Growing up my mother always had the most terrifying paranormal stories
I could imagine. One in particular would eventually become all too
real for me.
She always prefaced this story by saying she never liked watching Star
Wars because Darth Vader terrified her. The character too closely
resembled the figure she had once seen hovering over her when she woke
up in terror one night. To make matters worse, the figure began to
push down on her chest and neck while she lay completely paralyzed. My
mom was convinced it was some kind of demon making its presence known.
She had more paranormal stories than anyone I knew, and this was just
another in a long series of happenings.
Fast forward to my early teenage years, my mother’s stories still
embedded in my memory as a demon encounter, and the night that it all
came around full circle for me.
I was sound asleep, when suddenly I am jolted awake. I’m clearly in my
bedroom, but I have absolutely no power over my body. As I struggle to
move my hands, I can feel and see a shadow above me. I can feel the
pressure as this shadow positions itself directly on top of my chest.
In that moment, a fear that I had only experienced once before in my
life when I almost drowned, came over me. I honestly thought this
presence was going to suffocate me to death, but I suddenly snapped
out of what felt like a spell and the figure was gone. I could move my
body, and I was fine. The only thing I could think of was to run to my
mom and tell her, in tears, that I felt exactly what she had felt all
those years ago.
As time went on, these night terrors continued. Some nights I would
just wake up paralyzed, trying to reach for my lamp to turn the light
on, and then once again snap out of my trance. Other times I was left
unable to go back to sleep without first turning on my lamp or leaving
the television on; it was that frightening. One thing always stayed
the same, I was completely paralyzed and I could never manage to get
one word out of my mouth. I’ve had a set of hands come out from under
my covers and grab my hand. The feelings of trying to pry the fingers
off of my hand was absolutely real. Another night I woke up and I saw
a beam of light shooting outward from my body. The moment I was about
to wake up, that light began to rapidly move back into my body like a
vacuum, and then I was awake. I’ve heard my name whispered into my
ear, felt a presence sitting at the foot of my bed, and the feeling of
someone watching me.
It became so frequent that during these episodes I began telling
myself to snap out of it. They never stopped being frightening, but I
was at least becoming more aware that all I needed to do was fully
wake up and I would be fine.
With age and internet, I started researching my experiences in hopes
that there might be some bit of information or related stories. For
the first time, I read the words Sleep Paralysis. I was fascinated.
Not only had I been experiencing sleep paralysis, but I’ve been
dealing with the worst kind, the ones that are accompanied by
frightening hallucinations. Great! At least it was a relief to know
that demons weren’t behind it, although my mom would still argue
otherwise.
Now in my 30’s, I am very happy and relieved to say that I have not
had a sleep paralysis episode in several years. They seemed to have
gone as randomly as they appeared. Yay.
-S