Hello all,

I am new here to these forums, but not to the unexplained itself. For many years now I
have believed in strange and unexplainable occurrences. But now just a few days ago I've been questioning these "occurrences" people are so fond in believing. How, its unexplainable to science, everything “unanswered” is just so far fetched, how can it exist. But recently and one of the biggest things I have been most intrigued in as a child and now, is the idea of “intelligent life” other then ours. I used to believe, is it so hard to believe in these thing? Why do others have such a hard time believing there’s something else out there besides us? Are they that self-absorbed, so superficial, as to believe that they are alone in the endless amount of space and time?...
But now I am on the receiving line of that theory of rash thinking by my fellow humans.

The only thing I feel comfortable explaining, is about 4 days ago, I’ve been having trouble falling asleep. More trouble then I have. It’s not like “oh I’m wide awake I can’t find sleep possible” it’s “Wow I am so tired, but I feel someone’s watching me, Im to afraid to sleep”. Should one feel this way? I have NEVER had trouble sleeping, EVER in my 17 years of existence. It troubles me to no end. And when I found it possible to close my eyes and relax, I would wake up with sleep paralysis, or some form of REM sleep. Ever since I was a little girl, I would have REM sleep and sleep paralysis, but not consistently, never have I had it 4 nights in a row. And it scares me to no end when I think “wow I cant sleep in my own bed, in my own room, in my own HOUSE”! I’ve always felt eyes on me when I slept but not so severe. Not to where I would have to sleep with the TV or light on. Im 17 years old, and I don’t feel comfortable in my own bed. And, to top it all off, I have a mother who could care less, “No dear, you don’t NEED a doctor”. “No honey there’s no need for a Psychiatrist, you’re just a hypochondriac”. My own MOTHER wont believe me. I have no one but myself and my journal to release these feelings on.
But in order to find peace I must explain one of the more troubling things that had happened to me.
When I was sleeping on a Thursday night, mid Friday morning, bed came early to me that day, I got comfortable around 9 or 10 p.m. Yet again I found it difficult to sleep. So to calm my nerves I turned my TV on. Its small and emits faint light across my room, but it gets the job done. I remember Family Guy being on, and I fell asleep at like, 11:20 I believe, somewhere around there. I had only gotten half an hour of sleep when I awoke, yet again with sleep paralysis, but when I had only slightly lifted my eye lids, the most horrifying sight lay before them. Someone was standing there, a being, of at least 4"1 or 4"2 standing by my computer chair which is only about 2 feet or more away from my bed, give or take a few inches. Instantly my heart began to beat at an incredible rate, like I was jogging around the block, and of coarse I couldn’t move, but after only a few seconds of catching sight of this “person” I began to lift my leg only slightly, not even enough to be considered a muscle movement. But with one step the being came to the edge of my bed, and placed a hand (with only four or three fingers visible, I couldn’t tell) over my now resurrected lower limbs. And at that moment I felt my legs go limp again, but reawakening my arm and mouth movement, I instantly attempted to cry out but only got a small raspy noise coming from the depths of my throat. As if acting before it knew what would happen at the exact moment I lifted my arm (only slightly) and made the “half-assed” growl from my mouth, the being came forth to the head of my bed, where it was only a couple inches from my face. It seemed it was staring me down, like it was trying to control my now violent movements. But after a second of the beings spontaneous movement towards my head I lifted my (slightly raised) arm and pushed my hand against it’s face. All I remember feelings was rough yet smooth “plastic like” skin. I remember something hitting the end of my computer desk. And after that, it ended and I blacked out or fell back asleep. After awakening from this... “dream” it was EXACTLY 12:32 am Friday morning.

I have NEVER had a dream so vivid in my entire life. I know my dreams, and it just seemed so real.
But I’ve been watching and reading up on REM sleep and all that jazz, and I could easily explain my experience.

I had only told two people (and believe me it took a LOT of encouraging from my friends to tell them what had happened, I was utterly embarrassed to say ANYTHING about me seeing an “alien”)
My one friend, who I’ve known for more then 2 years now, is telling me its nothing more then a dream, “eliminate stress from your daily life, get exercise, eat right and maybe lose a few blankets off your bed, and I’m sure you’ll feel better at night”. And my other friend whom I’ve just met about a couple months ago telling me it wasn’t a dream. “I don’t think it’s a dream. Maybe you should not push it away and open up to it, and believe its real, instead of calling it a dream”.
I am so confused. I haven’t told my mother, and I probably won’t ever tell her. I know I need to think of what I make of it, but I don’t know where else to turn to.

From what I can recall, the instant I opened my eyes to the being it was (like I said) 4"2 or so, it was covered head to foot in a black cloak, like a monk of some sort. It’s skin was hard to distinguish from the light of my TV screen, but it appeared to be blue-ish grey with a tan-ish tone to it. It had HUGE almond shaped, black eyes that, if I wasn’t mistaken could have engulf the entire head of the creature.

Please you all, I have no where else to go. If I tell my mother she will immediately say Im over exaggerating a well played out dream, and I’m trying to stay home from school. I have no car, or any friend’s with vehicles that are willing to drive me to help. And my fathers never around.
So please, without any sarcasm, I would appreciated ANY advice, thoughts or knowledge on this sleep problem.

It sounds like a false awakening to me . when this happens and it is common during sleep paralyiss we are still in the dream but think that we have woken up . it once happened to me during sleep paralyis in which my bedroom was covered in bees who were sucking my life out of me . it felt as though i was awake and i was shouting for my partner to help but no words come out .

Obviously the bees were a part of my dream and not being awake but thinking i was awake made the experience all the more scary and real . but seriously its a natural phenomenon dont be afraid tel yourself its a dream next time and try to woggle something to wake yourself up. even if you can only move your eyes. do it it will bring you out of the dream eventually .

hope this helps a little

Hi there, I don't mean to belittle your experience at all but I do think you've been lucid dreaming here. Sometimes nightmares and dreams 100% like you've experienced them. If I've dreamed of a family member's death, I wake up grieving and cannot shake that feeling even though I know it didn't happen.

I think you should consider opening up to your mum as well, if I this were happening to a child of mine, I'd like to know about it.

Good luck.

Thank you both very much for responding to my topic.

I keep telling myself its a dream, I dont wish for it to be real.. There is no doubt in my mind that it could possibly be anything more then just a hallucination brought about by sleep paralysis. But it doesnt help me waking up in the middle of the night dead as a door nail. I wish there was some way possible to stop this all together.

And if you knew my mother, you'd think it impossible to believe me too. Im just starved for attention, in her eyes

Thank you again for your time.

Welcome to UM Caligraphy.....

Your writing is detailed and articulate......I don't want to sound sarcastic but your story is a carbon copy of a myriad of stories that appear on UM on a weekly basis......I agree with Regency regarding what you're experiencing....Good luck....

Hello, Caligraphy.



And your original post reports that you have sleep paralysis often while awake, and that this disturbs you. So, you reasonably believe that you have a sleep disorder, which is a medical problem.

You have options. In many jurisdictions, you can insist that your parents provide you medical treatment. They are legally obligated to do this while you are a minor. You do not say, but I suspect that your mother is not qualified to diagnose hypochondria, another medical isue.

"Insistence" may be an unpleasant option, but so is being unable to get an ordinary night's sleep. You have to decide what you want to do about all of this.

Maybe I am reading this wrong......aren't we suppose to have REM sleep?

Hi and welcome to UM....My opinion is that you really need to talk to your mom about this...Going it alone is not the way....There are many sites to read about lucid dreaming and SP....I only had two experiences with SP and both were caused by undue stress...Check the reads out, there is valuable information for you...

I completely understand how you feel, every night I get the same feeling. I takes me about an hour to sleep even if I'm dying of sleep.
I also turn on the T.V or leave the lights on to calm me down.
I think the creature was a part of your imagination a part of that dream but still it's pretty scary to wake up to a vision like that!
i've only had a SP experience ( or what I think and hope it was) and it was HORRIBLE!!!!
Ever since I haven't had a good night sleep!!!
I think you should talk to your mom even if she thinks you're crazy, it'll help to talk about it, it really helped me.

Just a thought!!

Good luck with it!!!

BTW Welcome to UM!!!!!

Hi you poor thing!

No matter what the cause your experience sounds very frightening. I had sleep paralysis when I was around your age, the worst was when a 'demon' sat on my chest and tried to choke me! I began to fear going to bed and started getting anxious which increases your chances of having it. Sometimes I think in your late teens your natural rhythms can get out of wack and hence you get a viscous bout of sleep paralysis.

I would go to the doctor to see if you have any underlying conditions that are contributing to this. Some different sorts of sleep disorders can lead to this type of thing.

Perhaps if your mother isn't taking your distress seriously you will have to go to the doctor yourself. At 17 I feel you are old enough to know when you need help.

On a side note hypochondria or 'health anxiety' can be a horrible afflication in its own right that shouldn't be sniffed at.

Thank you very much for commenting my "awkward" grammar skills

I've realised over the coarse of this event, that my story or dream, doesn't sound or seem original at all. I watch many shows about UFOs and Alien Abductions (call me partial to these strange stories). But non the less your advice and knowledge is helpfull .



My father has taken it upon himself to get me help, which I'm grateful for. I never really thought of myself being classified for a sleep disorder, or disorder non-the-less, I jsut thought it was a fase I was going through. Boy was I wrong

Thank you for your helpful advice



Well what I meant was waking up DURING you REM sleep process.

Sorry, my bad .




I have taken the liberty of searching for these sites the night before my "dream", and they have been most helpful. I do believe the stress issue as well, I am working feverishly over my portfolio thats due by the end of my senior year.

Thank you, and I wish you the best



It is really nice to be able to talk to someone that shares the same problems and issues.

I also think the creature was a part of my over active artistic imagination, but it doesn't lessen the fact that its, excuse my language but, scary as F-ing hell.
I actually had a good nights sleep last night, but I had to down a bit of NyQuil
I wouldn't mind hearing about your occurrence, I'm sure it could help the both of us, if it's not to bold of me to ask

Best wishes and thank you EVER so much for your kind words and help.



I've heard of the "hag Phenomenon". I haven't had the "luck" of seeing that yet, but I'm in no way anticipating it .
Ya, I figured out that by fearing sleep, would ensure the paralysis. Lol.
I actually believe I have Sleep Apnea, at times I find it hard to breath, and in instances I fall into sleep, I forget to breath, maybe this is an underlining cause of my sleep disorder.

My father actually voluntared today, to take me to the hospital if it continues.
Thank you VERY much for your advice.

Sleep Apnea is nothing to fool around with! My suggestion is you need to undergo the simple testings and fix that first.

Quite possibly the SP will go away once that is corrected. Imagine what your brain conjurs up when you're NOT breathing! (((I am very familiar with SA please get the testing done and the breathing equipment))).

Take care, Jody

Hi...I'm glad you had a good nights sleep and It's not bold at all to ask.
My experience which I trully hope was SP 'cause otherwise I wouldn't want to sleep my room anymore, was with a ghost-like chinese little girl, it was morning when this happened so I could see everything perfect. I "woke up" to see that chinese girl sittin in my bed looking at me, She was wearing a blue and grey dress, her hair was loose and her eyes were pitch black, as soon as I saw her I thought it was a dream so I tried to close my eyes and that was when I realised I couldn't move. I panicked and tried with all my strength to move when that didn't work I thought " it's a dream nothing more wake up!! please wake up!!" and then the most frightening thing happened, the little girl said " That's not going to work This is not a dream" she smirked and her eyes lit up she then took my cellphone and played with it, I started to cry but since I couldn't even close my eyelids with by the way were burning me, the tears just fell to the pillow. I remember she said " This it's not fun, It doesn't work" She put the cellphone next to my hand and said " Bye" and she disapeared.
As soon as she disapeared I closed my eyelids and when I opened them again I was fully awake and could move.
What makes me doubt if it was SP or not, It's that my cell was next to my hand when I usually place it in my night stand and I couldn't turn it on when I leave it on every night, my pillow and face where wet, my eyes still burnt, I was still in the same position and when I moved it hurt, and the room was exactly the same.

So what do you think of it?
Any thoughts??

Hello Caligraphy - I sympathize with you. You seem like a very rational, level-headed person(some people really want to believe something paranormal has happened to them and get mad at you when you suggest otherwise) so I feel comfortable in telling you I truly believe you are suffering from sleep paralysis coupled with hypnagogic hallucinations. I have suffered from both of these things for years and they become especially bad during times of stress. Hypnangogic hallucinations happen when we are in the half conscious state and are prone to hallucinations, they can be auditory, visual, olfactory. I don't tend to actually see things, I hallucinate sounds - people talking, saying my name, random noises like chainsaws, gunshots, loud banging, etc and typically this happens when I am experiencing paralysis. You should google sleep paraylsis and hypnagogic hallucinations, read about them and see if it is congruent with your experiences. A lot of people have this and there have been a lot of studies on SP. It can be very frightening, I know what is happening to me when it happens but the overwhelming feeling of something being in the room with me coupled with the inability to move is very scary and unnerving. When I do finally fully snap out of it I am typically very emotional and upset - not fun to deal with at 3am. Sometimes I try to speak to say my boyfriend's name and I can't and when i start to regain my ability to talk again it seems like all my attempts to speak release at once and I tend to let out an awful scream and shriek. My poor boyfriend jumps about a foot straight up off the bed, my two cats who were peacefully snuggling with us go with him and proceed to bolt under the bed at about 500 miles per hour. It can be most disruptive.
I actually went to a psychiatrist because I felt these experiences were a manifestation of my stress and because I was beginning to fixate on it and in doing so I felt I was causing it to happen. I would go to bed everynight scared and lay there thinking about it so much it started to happen. With a little therapy and a sleep aid it hasn't happened in about 4 months now. It used to happen at least twice a week. Of course, everyone is different but I just wanted to share what worked for me. Maybe if you did some research, compiled some info to present to your mother to read, with some understanding of the issue maybe she will be a little more empathatic and get you the help you are seeking.
Good luck.

Calligraphy I had the same problem as you for years . Look up sleep paralysis and you will understand more.

They are absolutely terrifying. Please get professional help (it's not a mental illness).

This SP will recede as you get older .

Sleep apnea is dangerous and can damage your brain & heart over an extended period.

Thank you so much She-Ra .
My father told me about the sleeping equipment that comes along with the classifications of Sleep Apnea, and it doesn't seem to pleasant, but I rather have an oxygen mask strapped to my face then having to deprieve my brain of the same substance every night huh?

I know Sleep Apnea is nothing to wait on, but my mom just recintly lost her job, so a hospital examination wouldn't exactly be in our budget, so I'm not pushing that matter on her so much. The only person right now that is actually keeping the roof over our heads is my soon to be step-father.

Thank you so much Jody, I appreciate your sympathy


Well I remember watching an episode of "Is It Real" that was based off of UFOs and equal occurrences, and, if I'm correct, there was a Japanese guy who had awoken with Sleep Paralysis and had witnessed the same being you've described. Only it was an old lady, not a young girl.
But that is really odd that your cellphone had been placed by your head... I'm just spit balling here, but maaaaybe, possibly you could have been dreaming the entire time and had placed your phone besides your head while you where still asleep.

In my hallucination, I had seen Aqua Teen Hunger Force on at the time the being approached me, and as I awoke, I saw Aqua Teen on the Telly. It's all a very tricky subject, we all THINK we know our dreams and thoughts so well, when its this stuff that comes back to literally bite us in our SPed butts


Thank you very much, lol its not everyday I get a complement such as that, my mother always says i have my head in the clouds

But when I was younger I do remember hearing loud screams coming form all directions of my room, but this too, was when I'd be in between the sleep and reality realm,
But unfortunately there is no way my mother will help me get therapy. But I'm sure if I got enough data and accurate assumptions on my case, shes bound to see the light. (if shes not COMPLETLY evil)
But thank you SOO much for your comment Gaia, and i will surely take your advice


I've read alot about Sleep Apnea, and know VERY well what it can do to me (Which scares me out of my wits end )

But I honestly dont think I need "PROFESSIONAL" help... do you? Is it really that serious?

If you're saying that you looked through this site before going to bed, then no wonder. I get nightmares all the time from the creepy stuff I read on this site.

But I've never really had a dream that felt real. Except one where I went zombie slaying. That was awesome!

Really? I had no idea about that guy. And yes I do think I put my cell there just scare me some more.

I totally agree with you!!! "our SPed butts" hahaha LOL

I didn't mean a psychiatrist.
When you suffer from apnea you are getting insufficient sleep. There is a simple OP to stop the apnea with laser surgery
SP can be caused by sleep deprivation/caused by your apnea . Or from stress or both

Hello all, it's Caligraphy again and I'm terribly sorry for bumping this topic if it angers any viewers out there.

If some of you don't remember me, in the past; back when I started this topic, I'd have problems with sleep paralysis that would not go away. Since then I have been testing out new theories, and solutions to this problem. I've not been drinking any sugary, caffeine filled liquids after 8:00pm, I've tried to do some sort of exhausting exercises before going to bed at night, I've listened to soothing music while getting ready to fall asleep, I've even tried changing my sleeping position. But in the past month I've had about 7 experiences of sleep paralysis (from what I remember). It's becoming so frequent up to this point, that I no longer fear it, and I know exactly when I will go into this stage of sleep.
It was just three or four nights ago that I experienced another bizarre hallucination. I was nodding off in bed, feeling the tell-tale signs of sleep paralysis, when I close my eyes and reliesed that I could no longer move. But I could open my eyes slightly,and when I had oped them, I saw the same entity as I had before, standing near my bedroom door, just glaring at me (or what seemed to be that type of action). I of coarse tried to scream out, but only managed to squeak. Finally after what seemed to be a few minutes I drifted off again and woke up with an extremely soar throat, as if I had been screaming the night before. The funny thing was is that before I went to sleep I looked at the clock and began counting down the minutes in my head (I've been doing this every time I go to sleep, to keep track of time) and the clock said 11:38. But when I woke up the clock read 11:42..

But on a better note, I've stopped all sleep apnea incidents, and it seems I'm cured of that disorder ... for now.

Its a interesting post very long to read, the flash of your avatar dosent help wish I could finish reading it but not with that flash going on...

frightening indeed.

I have had what i assume to be sleep paralysis...more of a dream. i was ****ing freaking out (pardon my French). i have this huge fear of spiders, and i had this 'dream" that my science teacher (who never shuts up about his Bio class that he has later in the day, he teaches my class Earth Science), and in it, he was showing us a weird, pulsing orange crab-like creature that was very much like a spider. he put it on me, and despite my protest (i remember screaming in the dream but i woke up silent, which is odd). No matter what, my movements seems ethereal, as in, my thrashing seemed to go through everything, and my "real" body didn't seem to move. i woke up on my back without having moved during sleep, which makes me pretty freaked out.
I feel for you, SP fear is inescapable and it feels like your gonna die of fright. The creature didn't seem to want to hurt you. Perhaps it was just examining you. i know i sound *******ed saying this, but its "touch": of your leg to paralyze you was its method of calming you down. I am not sure, but it may be benign. That is...if it is real of course. keep an eye out if you ever have SP again. If you see "him" again, you might wanna try and wriggle, or observe his movements, to see if he means you harm. if he does, then keep screaming, no matter how much our throat is constricted. keep trying and hopefully you'll actually manage to scream and alert another person.

That's my half-assed tip.