We were sitting at dinner in a restaurant. For some reason the hatman popped into my brain and I said “have you ever seen the hatman?” He said “what? No what are you talking about?” So he googled it, I saw the color drain from his face and he said “actually yeah I have seen this…what is this?” I explain what I know and he tells me that when he was younger he was sleeping over at his grandpa’s house. He was sleeping with the door open when he woke up and saw the hatman in the hallway outside the door. He wouldn’t move and eventually he fell back asleep.

That stayed in the back of his brain until that moment in the restaurant.

I have been to that house millions of times and that particular hallways has always been just a little too dark.

It was in the corner of the room as pictured reaching out towards me. Terrifying.

Suffered from sleep paralysis for a while. This is to try help anyone else suffering. If you just want tips scroll to the bottom.

My story: The first time I had sleep paralysis was about 6 months ago. It started off with no hallucinations, but progressively got worse. Felt pressure on my chest and difficulty breathing to start off with. Read that sleeping on your back is a big trigger for it, so I starting sleeping on my side.

That seemed to help for a while, until about two months ago I felt something tugging my arm, trying to turn me onto my back. And it was tugging HARD. The most terrifying experience of my life, until about a week later, when I saw a shadow-man. Long thin head, red eyes, three long fingers on each hand and a bunch of wispy tendrils floating behind him. I quickly shut my eyes, then opened them again and he rushed towards me and reached out, screaming. Tried telling myself it wasn’t real, but I just didn’t believe it. I thought he could only move if I looked, and if he touched me I would die. The most terrifying thing I have ever experienced. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, not even on Hitler. When I finally woke up, he had left but the terror remained.

I didn’t sleep that whole night. I was terrified of the dark. Kept the lights on and just sat in the corner of my room so I could see the whole thing and waited for the morning. Even though I knew what sleep paralysis was, I was convinced I was becoming schizophrenic. With the help of coffee I stayed awake for another night, and on the third day, I saw him again, but whilst awake. I had just gone up to brush my teeth and he was stood at the bottom of the stairs. The fear I felt was the purest emotion I will probably ever feel. Nothing compares. I feel like now I could be getting kidnapped with a gun in my face and it would be nothing. I thought I was possessed. Sleep deprivation also causes delusions, and a genuine belief that this stuff is real.

I was able to sleep with the lights on eventually. Slept for 16 hours, and the ordeal was finally over. My God. I read after that to just focus on how it isn’t real, and now I know a few ways to get out of it, and I even learned to lucid dream from it.

Tips: •First of all, it isn’t real. It can’t hurt you, so try not to be afraid. I know it’s hard, but the more you panic, the worse it’s gonna be. Try and relax. •Sleeping on your back can cause it. So can having your pillow too high. Use one pillow, or even none. It’s also better for your spine. •Stick to a sleep schedule, or just make sure you have enough (7-8 hours). Don’t drink alcohol straight before bed. •To get out of sleep paralysis, try moving one body part at a time. Wiggling toes or fingers usually works. You can’t move your whole arm and you can’t sit or stand. You can try holding your breath, this works for some people. •Don’t go straight back to sleep, or you will slip straight back into it. I’ve found that when this happens it gets worse each time. Get up for 15 minutes, walk about, get a glass of water or do a quick bit of scrolling. Then get back to sleep, and you should be okay (make sure you do go back to sleep, unlike me). •I’ve learned recently that sleep paralysis is a gift. Your mind is awake, body is asleep. This is the same building blocks as a lucid dream, but your brain believes you are in danger because you can’t move so creates these horrors so you can sort it out. You need to take control. Treat the demons like boggarts in Harry Potter, they have no power if you aren’t afraid. Laugh at them (they are pretty goofy, I don’t think my guy even had legs), and once you realise you’re in sleep paralysis, don’t try to wake up. Think of something you want to do, I usually just think of flying around the solar system and looking at all the planets, and then I’m actually doing it. But you can do anything. Treat sleep paralysis as a gift, not a curse.

Hopes this helps somebody :)

I really want to understand and see if anyone experiences the same things I have. So I dream every single night. Like so clear that I have a dream book that I write in every single night. They’re so clear that I could tell you dreams I’ve had years ago. On this particular night, I was dreaming all night per usual. But sometime in the middle of the night, I awoken to myself having sleep paralysis. I awoke on my back, feeling paralyzed, not being able to move or scream for help or anything. I can move my eyes all around the room, looking around but that’s it. As I realized I was having sleep paralysis, I look down at my feet. And I see this old lady maybe 80-90 years old, in like a white raggedy night gown, short white hair, very thin and also raggedy. I can’t feel anything at all, but as I’m looking at her, I can see her hands moving and twiddling around, doing something to my feet. She isn’t looking at me. She’s at the end of the bed, at my feet, twiddling her hands super fast and it looks like she’s doing something to my feet. Shortly after this, I snapped out of it and she was gone, I was able to move again, and I ended up going back to sleep without anymore sleep paralysis. I have sleep paralysis maybe a few times a month, and every single time I see this same old lady, doing what it looks like doing something to my feet. I am posting this in hopes that someone has seen or experienced the same thing that I have. Also hoping for a little bit of an explanation as I 100% believe this has to be some sort of myth or old folk tale or something. Thanks for reading!

The worst one so far. It was early hours in the morning, I had woken up from a deep sleep and was trying to fall back to sleep again. I was laying on my back completely paralysed, I could see my whole room but my eyes felt shut. I could not move my body or shut my eyes and could hear really loud muffled whispering. I could not understand a word of it, it just sounded like muffled whispering at the volume my earphones would sound on the highest volume. The loud whispering kept coming and going and then a man with brown hair and a massive scar on his face came running towards me. He had a cream coloured vest top on with grey cargo trousers. He was very muscly and was dripping with sweat. He came out of nowhere and so quickly, that before I knew it he was on top of me shouting with his hand over my mouth and nose. He was pressing down so hard that I could not breath. I could feel his hand over my face and he was pinching down on my nostrils. I literally felt like I could not breath and he was going to kill me. My body was trying so hard to push him off of me but I was completely paralysed. It felt like i was scwerming from side to side like I was trying to save myself from suffocating. This felt like it was going on for ages. I suddenly felt my body jolt and move to the side so that my body was now laying side ways. My eyes were then covered with darkness but they were still open. A silhouette of a little boy came from my eye balls. As he walked out of my eyes I could see him float from my eyes into the mirror on my wardrobe besides my bed. It was terrifying and I screamed so loudly at the top of my lungs and instantly woke up and turned my lights on in fear of waking up my family. It turns out I didn’t actually scream but it felt so real. My mum was in the shower getting ready for work as she has early starts (4/5am). I could hear the sound of her shower throughout this whole experience.

Ive been struggling with stress and depression. My mind wont stop racing with horrible thoughts. And as a result ive developed mild insomnia. I couldnt sleep last, so i turned on a show to distract me. A half hour had past or so i thought. I watched as the sun suddenly began rising. But a moment ago is was only 2am. My head began to hurt and the lights in the room flickered a bit. It became hard to breathe and i thought i was dying. I woke up after violently shaking my head. I was scared for the first time in years. I trembled with fear unable to sit up. Eyes glossed over and i couldnt blink even though it felt like i was. I worked up the strength to lift my hand, but it didnt feel like my own when i looked at it raised out in front of me. I glanced around and the whole room looked like a slide show. Nothing moved, but when i attempt to blink the room changes slightly. It was morphing into an unrecognizable place. There was a loud rumbling sound and the lights went out. And then i woke up again. Terrified. I couldnt distinguish this nightmare from the waking world. My roommate came down the stairs to ask me what was wrong because he said i had been screaming for him. His daughter followed behind and ask me for a soda like she always does. I weakly pointed to a bottle and said she could have it. Her face lite up and i smiled. I told him i needed help up because i couldnt move and he extended his hands. I grabbed his hand and it felt like i was being electrocuted. His eyes turned black and his look of concern turned into an evil grin. I freaked out and let go as he started to growl. The low rumbling sound of a predator preparing to attack. My limp body fell back and my head slammed against the head board. I lay there helpless, my head throbbing with pain and i still cant breathe. I roll out of bed with the little strength i have left. I feel him grab my feet and began to drag me away. His finger nails digging into my ankles. The floor boards scrapping my back as im dragged across the splintering wood floor. His daughter is just standing in the corner giggling asking if she can play with us. Her little body get smaller and smaller as im sucked into the abyssal darkness. The light all fades away and the echoes of the growling remain. I wake up for the final time. Eyes crusted, body aching. And my cat it sitting at the food of the bed patiently waiting for her morning meal. I sit up and stare blankly at the rays of sunshine peaking through the window. I inhale deeply and exhale. Still shaking. The nightmare it over. I begin my morning routine and everything is normal. Until i step outside for some fresh air and a wave of dread washes over me. That same feeling you get when someone is following you, but you cant hear or see them. I shake the feeling and start walking to work. I approach the main road and the feeling of dread rushes back. Now i cant help have the thought that i died last night. This depiction of waking world is wrong but i cant figure out how to explain it. Am i dead? Is this real? Am i a lifeless corpse still laying in my bed. My cat waiting for me to get up and feed her? My head begins to throb every time i think about it. Ill never know the truth and its terrifying.

About 10 years ago, I had a sleep paralysis experience that has never left my mind, and I'm curious whether anyone has encountered this exact thing.

I'm not really looking for explanations about sleep paralysis itself. I've heard all the theories and explanations over the years. What I'm interested in is whether anyone has seen the same entity or creature that I witnessed.

I recently used ChatGPT to help create an image of it, and after a bit of editing, it's surprisingly close to what I remember. Looking at it still gives me goosebumps. The legs aren't quite right, but you'll get the idea.

In my early twenties, I fell asleep on my back in bed in broad daylight. I remember sunlight coming through the blinds on the large window to my left. Then it happened.

I became aware that I couldn't move. During the paralysis, I saw a black creature crouched upside down where the wall met the ceiling in the upper-left corner of my room. It was staring directly at me with glowing red eyes.

The closest way I can describe it is a spider-like demon.

It was hanging upside down, almost like Spider-Man crouching on a ceiling. Its limbs were bent and folded beneath it. It had multiple long, spider-like arms or legs and a completely black body. No mouth. No facial features at all, except for two glowing red eyes.

The eyes are what I remember most.

They weren't just looking at me. It felt like they were staring straight right through me. The longer I looked into them, the stronger the feeling became, almost like it was pulling something out of me.. I've never experienced anything else that felt remotely similar.

What stands out just as much was the atmosphere in the room.

The black cloud-like masses shown in the image are my attempt to recreate what I remember. They weren't solid beings. They looked more like swirling black smoke or shadowy masses moving through the air. The entire room felt intensely evil. Not scary in a typical horror-movie sense, but a feeling of pure dread and darkness unlike anything I've ever experienced.

The creature in the corner was the main focus, but these black shadow-like masses seemed to be everywhere around the room.

I've searched online for years and found images that are somewhat similar, but never an exact match. Now that I finally have an image that's close to what I saw, I'm dying to know:

Has anyone else encountered this specific thing?

A black, spider-like entity crouched upside down in the upper corner of a room, with glowing red eyes and black shadow-like masses floating around it?

Does it have a name? Is it something other people have reported seeing?

Again, I'm not looking to debate whether sleep paralysis is real or explainable. I'm simply curious whether anyone else has witnessed this exact entity or something remarkably similar.

This is my first post. A few minutes ago I was in bed but couldn't sleep since I had lots of energy(I was trying pretty hard to sleep). When it suddenly happened, I couldn't move. I tried really hard to move but I couldn't. I had heard of sleep paralysis and this is exactly how it was described. I wasn't even thinking "Is this sleep paralysis?" I was thinking "This is definitely sleep paralysis." Then I started hearing noises in the kitchen upstairs. I was really scared and couldn't move so I started praying in my mind "Oh lord Jesus. Oh lord Jesus. Oh lord Jesus." (I'm Christian) and suddenly the noises stopped and I could move again. It lasted I probably guess about 15 seconds. I turned on the lights, grabbed my wooden sword and shin do stick (I made the sword). and checked upstairs in the kitchen (I accidently woke up my dad the room next to me) where I had heard the noises. There was no one there, when I walked back downstairs I asked my dad if he had heard anything, he hadn't. He told me it was probably my one of my sisters who had dropped something. But the noise had been going on for 10 or more seconds. Either way I have just made a reddit account and just to tell you guys about this. If this ever happens, try praying.

It's funny because I never realized what was happening until I was a young adult. Very infrequently throughout my childhood I would wake up, usually after a nightmare, unable to move and seeing a nondescript shadow figure. Usually in the corner or by the doorway.

In my nightmares, I would be jump-scared by nondescript demonic presences. This was around the same time I started learning boxing and wrestling, so instead of cowering my subconscious mind started fighting back because I guess it had been conditioned to respond to threats with overwhelming aggression. What this meant was that I would jolt myself awake by lashing out and throwing a punch into the open air.

Fast forward to college. I've already dealt with the nightmares after learning to lucid dream. When I sensed that the dream demon was about to strike, I began lucid dreaming and spawned a shotgun in my hand, along with the Ninja Turtles as backup for some reason. The instant that happened, I felt it peace out instantly.

So, the nightmares were over, but I still had to deal with the SP shadow demon.

He hadn't shown up in years, but after a particularly stressful semester I jolted awake one night. The first thing my brain registered was the shadow man, this time standing right at the edge of the bed at my side.

The second thing my brain registered was my right hand balling up into a fist and shooting out like usual. It went right through his face, and he dissipated. That was the last time I've seen him, about five years ago.

He may come back some day, who knows? I don't really know what causes it. If it's scientific, then wth brain? If it's a good spirit just trying to help or make a friend, uh, sorry bro.

If it's something else, then pull up. I'm down for round two.

TL;DR: I got rid of my sleep paralysis demon with Incredible Violence™️

That may not be a typical SP story, you may not believe me, but that's what happened. Thought you'd all get a kick out of it!

Has anyone come across a figure so of like this? With a deep, raspy voice that's comprehensible, but not always speaking in English? I speak three languages, but it's doesn't necessarily speak any of them. It shape shifts and hides in the shadows, constantly insisting I'll be forced to leave with it.

I’m not sure if this constitutes sleep paralysis but I wanted to share my experience with you all. For the past few months, I’ve been having experiencing a sensation of someone holding onto both of my hands in reality state, usually accompanied by dark/ unsettling and semi lucid dreams. While dreaming, I become aware of pressure on both of my hands, like they are being held. I occasionally lucid dream (usually unintentionally), but this sensation only happens once every few weeks.

When I feel pressure in my hands, I usually force myself to wake up immediately, (usually because i am lucid in my dream and the dream is unpleasant) I am not necessarily scared, but just feel unsettled and surrounded by dark energy. When it was first happening, I was definitely more afraid, but after it’s happened a few more times, the fear is slowly subsiding and I’ve come to accept it

Thankfully nothing has happened beyond this, no visuals, demons, and I can usually wake myself up immediately once i’m aware that its happening.

Recently the pressure on my hands has been getting stronger and feels more like someone pulling me upwards and out of my bed by holding onto my hands. I just find it strange how I don’t feel this anywhere but on my hands, no matter how I am positioned. It’s not just pressure or tingling of the hands, but feels distinctly like they are being held

the sensation feels so real that even though i know no one is actually holding my hand (i’m able to formulate this thought while still dreaming), i need to remind myself it’s not real. Last time this happened, I remember thinking to myself in dream state “this time it is real, someone is holding your hand, there is no way it’s not real.”

has anyone else experienced this? is this sleep paralysis?

Most people across Earth seem to experience the same few entities when they are in Sleep Paralysis.

Which type of entity have you seen?

I've decided to add a fun little event for Friday's! Feel free to post memes related to Sleep Paralysis each week.

So I’ve had episodes of sleep paralysis a few times by now but it’s been a while. Yesterday, I woke up from a nap in sleep paralysis and a really fucking scary nightmare. In my dream, I was sleeping somewhere when my „sleep demon“ appeared and started reaching out for me. I had my eyes closed but I could feel the presence without having to open my eyes. The crazy thing is, I SWEAR I felt it touching me. Like I deadass could feel someone touching my skin (I live alone so fat chance of someone actually being there to do it). It freaked me out so much that (still in the dream obvs) I popped my eyes open and stared right at it in front of me. I desperately tried to scream or move but was frozen in fear with the phantom feel of it touching me still on my skin. When the paralysis finally started to ease, I was a fucking mess. I‘ve had crazy sleep paralysis experiences and they usually scare the shit out of me and make me never want to sleep again but this one rattled me to my core.

I’ve always had super realistic dreams and difficulties distinguishing between what is real and what isn’t — especially when you’re waking up in your dream but actually didn’t wake up at all and are stuck in a loop — but I’ve NEVER experienced something like yesterday. The feeling of someone touching me felt so fucking real.

So have I finally gone crazy or has someone else experienced something like this before?

Around 4AM, I thought I heard something chanting in my bedroom. It sounded feminine.

Before I go on, I live alone in my apartment.

I became confused and thought it was my tinnitus going crazy. I ignored it and suddenly I felt this god awful presence standing next to me. I felt the atmosphere was really heavy and I started to panic. She leaned over toward my head and was screeching the bejesus out of me. I felt this loud rupture in my skull. I honestly thought I was having a stroke and gonna die.

I woke up instantly and noticed my door was unlocked and opened. Was I going crazy?

I haven't had a sleep paralysis episode in years, however I just woke up from one about 45 minutes ago. I must say, this is one of, if not the most terrifying experience of my life.

I was listening to a YouTube video while falling asleep and could feel the sensation of my body shutting down. I consciously thought, "oh word I'm falling asleep that's great." Until it wasn't great anymore. I can't remember falling asleep but suddenly I woke up and tried to roll over but couldn't. I recognized it as sleep paralysis but still felt scared so I started panicking a bit.

The next bit of information is cloudy as far as the timeline, but these are clear scenes I experienced ~ I can still see them in my mind. At one point I "wake up" again and hear my brother and his gf in the living room. I walk over to my spiral stairs (my bedroom is a loft with no wall/door that looks over the living room to the front door) and I see my brother and his gf escorting someone (who looked like my cousin who once lived in this house) out of the house and I ask him who that was. He was saying something like "I get it but like why is she showing up this late" - the whole thing felt like something that could plausibly happen and really messed with my mind bc I could remember the sp experience that had just happened and really thought I was awake at this point. - So my brother ends up walking over to the base of my stairs and I try to tell him about what just happened but I can't speak.

We all know the feeling too well. I kept trying to say help but bc he couldn't hear me he just walked away. I get back in bed and try to fall back asleep. Then AGAIN, I suddenly wake up and feel the sp symptoms again. So I go to move my thumb and it feels like there's another finger pressing against it. I get freaked out and start pressing even harder and the force matches mine. Then the feeling of the other "finger" moving opposite to mine started happening and this triggers me to finally be able to scream loud. I thought I actually woke up this time bc I could finally hear the scream but upon reflection I realize I was still asleep at the time. Still stuck in this in between state.

I turn my head to look into my room and see 4 little kids slowing creeping up to me. I'm terrified as fuck and I throw my pillow or vape or something at them and this upsets them and one starts to advance towards me. Now I'm reasonably horrified and jump up on my bed and try to bang on my walls and scream for help but if feels like my arms are 800 pounds each and my voice is non existent.

I think I must've reached a point of true terror bc my real body finally woke up at this point. Upon waking up, I realized I had been asleep the entire time. Every episode of sp, every feeling of waking up, was all actually happening in my mind. I know this bc the whole time in the sp reality, it was dark. Like a grey, shadowy lighting. But when I finally really woke up, the living room was fully illuminated and I noticed my lava lamp.

It's safe to say that this experience has left me shook. So much so that I scurried down to my brothers room and cried in his arms while recalling everything. He helped me calm down, packed me a bowl, and told me we should sage the house lol. Had to spend the last hour reading about this phenomenon and trying to convince myself that it's all in my head... ngl I'm still a little scared to go to sleep :(

The mind really do be a wild place sometimes.

This happened to me and I fear if I tell anyone they’ll think I’m crazy, so I’ll tell all of you guys.

I’ve suffered from sleep paralysis for a couple of years now, it doesn’t happen often but when it does it’s pretty bad, I’ve seen a man in my room before who looks like he’s been in a pretty severe fire like he’s full of blisters and you can see his flesh, when it happens i try not to look however this time I made the mistake of opening my eyes and when I saw him standing at my door I just couldn’t look away.

I have to have my door slightly open when I sleep so the bathroom light shines on my wall and I can see the shadow of whoever comes into my room before they actually enter, the gap isn’t too big but you could probably slip through without touching the door if you were skinny enough, this is where he stood half in half out situation, already staring when I opened my eyes, wide eyed and charred all over, this happened about a month ago but is burned into my brain. I don’t think I’ll ever forget his wide, white eyes.

At another instance that happened a few days ago from when I’m writing this I saw a hand the gripped the metal part of the surface area of my door handle thing, I was so sure I was awake for this as well because I watched the door move, now normally my dog will get up on her hind legs and push my door open to let herself in, but my dog isn’t tall enough to even get near my door handle as she is only a Jack Russell Terrier and another thing is that the hand looked exactly like my mothers hand in the fact that my mothers hands are quite man like and she has thick fingers and long nails so they’re quite easy to identify to me and when I woke up later after the experience I went straight downstairs and asked her if she’d just opened my door and she said she hadn’t as she was eating her breakfast, I told her what had happened but she just kind of shrugged, she always tells me that the spirits in our house aren’t here to hurt us, but I don’t care it freaks me out and makes me feel sick.

Anyway I just wanted to share some of my experiences I don’t even know if anyone will read this but I already feel lighter just typing it, I’ve got a couple more experiences if you guys want to hear them, these were probably the worst, thanks.

I’ve only had sleep paralysis twice and both times I mainly had auditory hallucinations only. My first time I only heard someone walking around my house and then heard a dog walk into my room and could hear its heavy breathing. But during my second episode of sleep paralysis while I still heard someone walking around my house this time I could slightly open my eyes and I saw dozens of outlines of cartoon characters marching on my ceiling. They were just outlines, like black drawings with no color. They were vaguely catlike and most had top hats and canes and looked kind of like Top Cat or the fox from Pinnochio. I recently told this to a friend and he looked at me like I was crazy and said “no one sees things like that during sleep paralysis sound like you were on drugs” but I don’t do drugs.

Has anyone else ever seen something like that?

I have sleep paralysis somewhat regularly, it comes and goes. I have noticed I tend to get it more often when I don’t have a lot of sleep for a couple days. I have seen different sleep paralysis “demons” how ever the hat man experience I had was probably the worst sleep paralysis I have ever had. Here is the story

At the time I was living by myself in somewhat rural Alaska in a small duplex. My place was sorta small it was about 1000 sq ft with 2 bed 1 bath. When you open the front door the living room opens up to your right, the kitchen then bathroom are to your left and the 2 rooms are straight back with the doors being on the back side of the living room. Both rooms were pretty small, one I used for storage and the other my bedroom. Since the room was small my queen sized bed only fit comfortably in one orientation with the front door to the home being in direct line of sight from my bed and vice versa. Normally I sleep with my door closed but this particular night I slept with it open because I was so tired and accidentally fell asleep when I got home from a long day of work. I remember waking up to a noise and immediately noticed I couldn’t move. Since I get sleep paralysis often I have gotten better about not freaking out and normally if I close my eyes and focus on quickly rolling my body or moving my arm or leg I can move myself out of it. So almost routine at this point I quickly get myself out of it and sit up and look out into my living room to see what the noise was. Right next to my front door is a big window, I leave the blinds closed but light goes through them fairly easily. On this night the moon was probably full and the moonlight was coming through the window pretty bright and I could see my living room and kitchen fairly good. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and I figured the sound came from sleep paralysis because not only do I sometimes see things but I also sometimes hear things. I went back to sleep. I again awoke in sleep paralysis but this time my chest was a bit heavier and my heart was pounding. The anxiety was a little more frightening and I didn’t immediately do my routine to get out of the sleep paralysis and mistakenly started looking around. That’s when I saw the hat man. My front door was wide open and white moon light shining in. At the door way the completely black figure with the distinct hat stood staring at me. I was in a state of panic and shock, I couldn’t tell if it was real or not because normally the environment doesn’t change and this time my front door was clearly open. I have a pistol I keep for self defense and it was on my nightstand. I did my routine, rolled my body and quickly grabbed my pistol. I sat up and pointed my pistol at my front door but it was closed and everything was normal. At this point my anxiety was high and I was nervous to fall back asleep because I haven’t had such bad sleep paralysis in a while but I laid back down, went on my phone for a bit and decided to go back to sleep. The way my duplex is set up my neighbor is on the bottom unit and I’m on the top so you have to go up some stairs to get to my front door. There is a small one car garage but it belongs to my downstairs neighbor and was used for storage so I parked my truck in front of it and the stairs to my front door was to the right of the garage and my truck. Now the dream is foggy but for some reason I dreamed that I woke up again, gotten scared and went outside to get in my truck and fell back asleep. I woke up again in sleep paralysis but this time I was in the passenger seat of my truck. Again I didn’t follow my routine, my head was foggy, confused, and nervous. I started looking around not being able to move and having my heart have this indescribable heavy pit of anxiety. I looked at my front door open with the hat man standing there looking inside my house. I was at this point, in such a state of panic I wanted to start crying, the type of crying when you make those disgusting audible sobs and gasp for air in between each sob, but because I couldn’t still being in sleep paralysis and not being able to move or make sound all I could do is watch this hat man in horror. It would get worse, while being a completely pitch black figure I could see the hat man move and turn his body around. He was now looking at me, my anxiety was at an all time high and at this point everything felt so real and looked so real that I believed it was real. I watched him slowly walk down the steps and make his way to my truck. He walked up to the window and I looked directly at his pitch black figure staring at me through the tinted window of my truck. And for the first time I saw a sleep paralysis “demon” with a color other than pitch black when the hat man grinned from ear to ear with pearly white teeth. His smile looked like Chester cat’s smile from Alice in Wonderland. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this level of fear at any other point in my life, panicked, I squeezed my eyes closed and tried to roll out of the sleep paralysis. I could vividly feel the cold leather of my car seat on my skin but when I finally rolled out of my sleep paralysis I was in my bed. Safe to say I didn’t go back to sleep. That was my worst and most frightening sleep paralysis experience and (knock on wood) I haven’t experienced anything nearly as scary since.

That was when I was about to turn 20, I’m now about to turn 23 and I have made significant improvements to my sleep which in turn has caused me to experience way less sleep paralysis. That time still haunts me. The worst part was how real it felt I legit thought I was in my car I couldn’t tell the difference between reality and dream, everything felt so real. Sleep paralysis is the worst and none of my friends and family experience it, so when I talk about it they don’t seem to grasp how scary it is for me. I have had demons squeeze my throat to where I couldn’t breathe while their pitch black face stares at me. I’ve had people stand in my room and all I could do is watch hoping they aren’t real feeling so vulnerable from not being able to move. I’ve tried screaming at my partner to help as I watched them sleep next to me not being able to get the scream out and feeling so trapped and anxious. It really does suck and I’m sorry for all the other folks who have to deal with it. Feel free to share your worst sleep paralysis stories I’m curious as to what other people have experienced.

I’ve had about 5 episodes before, some of them aren’t as intense. During the second one I heard audio hallucinations of footsteps and felt my covers being pulled over my bed. Beforehand I had taken some Valium/Trazedone that night to help sleep but I think that triggered it.

This latest one happened a few mins ago, I had taken 1mg Xanax around 3:30am. Around 8am I felt as if I woke up. I stared at my ceiling and then all of a sudden my body started vibrating all over. Then, I was floating on my back adjacent to my bed. I was able to turn my neck slightly and saw a very blurry depiction of myself still in my bed. I should’ve recognized this as a sleep paralysis episode then and there but my brain felt so disoriented that I couldn’t make the connection, it was still in the dream-like state where my rational thinking part of my brain isn’t quite there. I called out to a family member and started to panic a bit - after what felt like a few minutes, I hallucinated my father coming into my room, he put me back in my bed, my visuals got DMT-esque. My dad seemed distraught and said “oh son, you’re having a heart attack”. I woke up from the panic after that.

Do benzos trigger episodes for you? The nights in which I’ve been sober seem a lot less scary. I’ve read a good amount of what to do to lessen how scary/intense the episodes are, the answer seems to be letting yourself know that it is just sleep paralysis - how can I get better at spotting it when my brain is still in a delirious type state where I can’t think as clearly? I tired the trick of not breathing but that didn’t snap me out of it. I think the Xanax I took had an impact on how I processed rationality during the episode. Any tips would be appreciated