Nightmare by Henry Fuseli
You awaken to find your bedroom quiet, dark, and still. Panic grips you when you realize that you cannot move. It feels as if someone has dropped a fifty pound dumbbell on your chest. Worst of all there is a feeling of being watched, that something is out there to get you. There’s a harsh buzzing sound, like static or feedback from a microphone.
Your gaze tracks across the once familiar terrain of your bedroom, as much of it as you can see without moving your head at any rate. The angles are all wrong, and leering shapes seem to lurk in every shadow and fragment of moonlight.
All at once, you see it! A huge, black figure, looming over you – maybe it’s standing at the foot of your bed, or maybe it’s hovering on the ceiling above. Either way, it is a thing of malice and dark intent. Its hand reaches towards you, skeletal and dappled with moonbeams, coming closer…closer…
…until you jerk awake.
The panic fades. The world once again looks as it should, and the terrible shape is gone. Congratulations. You’ve just experienced sleep paralysis, also known as a waking dream.
Every night when you go to bed, you go through four distinct phases of sleep, followed by a fifth phase called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. REM sleep is the phase where dreaming occurs. During the dream stage, the body releases chemicals that paralyze the body (except for the eyes) so that you won’t get up and start acting out the contents of your dream. Every now and then though, something goes out of whack in the system and part of your mind will awaken during REM sleep. You will see the contents of your dreams not played out in your mind, but rather in your bedroom.
What I described in the opening was a fairly typical incidence of sleep paralysis. Different cultures seem to experience slightly different phenomena – the Old Hag of northern Europe, incubi or succubi, ghosts, demons, aliens – but in general the physical symptoms are the same from culture to culture. The symptoms of panic are associated with the inability to move and obviously with seeing the bizarre imagery of dreams in what seems to be the waking world. I’m not entirely clear on why the waking dreams are generally unpleasant events associated with beings of malice, but it is interesting to note that the night tormentors exclusively shape human forms. I suppose in a way that shows you what people truly fear, doesn’t it?
It is thought that many supposed “alien abductions” were really instances of sleep paralysis. The same goes for encounters with ghosts, demons, and other paranormal critters.
Oh and I should point out that everyone of us will have a waking dream at some point in our lives. Point of fact, I’ve already had at least one that I remember. I was asleep on the couch that day, with my face towards the back cushion. I remember waking up and not being able to move. All I could do was stare at the cushion and feel something staring at my back. I knew, deep down in that primal place that humans share in common with our reptile cousins, that something deadly dangerous was in that room with me. And that I did not want to roll over and get a look at it!
Still, it was an interesting feeling. I was completely helpless during – paralyzed, at the whim of whatever my subconscious projected. It was almost a humbling experience, in an odd way.
Look at it this way: we spend our lives in an illusion of power. Money, our cars, our homes, our jobs, our authority – all of the trappings of human civilization make us forget sometimes that Death can be mere moments away for any of us. In our sterile, routine world we forget that sometimes the Universe has different plans, that the world in reality is a much harsher, more awesome place than the mundane fragments of it we exist in. I think maybe the waking dream gives us a glimpse – a little taste – of the raw world that lies just beyond the safe bubble of modern life.
But that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong, and maybe this is just one of those odd things in life that seems to arise for no reason at all, and disappear as suddenly.
I don’t know the answer. But I do know this: people have been having waking dreams for ages, and they always will. It’s a fact of life.
So when your time comes – and it will – try to enjoy it. It’s a rare experience after all, and it might be a bit enlightening as well.
Sweet dreams!
How about you? Have you ever had a waking dream? Or an experience that you think might have been one?
Plenty of waking dreams (nightmares!!) when I was very young. Suffered from night terrors too; fortunately I don’t get either of these now, just very intense nightmares every so often.
I’ve found, over the years, the more horror I consume (books, movies, art) the less nightmares I get, as if I’m somehow keeping the wolf from the door so to speak.
Oh, and loving the Fuseli painting that illustrates your post – one of my favourites!
I don’t have nightmares much anymore either, nor do I have waking dreams. I barely dream at all much anymore, or if I do I don’t remember it.
And that painting always creeped me out as a kid! haha
Now I’m all creeped out and don’t want to take the nap I was looking forward to!
Mwahaha! Actually I meant this post to be kind of a comfort to people who have had that kind of an experience…but of course I had to make it creepy because that’s what I do! haha. You’ll be okay to sleep…probably. If you have a waking dream though now you’ll know what it is, so there is that right?
I have a friend who has had many, many waking dreams, and they’re pretty darn creepy. She would say the Our Father to make them go away. She hasn’t had one in awhile. I’m glad I haven’t had one yet. Yikes! I’ve had plenty of nightmares, though.
It is a pretty scary experience, mainly the not being able to move part. I’ve had some very vivid nightmares in my time…the weirdest ones where I could feel physical sensations to go along with the dream. Like one where Jason appeared in my room, hockey mask and all, and hacked me with a machete. I could feel an explosion of tingles where the blade hit. Or another where an onion headed demon appeared and bit my shoulder, causing an explosion of pins and needles. Then I felt myself fall and fall, and I fell through a sheet of flames. I could literally feel my body heat up, and then I slammed back into my sleeping body and jerked awake haha. And people wonder why I write what I do :P
I used to have horrific, extremely realistic nightmares – tsunamis,earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, apocalypse, nuclear wars, alien invasion that would affect me for weeks; some for years.
I went through a phase of sleep paralysis and still get it occasionally, but not so much. I found it tended to happen when I slept on my back, so I trained myself not to! It followed two distinct patterns:-
- I’d wake up with my body buzzing, as if an electric current was running through me. My teeth would be vibrating painfully and an extremely loud buzzing would hurt my ears. I’d be paralysed but fully awake and would struggle for a long time to even move my little finger. As soon as I managed that the paralysis would break. There’d be no presence, just sheer terror of the situation.
- I’d be paralysed and something would try and pull me through the window from outside. It would always be a demon, something quite evil, a real primal force, and there would always be this horrendously loud noise in the background, a kind of moaning that rose in tone as events unfolded. Think the original Evil Dead and the sound as the camera zoomed through the forest.
No wonder I’m half-insane (but only the good half).
Those are classic symptoms of sleep paralysis…and sleeping on your back is a cause sleep paralysis. There are other causes but I forget what they were, haha. At least you have it under control now right?
Yup. Occasionally I get the electric shock/buzzing but I just roll over or force myself awake and it goes away. It doesn’t scare me anymore so it’s lost its power.
Also, since I started writing horrific stuff there’s nothing much left to give me nightmares at night lol!!
You wait now, I’ll wake the whole street up screaming tonight *blink, blink* …
Yeah, the sensation of falling is a recurring thing in my dreams, been having that a lot recently as a matter of fact. I would love to experience out-of-body, although would be afraid I wouldn’t be able to return! lol
I’ve had waking dreams, and the opposite where you’re awake in a lucid dream and consciously move your body in reality. All it is, is different states of the mind. It gets easier with practice/focus.^^
Although, when I see the old nightmara picture you have as your blog image…I then think it would be funny to see a púca or whatever hop on my chest and say hello while I’m stuck motionless. I bet they’d enjoy painting mustaches on my face or tie my hair to the bed. :)
Yeah I have had lucid dreams as well…I think if you’re more prone to lucid dreams, you’re more prone to sleep paralysis as well. I’m not certain about that though…I’ve just read that inducing lucid dreams by meditating before bed can lead to sleep paralysis. It hasn’t done that to me yet though haha
Wow! I just woke up from one of these episodes. It was very intense and frightful, but not as frightful as my first experience. I have had possibly more than 3 of these sleep paralysis happen to me within two months. Alot of people say that it is from unusually sleeping patterns, stress,etc.. Well if that is the case I fit all of those categories; except crazy! I am not sitting here afraid to go to sleep, cuz it just might happen again. Church in the morning, so I definitely will be praying for this to go away.
Hiya! So this is a recent phenomena? If you sleep on your back, you will be more likely to have sleep paralysis. So try sleeping on your side. And yes, stress and unusual sleeping patterns can also be causes of these unusual dreams. And these dreams don’t mean you’re crazy, haha. Now that you know what it is, maybe you can use that knowledge to blunt the impact of the next one until they go away :)
It is a phenomenon caused by the brain. Basically you’re mind is already awake but the pons in the midbrain still inhibits the descending tracts from stimulating your muscles. To get out of this “sleep paralysis”, you should focus on moving one of your fingers, then once you are successful, you break the inhibition of the pons.
I get this at least once a week – usually when I’m really tired -. I actually hate is so much, the last time i got it, i hallucinated that i was bricked-in to my bedroom and there was a murmuring voice in my room.
The way you described it is definitely not the same for everyone.
Being claustrophobic doesn’t help when you can’t move either. reeaallyy hate it.
Does anyone know if this runs in the family? because my brother gets it as much as I do.
That’s interesting…I’ve never heard of an experience like that. I’ve not heard of it running in families, although I would assume that if it is linked to a sleep disorder of some kind that might run in a family. But I don’t know, and I’m not sure there’s been a lot of research done into the matter. I wouldn’t be surprised though if there was some sort of genetic predisposition to having waking dreams.
I’ve had tons of those recently and it creeps me out every time i get them i don’t know if i’m dreaming or if i’m awake. the other night i fought against it and i fell off the bed and crawled to my door screaming but then i woke up and i was in bed maybe that was a dream but i felt the whole paralyzed thing and it creeped me out. i get those at least once a month or twice a month recently this year.
It sounds like you had something like a combination of sleep paralysis and a lucid dream…although often times lucid dreams lead into sleep paralysis. Seems yours was the other way around. It is a creep experience, but it is entirely normal (even if it doesn’t seem like it is at the time!) I find sleeping on my side helps to prevent them. Sometimes sleep apnea and other sleep problems can bring on sleep paralysis. Hope that helps at least somewhat!
My version never came with demons, but while my physical body was unable to move I would find myself looking down at my body from above where I was floating near the ceiling. I realize this was a form of astral projection, but it was always preceded by that awful paralyzed feeling.
Have you ever read about the Malaysian tribes who train from an early age to take control of their dreams? After reading about them I actually managed to give dream bullies a beatdown a couple times. Woke up feeling great.
I haven’t heard about that tribe, but I have heard of lucid dreaming techniques, which sounds like what they are using. What’s the name of the tribe? Maybe I’ll feature their techniques on the site :D That’s awesome that you were able to overcome your dream problems :D.
I used to be a lucid dreamer, at least on and off. It’s an ability I have lost over time – now I just have very vivid and incoherent dreams. I wish that I could once again cultivate the lucid dreaming skill – I’ve heard it said that the Tibetans us lucid dreaming as a form of meditation, and that it can be a wonderful way to resolve deep seated internal conflicts you may not be aware of in waking life. Plus, you know, it’d be awesome to be able to fly and all that stuff haha.
I have had several waking dreams. FouOne that is very specific in my mind. I was laying on my couch with my boyfriend and I remember opening my eyes and looking around. At first glace everything was fine but as I look towards the tv in front of me and that’s when I saw it. A dark human like figure standing there, starting at me. I tried to yell and I could, I tried to move and was paralyzed. Tge figure began to walk around the room moving towards the end of the couch. I continued to do everything I could do to move and yell for my boyfriend laying right next to me. It felt like it took all my strength to slighty wiggle my finger, all my strength to whisperer. As it rounded the couch I felt like it was going to hurt me, it was a terrible terrifying felling. As I went out to try to scream on last time it lunged toward me. I woke up, my boyfriend stairing at me in terror. I began crying uncontrollably and shaking. My boyfriend said I was screaming in my sleep.
Man! That sounded intense! I think it’s rare that they are that vivid but they can be. Whenever they do come though they are certainly a very memorable experience! At least the next time you have one, you’ll know that it’s a only a dream. That often seems to help :)
I still have them quite frequently. I have to try to not sleep on my back. Unfortunealy I talk in my sleep also, so Ive started to try to scream during these times and It doens’t come out. Makes it that much more terrifying. On the other spectrum I sleep walk on occasion too. Also have the exploading head thing going on.
I had one. I woke up in my bed, I was probably about 17, my dog Bailey was growling n I could not move or make a sound. At the foot of my bed was what I can only describe as a demonic figure. He spoke to me in a voice that made my blood run cold ” go back to sleep” he then put his massive hands around my neck and squeezed. I guess I fell back asleep. But when I awoke again I was still terrified. For all these years I really though it was a paranormal entity. Guess it was a waking dream n sleep paralysis. Creeepy!
Intense! I don’t recall (off the top of my head) accounts of the entity in sleep paralysis speaking, but I’m not surprised. It’s a dream and people can speak in dreams, so it would make sense. Is it a let down to find out that it was a dream or is it a relief? haha
i had a couple of this waking dreams… really scary to be honest one in particular was a childs voice signing to me… there is said that a child lurse my home but eh… but back to the main subject… I couldnt wake up and i could not move I for some reason concentrated in one part of my room, you get a feeling u are not alone… But i mentioned it to my doctor she said it was because my brain was still too active. she suggested to stay away from caffeein and so i did havent had a waking dream since then (know on wood)
Sounds creepy! You probably concentrated on one part of the room because you couldn’t move, haha. I’m glad you found a quick fix for the problem though :D
I dont know if i can agree with you when you said “So when your time comes – and it will – enjoy it”. Personally I didnt enjoy being a 4 yr old child and waking up numerous times unable to move and just seeing people (figures) standing at the end of my bed staring at me! LOL. But at least i can now come to terms with the fact that its a common thing – i thought i was crazy!
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Waking dream? “you jerk awake”?!
That’s not sleep paralysis. I’ve experienced this almost 100 times since it first happened to me when I was 13 and you are WIDE AWAKE but paralysed during this whole ordeal. I have never seen the dark figure you describe either. Because I was fully conscious and it was not a dream at all. Although I have also had sleep paralysis IN dreams where I’d think I’d woken up and those ones have dark figures in them. But there’s a distinct difference between the two. One is fully awake and the other ones I know I am still sleeping.
Thanks for commenting! From what I’ve seen, the sleep paralysis experience varies pretty widely. I never actually saw a dark figure when I had my experience either, but I’ve had others say they have. In reading I’ve done since I did the post, some have apparently had rather pleasant experiences with sleep paralysis. So, it’s a “your revolts may vary” kind of phenomena, haha.
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That’s happend to me but be in nightmare and there’s a black figure pulling me and then when I wake upIe like paralised I can’t move my leg’s and arm’s and I cnt breath propley but after like 5 mins am back to normal
I’m wondering if this is why my little girl wakes up so often at night and comes to our room so much. I hate that pediatricians recommend they sleep on their backs! My daughter always slept on her back since she was first born, and she’s always had problems sleeping. My son, on the other hand, refused to stay on his back, and he sleeps wonderfully. I’ll have to ask her if that happens to her at night. Maybe I can finally get to the bottom of her sleep issues. Thanks for this site.
I, too, have experienced this many times. Although, sometimes I’m completely awake and the dark figure is standing by my window. I get up to use the bathroom, check on the kids, get back into bed, and it’s still there. I turn my back to it, cuddle up to my husband, and wish it away. I tend to think mine might not be just a dream. Especially since I’m not the only one that sees it.