I was about 13 years old when this happened. I had just fallen asleep, but then I woke up. I was alone in my room and it was dark. I heard this strange repeating sound that resembled an unusually high voice, kind of alien-like. Needless to say I was scared as hell, and the sound kept getting louder and faster. It felt like someone or something was in the room and was getting closer and closer to me. I wanted to roll over and maybe put the pillow over my head, but when I tried to do it I couldn't move. I figured I was just so scared that I wouldn't let myself move. So I tried to relax and tried it again, but still I couldn't move at all. Eventually I was able to move, and the sound was gone.

I jumped from the bed and turned the light on. I think I even went into my parents' room like I did when I was 6 and having a bad dream. I sat on my bed just looking around my room, still scared as hell. A couple friends and I had been messing with a Ouija board a day or two before that, so I thought we might have pissed off some ghost or something. Even though I didn't really believe in stuff like that, it was the only explanation I could think of. I think I eventually got back to sleep peacefully that night, but I still remember that terrifying night pretty vividly.

After having a number of similar, though not nearly as terrifying, episodes over the next few years, I somehow came across a post on LiveJournal describing a very similar experience. The author attributed it to a condition called "Sleep Paralysis". It's also referred to as "Awareness during Sleep Paralysis."

Upon further research, I discovered that it is a relatively common occurance, though some people get it more often than others. I read about it on Wikipedia. Here's the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

But if you don't feel like reading that I'll quote a bit from it below:
"Sleep paralysis is a condition characterized by paralysis of the body shortly after waking up (known as hypnopompic paralysis) or, less often, shortly before falling asleep (known as hypnagogic paralysis). Physiologically, it is closely related to the normal paralysis that occurs during REM sleep, also known as REM atonia."

Hmm, that explains the not being able to move..

"In addition, this state is usually accompanied by certain specific kinds of hallucinations."
Among the hallucinations cited are:

"Most common
Vividness
Fear

Common
Sensing a "presence" (often malevolent)
Pressure/weight on body (especially the chest). See for example the painting in the beginning of this article.
A sensation of not being able to breathe
Impending sense of doom/death
Fairly common Auditory hallucinations (often footsteps or indistinct voices, or pulsing noises). Auditory hallucinations which are described as noise instead of hallucinations of legible sounds, are often described to be similar to auditory hallucinations caused by Nitrous Oxide by persons who have experienced both. Visual hallucinations such as lights, people or shadows walking around the room "

Fear, impending sense of doom, indistinct voices, pulsing noises, shadows walking around the room. I've experienced all these, and its fuckin scary. I still experience this sometimes. Its never as scary as it was the first few times when I didn't know what was happening. It's more of a nuisance now, but it still scares me while it's happening. I don't usually hear the sounds anymore, which was probably the scariest of all.

I just found some info about people using the awareness during sleep paralysis as a gateway to Out of Body Experiences or Lucid Dreams. I'm pretty interested in dreams and different states of consciousness and experiences in general, so I think I'll read up on this stuff and see how I can scare the shit out of myself some more. I mean enjoy it. Oh yea, and Wikipedia says that almost everyone will experience Sleep Paralysis at least once or twice in their lifetime, so if you've ever experienced it please do tell me about it. Right here on this blog even. That's what blogs are for, communication. So do it!

I hope you enjoyed the longest blog ever. I just wanted to talk about this thing which bothers me, yet intrigues me. I hope I don't become narcoleptic though.

Love,
TheCity