Tag Archives: sleep paralysis

Tug of War with a Ghost

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Virginia
Performance Date: October 21, 2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Informant: It was in North Carolina. I just got done playing with a fake Oujia board (like the ones you would find online). I went to bed. I woke up and it was freezing. I had a habit of kicking my blanket off in my sleep. I go to grab it and something was tugging against me. I thought nothing of it because I was half-asleep. I eventually won this tug-of-war and went back to sleep. I woke up the next morning freaked out because I realized I was fighting for a blanket with something in my half-asleep state. I did not think it was sleep paralysis or anything because I got up to get my blanket back. I just really want to know what wanted my blanket and why.

Background/Informant Thoughts: Informant was 15 going on 16 in North Carolina during the summer of 2016. (This is the same informant with the two Virginia apartment ghost stories.) The informant was in disbelief that she fought with something over a blanket. She was not scared or anything, but she was confused as to why it happened. She also stated that after this experience, it never happened again.

My Thoughts: While this story is seemingly more tame compared to the apartment ones, this still freaks me out a lot! In a groggy, sleepy state, I would be scared out of my mind if I was fighting with a ghost over my blanket. I also think this ghost story shows that the person is prone to being haunted in general. With having multiple accounts of being haunted at a Virginia apartment as a kid, I believe the ghosts have simply followed her around just to maybe mess with her.

Ghost Paralysis

Nationality: Mexican American
Age: 17
Occupation: Server, Waiter
Residence: Marysville, WA
Performance Date: October 26, 2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Informant: One night around 9:00 I am talking to my mom at the top of the staircase. There is a door at the bottom of the stairs, and I look down to see a full figure standing in the doorway. I looked back at my mom, and told her that I just saw someone. She asks what I mean, and I tell her that I saw someone looking at me right there, but when I look back and show her it’s gone. 

Later that night in my bedroom, which is right across from the doorway to the stairs. I am in bed, trying to sleep but I can’t, I feel something, like something is watching me. I look around the dark room, and at the corner of the bed you see a shadow standing with its head tilted. I flip over to try to ignore it, and I grab my phone to distract myself from being scared. But then I feel the presence right next to me and in the screen of my phone I see two shiny, bright eyes in the reflection right to the left of me. I then flip over to my back and feel the presence right on the side of my face, and I see the two eyes. Trying to ignore it I close my eyes, and try to fall asleep. But at three in the morning I wake up with sleep paralysis, and I see the same figure standing at the foot of my bed. I can’t move, talk or wake up.

Collector: So what do you think happened? What do you make of this situation?

Informant: After I woke up, I tried to not pay any attention to it to avoid fear. And I told my grandma about it, because I didn’t know what it was. She said that when sleep paralysis happens a dead person is laying on top of you. My grandma told me that if I feel like I am being watched or that there is a shadow in my room, to cuss at it and tell it to go fuck itself, because it scares them away. Ever since that night whenever I feel a presence I tell it to go fuck itself, and they don’t really ever come back. Also the more this stuff happens, the more you get used to it. But since the shape was a tall dark shadow, that means it was an evil spirit, and the fact that it got onto me tells me that it was not a good one. It was a bad spirit that I brought home from somewhere, I went to a cemetery before this and I didn’t wash my clothes, and that’s when I started noticing shit. But definitely since it was a dark shadowy spirit, I think it was trying to harm me. 

Context: The informant, is a Latino male, who was born in Los Angeles, California, and now lives in the Seattle Washington area. 

Analysis: The informant suggests a lot of compelling ideas, and mythologies about ghosts. Ghost belief, and interactions with the dead are much more prevalent within Mexican culture. The informant mentions taking spirits home with you from cemeteries, and washing your clothes after visiting a cemetery. Also what an evil spirit behaves, and looks like, and even how to ward off a spirit that is unwanted. I have never heard of the idea of sleep paralysis relating to a ghost encounter. But sleeping is a very liminal time, especially sleep paralysis. Are you asleep? Are you awake? Are you dreaming?  In regards to warding off spirits if the informant claims that this encounter has not occurred since he has yelled at this spirit, and ignored it, this it may point to evidence that this idea could be effective. An angry ghost wanting to haunt may not bother with someone who is not scared.

Familial Legends: Dreaming of the Devil

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Lynn, Massachusetts
Performance Date: 4/20/19
Primary Language: English
Language: none

Every family member on J.R.’s father’s side has experienced the same DREAM.

J.R. – “Every single person in my family on my dad’s side, as far back as, like, 4 generations, has had this terrible sleep paralysis at least once in their lives, and during this nightmare they see a manifestation which they believe to be the devil.”

Can you describe the dream?

“So essentially, uh, they – well, really, it’s not a dream, it’s that; when they come to, they’re completely frozen, and usually there’s a window or a door for some reason, and by the foot of the bed.  So what my father saw was a foot-tall figure, usually completely shadowed, has appeared on their bed and walked towards them with blood red eyes.”

“As soon as it gets really close to them, it goes black, and they wake up.”

“My grandmother’s was slightly different than my father’s: she was passed out on her bed, a similar situation to my father, and it appeared.  And the staple of this figure is definitely it’s blood red eyes.”

When you think about the possibility of that happening to you as well, what crosses your mind?

“I’m intrigued, especially because of my father’s family’s interesting relationship with religion.  My dad was a mormon at one point, but now he’s not even religious . . . my grandmother had some issues which kinda drove her away from religion . . . in my eyes, I wouldn’t put it past anything – just for me, I’m not super religious.  I don’t necessarily believe in that stuff, but I don’t think my dad ever has ever, and so I’m intrigued to say the least.”

 

This is fascinating to me.  The person who told me this story is a close friend of mine, and I would have known by now if he was in any way overtly religious.  I’ve known, in fact, that he isn’t particularly religious at all, and neither is his family.  So, it shocked me to hear this from him of all people, because I would never have imagined something so spiritual, so saint-like, could have happened to that family in particular.  Subjectively, I think think that this is a prime example of spiritual fluidity, going through all members of one family.  It’s also interesting to hear what this person, who had not yet had this nightmare, has to say about the possibility of it’s occurrence.  I’d be terrified, as I often am, although he seemed so cool about it.

 

The Sitting Ghost

Nationality: Taiwan
Age: 50
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Bay Area, California
Performance Date: March 14, 2014
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English, Hokkien

Informant was teaching and boarding at a high school in the mountains, a three-hour bus ride away from the city. The dorm was a foreign environment that frightened her. When she finally fell asleep, she was awoken by a strange presence that she sensed at the foot of her bed. She was unable to move, feeling as though something were pressing down on her, though nothing was above her. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she noticed a man standing at the foot of her bed, fully clad in an ancient Chinese military costume. Since he was watching her peacefully, she assumed that it was an acquaintance from a past life or simply a passing spirit and fell back to sleep in peace, believing that he was there to protect her.

—

In Western cultures this phenomenon is known as sleep paralysis, and psychologists have come up with scientific explanations. In Taiwan, however, the cause is attributed to ghosts. The phenomenon is known as “鬼壓床” (gǔi yā chuáng), which literally means “ghost pressing the bed,” and the symptoms are strikingly similar. Author Maxine Hong Kingston describes this phenomenon as the “sitting ghost” in her memoir The Woman Warrior.

Due to the prevalence of Taoism and Buddhism in Taiwan, the vast majority of the population—regardless of religion—believes in ghosts. Ghosts are not necessarily evil, as anyone could potentially become a ghost after they die. 

Sleep Paralysis and Devils

Nationality: Chinese-Korean
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Diamond Bar, CA
Performance Date: 4/21/2014
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Sleep Paralysis

The Informant:

My friend, was born in Diamond Bar, CA. He is the son of a pastor whose church is in Diamond Bar. He lives with his parents and three younger siblings, a sister and two brothers. His father is Chinese and his mother is Korean.

The Story:

The first time that this happened to me was when I was either a sophomore or a junior in high school. I was lying on my bed, obviously in the middle of my sleep, when all of a sudden I realized I couldn’t move. I couldn’t move my body, I couldn’t scream, there was no air in my lungs. I tried to scream but couldn’t and I started to freak out. All of a sudden… I felt super cold, from top, my head, down, to my feet. I don’t remember if I was outside the blankets or inside but regardless I felt the wind. Suddenly I felt a heavy weight on my chest, as if something was sitting on it, and a shadow on top of me. I don’t really remember what happened after that. All of these instances blur together after a while. This was the first time it happened. After that it happened on a weekly basis for at least a year. There are times when I know it’s coming. You just feel like you’re getting really tired, or sometimes you can just sense something is off, as if there’s something in your room with you. I’ve never seen anything in my room though, and it always happens at night. There’s nothing I could do except wait for it to pass… and I’m always alone when this happens.

The Analysis:

This is a different occurrence of the scissor lock that my other friend experienced. We talked about this in his room, and a couple other friends were present. As he continued to tell his story, our other friends slowly became quiet, and then silent. The way Trevor spoke was genuine and even though such an occurrence would be questionable, there was no doubt in his voice that this was true. In Trevor’s instance, this happens on a semi-regular basis, with the last one occurring a couple months ago. Before that, it happened once a week or once every other week. There is no basis for why he goes through the scissor lock so often, but his actions showed that he doesn’t get used to it, even though it’s happened numerous times. It is creepy that this has happened so many times that they all seem to blur into one for him. One aspect that was interesting is that he is a pastor’s kid. This was one difference I noticed between him and my other informant on this same topic – it is probable that his stronger faith or adherence to Christianity has an affect on these continual occurrences. Whether it is due to faith or not, I wondered if it was the devil’s doing, and led me to question the existence of the devil and it’s many forms.

 

Researchers have attempted to examine the causes of the scissor lock, dubbing it generally as sleep paralysis: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FB%3ADREM.0000005896.68083.ae

A different version of sleep paralysis from someone not religious can be found at: http://kerryonian.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/the-experience/