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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be freaked out by ? ghostly hand

44 replies

MariaAngustias · 08/12/2021 07:10

OK so I do not believe in ghosts, never seen or felt one in all my many years. Live in a victorian terrace and been there 5 years and never felt anything. Last night my DH was away so I was alone in bed and was woken up by the sensation of a hand holding and squeezing my left hand (which was outside the sheets). I woke up in a start and jumped out of bed. ( The dog was calmly sleeping on his bed on the floor). I felt quiet scared and freaked out by it to be honest but managed to get back to sleep although I still feel quiet shaken this morning - WTF was this, anyone had anything similar? Some sort of dream that seemed real... yikes I am scared to sleep in that house alone now.

OP posts:
jetadore · 08/12/2021 07:13

Some sort of dream that seemed real

Yes, it was some sort of dream that seemed real. Mind playing tricks.

spotcheck · 08/12/2021 07:14

Could it have been one of those strange hallucinations people get when they are drifting to sleep/ wakefulness?

Ubiquery · 08/12/2021 07:19

You are sleeping with your hand outside the covers?? It’s freezing!

MrsLarry · 08/12/2021 07:21

Well if you sleep with your hand outside the covers you gotta expect something to get you. Haven't you heard of the monster under the bed?? 😱

Lushplease · 08/12/2021 07:21

Agree it could have been when you're between sleep/waking and the remnants of a dream in the mix.

However...
My dp was snoring one night and I'd not been able to get to sleep. I was wide awake and decided to go and lay in dd's bed (she was at a sleepover).
I'd been laid around 20minutes and was wide awake and getting annoyed I could not relax when I felt someone lay next to me and put their arms around me and give me a cuddle.
Obviously there was no one there.

Jacopo · 08/12/2021 07:24

What do these ghosts think they’re doing, cuddling and hugging living people? If they think it’s going to give people comfort they are sadly mistaken.
Thoughtless bastards.

Zimbolino · 08/12/2021 07:31

Yes, there are hallucinations you can get when you wake in the middle of the night. It's one of hypnogogic or hypnopompic hallucinations, I can never remember.

Cheeko69 · 08/12/2021 07:31

Could be sleep paralysis, a very common cause of ghost encounters. I've had it before and it was basically a waking dream where I heard people breaking into my house and heading to my room but I was completely unable to move.

It's not a ghost.

niceupthedanceagain · 08/12/2021 07:35

Yes I was staying in an ancient hotel when someone/thing woke me up by CARESSING my face with their hand. Totally creepy

Branleuse · 08/12/2021 07:37

Surely this is exactly why you keep your limbs under cover. To protect hands and feet from ghosts and monsters? You only have yourself to blame

Original poster
MariaAngustias · 08/12/2021 07:44

Thanks for the replies - I don't think it was anything supernatural but it was a horrible scary experience! Yeh the sleep hallucinations thing sounds likely tbh thanks @spotcheck.... @MrsLarry yeh usually it is the dog nudging me when he wants to get up

OP posts:
Largethighsbadeyes · 08/12/2021 07:46

I ahad the same thing exactly when I was about 10. But I found it really comforting rather than scary. I like to think it was my Nanan. She passed away not long before

whitehorsesdonotlie · 08/12/2021 07:48

It was a dream! I had a dream the other night where I was being chased through the sea by a baddie and he was pinching my nipple really hard (sorry, tmi) which made me wake up.

Nobody was pinching my nipple... but it felt very real.

LuckyAmy1986 · 08/12/2021 08:05

Any relatives that have passed that it might be? I might not be the best person to answer this as I do believe in ghosts! I think if they were holding your hand though it was a loved one

LuckyAmy1986 · 08/12/2021 08:05

I feel like I am going to be the only freak on the thread thinking it was a ghost holding your hand! Grin

OnwardsAndSideways1 · 08/12/2021 08:13

If it's on going to sleep or on waking, in those few seconds, then it's a hypnogogic or hypnopompic hallucination. It can feel very real. I 'see' all kinds in those few seconds! But my reasoning is why would it all disappear once I fully wake up if it was real? It's just that sleep/waking time plays tricks on your mind. I do turn the light on for a bit sometimes though!

Original poster
MariaAngustias · 08/12/2021 08:17

@whitehorsesdonotlie WTF - and I thought squeezing my hand was bad

OP posts:
User112 · 08/12/2021 08:19

I’d continue to freak out if the dog seemed alert.
Otherwise, just chill. It’s a dream!

whitehorsesdonotlie · 08/12/2021 08:31

@MariaAngustias - I know!! Weird. Maybe I was lying on my boob and squashing it 😳

Fairyliz · 08/12/2021 10:31

I’ve had some funny moments on waking during the last couple of weeks.
I’ve put it down to me chomping my way through the Christmas chocolates in the evening to cheer myself up at all of the bad news around.

Franklyfrost · 08/12/2021 10:42

A ghost holding my hand and maybe giving me a cuddle at night sounds ideal. If it would warm the bed too then I need never have another relationship again. How do I get haunted? An antique quilt perhaps, with stains.

MarieVanGoethem · 08/12/2021 10:51

YANBU to be freaked out, especially as you were alone which (presumably?) isn’t a usual/regular thing?

As PPs have mentioned, it was probably a hypnopompic hallucination (those are the ones that happen as you’re waking). I get them - & hypnagogic ones - all through my sleep cycle & as I can hit REM sleep in 20 minutes & have very short sleep/wake phases… well, it makes things interesting. Thinking someone’s knocked on the door isn’t too bad - though I struggle with the stairs - but thinking there are people in the house isn’t so hot Blush

If it’s any more reassurance, Ghost Rules mean that if a spectre had bopped up to hold your hand, your dog would have woken up & at the very least stared at it intently. (Of course, if it WAS a ghost, my guess is John Lennon…)

RicherThanYew · 08/12/2021 10:55

@MrsLarry Helpful Grin

5YearsLeft · 08/12/2021 11:01

In my experience (obviously, only a sample size of one), your brain tries to use dreams to make sense of sensations you’re really feeling. I have illnesses that sometimes cause either trouble breathing or horrific pain, in my hands, feet, left hip, or back. So I’ll have “dreams” that I’ suffocating in all sorts of ways (two days ago, it was a dream that I was drowning in cats??!) or that I’m being tortured, which is how my body explains the pain while I’m asleep (last week, terrible dream that someone was breaking my hands!). You might have had a sudden sensation on your hand - felt a breeze or a chill - and your brain translated it to the feeling of someone holding your hand, and then you awakened to wonder where your ghostly cuddle friend had gone. Et voilà.

Or. You’re haunted and must now sleep with hands inside duvet at all times. The safest way to do this is to actually WRAP the sheet and duvet around yourself and then under each arm before you fall asleep, so you’re like a big Gregg’s sausage roll. then there’s no chance of your hand falling out.

TheBalletCats · 08/12/2021 11:02

@Franklyfrost

Adopt a couple of cats known to be cuddly? My two keep my bed toasty warm & like to snuggle up with me. And indeed to hold my hand… No weirdy-inappropriate shenanigans; but do of course have to feed & water them & deal with litter trays, which are not considerations with ghosts.

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