Am I losing my mind or is my house haunted?

[dancingqueen345]

Or a third possibility?

Some background for balance. I’ve lived in the house for 5 years, it’s a very old house. Nothing has changed recently. Previous owner died here. I am not religious in any way, do not believe in an afterlife nor in mediums etc. I wouldn’t say I’m a hypochondriac but I am prone to catastrophising illnesses.

Two incidents tonight though have me actually sort of hoping we have a ghost though as I fear I’m on the brink of some sort of brain failure.

Lay in my child’s bed earlier tonight, it’s a double bed, child by the wall and I was on my side facing them, back to the room. We’re usually the o . We’re usually the other way round but the last couple of nights they’ve wanted to go by the wall. Child had just fallen asleep and I felt a breeze like the door had opened and then a nudge on my shoulder. I’d assumed it was my partner coming in to check I’d not fallen asleep (me falling asleep is common). Turn around and no one is there/door is shut.

Then just now, which has prompted this post, even though obviously (?!) it was a dream, I was lay in my bed (true) and could hear said child shouting for me as they often do during the night to go back in with them, when I tried to move I was paralysed flat but managing to spin myself round the bed to grab my partners leg whilst screaming at him to go get our child (none of which happened). It has absolutely terrified me. I can’t tell you how real it all felt.

Is this the start of a brain disease? Or do I just need to move house?

Thanks in advance to those who don’t just reply to mock me. I am normally a very serious, normal sort of person!

The second is classic sleep paralysis. I've had it for decades and it's terrifying, even when you know what it is.

From what you've described, there's nothing wrong with your brain and your house is not haunted. You're likely just exhausted. The first incident is just hallucinations that sometimes happens when we're between being awake and asleep. The second is sleep paralysis, terrifying but fairly common. Both have happened to me. Nothing to worry about.

@dancingqueen345 Classic sleep paralysis OP. Particularly prevalent when one is under stress (even if subconsciously). It's a terrifying and very, very "real" experience and far more common than people realise. I've heard people call my name so clearly that I've got out of bed to go and look for them and I've seen people and "monsters" equally clearly standing by my bed. The brain does some very funny things.

Sometimes during sleep paralysis you 'see' a tall dark figure with a top hat in your room. I had this particular experience for many years on and off - it was absolutely terrifying. Then I found out its a fairly common phenomena. Like others have said, something goes awry between your body falling asleep but your brain not catching up and for some reason its scares the bejesus out of you!

I have experienced someone calling my name before when falling asleep, also have heard a loud bang like a gun shot, these are quite normal experiences for people.

Have also had sleep paralysis before which can feel very scary.

Sleep is such a funny thing ... that state between being awake and being asleep can cause your brain to do all sorts of strange things.

I have definitely heard DDs calling my name before like other posters describe. Only yesterday I swore I heard DD2 going downstairs around 6am so I got up and went downstairs to find her and she wasn't there. I was positive that I'd heard her so I called out her name and was looking in various rooms for her.....and she was still upstairs in bed fast asleep.

Brains are weird! Although if hat man turns up I'll be telling him to bog off!

a loud bang like a gun shot

Ah, the aptly named Exploding Head Syndrome

I once felt my dd get into bed with me in the middle of the night and curl up behind me. Only me and her in the flat and I was half asleep, assumed she'd had a bad dream or something and fell back asleep myself. In the morning, I turned round expecting to see her there and... nothing!

Asked her later if she'd got in my bed in the night and she was baffled!

Tbf she wasn't in the habit of getting into bed with me after a bad dream as she was in her early twenties at the time😅

But it was so completely vivid, it quite unsettled me for a while. Was a few years ago and I've not had anything like it since.

First one sounds like you did fall asleep.
Second one is perhaps a night terror - I got them all the time as a child and sometimes do now.

Also as a child, I used to have a recurring dream about a burglar in my room as I slept, he looked exactly like the McDonald's Hamburglar, which was honestly SO real that even today it feels like I never dreamed it! Obviously I did. I might have been asleep but my parents would have been wide awake and would have seen a nightly burglar, I think!

Sleep paralysis is so weird. I am not surprised that you are utterly spooked OP. I used have it when I was a kid (living in a state of high anxiety) and the stuff I could tell you I experienced would make the exorcist sound tame! Two of my kids who suffer from Anxiety also experience nightmares similar to what you’ve described.
This is not very helpful I know but just wanted to add my voice to those who are comforting you because these attacks are doozies. But they do seem to be attached to Anxiety and also occasionally over-heating.
Not a brain problem in the trad medical sense, thankfully but absolutely horrible and sending you a hand-hold.

The nudge in the back was almost certainly a hypnic jerk which is a brief, sudden, involuntary muscle twitch that happens during the transition from wakefulness into light sleep.

Both my husband and I often have them as we fall asleep!

It’s our monkey brains worrying that we are going to fall out of a tree!

It can feel like a nudge though if you are not used to them!

It's a perfectly normal phenomenon called sleep paralysis, your REM sleep overlaps with your waking mind. In REM sleep your limbs are temporarily unable to move, so your mind was almost awake but your limbs still in temporary paralysis

Yeah, it's a mild sleep disturbance. Can happen to anyone but relatively common in people who are neurodivergent.

If your house was haunted it would most likely have made itself obvious within the few few months or when having major renovations.

most likely it’s your mind. Nothing wrong with you and nothing to be scared of. I’ve had an anxiety provoking phase of my life and experienced similar and worse. I ended up getting medication that helped. I’m not saying you need meds. I’m just trying to reassure. Monitor it. Try some calming techniques like 4 square breathing and grounding. I found that just knowing what sleep paralysis was or hypnogogic states made me better able to manage it. It’s less scary when you know it’s your mind and what it’s doing. But also consider the why and try and work on some self care to reduce your stress levels. if needed speak to your gp.

Poor thing, that’s really scary. I get auditory hallucinations when I’m in that space between asleep and awake, which feel absolutely real and believable; I only know they’re not real when I check with DH (usually the voice) and he confirms he didn’t say it. I also hallucinate hearing my kids screaming, then come to and they’re fast asleep.

It usually ramps up when I’m stressed or going through something. Are you?

Your house is not haunted. So speak to a GP.