A Haunting (lights, strange)

[CAKD]

I have been haunted by this since it happened and decided to finally throw it out there. I will say I am no stranger to having weird or paranormal activities happen around me.

We were just on a 10 day trip to Ireland. On day 5 we were staying in a Hotel in the town of Athlone. This hotel is not "old" but a large hotel with modern amenities. I don't know what year it was built but a guess would be anywhere from 80's forward. We stayed one night. I always have trouble falling asleep. So per usual my husband was asleep before his head hit the pillow but I was lying awake for some time. I must have dozed off. I thought I was woken up by someone sitting on my side of the bed. In my mind I thought my husband had gotten up to use the bathroom and then come and sat on my side of the bed. I am positive it was a man. I asked him what he was doing and then I felt all this pressure all over my body as if I was being held down. Poking all over at once. I was trying to scream but no sound was coming out. I was terrified. I "woke up" and my heart was racing a million miles a minute and I turned to see my husband was still soundly sleeping on his side of the bed. I immediately felt like someone was standing in the room watching me. Scared I woke my husband up and said I am scared I just had the weirdest dream/experiece and he replied "oh ya, okay" and went back to sleep. I again laid there for a bit before drifting back to sleep.

The next morning I told my husband I was sorry for waking him but I was just really frightened. He asked me what I was talking about. I said I woke you up and told you I was scared and had a terrible dream! He said you were talking but I couldn't make out anything you were saying it was like mumbling from far away so I just assumed you were talking in your sleep. It was too dark in the room to see your face.


Okay the logical part of me wants to think I was just having some weird arse dream and leave it at that. However it is quite literally haunting me. It was so real and I truly feel like it happened. Again logically dream? Sleep paralysis? Night terror? None of the above have happened to me. I have experienced astral travel in my dreams before. I don't know what to make of this.

[HodgePodge]

I have had exactly 2 terrifying bouts of sleep paralysis / terror in my life. Both were I swore there was a presence / shadow creatures to my left... just out of plain view.

I have also woken up one morning with the purest sense of dread / failure / hopelessness. Something in me told me to just goto my french balcony and jump out the window. It was so strong that I was terrified and kept telling myself to just stay in bed for another 5 min. Then another 5 min. BTW my life was happy / no real problems, so no I was not in a bad place. Eventually I was fully awake and that feeling (voice) went away. It was utterly terrifying.

I don't know how to interpret your horrifying experience. Part of me thinks it can be a harmful spirit, or even a demon.

But also a scientific explanation is plausible - the sleep paralysis / terror. Your dream world intruding into your waking state.

I'm of the type to think either explanations are plausible.

Hope other people can chime in with their thoughts.

Glad you are okay.

[cachibatches]

Classic sleep paralysis. Scary, but nothing supernatural at all. See a doctor and they can suggest things that will help keep it off.

[CAKD]

Originally Posted by cachibatches

Classic sleep paralysis. Scary, but nothing supernatural at all. See a doctor and they can suggest things that will help keep it off.

Not needing a doctor as it has never occurred before or since. Hence why the experience was so odd and Franky OFF.

[CAKD]

Originally Posted by HodgePodge

I have had exactly 2 terrifying bouts of sleep paralysis / terror in my life. Both were I swore there was a presence / shadow creatures to my left... just out of plain view.

I have also woken up one morning with the purest sense of dread / failure / hopelessness. Something in me told me to just goto my french balcony and jump out the window. It was so strong that I was terrified and kept telling myself to just stay in bed for another 5 min. Then another 5 min. BTW my life was happy / no real problems, so no I was not in a bad place. Eventually I was fully awake and that feeling (voice) went away. It was utterly terrifying.

I don't know how to interpret your horrifying experience. Part of me thinks it can be a harmful spirit, or even a demon.

But also a scientific explanation is plausible - the sleep paralysis / terror. Your dream world intruding into your waking state.

I'm of the type to think either explanations are plausible.

Hope other people can chime in with their thoughts.

Glad you are okay.

I checked my sleep pattern on my watch and it showed that my heart rate had increased heavily and that my total sleep time that night was only 4 hours 28 minutes. It just adds to the weirdness of it all.

[ocpaul20]

Posted this on another thread but it might help.

===================================

One similar episode I had was the often-reported-by-people being chased back to awakeness by a very nasty 'something' from a dream. People say they very nearly get caught and only JUST managed to wake up in time. Heart racing, etc when awake.

I had this dream a number of times until one day when I woke up scared, I realised that it was nothing to be scared about. What I was experiencing was my physical senses perceiving the return of my astral body and the scary monster I thought was persuing me was actually my astral body coming back to my physical.

After that I have had absolutely no more of these dreams. It was like I explained it to myself what was happening and now I am not scared (of that) any longer.

=====================================

Also, from what I read/understand everyone's astral body goes slightly out-of-phase with our physical body every night in order to get 'spiritually recharged' like a battery needing energy. This is why the 'falling' sensation often happens to folk, it is the quick re-intergration of the astral and physical bodies and is interpreted by your brain as a falling sensation.

People who can consciously astral travel or have OBE's do this in a conscious way and consciously separate and then decide to take their astral body further. However, if left alone and without consciousness (most people), the astral body will separate by only a small distance from our physical. Actually, it seems as if researcher Robert Monroe found that there are at least 2 other bodies which separate from the physical.

Sleep paralysis from an occult/paranormal point of view is a natural stage in the conscious separation process and is the withdrawal of bodily sensations from the physical body so that the consciousness can focus on the astral body. It is getting over this fear that allows the conscious astral travel which are what we now know as OBEs. Some people who cannot face the fear of this separation do it from their dream state. The separation process often causes cracks, pops, hums, bright lights, tinglings, etc different things for different people. By relaxing and going-with-the-flow of the process, it will happen faster and you will be 'out' (separated).

Again, from what I read, as you separate, there are several 'levels' that you have to pass through to get to a reasonable environment. As I understand it, the beings on these 'lower levels' are not as nice/civilized/kind/etc as the ones further out so these 'levels' are often where the people see scary figures immediately when separating or when partially separating from the physical body.

Of course, since I have not much personal experience, this is my interpretation of the accounts by others so take them all with a huge grain of salt and find out for yourself.