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Feeling of being paralyzed

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gerasmus

gerasmus

Skilled Investigator
I'm curious to some incidents that happened to me when I was around 11-15 years old and I'm now 37.
Was this my imigination, did this happen to you or is this just natural for kids of that age ?

First of all, let me say that at that age, I've never even heard of UFOs/Aliens or paranormal and only the occasional folk story about ghosts.

I grew up in ultra conservative fundementalist Dutch-speaking Protestant Christian community (Bible reading in the mornings before school, school day opened with prayer, 2x to Church on Sundays for morning and evening service) so I guess you get the idea. There was no internet and only 1 channel on TV. We lived out in the stix on a farm, in South Africa. (Satellite image is where I live now, not too far from my youth days) the gholf course was built before there was even a houses/town 30 years ago!

My parents, or anyone I ever know, EVER spoke about anything paranormal. Speaking about stuff like that would've been "from the devil" where I grew up.
We had two dogs but they where not allowed in the house. No pets allowed in the house.

My memories of feeling totally paralyzed and terrified only came back a few months ago after I discovered the Paracast podcast.

What would happen ?
At ages (I guess) 11-15 approxomately when we all went to sleep, lights out, I would wake up and hear what sounded to me like footsteps on the carpet. I would then hear footsteps come closer. It sounded like someone dragging their feets and walking with difficulty on the carpet.

I also had a sence that I could 'feel' a presense coming closer to me. I would then have a feeling of being paralyzed, feeling absolutely terrified, but I couldn't move, I couldn't scream. I was mute. I would then pass out. This happened at various times during the night. Next morning I would wake up and forget that anything ever happened.

When did it stop ?
The following incident I can remeber. One night (I was still under Biblical indoctrination) when this happened and while having the feeling of being paralyzed, terriefied, etc I prayed to God to let whatever was happening stop. And it did. From that moment on I never ever had anything happen again.
I've seen the light, I'm no longer under fundementalist beliefs. Who knows, maybe Jesus was an alien ?

It's only now, more than 25 years later that the memories have returned.

A few weeks ago I told my (twin) brother about this, and he said that he had the same experiences, he also heard footsteps. He told me that he even saw humanoid shape(s) in the room. It was so long ago but I can vaguely remember him waking up screaming that there was someone in the room.
Switching on the light, and there was no one there.

Since then and until now I've never had any such experiences again and that is probably why I forgot about it.
I've never spoken to my parents aor any other members of family (except twin brother) about it so I wouldn't know if it is something in the family.

My question (as per above):
Was this my imagination ?
Does this happen to all kids ?
Has this ahppened to you ?

Thanks,
Willem
 
It seems like a pretty standard case of sleep paralysis. I had a few episodes myself of it when I was that age (I'm in my 30s now). I actually had sleep paralysis recently and it still freaks me out. I can understand how some people can misinterpret it as being an alien abduction or a ghost or whatever but it's completely physiological.
It drives me nuts when I see TV shows where people think they've been abducted by Aliens and it's clear that it's sleep paralysis.
 
gerasmus said:
I'm curious to some incidents that happened to me when I was around 11-15 years...
Click to expand...

Willem. That is some SCARY stuff. That did not happen to me (thank goodness) as a child.

Please don't take this the wrong way, I am NOT a psychologist by any means. But, is it possible that this was actual people (not necessarily your parents) and their motives were sinister? Maybe you had experiences that your mind is blocking because they were so wrong and you just remember 'blacking out'? Sorry, I had to ask. You might think about going to a professional to see if there is some repressed stuff there.

Otherwise, could have certainly been some type of paranormal activity going on there.

In either event, really spooky. I'm sorry you had to go through that.
 
I guess it could have been paranormal in nature, but it sounds more like something that happened while in a dream like state. I really hope that your other idea (which is quite plausible) is not the case here.
We have a lot more to fear from real people than we do of ghosts and aliens.
 
Angel of Ioren said:
I guess it could have been paranormal in nature, but it sounds more like something that happened while in a dream like state. I really hope that your other idea (which is quite plausible) is not the case here.
We have a lot more to fear from real people than we do of ghosts and aliens.
Click to expand...

As my brother posted here, we both had EXACTLY the same experiences, the same time period:
* I could move my HEAD and eyes, yet body paralyzed.
* A sense of something invisble moving through evil standing next to me.
* Sometimes a misty hooded figure (approx 2,5meters tall) would stand next to my bed. It resembled "The Reaper" which was a figure unknown to our isolated environment of the time.
* Every year in mid-July in a certain week i would get terible nightmares of somethingtrying to kill me, or do bodily harm to me unable to escape. I got so shitscared of the month July that i couldnt sleep at night.
* Being aware of walking around the house, terrified. Then somehow back in my bed. (maybe i had OBEs?)

Most evenings i wouldnt want to go sleep, for the night would be LONG filled with crackling sounds, invisible feet shuffling to my bed cupboard, or breating right outside my window behind my bed. It must've had arthrites coz often i would HEAR its knees/arms crackle like someone with backproblems.
I later on slept with a flashlight (in case of no electricity) held un my hand. One evening, the entity appeared again but the flashlight wasnt in my hands, it was 4cm from my fingers. I couldnt reach it. The entity had me paralized.
It enver did anything but let its presence be felt, then walked away as per usual through my brother' room where it entered.

On another occasion i did have flashlight and was awake, the arthrites footsteps appeared entering my brother' room. I screamed like a mad pig at my brother to wakeup. He did awake :shy:, and we BOTH heard the footsteps coming past his bed until it paused at me. For unknown reasons it didnt paralyze me, my fear was gone (maybe coz brother was awake too?). From that day on the entity visited me occasionaly, maybe once in 4 months.

My room in daylight was filled with illogical short bursts of kliek-crackling sounds came from a bookcase. In some instances i was (sleep)walking in the house, terrified, feeling the presence of whatever it was.. but not seen anything.

Staying awake hearing & feeling the evil, or "sleeping" terrified.

It stopped when i was 19 when i expressed a whish for this nightmare to stop. Somehow, since that day i never had been plauged again.

Weird thing is me AND my brother had *exactly* the same experiences in the EXACT same period. We didnt talk to each other.

Maybe we saw ghosts? Aliens? Was my imagination going on a wild trip?
 
Angel of Ioren said:
I guess it could have been paranormal in nature, but it sounds more like something that happened while in a dream like state. I really hope that your other idea (which is quite plausible) is not the case here.
We have a lot more to fear from real people than we do of ghosts and aliens.
Click to expand...

The reason I did not mention sleep paralysis, something I admittedly have very little knowledge of, is because of the insistance that there were sounds of footsteps that were confirmed by his brother's experiences also. Does sleep paralysis usually involve the sound of footsteps?
 
Wow pappavis, that's sounds completely terrifying. Again, I would say it was some sort of sleep disorder, BUT your brother had the EXACT same experience. An explaination there could be that since it happened a while ago you could have influenced eachother's memories making it seem as though you both experienced the same thing.
I've had sleep paralysis and really terrible nightmares, but nothing that even comes close to what you experienced.
I'm really skeptical about ghosts and alien abductions, so I'm leaning towards your young imagination playing tricks on you. It's great that you and your brother are discussing it so that it can ease your mind.
 
bobheck said:
The reason I did not mention sleep paralysis, something I admittedly have very little knowledge of, is because of the insistance that there were sounds of footsteps that were confirmed by his brother's experiences also. Does sleep paralysis usually involve the sound of footsteps?
Click to expand...
In several of my sleep paralysis episodes I clearly heard footsteps and indistinct sounds. The worst part if it though was the feeling of a malevolent presence looming over me. A really horrible thing to feel if you don't know what's going on. The last experience that I had which was a few months ago, I knew exactly what was going on. Even though I felt that there was a presence, I knew that it was just in my head.
 
Thanks for your reply,
I was waiting to see ther replies here on the forum. As one of the people replied that what I experienced may have been under a dream state.
That certainly can be true for some of the expeiriences, in particular the one where I prayed (sounds silly now).

I agree with yoou, I even thought about seeing a professional. But with all the stuff I've read about hypnosis I'm afraid that I could get reality and fantasy mixed up.

I also thought that Some people may mistake this feeling for being an abduction, I just wanted to know what it was. Sleep paralisis sounds like a plausible explanation.

Although I'd LOVE to be visited by an alien being I think I will be scraed shitless when I see a alien being ina fully aware and mental state. Very much like a deer being cornered !

Now.. let me read the rest of the postings.
Thankls to all who replied :)
 
Hi Angel,
Thanks for yor reply. Your explantion sounds ver plausible about sleep paralisis and that may well be what has happened to me.
The hearing of footsteps, I can't ever remember mentioning this to my brother until a few weeks/months ago. After the memories came back so it's unlikely that we could've inflkuenced each other.

I was just very curious to know if this was my imagination, a or some state that one experience during sleep.

Regards,
 
Sleep paralysis happens when your mind wakes up before the rest of your body.
From the Mayo Clinic site:

This sleep paralysis mimics the type of temporary paralysis that normally occurs during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the period of sleep during which most dreaming occurs. This temporary immobility during REM sleep may prevent your body from acting out dream activity. Not everyone with sleep paralysis has narcolepsy, however. Many people experience a few attacks of sleep paralysis, especially in young adulthood.

Here's a good link about it:

http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/paralysis.html
 
Angel, thank you for the links and the answers. I'm happy with the answers from the forum members and for all who've taken part.

Thread closed.
 
I had a few sleep paralysis episodes starting at about age 14, but none for the last several years (I'm 53 now). When they happened though I didn't have any sense of an alien presence, just a dim awareness of the room I was in and the fact that I couldn't move. After I woke up fully from the first one I thought for a while and arrived at the idea that I'd somehow come partly awake while my body was still paralysed (I'd read some time before about the body being paralysed during certain phases of sleep). This turned out to be accurate for what I experienced. I think though if I'd had any feeling of danger it would have been a lot scarier and harder to deal with.
 
I don't have sleep paralysis much anymore, but I used to have it. I have noticed, it only happens when I fall asleep on my back. Never the feeling of a presence though, so I am happy for that.
 
I've had sleep paralysis while lying on my stomach. It was quite interesting. It felt as though someone was cutting open my back. I also felt like someone was was pushing me down. The thing is, is that I knew exactly what was going on, so I wasn't too bothered.
That's what irritates me about a lot of "alien abductions," especially those that happen to people in the middle of the night while they are alone in bed.
I've had some vivid dreams about actual aliens coming through my window when I was younger, but they were just that, dreams. I'm quite sure that a huge number of people that claim to have been abducted by aliens were just dreaming.
I've been freaked out by this whole alien abduction business since I saw a really creepy episode of Unsolved Mysteries when I was a kid. However, I did a lot of research on the subject and found that everything that I experienced in my life that was similar to what some people think of aliens was completely psychological.
That's just me though - I don't want to come out and say what others have experienced is the same. I just offer my opinion, which is all I have.
 
Angel of Ioren said:
I've had sleep paralysis while lying on my stomach.
Click to expand...

Stangely enough i had them from sleeping on my back. When sleeping on my stomach it was peacful sleep. Sometimes i would forget and turn around on my back, then.. guess what? I hear sounds, paralized.

I was never grabbed or felt cut.

Later on (aged >=17) i would get visitations regardless of sleeping position :confused:. At 19 years age i was conscripted to the army (in South Africa). I was shit scared of getting visits/ghosts/OBEing in basic training. Luckily we got so f*ckt up tired that i slept like a log.

Alien visits stopped by Christian prayer..?
One evening after another gruelsame trainging a friend in the army camp took me to some Chrsitan seance-meeting. I asked WHY got here, he replied: "because you have to.". He ignored my further queries.
Arriving at the some way-out bungalow i was called into a room by my superiour officer. I thought: "OMFG i am gonna get heavy duty punishment, physical training". I was shitscared unsure, like a rabbit to be slaughtered. They said to me that no harm will come, and its personal.
Another superiour officer entered the room. They said: "we know you have problems at night. you cant sleep. You have things bothering you.". I was kinda amazed. WTF. I asked them HOW they know?? They said: "we know. And you can make it stop tonight, if you want.".
I said its true, and i want whatever it is to stop.
Then we sat at a round table, and we took hands, it had to be grasping 4 fingers into a chain-sorta grip. Then they prayed, asked for frogiveness, etc etc. Typical christian things. And theyn they told this entity to stop bothering me. IMMEDITALEY whent hey said that a feeling of relief came over me. Like you won a jackpot lotto.. whatever, some feeling of total relief/relaxation.
next thing is they stopped prayer, and without much ado told me to go back to my squadron and not talk to anyone about what had happened there.

Whatever it was... I donno, but since that evening i never had any OBEs, never any sleep paralysis, nor any unseens presences in my vicinity.

Werd eh?
 
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