Am I being haunted, having night terrors or going insane?

Question

A few nights ago I woke up at 4am, rolled over, and felt a wave of panic wash over me as I've never felt before, to the point where I almost vomited as I vividly felt someone walk down my bed right next to me. It felt like a decent sized human being and it scared me to death! So the next night I stayed at my boyfriends house plainly out of paranoia. That was the night before last, and I haven't slept last night at all (nothing to do with the footsteps, I just didn't feel like sleeping). Now, about 6am this morning I was just dropping off on the sofa when I felt the same sense of panic, but I couldn't figure out what was wrong this time - until I tried to move. I was completely paralyzed, except for my feet. All I could do was breathe really fast and wiggle my feet! After about 30 seconds I snapped out of it. I wouldn't normally have thought the two incidents were related if it weren't for the unbearable panic that I seem to feel even before I know what's wrong.

Now the first thing that struck me was ghosts, as silly as it may sound. Then I got thinking, I've heard the symptoms of night terrors are that they happen between a state of wakefulness and sleep (which I was in both times), being unable to wake up or move, and feeling distinct panic even if you can't remember why.

Any ideas? Much love to you if you can help =P

Answer 1

Q. I think my house is haunted, for real. What should I do?

A. First, you eliminate the natural explanations. Is anyone in the house on drugs? Seriously, are they? I've known quite a few pot smokers who had a "ghost" in their house. Stop taking drugs, and the ghosts will go away.  Does the ghost only seem to bother certain people? A child who wants attetion? An elderly person in the first stages of alzheimers? Schitzophrenics often live in "haunted houses" and talk to aliens too. Is there a source of running water nearby? A noisy aquarium pump turned out to be the "ghost" in one house I know of.  If the occurences can't be eliminated by natural explanations, then you should call in a minister to bless the house. DO NOT call anyone with an occult or New Age background, because it won't do any good, and will probably make your situation much worse. Coventer's Prison in England had a problem with visitors being attacked by unseen forces in the late 1990's. They called in a spiritualist "minister" (i.e., a medium) to exorcise the place. The medium pronounced the place cleared, but of course it didn't work. He died a few days later, and the occurences were worse than ever. They finally closed the site to visitors, because of the unexplained marks and cuts visitors kept getting! I also know of someone who thought they had ghosts in their home and called in some Wiccans to do a "cleansing ritual". The situation only got worse. Don't get occultists involved. No Wiccans, Voodooists, Santerios, Canduras, "white witches", ceremonial magicians, Rosicrucians, Theosophists, Cabalists, spiritualists, psychics, "spiritual advisors", or anything like that. These people think they know a lot, they'll act like they do, but they don't (I'm not being mean, I'm being honest).



Get a Christian minister from a Bible believing church (no Mormons, Unitarians, JW's, Unity, or other cults). Chances are there is one close by. If they don't want to handle it for some reason, call someone else. Get out a phone book if you have to. It won't be hard to find someone who can help you.

Answer 2

This is called sleep paralysis and it's fairly common. You aren't going crazy, it's something to do with waking up but not being awake fully.

Symptoms of sleep paralysis can be either one of the following or a combination:

    * Paralysis: this occurs after waking up or shortly before falling asleep. The person cannot move any body part, cannot speak, and only has minimal control over blinking and breathing. This paralysis is the same paralysis that occurs when dreaming. The brain paralyzes the muscles to prevent possible injury during dreams, as some body parts may move during dreaming. If the person wakes up suddenly, the brain may still think that it is dreaming, and sustains the paralysis.

    * Hallucinations: Images or speaking that appear during the paralysis. The person may think that someone is standing beside them or they may hear strange sounds. These may be dreamlike, possibly causing the person to think that they are still dreaming. Often it is reported as feeling a weight on one's chest, as if being underneath a person or heavy object.

These symptoms can last from mere seconds to several minutes (although they can feel like much longer) and can be frightening to the person. There may be some body movement, but it is very unlikely and hard for a person to accomplish.

Answer 3

UR Scared thats why you migh of watched scary movies about ghosts or stuff like that or stuff about possesed people or angel of death

i ogt quite scared when i watched scary ****

Answer 4

Check out "panic attacks" online.  Call a doctor, these are highly responsive to treatment, and you can sleep like a baby, without major drugs or horrible expensive bills.

Knowing your symptoms and being able to explain them will be really very helpful to an clincian.  Call the local hospital to talk to a nurse, or see your family doctor for a reference to a psychologist, or preferably a psychiatrist (they deal with medications, feelings, behaviors, perceptions).

Answer 5

ok a while back i had the same thing sort of i was very paranoid like someone was out to get me or for just stupid reasons and in bed at night i was scared to move like roll over. but since i am christian i got prayed for so find a local church or minister to pray as soon as they did i felt calm and at peace

or my mum always said read the bible before you go to bed i did and i felt calm and fell asleep instantly

hope it helps  

Answer 6

maybe your dad is trying to sneak under your quilt?

Answer 7

it sounds like sleep paralysis.When this happens, the best thing to do is to not panic, just try and slow your bretahing, relax your body and then after a few seconds try again to move.

If you're not sleeping, or you usually have disturbed/broken sleeping patterns which cause you to maybe not get so much sleep, then you might be visualising things. ( I personally thought i was going mad when i was seeing 'shadow people' -even during the day-until i found out it was actually lack of sleep causing it! )

If you have any stresses in your life at this time, this could be what is stirring all this up.  Maybe try a warm bath with some  laveder oil in it to calm and relax you before going to bed, or,a warm milky drink like horlicks or hot chocolate.  Both these should help you get a good sound nights sleep.

If you are feeling these waves of panic during your working day, the i would possible see you GP to discuss anxiety.  There maybe an underlying pressure in your life at the moment that you havn't realised or you thought was a small issue but it's actualy having a bigger impact on you than you initially thought.

And finally, you are not going mad - which is a great thing, 'cos the 'straight jacket look' is such a difficult look to pull off!! haha

Good luck and sweet dreams! :)

Answer 8

its your nan

Answer 9

well one way is to just check on the internet or go to a therapist or something or maybe its just your imagination you 'imagine' getting sat on and thats what you feel that happen to me before too but now ithas stopped so stop worrying and have fun lol

Answer 10

Firstly, you aren't going insane. You may have had "night terrors", or just a bad dream.

When we sleep at night we cycle through various stages of sleep, each distinctly different.  We dream in REM (rapid eye movement sleep) Breathing is rapid, irregular and shallow, the heart rate increases, blood pressure rises,etc.  As we dream we can have some quite violent dreams in which we act out certain emotions etc. and in order to stop ourselves from harming ourselves and others, the motor centre of the brain is "switched off", hence your paralysis.  In some people this mechanism fails and they may sleep walk, or far worse!

Is there something in your everyday life about which you are very worried or concerned?  As dreams are used to process emotions which may be too strong to deal with whilst awake, your feelings of panic may be a result of waking up a little whilst those emotions are still being processed, giving you that sense of panic (which is real, horribly real, I know!).

As for ghosts, is is accepted in some schools of thought that "ghosts" are a way of rationalising the experience of panic, of a "presence" that you described as feeling.  So the dreams first, then the ghost.

The source quoted will give you more detailed info than I can

Answer 11

I have experienced similar situations where my nightmares seem to persist after I awaken.  Sometimes it would happen to me multiple times in the same night, so I started turning on a light after the first one.  I found if it happens again, and the light is on, I have an easier time transitioning to a conscious state.

Answer 12

First things first - NOBODY on here can give you the right answer. Yes, it could be sleep paralysis. Yes, it could be that a negative energy has attached itself to you. Yes, it could be that there is some stress in your life which is manifesting itself in this way.

My advice to you is to find someone to cleanse your home. If you can't afford it (should be about £30), ask your local Spiritualist Church for advice. Don't worry about approaching them - we believe in the same God, but also that spirits can communicate with us. Leave a light on at night - it will be less scary if it happens again.

If it is sleep paralysis then there is no cure as such - just make sure that you don't get overtired and try not to go to bed stressed. A stress management consultant can help you there.

Good luck, this is a horrible thing but you will get through it.

Answer 13

I'm sorry to hear you have had this unpleasant experience. First, it was not a ghost - ghosts do not exist. Ghosts do not exist!

What you seem to have had was a sort of nightmare that occurs just between waking and sleeping or as in your case between sleeping and waking. what you described is the classic nightmare where you can;t breathe, there is some sort of weight pressing on you and there are feelings of panic and helplessness involved. Many, many people - including me - have suffered from this or a similar variation of this experience. There is even a classic painting called The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli which portrays such a feeling.

All of this is generated from inside your own head (and my head, and other sufferers heads) and is a weird quirk of the way our minds work in the semi-concious state. These are called hypnogogic sensations and you seem well on the way to keeping the emotional side of all this under control. Check out this link for more info and an illustration of the painting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnogogic

So, be calm. Nothing is harming you or trying to. Maybe you have some anxiety that is troubling you at the moment that might account for your restlessness. I hope you can resolve that. Good luck.

Answer 14

How about, sleeping with a light on, could make you sleep better. Maybe taking some benadrill (how the h**l do you spell that?) that helps you sleep, and maybe having someone sleep with you could ease your problems/

Answer 15

I say ghost and try to talk to them

Answer 16

You are going insane.