Questions about Dreams While Awake

[Yawn]

I'm pretty sure this is the appropriate place for this topic, but if not, I apologize.

Since I was a kid I've had sleep problems. When I was very young, I had dreams of the future, and I've always had dreams of being murdered. My dreams are also unusually vivid--all of my senses are as they are in the waking world, which, naturally caused confusion for me when I was little. I like to think that I've learned to distinguish between being awake and being asleep, but now I'm not so sure. I always assumed what I was experiencing was just more bad dreams, but once, I remember waking up my boyfriend, and he tried waking me up, which didn't work because I was already awake.

What I want to know is if these dreams I'm having while awake are just another sleep problem, or something more. I'm always able to move and talk (even run and unlock doors and whatnot, which is why I think I'm technically awake), and everything feels and looks just like when I'm awake, but as stated above, that isn't abnormal for me when dreaming. Also, what I see during these times is something that couldn't possibly exist in the waking world.

There are two different figures I always see: one is a shadow figure with a hat and a cape, and the other is a man with brown hair who is clearly not right. Both figures are evil--the evil emitting from them is almost palpable--and both typically just watch me. So my very first experience with this, that I remember, was when I was very young, and my sister and I were getting ready for bed. I remember I kind of had a feeling that someone was watching me, so I went to the window and pulled back the curtains, and the shadow man was on the other side of the window. We were face-to-face, but I couldn't see his face, so I screamed and told my sister there was someone looking in our window. Of course, she didn't see him, and neither did my parents. The fact that this was close to bedtime makes me think that maybe I was already partially asleep, and thus dreaming. The rest of the stories are similar, with me either getting ready for bed or in bed and then seeing them, or with me waking up and seeing them.

Is it possible for a person rather than a place to be haunted? I mean, the shadow man has been a part of my life for so long now. He's followed me from house to house, from apartment to apartment--even to Germany! The brown haired man only followed me from one apartment to the next, he's the "new addition," so to speak.

So I would prefer to think that this is just another sleep problem like seeing the future (thank god that's over), and it will go away eventually, but if it's some malevolent spirit or something weird like that, I think I should know so that I can try to do something about it. Obviously, they are increasing in number, and they are so terrifying, especially the brown-haired man. Words cannot describe how scary he is, and closing my eyes and counting doesn't make him go away.

I guess my questions are as follows: Are these dreams? If so, what kind of dream? If not, what could they be? And no matter what, how do I make it stop?

I would greatly appreciate any help I could get on this subject, as it is causing me a fair amount of stress. Thank you.

[Set the Fallen]

I'm pretty sure this is the appropriate place for this topic, but if not, I apologize.

Since I was a kid I've had sleep problems. When I was very young, I had dreams of the future, and I've always had dreams of being murdered. My dreams are also unusually vivid--all of my senses are as they are in the waking world, which, naturally caused confusion for me when I was little. I like to think that I've learned to distinguish between being awake and being asleep, but now I'm not so sure. I always assumed what I was experiencing was just more bad dreams, but once, I remember waking up my boyfriend, and he tried waking me up, which didn't work because I was already awake.

What I want to know is if these dreams I'm having while awake are just another sleep problem, or something more. I'm always able to move and talk (even run and unlock doors and whatnot, which is why I think I'm technically awake), and everything feels and looks just like when I'm awake, but as stated above, that isn't abnormal for me when dreaming. Also, what I see during these times is something that couldn't possibly exist in the waking world.

There are two different figures I always see: one is a shadow figure with a hat and a cape, and the other is a man with brown hair who is clearly not right. Both figures are evil--the evil emitting from them is almost palpable--and both typically just watch me. So my very first experience with this, that I remember, was when I was very young, and my sister and I were getting ready for bed. I remember I kind of had a feeling that someone was watching me, so I went to the window and pulled back the curtains, and the shadow man was on the other side of the window. We were face-to-face, but I couldn't see his face, so I screamed and told my sister there was someone looking in our window. Of course, she didn't see him, and neither did my parents. The fact that this was close to bedtime makes me think that maybe I was already partially asleep, and thus dreaming. The rest of the stories are similar, with me either getting ready for bed or in bed and then seeing them, or with me waking up and seeing them.

Is it possible for a person rather than a place to be haunted? I mean, the shadow man has been a part of my life for so long now. He's followed me from house to house, from apartment to apartment--even to Germany! The brown haired man only followed me from one apartment to the next, he's the "new addition," so to speak.

So I would prefer to think that this is just another sleep problem like seeing the future (thank god that's over), and it will go away eventually, but if it's some malevolent spirit or something weird like that, I think I should know so that I can try to do something about it. Obviously, they are increasing in number, and they are so terrifying, especially the brown-haired man. Words cannot describe how scary he is, and closing my eyes and counting doesn't make him go away.

I guess my questions are as follows: Are these dreams? If so, what kind of dream? If not, what could they be? And no matter what, how do I make it stop?

I would greatly appreciate any help I could get on this subject, as it is causing me a fair amount of stress. Thank you.

Yo.

After reading your situation and trying to understand it I will answer you. What I know about these kind of things are not really worth trying but I at least know a way to keep it away and perhaps give you cluess.

First of all... person can be haunted. Most times this happens it is either family members, someone from your past life or demons. If it is the first there is no problem as they probably just wish to protect you. The second on the other hand can be someone that had a grudge against you in your previous life and stay by you to suck your energy. (solution, get yourself exorcised)

...

Then... we have the last... if it by any chanse is a demon I would advice you to get yourself exorcised and get spiritual protection. A silver neclas with a crystal might be perfect as that kind of protection, but it will only keep them from your body, if you don't wish "them" to come to your home I would say you should get some salt, smoke thingy to calm the dead, crystals to place in your room corners that will clean the spiritualy air, and a lilly within it's first year. (no need for all those things, but the lilly is extremly effectiv)

To me it does not sound like a dream, so I will wish you best of luck.

[Yawn]

Ok, I will try to implement some of those remedies, but to be honest, I don't know how. For example, is there a particular kind of crystal I should be using? How long is the lily effective? I really don't know anything about this stuff, and I kind of expected the response I got to be more along the lines of "It's just a dream, get over it," so now I'm kind of freaked out. If you could explain to me exactly what I'm supposed to do, or point me to some reliable information, that would be fantastic. I'm a skeptic by nature, so I don't trust most things that I read on the internet, especially if I don't know what I'm looking for.

So yeah, thanks again.

[Tamsin]

Hi there!

My name's Tamsin and I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE REFERING TO! EXACTLY. Please don't panic about 'being haunted' - you are not. I believe we both suffer from hypnangogic hallucinations. For a while I, myself, thought I was being visited by a bad spirit and I began sleeping with a night light (I'm twenty-seven, for goodness sakes! But i was frightened to go to bed, for fear of seeing it ....) the shadow slowly approaches my bed ... I see him coming, alarmingly. There have been times when I have thought it was my husband and I've said, "Ryan? Ryan, are you OK?" , only to see that he is fast asleep beside me and that shadow is still in front of me. As consciousness takes a-hold, it disappears. But of-course it leaves me (as you will know) shaken and fearful that falling asleep will bring it back. I have noticed that times of stress increase the occurence so perhaps this has something to do with it?

Check out this site: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Sleep-Disorders...-wake-state.htm

"I keep having dreams about snakes that continue into my wake state... where I'll wake up from the dream and will still see the snake there. Is that normal? The dreams are always about the same, where I'll dream I see the snake somewhere around me and I'll wake up and will still see it there... sometimes crawling across my bed or my arms or my pillow or (last night) crawling down my wall."

The sleep specialist writes: "What you are having are one of two things: night terror, which are frighteneing dreams thru the night, (if you are having these that they wake you up in the middle of the night.) or hypnangogic hallucinations, a symptom of narcolepsy. Yet if it only happens once in a blue moon it's normal. What hapens is the body awkens before the brain, so one is still dreaming with their eyes open. In normal sleep, both brain and body must awaken together and when either the brain awakens first and the body can't move it called sleep paralysis; now when it happens the opposite way, when the body awakens before the brain, than their called hypnangogic hallucinations which simply means dreaming while awake - this is what you experienced ......."

She goes on to say 'For further info go to sleepnet.com and click on disorders than narcolepsy and read through till you get to the hallucination'.

Here: http://www.sleepnet.com/narcolepsy.html

I hope this helps and I really hope your nights are better at the moment? Do you see anything other than these horrid men? In the past I've seen claws on the walls, and often spiders which dangle down into my face (if, at the time, I actually thought about it, I'd realize that they weren't real because how would I be able to see them in the dark, lol!) I also once saw a very freaky gnome-like creature creeping up my bed, slowly, slowly. That freaked me out for a long time. Incidentally, have you ever heard of Indigo/Crystal children? If so, are you one? I was wondering earlier this-evening whether Indigos/Crystals could be more susceptible to this type of thing - it would be interesting to find out if Indigos/Crystals, sensitive as they are, experience this more readily than others.

Well, hope this helps!

Sweet dreams, Tx

[muddyfrog]

I agree with the above post.

When I was little I would still dream after I woke up. Sometimes it would be evil faces out the window. Sometimes my toys from the corner of the room would turn their heads at me in creepy ways. One time a movie was playing on my bedroom wall, while I had the full ability to move and talk and was completely awake. I was too scared to move though, and when I closed my eyes to make it go away there was a voice that got louder the more I tried to get away from the movie. I was forced to watch this crackling movie theater screen that was showing a knight... I eventually walked to my parents room.

I have lots of stories like that from when I was little. That went away, and I got into meditation, and now I had a different problem.

Now I was waking up and not being able to move, but with no hallucinations so it was all cool.

Then I would wake up enough to feel my body and it's position and hear noises, but I was also still walking down some road trying to hide from fbi agents in my dream haha.

The last kind of thing that happened to me is instantly falling asleep with no warning as long as I was laying down. One second I would be thinking about some problem I had and how to fix it, and then I would be dreaming, and think I was still awake, because my dream would be in the same environment that my actual body was in. The worst one was when I was rolling back and forth, and on one of the rolls (I have trouble sleeping most of the time ) I was asleep, but my dream continues from the half way roll so I think I am actually still awake, and then I heard in my head, hhheeennnnnrrryyyy HENRY!

I freaked out and tried to sit up, but I weighed about a million pounds and at this point I still have total uninterrupted consciousness, so imagine the confusion. then these super super SUPER intense explosions were going off in my head, it felt of evil intent... I tried to get away... I kept getting to my door and my vision would be closing in around the edges until right at my door I could only see a dot of vision, and I would warp back to my bed. After about 4 times each time getting further than the last I was completely out of energy and realized I was not walking but was floating that whole time. (projecting while dreaming?) I gave up on that and looked at my wall, and I freaked the f out.

On my wall was another movie, with the same old movie theater screen look. In words that were highly artistic in style and very HD I read:

1)What game

are they playing,

2)And who's playing it!

It kept popping back up and getting faster. Not only the words on the screen, but also in audio... What game are they playing and whos playing it... kept repeating but got so fast I couldn't percieve it and I finally woke up. right where I still was in the dream and then I was scared to try to move, because what if this was still the dream?? But I was also scared to sit down, scared to lay down, Definitely scared to sit or lay + think anything lol...

So I jumped up and stayed awake for awhile.

Sometimes now I have a very hard time waking up. I can feel my dream like a strong gravity pulling my head to my pillow. As long as I get past this feild of influence I can wake up and stay awake. If I feel that gravity, heavy, tired feel, I don't always get away which leads to confusing times, like those listed above.

So now I get less sleep because I am somewhat afraid of sleep itself now. I feel like the connection between my mind and body has been weakened somehow. My mind and body are not always on the same page. I am not always in my body.

That was a lot of writing about myself, but if this is a sleep thing that is affecting you, then I thought my range of experiences might ring a bell.

-muddy