Sleep paralysis/ sleep demons

[SleepDemons]

Have you experienced sleep demons? (Sleep paralysis with hallucinations).
They visit you during that half asleep/ half awake state. Sometimes just as you're drifting off, sometimes as you're awakening.

Tell me about your experiences.

I've had all the visitors. The "old hag" who sits on your chest, the "dog demon" who's a scruffy little hound who comes into the bedroom through a little door in the wall.
I've had the "Slender Man" who is tall and thin and looms over your bed.
They are typically shadow beings with no features, just a dark empty silhouette. They occasionally speak, mine certainly do.

I also suffer PTSD. I believe the conditions are closely related.

The last sleep demon I experienced was a voice in the room with no visual element.
It was a voice calling my name that woke me up. The bastard voice was very frightening and pulled me out of my sleep much to my distress.

Sometimes the night time hallucinations coincide with stressful days but I also get them even if I've had a good day!

I'm interested to hear your sleep paralysis experiences.

I used to have this, mainly when exhausted and stressed. And always sleeping on my back. Little leathery brown goblin creatures standing by the bed, aliens, or just a sense of something evil in the room. I’d hallucinate alarms going off. I’d feel something shaking me. It was always horrific and I’d struggle to get back to sleep.

What made a massive difference was sleeping with an eye mask. For some reason the fact I can feel that on my face keeps me in this reality, so if I wake up I’m immediately aware of where I am, and I’ve never had it since. I used to dream I’d woken up in my room, and see terrifying things, but I don’t get that now. But huge empathy with anyone who does get it, it genuinely feels like you’ve experience something beyond the veil, and can be really disturbing.

Yes. Absolutely terrifying. Thankfully not had for quite a few years now. Google ‘incubus’ for some fascinating background. Don't really want to think too much about it now so off to think happy thoughts.

Oh my goodness, reading this is absolutely fascinating. I had this exact thing as a child but I had never been able to accurately describe it and I remember my parents saying that I just had a bad dream, so I kind of resigned myself to the fact that I perhaps don't remember it well and did just have a bad dream. Guess they'd never heard of it either. It happened a LOT when I was a kid, around 7/8/9 - I used to be terrified to go to sleep alone as I could "feel" black shapes and figures in my bedroom getting too close and me unable to move, unable to scream and shout and when I could eventually move and woke up, I'd just go and sleep on the floor in my mum and dads bedroom or my brother's.

I genuinely believed until now that these were just bad dreams but had no idea about the sleep paralysis. I will be telling my mum about this haha!

I heard undistinguishable voices once when I was waking up/between sleeps in the middle of the night. It was like a distorted radio frequency mixed with voices but I couldn't tell what they were saying. Tbh I didn't hang about long enough to find out and sort of propelled myself awake. There was nothing scary about it per se but I wasn't taking any chances.

I've had sleep paralysis a few times but never with any scary demons etc!! Just literally would wake up my eyes would be open and my whole body couldn't move, couldn't talk, and I could see my heart beating so fast and I would just have to wait until my body woke up! I would try so hard to shout and nothing happened or one time my phone was right next to my head and all I could think was reaching my phone! Just that in itself was scary enough for me without any figures in the room etc! Happened a few times when I was younger and I was definitely awake not dreaming

I get it quite often when asleep on my back and if I fall asleep too quickly..the demon differs in mine but I hate them. I've become better at waking myself up from then now.

I’ve had sleep paralysis a few times! Mainly I’ve just been awake and I can’t move my body which makes me panic.

A few times though I’ve experienced the ‘Old hag’ jump out at me with her horrible face either looking scary up close or laughing and me being frozen, unable to move! It’s petrifying.

I didn’t even know it was a thing until I googled it after I saw it and the image I saw is exactly what others have described. It’s very strange how we’ve all seen the same thing 😬

OP sorry to hear you are having them so frequently. It's very other worldy and downright freaky. I've had it once, the black shadows, they were above me but I was also levitating above the bed, locked in and couldn't get back down. They also tried to drag me away. I was on holiday at the time and totally relaxed I'm not sure what caused it. Could have been PTSD.

I'm not sure if I've experienced it as I've only had it once, thankfully! Hope I never do again though as it scared the life out of me.

It was just after having dc1, I was sleep deprived I think and sleeping on my back. I can't remember if I was dozing I think I was, falling asleep when I could see the whole
Room as it was in reality. By the window was a black figure, I knew it was bad but it was just all black no distinct features. It was asking me to go with it and trying to pull me from the bed. I can't remember much then but I think it kind of whooshed out of the window when I said in my dream I don't want to go, it's not my time yet or something like that and I woke up. I think I had the feeling of knowing I was dreaming but could see everything as if it was real and couldnt move, not sure if that is true sleep paralysis but I was scared to sleep after!!

Yep! Mines a shadow that comes through the door and has tried to smother me…. I’ve woken up several times trying to catch my breath. I just had an episode of Sleep paralysis on Sunday night… it’s pretty normal to me now…

Sorry to hear you are experiencing this OP @SleepDemons I don't know if you are religious but I would urge you to pray the rosary and The prayer to St Michael the archangel. 💐

Jumping in to share my experience, have had this since I was very young (4-5 years old), less so as a teen and rarely nowadays. I did read NHS advice that falling asleep on your side reduces the possibility. And I think it's true, for me SP only happened when I was laying on my back, so would recommend to you all to start sleeping sideways if you can.
I've never seen any demons or figures, but have heard distant unclear noises.
But still every time I was absolutely terrified, because it felt like I had a heavy web or cover over my entire body, including my head. And I would start feeling really hot and suffocating. I honestly felt I couldn't breathe and was sure I was dying every time, it felt so real! All the while of course not able to move or make a sound, despite screaming in my head and knowing my DP is laying next to me, so with all my might I'd be calling his name hoping he'd hear me and help me. Of course he never did hear a peep.
I only read about SP as an adult after googling keywords, and was surprised to see some posts about SP being a precursor to astral travel (if you can overcome your panic and allow the experience). Can't say if it's true or not.

My daughter has night terrors, and reading this makes me so sad to think that she might be experiencing some of these things 😫

She's so tiny, it's awful to watch her so upset and not be able to help her - trying to wake her distresses her more and seems to prolong it, doc advised us to just let her ride it out and comfort when she wakes up.

Awful 😫

I had sleep paralysis since I was a teenager but I can't remember the last time I had it. Probably about 2 year ago or something. I've never had the visual hallucinations thankfully although one time I had it I imagined I could smell gas. I often hear stuff during it usually high pitched beeping noises or people talking to me.

The strangest was a time where I felt like I floated to the ceiling then flew back down and under my bed. I could see everything that was under my bed including the orange light on an extension cable😳I know it wasn't real but it was so vivid it felt real. The worst times I had it was when my youngest was a newborn I was so sleep deprived I was getting it ever time I fell asleep but I'd also get an intense vibration in my head which was horrible.

I'm really glad I don't get it anymore (touch wood). The first few times it happened I was terrified and no one believed me. I soon learnt to try and slowly wiggle my toes and fingers until I came out of it.

I’ve never had this but I’ve heard that the evil aura you feel is associated with a drop in blood pressure or something, something physiological that happens to your body at this time that causes that feeling that evil is present

So sorry that some of you have to go through this, it sounds terrifying 😟

It's terrifying at the time, but afterwards in the morning light I actually have a sort of humour about it- "Oh I can't believe I thought my son was a shape shifting entity last night, isn't the mind a strange thing"

It seems as though most people experience SP during times of stress? Or during childhood then it stops?

Those of you who experienced SP during childhood then grew out of it- did you have difficult childhoods?

I used to get this lots. Haven’t for a few years now. Was normally a black figure pressing on my chest. Or just not being able to wake up.

Sometimes I’d dream that I’d woken up and be going about my day and then something weird would happen and I’d realise I was still dreaming so would try and wake over and over again. Sometimes trying to scream and nothing came out.

No childhood trauma. Some stressful periods in 20s and 30s. Often have low blood pressure so interesting about that.

Good timing on this thread.
DS has had sleep paralysis forever. I used to check him when I went to bed and sometimes set a 3am alarm to check again.
Yesterday he found pictures of a dog, that is his demon
https://twitter.com/KuikkaSalla/status/1709641589964870138
Link best click in daylight hours, it is a photographer's dog and not a real monster

When he was a truculent 19y/o he had a bad patch and managed to climb into my bed one night. Let's just say that finding a 6ft plus rather hairy man in your bed is terrifying.

I’m an anxious person. I don’t sleep well. I listen to a lot of horror podcasts with sleep paralysis.

Ive never had it

Oh my word, I have found my people!! I have been experiencing hallucinations for years and everyone IRL thinks I'm mad. Some of you have articulated so well what I experience. I don't get sleep paralysis but regularly experience all sorts in that space between awake and asleep: spiders, animals, a man hanging from the ceiling (he's been a regular for about 20 years), small children, random scary people, 'beings' etc... I can sometimes tell myself it's not real which keeps me calm but I mostly jolt 'awake' (even though I think I already am) with fear. It's defo worse during times of stress.
I much prefer to sleep in pitch black, but, when I'm in a bad phase of it (like now) I have a lamp that I can dim right down. I find being able to see my room immediately can help me to regulate a bit better. Some of the frights can take me time to recover from.
I'm so sorry that so many of us experience it but I'm relieved that I'm not alone!

One of my weirdest experiences was when I could clearly hear an eerie musical box playing. Like from a horror film. Then a child came and sat on my bed, turned to me and had no face.

My experiences of sleep paralysis happened in broad daylight !

On a Saturday afternoon I got into the habit of closing the lounge curtains and having a nap on the sofa after lunch (I lived alone at the time).
Once I'd been watching the snooker, turned the TV off and apparently fell asleep.
When I opened my eyes the TV was on and the snooker players had their faces looking at the camera through the screen at me. I knew I was dreaming but was paralysed and couldn't move. I struggled but couldn't get my body to work. Finally I woke up, and of course the TV was off.

On other occasions I thought I was awake and heard whispering in my ear.

After a couple of these experiences I stopped napping on the sofa and it didn't happen again.

I have experienced sleep demons a few times in my life. I have 'women' to see a large spider on the wall which was actually a shadow; a man in a suit; burglars.

Each time I sit with them and my heart is racing at 100mph but I cannot move. Then I have to take a few deep breaths to get my heart rate down again and go back to sleep

Should have said 'woken'