Redditors describe their sleep paralysis demons

Have you ever had that feeling where you feel like you are awake but you can't move your body and it feels like there's a heavy object on your chest ? If not then congratulations you are one of those lucky ones who have not experienced this creepy phenomenon "yet". Many names have been used to describe this phenomenon, SLEEPING PARALYSIS or OLD HAG SYNDROME are perhaps the most common ones.

Apparently many people who experience this do it very frequently. While asleep people wake up but are not able to move their body and in that moment one can see shadows from the corner of their eyes , sometimes too close for comfort. There are many chilling stories related to sleeping paralysis. There is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon but mostly people who experience these disagree with these explanations.

During these sleep paralysis episodes people often witness some kind of sleep paralysis demons. They have different characteristics for every different person and can look really horrifying according to what some of the people might have described. This coupled with the fact that one cant even move or speak makes it alot more horrifying. Here are some of the stories of redditors who have witnessed these sleep paralysis demons.

1. u/dreams-outrageous

You know, when I was younger (and still a little bit now) I believed that having sleep paralysis was halfway crossing over to another world or dimension. And the demons that would visit me knew I was a little lost, and that thier appearance might be jarring to me, as I was little.

And maybe the habit of just being non threatening and gentle never went away as I got older. I do recall one time I managed to let out this little scared whine, and I swore, the demon shushed me and gently patted my head.

Regardless of whether or not sleep paralysis demons are real, they certainly feel real. So weird. Also good to know that I'm not the only one who has harmless sleep demons.

2. u/binmehdi

I've a strange demon. He is old like 50 years, is bald somewhat and has a very satanic face with a beard. He grabs me from my back and sequezes me too much that I scream and scream until my mom or brother comes to my room to wake me up. This doesn't happen when I am sleeping straight or on the left side but happens when I am sleeping on right. That means even without any weigh on my body I feel him. It has been 4 months since I last saw him. I am poor at drawing but I've seen him so much that I can describe his facial features.

3. u/Bloop_bleep_bloopp My first time it was a figure in a motorcycle helmet standing in the doorway of my room. My first time living away from home on my own. It feels like your mouth is sewn shut and your tongue isn't there anyway even if you wanted to scream, and your body is stapled you the bed, or in some thick substance that doesn't let you move. I get it less and less often as I get older (think messing around with drugs caused it) and now when I get it I can alter my breathing enough my boyfriend wakes up and can then wake me up. It's bloody horrible though.

4. u/TheTwiggsMGW

Through college and few years after I had sleep paralysis fairly often. It was never the same hallucination. The first experience was Samara from The Ring hanging over me and dripping water onto me (woke up drenched in sweat). I've also just seen the shadows of people on the wall while they spoke nonsense from the foot of my bed, seemingly with ill intent but I couldn't understand them.

Most of the time it was too dark for me to see, so it would just be the feeling of something pressing down on me, forcing me into the mattress, and usually accompanied by exaggerated house sounds or the sounds of nature outside of my window was open.

5. u/dreams-outrageous

Usually whenever I have them, they appear in the corner of my room. They're tall, and impossibly thin, with large and long hands, all pitch shadows with red circles where eyes should be. They sorta resemble people?

They usually just come up and sit on the edge of my bed, and pat my knee gently as if to comfort me. They aren't mean or anything. They go between looking at me, and just looking at things around my room, reading posters, etc.

Eventually they sorta just... dissolve into thin air, and then they're gone. Its a weird experience, but I'm glad its not deeply horrifying.

6. u/scythevettore

I used to have them when I was younger. I would always wake up and three blob-ish black masses would be at the foot of my bed. No faces but blacken (moreso than their bodies) and sunken in where their face should have been, no sharp lines or distinct figures. Just three separate blobs floor to about 6ft long. Couldn't move, felt like I couldn't breathe, and I would just have to lay there until they dissipated. They weren't violent but felt malevolent. Felt like hours until they left but I had no sense of how much time would pass.

I would like to note that my mother made me collect dolls growing up and would put them in my room. I whole heartedly believe those keep the dead inside but that's my opinion

7. u/mindfeces

There's frequently an auditory component to my sleep paralysis.

I intuitively know "they" are on the other side of my bedroom door, soon to enter.

The auditory part consists of the times when I can "hear" (this is a bit more of a dreamlike sensation) savage knocking and rattling. That part is pure fucking torture.

8. u/Wild Sea_9827

Before I was diagnosed with narcolepsy and found out about sleep paralysis, I thought I had ghost encounters, with touching and telekinetic stuff and everything. This new information made sense of my life again.

9. Unknown

I've had sleep paralysis like twice. I never had any visual hallucinations though. Just auditory hallucinations. Both times it was the deafening sound of television or radio static. One of the times freaked me out because I had my radio on so I thought that something was messing with it. Tried to get up to see what was going on with it and realized I couldn't move. Luckily I was familiar with sleep paralysis and was able to wake myself up.

10. kirkrjordan-Bd

Before I knew what sleep paralysis was thought I was straight up haunted...now I know otherwise.

The hallucinations and feeling like you're buried under a ton of bricks is indeed scary.

What is worse though is that you feel a malevolent presence in the room and it is somehow exerting the paralyzing force onto you... that's even more scary.

Those 3 things are all scary on their own and worse together but they are all rational fear responses to what is happening. Sleep paralysis fear feels different...it feels like on top of all of the above the chemical in your brain that makes you feel afraid is being injected into you. Pure. Fear. In your brain...completely irrational fear..on top of all the other stuff.

That's the best I've way I've been able to describe the horror. The horror.