Do you ever wake up and see a figure standing over you?

[Shipley]

Ive had this for years and always presumed its just a sleep/waking crossover but my friend said its weird!
I lived in my old house for 13 years and this house for 2 and it's happened in both houses. I don't remember it happening as a kid or before I left home. Sometimes I've thought it was my daughter stood about to fall out of her cot and now she's older and sleeps in my bed sometimes I think she's stood up and about to fall. A few nights ago I woke and 'saw a tall male figure stood over me, I gasped and shouted(perhaps only in a dream) my son's name thinking it was him as he is tall.

I never remember the dreams leading up to these moments and as soon as my eyes focus I see nothing and can go back to sleep.

If I thought it was a ghost I may burn my house down!

No other strange goings on and I think it happened before my Grandma passed in 2012 who is the only close relative I have lost as an adult.

So is it just me or is it a known phenomena? Or is it a spirt world sign?!

I'm inclined to think an angel wouldn't frighten me from my sleep!

hypnopimpic hallucinations, would that explain the noises I hear? Normally it's a loud noise that wakes me up and my heart is pounding but no one else hears it.

Your house is clearly haunted we had a ghost growing up in my parents house the amount of times I walked in the front room and TV gets switched right off. The creaking wooden footsteps walking towards me as I slept recite the holy trinity passage and it should stop.

Welcome to sleep paralysis OP! I have its brother, exploding head syndrome. Google that for a bonus point ( I have the man who screams my name in a terrifying voice as clear as day. His voice literally rings in my ears after he's screamed

Reaah That sounds like exploding head syndrome. It’s surprisingly common and suffer from that too, when very stressed, though not as often now. I still occasionally waken up to someone shouting my name. I believe the two are linked.

Hypnagogic hallucinations!

I’ve found my people! I’ve had giant spiders scurrying down the walls, beetles, floating green faces, all sorts. Usually I’ve leapt out of bed and turned the light on in a panic and then they’ve gone.

Not had any for a while, and not sure what the triggers are. BUT now I live alone and twice in the past year, have woken up to insanely loud smoke alarms that stopped when I got up in a panic. I have a suspicion that they might have turned auditory. Hard to know without anyone here to tell me if it was real!

Lol Snap, Historydweeb.

This is actually pretty common, when we are waking up or drifting off to sleep. Whats happening is that your mind is transitioning from sleep to awake and there is sometimes "stuff" still in your mind that you remember like it was real. Its why so many ghosts are seen at night and in the morning.

It sounds like sleep paralyse. I had it once I felt like I was been pulled out of my bed, scary.
I lost a family member 20 years ago, it was sudden, I was heartbroken, I was alone and felt someone kiss my cheek, it felt so real, my rational mind says it couldn't be real, my body feels different, probably my subconscious.

S1naidSucks & History I'm not going nuts! I sometimes hear a voice, normally calling out "mum" or "mummy" when no one else is home.
Going to google more about exploding head syndrome now.

This thread is not freaking me out at all

Exploding head syndrome explains the loud noises I hear but the voice calling out is when I'm awake and normally doing stuff so definitely not waking up or falling asleep.

I'm so glad I know what at least one of them is.

I've never quite had sleep paralysis, but something close once. I had this dream where I was looking at the wall by my head in bed, and I saw something dangling from my bedside table, like perhaps a gold locket on a chain, and it was swinging gently. There was something very sinister about it. I also saw a hole in the wall and there was a little girl in a nightie crawling through a narrow passage in the wall - she turned to look at me and I woke up with my heart thumping, looking at that patch of wall. I think I may have had my eyes open all along, and that it was something like sleep paralysis.

Reaah hearing voices in the absence of mental health conditions is actually quite normal.
It's when they become debilitating and hard to cope with that you should go to the gp.

Wtf @Echobelly I've got the creeps just reading that let alone actually experiencing it! Leaving this thread until it's daylight outside 😥

I have something like exploding head syndrome and loud noises and a bright white flash of light at night. I am recently diagnosed with epilepsy and have a man figure loom over me during seizures sometimes. Creepy but definitely a confused/sleepy brain having hallucinations.

Not since my grandad died when I was about 10. The dh used to have sleep paralysis, creatures on his chest, unable to move etc. I’m thankful he seems to have grown out of it!

I sometimes get sleep paralysis but far more often have hypnopompic & hypnagogic hallucinations - I often think my brother’s come home (he lives here some of the time) & am briefly confused when I wake up & he’s not...

Most scary awakening I ever had was when I was 14 & on an exchange trip to Germany. I was sleeping on the ground floor of the house, the rest of the family were all upstairs; my room was pitch black as it had metal shutters outside that were closed at night. I woke up in this inky-impenetrable darkness to the sound of someone breathing harshly, panting, really, on the opposite side of the room. Literally nothing was discernible in that darkness. I’d no idea what best to do - hiding under the covers & hoping it all went away didn’t seem like it would end well. With the horrifying (ice-water-down-spine-sensation) realisation that the noise was edging closer, in one fluid motion I grabbed the torch (I’m a Guide, ok... & like reading in bed... I was also 14 & not exactly possessed of anything better potential-weapon-wise, but determined to fight off whatever had invaded my room) I had beside my bed & sat up & slammed the light on. At which point the family’s dog gave a little “wuf!” of joy & came bounding over to leap on me, ecstatic at the idea of cuddles in the middle of the night...

LividLaughLove mine used to just be auditory and then they turned visuals. I often find that stress triggers mine.

Once. I woke up to see the grim reaper next to my bed and screamed, then my daughter screamed - it was her with her long black hair and black pyjamas - she wanted me and didn't want to wake me up so she just stood there in the dark waiting for me to wake up.

Yes, it’s night terrors. If you can stay calm and tell yourself its night terrors it’ll go away. I’ve imagined a man is crawling up the bed towards me - feeling his weight moving over me and hearing the bed clothes rustle and I cant move. It feels so real at the time but as soon as his head reaches my face he disappears. Terrifying but predictable in that nothing ever happens.

Unburnished That'll teach me to read this thread just before going to bed...I guess I'll stay up a while longer
I get them but in my case it's giant spiders crawling all over the walls and ceilings in my bedroom.

I wish there was a warning on this thread!!! Bloody nightmares for sure now

Sounds like sleep paralysis. I get it and it’s awful, different sometimes too e.g. last time saw a huge spider crawling up my bed. Obviously not real but it feels it at the time. So scary isn’t it

Yes. As everyone else says, sleep paralysis, hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations. Or occasionally my seven year old, who has a habit of gliding silently to my bedside and staring down at me in the dark.

I've had a horrible experience a few times where lm trying to scream as a figure is standing over me and my voice just won't work. It's horrible and l wake up trying to mouth a scream iykwim or a cry for help. It's horrible l really am struggling to cry out and wake up making this awful gutteral noise l just can't form a word.