Originally posted by: SSSnail
This happened to me a twice, and I can't explain it. I was visiting my auntie in Silverspring, MD and stayed over the weekend. I slept in her daughter's room that has been vacant for quite some times because she's away in college. I don't know it was due to my state of tiredness because I drove there, but the first night was a very strange.
I don't really believe that supernatural forces exist, but this event left be baffled until this day. I went to sleep as I normally would, a bit tired and restless due to the strange place. Some time during that night, I felt as something, or someone is holding me down and was smothering me. I couldn't move, I couldn't breath, I wanted to scream but I couldn't. All I did was struggle to break free and it seems helpless. In my groggy state, I thought I saw a shadowy figure at the end of the bed, watching. I still couldn't move or breath, and still struggling as hard as I can. It seemed so real. As I continued to struggle, I began to get angry and thought to myself "what the hell ever this is better leave me alone". Then all of a sudden, I could move and I sprang up from the bed, with nothing stirring and no one in sight.
I felt shivers and cold sweats on my back, and after gathering myself and try to figure out what had happened, I lay back down and drift off to sleep, all the while was thinking to myself "what the heck ever just did that better leave me alone, I don't want to be bothered". And I slept until morning without disturbance. The next three nights were uneventful, but the room felt warmer.
I can't explain it, nor have I experience that again anywhere else (the first time was when I was very little, but couldn't remember too much of it, other than someone woke me up). Have that ever happened to any of you? Or know someone that did? What could be the cause?
What you suffered from was Sleep Paralysis. It has happened to me quite a lot. In your case, your eyes opened before your body was done de-paralyzing you, essentially.
Essentially, the body paralyzes itself when you are asleep, to prevent you from flailing your legs while in a dream or w/e. Sleep walking is an associated sleeping disorder.
Hallucinogenic properties are unusual but not impossible, a result of certain amounts of dopamine stimulating certain parts of your brain. This is referred to as Hypnagogia wherein the brain is transferring between wakefulness and sleep, or vice versa.
While I have experienced a bunch of different forms of sleep paralysis, I have never really hallucinated yet.
Causes for this can be as simple as lying straight on your back, although in your case, I suspect it was because of your sleep deprivation--that is one of the major causes of this experience.
The panic you naturally underwent was
you freaking out, whereas your brain was sort of like "calm down eh, I'm not done deparalyzing you."
The "not being able to breathe part" was merely you having a minor panic attack because of you're not being used to where you are.
Originally posted by: Lummex
This. In fact, a couple weeks ago, I some how woke up while my muscles were still asleep, and my hand was closed in a fist. I couldn't open my fingers no matter how hard i tried. It was pretty annoying and quite scary as it was happening, but I figured it out after it passed and I was more awake.
Technically, you weren't "more awake" you were
awake. The form of sleep paralysis you most likely underwent was that info was being fed to you while your eyes were slightly open, your retinas saw light and transferred it to your brain while your brain fed you bits and pieces of what it estimates you're doing.
I have had sleep paralysis where it is totally dark, my eyes are open (or I think they are) but I am self aware. That is, another form of hynagogia, wherein my body was transferring from wakefulness to sleep. In this, I tried to move, but the sensation I got would be like trying to squeeze a balloon. When I flexed my hands (or felt like I did in my mind) I got that "balloon squeeze" sensation, wherein I thought I was flexing my hands, but I wasn't in reality.
Very trippy stuff. I have been experiencing sleep paralysis since around 8 years of age--probably even earlier than that.
Originally posted by: Kadarin
What if you guys are wrong and it was actually a ghost, who actually wanted to fuck with him for some strange reason?
Hey, I'm not ruling it out, however, ghosts could be merely a product of the human mind--they could be within us, so to speak. To us, reality is our waking mind, but for those unable to distinguish between the two, ghosts or whatever they hallucinate, could be very real.
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