Traumatized by Night Terrors and Sleep Paralysis

When the supernatural comes looking for you

Photo by Megan te Boekhorst on Unsplash

My family moved from our home to a house about 100 feet away in 1968. I was 10 years old and until that time never had any other-worldly encounters.

About a week after we moved, I woke up one morning because I felt the presence of someone sitting on the bed. I slept with my great-grandmother and could hear her in the kitchen talking to my grandmother.

I opened my eyes in the dark and saw the silhouette of a man who resembled Alfred Hitchcock sitting on the edge of the bed. I closed my eyes so he would not know I was watching and fell back asleep.

When I was fully awake, I wondered if it had all been a dream. By the time I was 14, I began having episodes where I could not move or speak and could feel hands pulling the cover. I tried to say the Name Jesus, but it came out muffled.

I was afraid of being raped by a demon and getting pregnant. I did not discuss these episodes with anyone and suffered in silence. I was so terrified that I began sleeping with crosses and Bibles under my pillow.

I noticed this happened when I slept on my back or was extremely tired. As an adult, I learned that in different cultures, people believed the devil or demons were attacking. Some said they saw an old hag on their chests. Professionals considered this phenomenon to be a brain glitch.

When I stayed wth my aunt while in college, I had three or four instances where I would be sleeping and hear her doberman walk into my bedroom. I could feel him close to my face, but I was unable to move or wake up, and it was terrifying.

Some say when these things happen, you are in a state between being asleep and awake. I only had one experience when I was fully awake. My husband was working night shift, and I dreamed that my aunt’s dog was walking up the steps.

The dog was not literally in our house, so I believed this was paranormal. I had this feeling that by the time the dog made it upstairs, it would have turned into a demonic entity and walk down the hall to my room. I knew I had to wake up before that happened.

I fought with everything in me to wake up, and when I did, I sat straight up in the bed. I did not see anything coming down the hall, but a green mist formed right in front of my eyes. It was curling like cigarette smoke and suddenly disappeared.

I recalled that when my brother lived with us, he slept in the next room. He called me in one night and asked if I had seen a small green demon in the corner. I did not, but I prayed for him.

The last time I had a sleep paralysis was shortly after my husband died five years ago. One night, it felt like he had climbed into the bed with me, and I screamed until I woke up. I prayed that this would not happen again, and it has not.