Visitors

On one hand, my hope is that someone out there has experienced this. On the other hand, I hope not. It’s a terrifying experience.

For almost a year now, I have been having sleep paralysis events, usually beginning shortly after I fall asleep. For those of you who don’t know what sleep paralysis is, it’s not as boring, or sexy as you may think. Everything you read here is true; nothing has been exaggerated. I’m not trying to win friends or gain sympathy.

This condition is similar to a nightmare you may have had as a kid. Whenever I experienced a nightmare, I was usually able to force myself, in my dream, to widen my eyes enough that I would wake myself up. It’s a little different to control yourself during sleep paralysis, because you can’t. You can’t move anything, no matter how hard you try. It’s bizarre.

What’s more bizarre are the things your mind invents of events happening around you, or to you. People claim to hear banging on walls, or someone pacing in the hallway just outside their bedroom door. Fortunately, I haven’t experienced those. I have, however, experienced the feeling of my head being pushed into my pillow, and someone sitting on my chest. While it is occurring, it feels real. You think it is real. I have felt presence around my bed, as if someone is watching me. Last night, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I felt my arm reach up and I gently squeezed a relatively small hand. The hand gently squeezed back. Of course, there was no real hand, but my brain told me there was.

You are afraid to fall back asleep.

Doctors don’t really know what causes this. My doctor tells me it’s just my brain trying to catch up at the end of the day. That doesn’t make sense. What is it catching up from?

I was watching the Discovery Channel special about sleep paralysis a few weeks ago. The medical reasons given by doctors interviewed were just as vague. Another group of professionals claim that people who experience sleep paralysis are experiencing a visit from aliens. That almost seems to make more sense. But how did they get my new address?