# What IS this bizarre Nightmare-esque experience I had? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 9, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731 "2006-03-09T19:53:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731/41 "2006-03-10T10:56:40Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Sleep paralysis is probably the basis of many “supernatural” experiences (seeing ghost, ET abductions, etc…). I have read about this condition before on these boards but for some reason never made the link between this condition and reported ghost sightings. I guess it accounts for why “psychics” on T.V. often describe similar situations when in the bedroom of the supposedly haunted house, the insight tends to be along the lines of: “When i’m in this bedroom I get an image of a figure stood at the bottom of the bed watching you sleep, but you can’t move”, which usually causes the person living in the house to scream out “Oh my Og, that’s right, how did you know that!?”. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731/42 "2006-03-10T12:22:53Z")
I used to experience sleep paralysis frequently. It’s been at least 5 years since I had an episode, though. It was always most common when I napped during the day, rather than when I slept at night. In my case, I don’t have the feeling of a presence in the room, though – just the paralysis and fright, plus a feeling of pressure on my chest and arms, as if something invisable was pushing down on me. Once I read up about the condition and discovered that many people experience it I did find it less frightening overall. By that I mean that it is still scary as hell when it’s happening (the fright being part of the experience), but once it’s over I calm down right away. The first time it happened (I was in my early teens) I was freaked out for hours afterwards. My mom also has sleep paralysis sometimes, although she does have the feeling of a presence with hers. My son also gets it sometimes (don’t remember if he feels a presence or not) – my dad, husband and daughter have never experienced it. I get the falling thing, too, much more frequently than sleep paralysis. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731/43 "2006-03-10T12:48:14Z")
> [@TonyF](#): > > I’ve had it more times than I can remember… but usually only when I nap during the daytime and when it’s light out. See post #19. Anyone else have this experience? I can only remember a few times having this during night-time sleep. It’s almost always during a day-time nap. The first time it happened I was in college. You can imagine what I thought was causing it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731/44 "2006-03-10T13:11:13Z")
I’ve had this a few times, and it scares the hell out of me. I woke up once to “see” a man’s arm and hand, as if someone were lying beside me with his arm thrown over me; I live alone and sleep alone–there should be nothing beside me in bed but a cat or two! Other times, it’s like there’s this chittering little monster poking at my back. Less scary and usually innocuous, I often have these “bright” night visions. I’ll find my eyes open in the night and staring at some brightly lit object in the darkness. It can be something as simple as a blanket thrown over a chair (when there is in fact no blanket on the chair) in blazing color, or the bedroom door open and the light on in the hall, or the curtains open and a light pouring in through the window (when they are actually shut and no lights are on); a few times, there was a light coming in through a window at the foot of the bed… when there is no window at the foot of the bed. Sometimes, they’re more elaborate, like a black cat with glowing orange eyes (this was before I had cats in the house) or a face; once it was a flaming white fedora flying across the room! I blink or start up in alarm, and the image is gone. They seem to come and go over months, so I have a eye mask to sleep in when it looks like the latest round is beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731/45 "2006-03-10T13:26:49Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > [SP] is just a true design flaw in a few systems and a strong argument against “intelligent design”. I didn’t get this. ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731/46 "2006-03-10T13:36:00Z")
> [@Wakinyan](#): > > I didn’t get this. I am reticent to speak on **Shagnasty’s** behalf but I believe he meant that if we were created by some higher power (God) such design flaws wouldn’t exist, these design flaws are better explained by natural evolution where anything can and will happen. I’m sure he or someone else will correct me if I got it wrong. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731/47 "2006-03-10T13:39:03Z")
> [@mittu](#): > > I am reticent to speak on **Shagnasty’s** behalf but I believe he meant that if we were created by some higher power (God) such design flaws wouldn’t exist, these design flaws are better explained by natural evolution where anything can and will happen. I’m sure he or someone else will correct me if I got it wrong. 🙂 Now I get this. Thank you. I misunderstood the “intelligent design” expression (being non native english speaking). ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731/48 "2006-03-10T14:05:40Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > I also have a friend who has severe back pain and takes a drug called Oxycodone or something like that. He has regular panic attacks, I think because of his medication. They don’t sound like much fun at all. I’ve had these “sleep paralysis” things. Also, after my knee surgery I was on a big dose of oxycodone, and had the “vivid dreams” they speak of. They are distinctly different things. My sleep paralysis episodes are like the other’s described here (a presence in the room, suffocation, but still in my surroundings). The “vivid dreams” are just FUCKED UP DREAMS that feel extra real. It’s hard to describe the feeling if you haven’t experienced it, but it’s nothing like a normal dream that just feels real. It strikes you somewhere deep within your brain, and you don’t just “shake” the feeling after you’ve woken up. While still in pain, I stopped taking the oxycodone because I couldn’t bear the thought of having one of those dreams again. I consciously chose a guarantee of pain over the possibility of having another of those dreams. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731/49 "2006-03-10T15:50:09Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > For some reasons the hallucinations (when people experience them, it’s not always the case) seem to be always frightening and essentially always include seeing a monster, person, devil, ET, whatever… I occasionally have sleep paralysis. It was a bit scary at first, but now when it happens it’s just sort of curious. The feeling of not being able to move, the weight on the chest, the “sense” of there being some stranger about. It’s kind of like when you’re engrossed in a thrilling movie. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731/50 "2006-03-10T15:57:37Z")
Every “sleep paralysis” discussion I’ve been in goes something like this… Person A describes weird experience they have when becoming “wide awake”, wonders what supernatural thing occurred because it definitely wasn’t a dream as Person A is sure he was not asleep. Person B- “Oh, that was sleep paralysis, which occurs when… and involves experiences such as…” A- “No, I’ve heard of sleep paralysis. I read all about it. This was totally different (then goes on to relate his experience, which is basically a textbook case of sleep paralysis.)” No matter how many people jump in to affirm that the experience was sleep paralysis, Person A never bends. Rigamarole has broken the mold!!! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731/51 "2006-03-10T18:36:59Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > Sounds like it has some features of [a hypnopompic hallucination](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogic_state). > > Another website:[http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S\_P2.html](http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P2.html) > > Most people experience mild hypnagogic hallucinations, usually experienced as a sensation of falling from a great height which makes you kick out, just before you fall asleep. This is on the same lines, just more severe and happening when you’re waking up, not when you’re falling asleep. > > It’s benign, don’t worry about it. It isn’t the same thing. I never get falling dreams, ever-ever-ever. Never had one as far as I can remember. Sleep paralysis is a different creature. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731/52 "2006-03-10T20:10:06Z")
I get this, except without the dreaming hallucinations. I mean, I’m still half asleep sometimes, but I’m always grounded in reality - no ghosts, no scary monsters. Just me realizing I can’t move, not even my head (really bad if you’re lying on your stomach) nor can I speak. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731/53 "2006-03-10T20:57:50Z")
> [@bubastis](#): > > As a slight hijack, what is it called when you dream that you are falling, and just as you hit the ground, you violently waken, sometimes jerking your body so hard that you “levetate” off the bed? You guys get that one too, right? I think the phrase you’re looking for is [hypnagogic myoclonus](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_423b.html). ---
**Author:** ![Phantom\_Dennis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Phantom\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantom_Dennis)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731/54 "2006-03-10T22:14:27Z")
Funy thing, in _Moby Dick_, Ishmael has an experience that sounds a lot like sleep paralysis. It was described in such detail by Melville, I can only assume that he’d suffered a similar episode and decided to include it in the book. Its been awhile since I read it, but I believe Ishmael remembers being locked in a room all day during his childhood, falling asleep, “waking up” paralized and frightened, and seeing a hand reaching toward him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-bizarre-nightmare-esque-experience-i-had/347731.md?page=2)