up my DD that made me question if it was real as in the past I have been paralysed and unable to react

Please go to your GP. Really don’t want to frighten you, sorry, but when MIL was recovering from recent stroke in hospital she constantly saw just on the edge of her peripheral vision a tall, hunched figure in a tall hat and black cloak. She knew it wasn’t real, appreciated how ridiculous it sounded but could distinctly see it there, practically all the time. She felt very foolish and didn’t tell the doctors.
She mentioned it to my husband, said he looked like an old fashioned villain in a silent film. He talked to the consultant who said it was extremely common in recovering stroke victims, a recognised, named hallucinatory condition (so sorry, can’t remember the name) that resulted from a very specific brain activity. Said it usually passed, and it did after several days. It felt very very real to her while it was happening.
Do get checked out.

Voices from your Henry Hoover sounds scary. I would have a very dirty carpet if that happened to me

I was having similar sleep issues about 10 years ago. I remember being convinced people were in my house. I'd just moved house and had quite a lot on my plate at the time. I didn't specifically do anything to help or stop it. It just passed with time.

langeish. A stroke isn’t something I had considered but will check it out. Would I have other symptoms though?

When I was about 18 and still living at home I was convinced I was being haunted by something. Every night something would sit on my and either try to suffocate me with the bed covers or try to pull them off me. One time I was convinced something was sexually abusing me in bed and it felt incredibly real. I physically felt it. I would hear footsteps in my room, drawers opening, wardrobe door opening and closing as though someone was going through my things. I was terrified beyond belief.

Although I do believe in the supernatural I think looking back this was a manifestation of depression and anxiety that went untreated.
It suddenly stopped after a few months and I never experienced it again.

If I fall asleep on the sofa I always get two sensations, the first one is that not long after I fall asleep I trip up the Kerb! That’s a very common feeling that many get as our bodies relax to fall asleep.

The second one is the sensation that two people have entered the room and are lifting me at each end off the sofa. It really feels like I’m being lifted but there is no one there.

Our minds play tricks on us when tired.

fireman that sounds horrible!

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4731518/

Found this. Now that is interesting as there is a link to narcolepsy which although I don’t have. It is in my family

Jenasaurus

Oh gosh, not suggesting you had a stroke! Just letting you know there’s a particular hallucinatory condition - wish I could remember what it’s called! - that usually involves seeing people that quite commonly occurs in stroke victims: other conditions can bring it about too.
As I said I don’t want to frighten you but you ought to see a doctor if you’re hallucinating.

If you had had a mini stroke you wouldn’t necessarily know it, there aren’t always symptoms. MIL has had a series over years now, severity becoming worse each time.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_release_hallucinations

Charles bonnet syndrome possibly?

Although that states the hallucinations tend to be miniature people and this shadow was massive. Although I do have glaucoma which can be a cause u noticed in the above link. I may possibly be heading towards diabetes too. Another cause

Just as long as you can differentiate that what you see and hear may appear real but you know it’s your imagination/mind that for whatever reason, whether it’s tiredness, anxiety or even a physical illness is manifesting in this manner.

Rather than googling and being frightened
best to just mention it to your doctor. Hope you have a restful weekend.

Google hypnagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations. I get them sometimes, usually either a spider or waking up to see someone standing by the side of the bed. They feel incredibly real, and are more common in times of stress.

I’ve had sleep paralysis and I’ve also done the wake up screaming thing - I think they’re linked although obviously not exactly the same. Always linked to stress in some way but I also go a long time between it happening so it’s not anything that really causes me worry. If it does happen in fact I use it as a chance to examine the stress in my life and think about how I need to make changes so it can be quite useful from that point of view. I don’t find it scary either now I know what it is.

Hi, my (now adult) son has had recurrent sleep paralysis for years - also happened when he was awake but tired. It was terrifying for him - he described them as shadow people too, often monstrous and scary. He used to wake up to seeing dark monsters over him staring at him.
It was inadvertently solved when he went on anti-Ds for different reasons - low dose completely eradicated the shadows within 2 days. They've never really come back even after he stopped the tablets.

He had an amazing GP who didn't know much about the sleep paralysis, but researched it. He was wonderful. He thinks it's an exacerbated form of night terrors (which my son also had as a young child)

After years of worry about it, it really was a quick solve - I hope it is for you too 😊

Have you been playing with anything you shouldn't? Boards or spells or anything?

I only have one ghostly experience and it was of encourntering a shadow demon. It happened after... anyway, only ever saw it that one time. Felt it looking at me that night in the dark and then saw it. Had just turned out my light too (plus could turn over and move about) so i know it wasn't sleep paralysis or whatever. 5 years in this house and only ever saw it that once. So obviously knew where it came from.

It could just be sleep paralysis but if you have been around or participated in anything you shouldn't have (or similar has happened in your home maybe without you knowing/before you came) it can most certainly be something else.

Luckily for me I only saw it one so didn't need to do anything about it. It vanished itself after a good twenty minutes of standing next to my bed and me pretending not to see it. But fuck, it was scary.

TeaForTheWin

Stay off the weed.

Hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations are very common and some types describe what people think are ghosts. They are more common at and after times of stress or traumaI have severe hypnopompic hallucinations where I see everything (spiders, animals, people etc.) with amazing clarity and colour and feel the movements as though on my bed. Seeing them is amazing as I'm severely sight impaired and can't see anything!!