The Story
Sleep Paralysis is something I’m very prone to; it essentially happens when you awake from, well, sleep and a part of your brain is still asleep. However, part of it is also awake. During this time, you’re aware you’re awake, but can’t move or do anything; you may—at the very least—be able to faintly move a muscle, but sitting up or speaking isn’t possible. You are, in essence, paralyzed.
It’s a very terrifying experience if I do say so myself, but in most cases, I’m aware I have it and simply fall back to sleep—typically one that’s quite lucid. However, in the cases where I don’t fall back to sleep, the end result is far from the most happy and relaxing event. Rather, it’s quite the opposite; Sleep Paralysis is one of the most intense and horrifying things I’ve ever gone through (let alone gone through numerous times) and as such, I would like to tell you guys about some of my personal stories from when I’ve not fallen back to sleep due to being aware I have it. Boy, that was an awkwardly constructed sentence. Oh well, I digress, let’s dig in.
#1: A Facehugger
The first story I’d like to discuss is one of the earliest memories I have of having it. It was far from an interesting story to be quite honest, but it was nonetheless creepy. I recall waking up and seeing something leap onto my blanket that resembled a Facehugger from the “Alien” franchise. It terrified me as I thought a spider or something had gotten onto my bed (I’m deathly afraid of arachnids), but I couldn’t do anything. Eventually, I fell back to sleep.
#2: A Rat Near the Fireplace
I can’t recall if this was before or after the story above, but I’m listing it second because reasons. It is as it says in the little title: I swore I saw a rat near the fireplace. Ultimately, this ended up not being the case, but given I’m not very fond of rats (let alone anything not native to my household being inside of it), I can’t say I wasn’t freaking out internally. I also don’t think I got back to sleep that night, so I got about 4 hours of sleep between around 11 at night to 3 in the morning. Thanks, Sleep Paralysis!
#3: The Caress
A very short one that woke me up. I saw a black silhouette near where I was sleeping and felt it caress my cheek. Then I woke up. Pretty disturbing, though I honestly wondered if it was a deceased relative for a while.
#4: The Shadow of my Girlfriend
Technically, this is my now ex-girlfriend (who I honestly suspect still reads this blog; if so, hello and thanks for continuing to be supportive of my writing endeavors). We were sleeping together one night when I had a nightmare that she was a serial killer and drawing with the blood of her victims. I ended up running from her and leapt through a portal that was on the wall, which ultimately woke me up.
In the darkness of my bedroom however, I saw a dark, female shadow sitting on my lap that resembled her, albeit taller. In spite of this, I was freaking out beyond belief and swore that I was going to be stabbed. I can’t remember how I woke up, but when I did, I was shaking to the point I nearly cried from fear. Not my proudest moment, but I woke my ex up out of fear.
Real manly of me, but hey, I never claimed to be the manliest man on Earth. Indeed, I can write about people being murdered, slaughtered, and Snuff Films, but I can’t handle a female figure that was darker than the void that was my bedroom. Oh well, I pissed my ex off for waking her up and she went back to sleep.
If you happen to read this: I’m sorry I woke you up. Kinda. Anyways, next story!
#5: The Clown in the Corner of the Ceiling
I’m not sure if this was Sleep Paralysis or if I was genuinely just that tired, but I fell back to sleep one morning (after having woken up after sleeping more a pitiful two or three hours). When I awoke once more, I stared dumbfounded at the corner of the ceiling for a solid minute as I saw a clown create numerous cards in a pattern similar to one of those hypnosis illusions you see on YouTube. It was less scary and more amusing in a way.
#6: The Dancing Figure
This was the worst experience I’ve ever had in my life and it was the longest one too. It’s also the one I may one day submit to a YouTuber if they cover Sleep Paralysis stories again. It started in I believe 2017 or 2018. I was asleep and woke up on my back—which is the easiest way to get Sleep Paralysis (or so I’ve read). It was daytime, but I couldn’t move, so I knew right away it was yet another episode of the oh-so lovely paralysis of the sleeping kind. Fine, whatever, I’ll wait.
Well, that plan went out the window really fast when I saw something ahead of me. It was moving in an extremely erratic manner. It wasn’t natural and the only way I can describe it is a belly dance being projected via film with several frames missing. Upon seeing this, my heart rate accelerated by about a thousand beats per millisecond. Without hesitation, I shut my eyes, but opened them a moment later.
The thing had gotten closer, but had stopped moving. It was at this point I realized that it was the same figure—or at least a very similar one—I saw on my lap from when my ex girlfriend was over. Though it looked a bit shorter height-wise. After this, I shut my eyes again. When I reopened them, I saw that the figure was now standing right beside me. At this point, I thought I was going to have a heart attack, so I closed them again.
That’s when something I never imagined would ever happen, well, happened.
I felt something touch me.
Something ran its hand across my hair.
I opened my eyes again and saw the figure walk away. At that moment, I jolted up, finally awake.
This, to date, remains the most terrifying episode of Sleep Paralysis I’ve ever had and while I know it doesn’t hold a candle to some of the other stories out there, the feeling I got from seeing that figure, along with feeling it touch me (or what I assume was it touching me), made me think that I was going to die.
#7: The Shadow Children
This experience happened at some point in either late 2019 or early 2020 (I can’t remember which). It was a very bizarre one too—in spite of how much it scared me. I recall seeing, out the corner of my eye, three pitch black beings that resembled children. They were huddled in a circle before they floated off away from it. It was equal parts terrifying and confusing as I’ve never seen anything like that in my life and I hope I never see anything like that ever again.
#8: The Towering Figures
This was an event that happened to me the morning that I write this (which is also the date that this story has gone up). It’s a story that I refuse to speak in detail to anyone but my closest of close friends because it screwed me up so badly, I want to get my life back on track out of fear that they weren’t figments of my imagination.
I had a nightmarishly bad day yesterday; I ended up doing a lot of things I wish I hadn’t done and angered a friend I wish I’d never angered. It was a culmination of the worst week of my life (not to mention the worst month of my life). All I’ll say about this Sleep Paralysis episode is that I awoke from a dream where I saw a figure running next to a car I was in and, when I awoke, I saw a very large figure towering over me. The level of evil and malice was unlike anything I’ve ever felt in my life and if I ever see those figures again, I’m getting an exorcism performed on this house.
These enigmatic encounters are but my own. There are a plethora of other stories you can find like them out there; many horror-centric YouTube channels have done readings on them for example. However, with that said, I want to jump into the theories right away. There’s little else to discuss about these so-called demons and because of that, I think it’s best if we just move right along. So, let’s stop rambling and dig in.
Theories
1. They’re hallucinations
Our first theory is that they’re merely hallucinations caused by part of your brain still being asleep; you’re merely imagining these “demons” being there because of a natural occurrence (per-se) and it’s unfortunately a rather terrifying one.
Given that these demons aren’t always present when one suffers from Sleep Paralysis, this would make sense. In traditional theology, a demon—although one to operate from behind the curtain—is also not one to pass up on relishing in the agony (be it emotional or physical) it inflicts upon their victim[s]. As such, it would be extremely peculiar to not be present when one is suffering from Sleep Paralysis, neven if off in the distance.
Some would say that this is due to them being behind their victim or leering in an area where they can’t see. This is possible, and even plausible given the cowardly nature of demons. At the same time though, it depends entirely on who you are; an Atheist isn’t likely to buy into this theory whatsoever, but I’m sure there’s one out there that may find it compelling. I leave it up to you because of this.
2. They’re demons
This is an extremely popular theory and with good reason. Most people say that the figures they see inflict them with an extremely intense feeling of fear and malice (two emotions universally associated with demons or any other malevolent entity). As such, this is why these beings are called “Sleep Paralysis Demons”. While it’s been claimed by some that spirits can enter a person’s dream to either commune with them or torment them, this isn’t something that’s universally believed in and given that the state one is in when these events take place, it’d be odd for a spirit or demon to wait until a half-awake, half-asleep state of mind to do what it is they wish to do.
3. They’re interdimensional entities
Interdimensional entities are a favorite of those who believe that we are but one of an endless number of realities. In this case, beings from one (or potentially more) of these dimensions have mastered the ability to cross over into our reality and it’s only when we’re in this state that we can see them. Whether they cause this and do it for malicious purposes are simply as strange as they’re described as being in accounts is unknown, but most would likely lean towards the former. In spite of this, I leave it up to you to decide on what the truth is.
4. They’re aliens
For our fourth and final theory, we have the idea that these demons are aliens. Ah yes, the good old ayy lmao returns once more to present themselves in a way that makes even less sense than them abducting people to probe our rectums. Good stuff.
This theory posits that aliens perform experiments on us when we’re asleep in whatever room we’re in and we either awake during or after them or they wake up to take notes for whatever reason. This is a very silly theory that I’m not sure anyone truly believes in, but there are plenty of people out there that believe aliens are behind a great many things.
My Take
I don’t believe there’s anything demonic or paranormal about Sleep Paralysis Demons. I believe they’re merely hallucinations. However, I also think they’ve rightfully earned their name; whether or not they’re really demons doesn’t matter in the slightest. Simply seeing one of them will make you think you’re staring into the eyes of a demon.
Conclusion
Whether or not Sleep Paralysis Demons truly live up to their name as being damned souls of Hell is up for debate, though as I said above: I don’t think that makes them any less terrifying. Their mere presence in one’s life at a moment when you can’t do anything to defend yourself, let alone alert anyone, is bad enough. So with that in mind: what do you think they are and have you ever had an experience where you saw one yourself? Let me know in the comments below and as always: stay safe.
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