Last but not least, there is sleep paralysis as a horror-inducing state. Alike Intrusive thoughts & Feelings, Visual & Auditory Hallucinations, and Nightmares, they are manifestations of your psyche. Or so it’s said. Calling it horrifying would be an understatement.
CAUTION!
If you experience sleep paralysis in a recurrent and persistent manner, especially tormenting ones, please seek help from qualified professionals as soon as possible. They should examine them and get to the root of them so that they will cease.
But what is sleep paralysis, really? The name falls short of what it is. Yes, you’re asleep, and yes, you’re paralyzed. But what the name doesn’t tell you is that there will be creatures around and not necessarily friendly. They may torture you while you can’t do much, if at all, about it. Sleep paralysis is a state in which you are seemingly awake, with your eyes open and your brain alert, but you’re unable to move for the most part. You might look around and recognize your bedroom, or the place in which you remember last falling asleep in, but something else might be there. Typically a shadowy entity hovering, though the creatures can take many forms. They may even be beautiful, doll-like children wearing white gowns. Yet something macabre could be in them. Quite literally, these creatures could bully you, making you even more desperate about your inability to move. Until you somehow finally regain control and can snap out of it or leave the scene until it fades and they’re gone. Many would believe this to be a “supernatural” occurrence, a blending of the worlds, the unwelcome visit of spirits or demons while you’re at your most vulnerable. And if you’ve ever experienced it to a shocking degree, you could understand why it’s not so much of an exaggeration.
Should you be concerned? Going through this is deeply disturbing, to say the least. So, ideally, you wouldn’t go through it a second or third time. However, although it is a relatively rare experience, you are not alone in having it. And chances are that you can keep them from repeating by taking better care of yourself.
Why do they happen? Scientifically, it has been observed that this is a phenomenon that occurs while transitioning between stages of sleep and wakefulness, sort of like a glitch or misstep in the process, where you regain awareness while you aren’t supposed to and your access to body control lags behind and you continue to somewhat dream. Alternatively, you were easy or tempting prey to spirits and demons by having little to no defenses up and/or possessing something that they crave. It could also be one of the Symptoms of Consuming Too Much Horror.
The sleep paralysis can be a brief few seconds or last an excruciating amount of minutes. If the latter, that’s rough and not to wish even on your worst enemies.
Nevertheless, more convincing explanations are yet to be found to better tie the physical with the psychological and perhaps include what might currently be beyond us. In the meantime, do not panic and recall your power.
Have you ever been in this position? What was the creature like and what did it try?