Paranormal: First I'm going to state that I am an atheist. Second I'm going to say that there are...?

Question

no reasonable explantions for what have happened in my home. Three events took place.

1.) Bed Trembled

2.) Knee was forced into my matress

3.) Hair was pulled while in REM sleep.

I am by no means a push over and I looked for every logical explanation for why these events took place. I have come to the conclusion that I can not explain these events as natural. They each occured on seperate occassions while I was laying on my bed. This last time my hair was pulled with such force I woke up and my neck hurt for the earlier part of this morning. I just wonder if there are any explanations for why these events might have taken place.

This is not a hoax post nor am I joking or mocking. I'm just baffled. I did a survey of my surroundings and nothing makes sense.

Answer 1

You're just a freakin' whack job on the front end of a ride to dementiaville.

Seriously, though, I think you're just experiencing pre schizophrinic episodes.  You're the right age (Im psychic).  This will become more frequent with time and will start happening when you're awake, along with other types of episodes.  Eventually you will become so out of touch that you will think you should run for a prominant political office.

Answer 2

Since you have already concluded that there is no natural explanation, I take it that you are asking somebody to explain the supernatural.

I am wondering exactly what the nature of your atheism is - whether you have adopted the position of a rationalist who believes only things that can be scientifically verified (in which case these events must be challenging your whole belief system) or whether you believe in the supernatural, except for some reason you have decided that there is no God living in it. If you believe in the supernatural then the entity that has been troubling you would be a poltergeist or a demon.

In the case of a person who has eliminated God as a possible source of protection and strength, said poltergeist or demon must be dealt with using human strength. Fighting the spiritual when the only tools in your bag are physical... hmmmm... if that's the extent of your arsenal, then better to hide under the bed and hope it all goes away. Either that or start hoping that evil entities are not the only things "out there".

Answer 3

I think it is significant that without exception all three events you listed are associated with sleeping. This is no fluke -- the vast majority of ghost hauntings reported on Yahoo Answers are likewise associated with some phase of sleeping. Why is this?

I think it is because the mind cannot be trusted when it is somewhere between consciousness and sleep, where dreams can often be misinterpreted as being real. In addition, there is such a thing as sleep paralysis where the body feels paralyzed while the brain is waking up. Essentially, the consciousness part of the brain wakes before the part of the brain that controls locomotion.

By the way, I have to ask -- if you were in REM sleep, there is no way for you to know if your hair is actually pulled or not. How did you determine this happened in reality and was not a dream?  You may have simply dreamt your hair was pulled, and the dream was jarring enough to wake you up. You certainly could pull a muscle doing this. Your muscles tend to tighten up during sleep, and during REM sleep they may be very tense.

I have a strong hunch that vivid dreams and/or sleep paralysis can explain the events you described. If you are insisting you were awake for the bed tremling and knee thing, I'd attribute these to muscle weakness, muscle spasm, or extreme fatigue.

Answer 4

. well I am definitely impressed that an atheist has come to this forum and posted this. yes you could explain this away as a episode where your dreaming. I would start documenting these occurrences. If this activity continues, then I would start trying to find alternative answers. Because the only way this could be the beginnings of a haunting would be if you were to admit there was something other than logical explanations for this to happen. I  have a friend who is having the same thing happening to her. She feels as if there is something akin to a dog walking on here bed at night, yet there is no dog in her bed. Your not crazy and this does happen to many people. Welcome to the world of conflicting beliefs. If you have a haunting, you may have to re evaluate your atheism.

Answer 5

If I didn't have God to scream out to....don't know WHO I'd call on for help. I was sure calling on him today...and it turned out good. Not to say I didn't have a super panic attack while it was going on. I don't say that everything is ok for everybody all the time when they believe in God. But, I'm sure glad he's there to call on.

I knew the skeptics would say it's that sleep thing. Maybe it is..but what if it isn't.  Maybe you need to take some medication to help you go quickly thru that stage of sleep. Maybe ..if it's spirits..they CHOOSE the time when you 're asleep and almost alseep..because they know you're losing control then. Kind of like when you were little and your daddy said..go ahead jump..I'll catch you. You just leave it in his hands and relax and fall into his arms. With sleep..you are "falling" to sleep...putting your live in the hands of the "sleepytime  man". So what if while you were falling..someone or some spirit thought.".Perfect! No self control!"...and then all these things happen. My guess is as good as the skeptics..I think.

Answer 6

Your an Atheist......which is the classic reason why lower/demonic energies enjoy mocking you....Take care of that non-believing mind of yours.

Wish you luck.

Answer 7

THis sounds like a version of something called a 'night terror'. Are you absolutely sure you were in REM sleep rather than in slow-wave sleep? The difference between a night terror and a night mare is that the former happens in slow-wave sleep. There can even be images of being crushed or of small humanlike creatures holding one down.

Answer 8

Has to be a ghost,or spirit of some kind. You need to protect yourself,by ordering it to leave you alone! If,it gets any worse,you might have a professional ghost buster go to your place,and get rid of it!

Answer 9

I understand why this is happening. You are being taunted or haunted by a weak demon. I say it is weak judging that you are not already possessed. This demon is trying to attack you because you are an atheist and atheists won't believe in its presence. You can cast it out by reciting this. "In the name of Jesus Christ. You don't have to convert (even though I would recommend it) but you merely have to believe that saying this has the power to drive the demon out and it will, trust me.

Answer 10

First let me say, as a fellow atheist, that there are no paranormal explanation for your experiences.

1)  Trembles - well, there's earthquakes, passing trucks and you own restlessness - to name a very few.

2)  Knee -- how do you know it was a knee?  Night "drops" or "falling" while in bed happen to everyone - and your body convinces your brain that it's actually moving.  Some contend that it's a dream but that the body contracts during it.  Either way, it's not a knee.

3)  REM sleep - dreaming - sensations (such as hair pulling) are interpreted by the semiconscious brain as real events.  Short of a boy/girl friend who can't keep their knees and hands to themselves, you're just experiencing the conscious brain trying to interpret a dream.

OK - that's all very simplistic, I know - but anyone who tells you that a supernatural force is at work will need to provide supernatural proof.

Answer 11

1.  Earthquake, train, semi-truck, house settling.

2.  Muscle spasm

3.  Get a better pillow/bed

Seriously, everyone's neck hurts sometimes in the morning, and in REM state you can't recall anything or its not REM.  Earthquakes are more frequent then one might think.  Knee forced into mattress?  Take some multivitamins with iron in them.