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Sleep Paralysis



Estimated reading time — 4 minutes

“Crap. I’ve got exams tomorrow”, I thought, and I had promised myself I’d get a good night’s sleep, yet I’d woken up in the middle of the night for no reason – bloody sod’s law. “Ugh… What time is it anyway?” I looked on the clock – it was 3:20. Right. That wasn’t too bad I suppose; I had about four more hours of sleep left. I tried to drop off again but my brain just wouldn’t settle back down, I closed my eyes tightly, laid on my back, chest, side, got into every position I could think of but just could not get back to sleep. “Oh my God” I mumbled “Is it really 4 O’clock already?” This was too much, I needed to be ready for my exams.

Frustrated, I grabbed my ipod and set it to the lowest volume possible, so that the blue bar wasn’t even visible, after all, I didn’t want to wake everyone else in the house up. I connected to youtube, searched ‘relaxing music’, and clicking on the first decent looking thumbnail I saw; I placed the ipod on my pillow, and put my ear over the speaker part of it. It started off nice enough, harps and violins playing softly while a piano made a continuous, slightly repetitive tune. I was actually starting to sink back into a happy slumber once again.

Just then I heard a noise, barely anything, just what sounded like a slight scratch on the wall, any other time I would have taken no notice, but it was right at that moment I felt something. There was an overwhelming sense of evil filling the room, impossible to describe, a sensation of hell and hatred, what you would imagine Satan to be like – if that makes any sense. Although there was nothing to see I could just feel this presence in my room, a presence of pure evil. I was still in a state of semi consciousness, what I can only describe as somewhere between being asleep and awake. I still could not move, it was as if my mind was awake but my body wasn’t – I felt fear like no other time in my life, shear terror and nothing else, engulfing me fully.

Just as I was about to scream, I stopped. There was a hand. A hand coming round the door, followed by heavy, raspy breathing. Everything was dark and I could hardly see, but the hand I saw appeared to be that of a shadow, yet somehow it seemed to be made up of substance. It continued to wrap its fingers around the door frame, and eventually, it started to open the door.

The figure standing before me was hazy in my half opened eyes, in the blackness of the room, but it was definitely solid now, dark grey and draped in a long coat with a hood. I could not see a face, just long, tangled, grey hair, but for whatever reason, I had named it, and knew the gender – it was a hag – The Hag. It sounds ridiculous, almost comical now I write it, but there was something in me which knew this, for some reason it seemed obvious at the time.

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Again, I tried to scream but as I did, she proceeded across my room and came towards me, the next few seconds I can’t recall, but soon she was sitting on my chest, with her hand around my neck – I felt like I was being suffocated. All I could hear was her breathing, in my ear, she was whispering something, I couldn’t make out, but I knew it was something evil. I tried so desperately to move, concentrating all my energy, using every bit of my strength to move an ankle, a finger, anything, for I felt that if I were able to do that, I could defeat this demonic being. She was kneeling now, crouched down and hunched, crushing my ribs and compressing my lungs, her hand was tightening its grip on my neck, I couldn’t breathe and I felt ready to die, thought I was dying. I started to have this internal conflict, I could not let myself be consumed by this evil, I didn’t want it, yet there was nothing I could do to escape, but I couldn’t let this happen, I would not be taken by it, but hope and life was being drained out of me, I had to win though, if I could do even the smallest thing then I was certain I was going to survive – yet, I thought – how could I?

Suddenly, I saw a pair of eyes staring at me, glowing, emerging from behind the curtain that concealed my wardrobe, they were bright white, with no pupils, they seemed to belong to some strange, horse like creature, and they protruded from his head like light bulbs. I also felt another presence behind me, something cold and malevolent, it was making the same scratching sound I had heard earlier, louder though, in fact it was as loud as the breathing of the hag on my chest, and I swore I felt scratching on my head, there was pain, but not like normal pain, it felt real, but also not, it was almost as if I could see it rather than feel it.

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I could not fight any more, and I gave up and let her suffocate me – but then – it all stopped. I opened my eyes fully and sat bolt upright in bed. I breathed deeper than ever and slowly drew my hands up to feel my neck – nothing. I hastily looked around the room and all I saw was darkness, I was… Alive. It was so strange, a second ago I was about to die and now I was fine, I remembered everything and it was definitely not a dream, it was half and half… I’ve had similar experiences since, though not for many years, but life has never been the same since, I mean every time I close my eyes I picture that same scene. I don’t know whether it was real or not, and I don’t think I’ll ever have any way of knowing, but what I do know is that that sense of evil I felt was the worst thing anyone could ever endure, and I hope to God that it never happens again, though the possibility is always going to be there. It’s an odd thing to be afraid of the past – isn’t it?

Sweet dreams.

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34 thoughts on “Sleep Paralysis”

  1. Pro tip : when you are suffering from sleep paralysis , concentrate on wiggling your toes. Wakes you right up.

    Source : happens to me all the time.

  2. Yes, Yes it is my past has been the worst but time to time a see fragments of my past and bad ones while the good ones are just a dream and the bad ones and in my dreams turning to nightmare to be a memory.

  3. My brother once said he had sleep paralysis, and while having it, he saw someone walked in our room.
    The worst part of it, he knew nothing about this creature or this story

  4. Actually, Sleep Paralysis is a very common event for many people. It is for me. I have sleep paralysis all the time, in a certain position (whenever my chest is pressed against the bed). I’m so used to it, that I just don’t care anymore and let it happen without forcing it. Which is actually the trick to make it stop quickly, just like you read in this pasta.

  5. So, it’s called sleep paralysis. It used to be called “Old Hag Syndrome” because back in colonial times, people had the exact same experience you just described a lot. Hallucinations are ridiculously common with sleep paralysis, something almost all people will have at some point in their life. Not creepy, because this happens all the time. I had it happen a lot, and the only hallucination I ever saw was a silhouette of a man. Nothing demonic, just stress induced due to your test.

  6. In some ways this captured what sleep paralysis is really like, but on a lesser level/ Coming from someone who has suffered from sleep paralysis before, it is the worst type of fear. It is hopelessness. I cant move, I cant make a sound. All I can do is watch whats around me and hope I dont see anything I dont like.

  7. @Mophead I don’t think that will happen! I’m sure there have been lots of other subjects that different people have written about – if your story is thought to be good enough, then I’m sure it’ll get through :D Just because I’ve done a pasta based on sleep paralysis here, I highly doubt that your one will be rejected because of that – I hope not anyway :) x

  8. Oh damn it. I had never read a sleep paralysis story before, so I wrote an awesome story about sleep paralysis and submitted it. Now it will never get up!

    waaaa huhuh waaaaaaa. I’m so sad now :(

  9. I actually wrote this based on my mum’s sleep paralysis expreiences, I tried my best to describe what she saw and felt. I also was inspired a bit by ‘The Nightmare’ (that’s where I got the idea for the horse thing). I knew that this probably wouldn’t be scary for some people, since it is just a condition with a perfectly scientific explanation – but to me, I found it creepy when she told me about it anyway. :P

  10. Well, the way this person has described it, it sounds a lot like ‘The Nightmare’ by Henry Fuseli, and also has been scientifically proven that anything you see during sleep paralysis didn’t really freak me out :/
    4/10

  11. This has happened to me several times, and never ceases to be terrifying. Although I’ve never actually been able to see “the hag”. Sometimes, I am able to move enough to sort of crawl into another room to try and seek help, but I’m never able to scream or wake anyone. Once, when I managed to escape I was only pulled underneath my bed and spun around until I gave in…. I don’t want to sleep even thinking about it.

    8/10

  12. This is a true story. This actually happens to a lot of people, and it is even referred to as “The Hag.” Most people find the experience terrifying, as they cannot move and at the same time feel awake. This is due to the state of being able to move the eyes and see while the body is paralyzed. The function of being paralyzed while asleep is to keep one from moving around while asleep, which has the potential to be harmful. This was interesting, especially because of the first person perspective. However, due to my knowledge of this being an actual scientific condition, it wasn’t too creepy. 7/10

  13. this did happen to me once but only for a brief period of time like 30 seconds or 1 minute but i didnt see any entities all i can say is that i couldnt see properly i coudnt scream besides i couldnt even move

  14. Oh that whole “sweet dreams” thing was mean! How did they know im reading this in bed? At first it was personally creepy to me because I once actually had a sleep paralysis terror with a dark figure out to kill me type conflict happen once (or so I think, there’s no way to tell if it was real)

  15. @ J.Brown: We are our own worst critique. That’s a good thing because it keeps us hunting and exploring to be better. Never be content. I’m throwing around Dufresne’s name and his great book on writing, “The lie that tells a truth,” a fantastic investment for every aspiring writer.

    @the writer of Sleep Paralysis: the more intricate the detail, the more color for your reader. It’s better to go over-kill on the verbs, adverbs, and adjectives and details such as facial responses, how someone picked up and used the ipod, body language, emotions, etc and then go through and omit what sounds redundant or overdone during your proof read. We like being there in the room like a fly on the wall, better yet, experiencing the drama with the character as if we are the character. You did a decent job with this, like the ipod prop. Invite us deeper in to your colorful world with more ‘show’.

  16. Not a bad pasta. I think it could use a little more elaboration. There are many aspects of it that could be expanded beyond what they were. Such as “WHO WAS HAG?” “WHO WAS HORSE CREATURE?” Would like to see more.

    @Pradicus: Thanks for that. I was actually starting to think that my writing was terrible. I appreciate the support.

  17. This particular theme is overdone in my opinion. I’d encourage you to get more creative. If you like writing I’d suggest honing your craft with online workshops on showing vs. telling. We’d like to experience the story along with the character. J. Brown’s stories ‘show’ more than they ‘tell’. http://theponderersbox.weebly.com/
    Thanks for sharing your pasta.

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