Wake up seeing things???

I have, on SEVERAL occasions, woke up about an hour or so after I dose off (at night) to sleep and I think I see things.  Example:  I woke up one time swearing that there was a spider on the wall.  I woke up my husband and he said there was nothing there.  I feel like I'm totally awake, eyes open, speaking clearly, everything.  I just don't understand why this happens.  Sometimes when it begins, I tell him that it's not like before and I tell him that this time I really do see something.  So...I do realize what I'm doing at the time.  Then I go right back to sleep with no problems.  It's funny when it occurs because it's become a regular thing but I know this can't be normal.  Can someone please explain why this occurs?

[confusedandsleepy]

I used to experience similar situations and some others and was diagnosed with narcolepsy 10 months ago - do you also suffer from daytime tiredness? or wake up unable to move? or fall asleep at inappropriate times?

[SAK521]

No, no, and no.  I work all day and feel fine.  I do drink alot of caffeine (Mt. Dew) during working hours.  I come home, take a bath, eat, spend time with kids, lay down around 9 and fall asleep around 10:30-11:00.  Up again at 6:15.  I did get into a habit of taking sleeping pills.  At first I thought this occured because of the pills but the "hallucinations" happened way before that.  It's weird because I always "see" some kind of bugs.  I'm not scared of them.  It's just crazy that this happens.  I don't drink alcohol or take drugs so that's not it either.

[noops01]

Hi,
I have not heard of anything like this. I would suggest you to undergo a sleep study after consulting with a sleep specialist.

[drivewayblues]

Hi, i just stumbled across this post on google. I also experience situations quite similar to yours! It has been happening on and off since i was a child. I would always see insects, bees, or rats and i'd usually just jump in fright. but the past two time that it's happened, i jumped out of bed and hurt myself, and also hit my partner because i saw insects on her face.. i know i sound crazy, but i would really like to know what causes this...

[Suri123]

Hi, do you have any other associated symptoms at same time, anything that triggers off. Do you feel any severe stress at work place. Sooner it is better you consult a neurophysician for advise. Bye.

[GNick]

I'm currently having the same thing happen to me.  It doesn't seem to be like its stemming from a dream or a nightmare, i just open my eyes at night and see these, things in the room with me.  People in the corner, maggots, snakes, spiders, mice in the bed, even the ceiling caving in.  It's really getting old.  When I was single, it was just kind of funny.  But now that I'm married, its awful.  I try to pull my wife out of the bed to save her or cover her face with the pillow so the animals don't get her.  But the strangest thing, is that once i realize i'm just being stupid, my head hits the pillow and I'm asleep in no time, while she'd lying there with her heart pounding scared half to death.  In looking for whats the cause, I've seen a lot of things, but I don't think I have a sleep disorder, because I sleep great.  I've never taken drugs, prescription or non.  One message board mentioned that its merely a nutritional deficiency thing, so I'm going to try some multi vitamins.  That doesn't seem like it could be it, but i'll try about anything.  And if that doesn't work, I'm going to have my head examined. haha

[Clementina]

I can't believe others have had this same experience.  I wake up to these things and am absolutely terrified- but it is often hard to go back to bed because I really doubt whether what I saw was just my imagination.  I would LOVE to know why I have this- it is really exhausting some nights- other nights I sleep just fine.  Insects are the most common thing I see- usually falling from the ceiling or coming towards me and I frantically jump out of bed, heart pounding.  I used to see bats flying around my room, sometimes people or very bizarre things.  It never fails to terrify me.

[KatEyes]

I know someone who would wake up and see things like huge spiders on the wall, etc. Her doctor said her oxygen would go real low during times she stopped breathing with sleep apnea. She now uses a cpap machine and no longer wakes up seeing scary things.

[Suri123]

Hi, how are you doing. You are probably suffering from narcolepsy which affects the control of sleep and wakefulness with experience of excessive daytime sleepiness and intermittent, uncontrollable episodes of falling asleep during the daytime. It can interfere with normal activities on a daily basis, there can be mental cloudiness, a lack of energy and concentration, memory lapses, a depressed mood,  run down feeling, feelings of weakness and a loss of voluntary muscle control. Hallucinations - delusional experiences are vivid and might be frightening, basically visual and other senses can be involved either at onset of sleep or while coming out of sleep. You need to change lifestyle adjustments like as avoiding caffeine, alcohol, smoking and heavy meals. A healthy sleeping habit, scheduling daytime naps (30-60 minutes in length), and normal regular exercise and meal schedule may also be os some help. It is better to get a sleep study done and advice from your physician. Take care.

[battlingpig]

Im no expert, but i know that when we sleep, a chemical called DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) is produced in our brains.  This chemical is a halucinogenic, this is why we dream.  So im thinking you may be producing too much of this chemical and it gives you vivid images of things that are not really there.

You should go to the doctors, im sure there is a treatment, but obviously it isnt serious at all.

*source* http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro03/web1/npatel.html

[featherb]

Oh my gosh, I did not think that I would really find anything on the subject.  This also happens to me. At first I was a little bit worried.  After a while, I realized that nothing would harm me, and that they would go away.  Usually I wake to see spiders crawlig on the wall.  The first time it happened, I got scarred and closed my eyes.  After I opened them again, it was gone. After a couple more times I decided to keep looking (instead of hiding under my covers), I realized thatI can actually watch the spiders crawl (but only until I close my eyes), once I close my eyes, the spiders are always gone upon re-opening them. It is very strange.  I started to think that it was kind of interesting until last night.  Last night, I awoke to see the shadow of a man standing next to my bed, he had his arm up like he was going to do something to me.  It seemed so real, I started swinging my arms and kicking while trying to keep my head out of harms way.  After a second, I looked and realized that no one was there.  It seemed so real.  The spiders were tollerable, the man... not so much.  

[Suri123]

Hi SAK521, hope you are feeling better now? Is there any improvement in your sleep now? It is better to seek medical advice from a neurophysician and a sleep specialist to get investigated for better treatment. It also seems that you are being under stress due to a sleep deprivation or very hard day at your work or in coping up with daily routines. These hallucinations are temporary but really scaring and no physical harm is caused and seen with narcolepsies. Have you taken any medications so far and is it progressing? Do follow the above sleep tips and share your thoughts. Take care.

[jojo123123]

I have been seeing things for ages in my sleep, cats on the wardrobe, people in the corner, lots of other creepy stuff, I have also always sleep walked and talked, I have been told it has alot to do with having excess stress in your life and going to sleep with things playing on your mind. Try to relax before bed and don't eat too close to bed time, I find these help. Having a partner that doesn't mind being woken up every other night helps.

[Suri123]

Hi SAK521, how are you? Hi jojo123123, hope you might be doing a lot better? Thanks for having shared your thoughts. I agree with you in terms of stress, which plays a very important role in sleep deprivation and a factor, which worsens it. One can try to relax and do yoga/meditation as a relaxation technique. Excessive smoking, alcohol and a bulky spicy meal need to be avoided in evenings and going to bed as early as possible might be helpful. A sleep study and evaluation with sleep doctor might be good idea. Share your thoughts and take care.

[mon567]

hi, I experience the exact same thing. I have a 2 year old son and i constantly wake up thinking he's climbing up the wall. or I see people watching me in the corner or even beside the bed or even on it. Its terrifying! I constantly wake my partner up telling him ''this time its different'' and that he needs to go down and make sure noones in the house. I used to see spiders alot, and snakes and things falling from the sealing. Last night i saw a cartoon playing on the wall, as tho it was being projected from somewhere. Its horrible at the time but once i tell myself its me being weired again, i fall back to sleep straight away. Im gonna make an appointment with a doctor, as i think i might have depression or even bipolar disorder and think maybe it could all be linked somehow. I will keep you posted as i know how it feels not nowing whats wrong with you...

[Suri123]

Hi mon567, how are you doing? Usual this kind of sleep disturbance is seen in narcoleptics who tend to sleep more in daytime and comparatively less at night due to a probable sleep apnea. These delusional experiences are vivid and frequently they are frightening. Getting a sleep study done and evaluation of the report will let you know the cause and the severity of illness. It is better to get examined by a sleep specialist and by a neurologist. Stress need to be overcome. Take care and share your thoughts.

[KatEyes]

Have you talked to a sleep doctor yet?  

I just saw mine (again). I used to exhibit strong signs of narcolepsy, with the blurred lines between what was real and what was a dream, and episodes of catplexy and sleep attacks. Treating my obstructive sleep apnea and periodic limb movement disorder markedly improved all of those symptoms, though did not totally resolve all of them.

One of the tests used to diagnose narcolepsy is the MSLT, where you take several naps during the day to see how quickly you fall asleep and if you reach REM.  Due to me not taking meds for my limb movements during the day, although I went to sleep within 3 minutes at each nap, the movments prevented me from reaching REM, so technically I did not meet criteria for a diagnosis of narcolepsy.

My sleep doctor's philosphy is that in these types of nondefinitive cases she wants to see any other sleep disorders therapeutically treated with consistent sufficient quality sleep nightly to see how many syptoms (symptoms) resolve before saying it is narcolepsy. Some doctors go with cataplexy = narcolepsy.

At any rate, I just want to encourage you to begin the process of being evaluated. Restful sleep is so important.

[kat2913]

i have been experiencing this since i was a child . when i was young i believed that there were people in my room at night standing over my bed watching me sleep . sometimes they would grab at me , i felt it as though it was really . my mother would tell me that i would wake up screaming in the middle of the night . but the funny thing was i wasnt asleep . i was only laying there ,sometimes i would wake up with strange scratches or marks on my body . the doctor said i was just a restless sleeper and  it quickly got brushed under the table so to speak as night terrors , and i learned to live with it , as time went on and i got older the "visions" changed . i would see what you guys are calling spiders or insects crawling on the walls , only i think your brain is choosing to see it that way because its something its firmiliar with . i believe that its actually more like a ball of electricity (like those balls in science class you touch and the electric charges shoot to where your fingers are )..... the more i focused on them the more it would look like spiders or something i would naturally see crawling on walls . i also still see people standing in corners . sitting on my bed standing next to the bed . always the same things .and unlike when your eyes play tricks on you i find that when i look away from the image instead of it moving to where i look it stays in one place . my "visions" have started to last longer instead of seeing them for 10 seconds and closing my eyes and having them disappear , its lasting 30 seconds or more . giving me time to actually ponder what im seeing . i am also experiencing a different symptom non of you have mentioned . i sake , sometimes either before or after the visions happen my body trembles i thought it was fear , but now i think its as if its decompressing . its hard to explain . ive seen many doctors , had every test you can think of preformed ,done more then one sleep study . and the diagnoses is all over the place ive heard diet , mild narcolepsy ,sleep paralysis , and my favorite that im stressed . non of which i feel is correct im not excessively tired , i eat healthy , and dont consider my self suffering for any extra stress . i think its strange that we are all seeing the same things , the same 5 images , and that there is no study being done that this could be a completely isolated experience / disorder . i would love to have some answers

[markstreck]

I have the same visions when I awake.  I've seen a huge giant spider before I hurt myself by jumping out of bed to aviod it.  I've also seen faces right in front of mine when waking up.  I have seen images of people across the room.  Once when I was little I saw a image of someone in  a chair, but this illusion lasted for a hour or so, and I was frozen with fear (paralysis maybe).

After I regain more conscienceness they go away and my heart slows down.  But they do frighten me.

[kat2913]

i just cant believe these visions are not un related , it just seems like there much be a distinct area of the brain that is causing hundreds of people from all walks of life to see the same things . and its not narcolepsy , or sleep apena . symptoms are similar but non fit exactly

[Suri123]

Hi, how are you? Well, hope you are now feeling better and has the sleep doctor assessed the sleep test. Indeed it's getting lot more interesting the discussions going great. Those hallucinations, which are usually, delusional experiences, are vivid and frequently they are frightening. The content is primarily visual, but any of the other senses can be involved. These are called hypnagogic hallucinations when accompanying sleep onset and hypnopompic hallucinations when occurring during awakening. Over exhaustion and stress has been time and again blamed as the cause. It's strange; many sufferers with sleep deprivation similarly see most of these. One needs to focus mainly on stress management and any underlying cause treatment. Take care and keep sharing your views.

[kat2913]

its interesting that this is the round about non specific answer is what everyone is hearing , but i am not sleep deprived i get on average about 6 to 8 hours of sleep an night and once i am asleep i sleep through the night , also i dont consider myself stressed at all , i have mild concerns here and there but over all am well rested and relaxed , im not trying to argue but the doctors i have seen say there isnt anything wrong with me ,but i do agree that these are vivid delusional experiences , i just dont think the cause is something so non specific . and quit honestly the diagnoses is all over the board , narcolepsy , sleep apena , sleep onset hallucinations , stress , diet , being sleep deprived . it just doesnt make any sense to me how an affliction with super distinctive issues has such a broad spectrum of diagnoses .

[shansig]

First of all I would like to say that I feel a lot better just knowing that I am not alone in these experiences, and would like to give special thanks to kat2913 for suggesting it stange that we are all seeing the same things and that a specific look into this phenomenon has yet to get underway.  I would also like to thank kat2913 for going into great detail to describe what he/she has seen.  

Just before I attempted to search out such a forum I was discussing with my girlfriend of 6 years (who has had so much patience with me through this i might add) about these experiences.  By this point she just sleeps through them most of the time...but a few months back I had the vision kat2913 describes as the electricity ball from science class.  In the left corner of my room, a strange irradescent energy ball (mostly yellow and purple in color) was hovering above the ground appx 6 feet in the air, with wild arms of electricity like energy waving wildly.  Upon reading kat2913's description Im convinced there is something more to this, and am flowing with energy now determined to know more.

Along with the many others on this board I too see people in front of me and at the side of the bed.  Ive seen (only once) a spider dangling down upon me from the ceiling fan.  Ive seen dark shadows of people (usually what I would describe as men) and women in long flowing light colored garb with long hair at the front of my bed.  Ive seen brigh intense lights, like funnels, almost blinding my vision then fading into thin air.  

My feelings when these things happen are usually all the same now.  Its like I anticipate them, and when it happens I do my best to focus as intensely as possible, like kat2913 says, to ponder them.  Of course this is harder to do when it is a person, or shadow of a person. And have awoken to a person above me staring in my face.  But seems lately, it is more likely to be an energy funnel, or a light of some sort.  I find it truly intensely amazing that in the middle of a pitch black room, light as bright as I have seen has shown itself.  Its a different kind of light though...it doesnt light up the room around it, its strangely of itself and contained within itself.  

Time wise, these experiences like kat2914 usually last a short period of time...5 seconds is normal, with about 7 to 10 seconds for the longest lasting episodes...then fading into nothing.  Its not like I close my eyes and reopen them and the object is gone.  Its like, I stare stare stare, and they eventually fade away.  

Kat2913, do you mind me asking when you saw the electricity ball image?  It would be strange if there was a time correlation between our experiences.  

Just for the record.  I too am an extrmely healthy person.  I eat a balanced diet, take vitamin supplements, sleep 8 hours, take a 1hr nap after work, and dont feel overly stressed.  And when these things happen I am not groggy or half-asleep, its like im in dead sleep to wide awake in a matter of 1/2 a second...just amazing.

Also a thought:  would anybody be willing to contact George Noory about these experiences, or know if he has done a show on this reality.  Noory could be a great way to network others with the same experiences, and people who may be in the process of studying this phenomenon.  

[Beth_Duhon]

I am so glad to hear that I am not alone. I too, for the past 8 years have experienced seeing things upon waking. The things that I see, I often describe as a "screen saver"...you know the screen saver that revolves and changes shape and size, and it looks like a scrambled ball of electricity? Well, anyway, usually within an hour of falling asleep, my eyes will open and I see this black, scrambled "thing". I see it as clear as day! It usually moves across the ceiling or appears to be reaching for my face. BUT, as soon as I blink or pull the covers over my face and look back, ITS GONE! It used to frighten me, I thought my house was haunted, but then I began to see it where ever I stayed the night! Just recently the image has changed. I used to always see the black scrambled ball, but now, I often see what looks like white and gray cigarette smoke. It just swirls and twirls, inches from my face...until I blink!

One theory I had was that maybe my eyelashes were sticking together. That was just not the case.
Also, a year or so after the halucinations started, I have also began to expereince what I believe is sleep paralysis.  Just shortly after I fall asleep, usually when I am on the couch napping during the day, I will open my eyes, and thats ALL I CAN DO! I can move, I can't speak, and I begin to scream for help in my head, but nothing comes out! I can look around the room, I can pay attention to a tv show if the tv is on, and I try to use all the strength in my body to move an arm or leg but NOTHING!

Sometimes if I try hard enough, I can get my thumb nail to scratch my index finger and the pain will jolt me out of it. It's just so scary because I'm still breathing at a reduced sleep rate, and I try to take a deep breath but I can't!!! When I finally "wake up", I decide that I am NEVER going to sleep again!

Does anyone think that these two disorders could be related, or possibly combined to make on disorder?

I see things at night, and I often wake up paralyzed....when either of these occur, I am FULLY coherent and aware!

I am jealous of ppl that actually sleep through the night. During a 7-8 hr night, I will wake up around 5-6 times. My fear is that, if I went for a sleep study, I would pay tons of money, and nothing would happen! I'll have an unevetful night, and they will say I'm fine, then I'll go home and it will start all over.

[Lolanan]

I am amazed at how many people experience the same "craziness" as I do. I have had this since I was young. I remember being 6 and lying in bed petrified because I saw several people standing in my corner of my room. It has continued on and became worse when I was 24, I am 28 now. I actually had a night (at 24) where I couldnt lift my body and it sounded like a freight train in my room for several seconds. I too fall asleep as soon as it is over. I feel crazy. My Husband is such a heavy sleeper he doesnt remember when I ask him about the squirrel/spider/smoke/person,especially creepy old woman with child, I had woke him up to see.  Its so surreal to read that you all use the same line as I do "This time its for reals...." etc.
The other night was the most intense, I saw a figure hunched over my dresser (the room was pitch black) I stood up calmly and approached it. I reached out and touch the form it shrinked back from my hand and then dissapeared. It was too real. I always fight back physically such as pillow throwing, and cursing etc. I am afraid of hurting my 2 year old son. I attacked my younger sister and dog when I was in High School. The crazy thing is I rarely saw anything when I was pregnant (less frequent is a better phrase). As much as I want to explain it away as visions or supernatural I really feel something is wrong with me and I need help. I'm going to get in contact with a Sleep Specialist. Its funny I just told my husband and read him some of your comments, he laughed and said we should all get together and have a summer camp....wouldnt that be interesting!!!? If anyone has had any luck please let us know!!! Sweet Dreams to all........

[LisaBea]

Thank goodness I'm not insane!  I don't know when it all started but I can't remember a time that I haven't had some sort of sleep issue. I go through periods of not sleeping at all and never being tired to sleeping all the time and never being NOT tired to waking nightly and seeing very odd but sometimes not odd things.  Remember the movie "Sixth Sense"  the famous quote was "I see dead people".  I thought that was me a couple of times but lately, it all revolves around things outside of my house.  I wake up, peek out the blinds and see or don't see things.  My son came in my room looking for a movie and I started yelling at him about not going on the sidewalk....very odd, BUT I KNEW I WAS DOING IT AND KNEW IT WAS ODD BUT COULDN'T STOP IT.  He said "ok" and walked out of my room.  I followed him and yelled "do you hear me" and he answered but I really scared him.  He told me the next day that he was worried about me.  I have an aunt who is diagnosed bi-polar and has been on meds for 40 years.  I'm worried that I may have a less severe case.  Emotional stress is middle name.  It's not stress caused by anyone but myself.  The last doctor I saw agreed that it was strange and suggessted a mild over the counter sleep aid.....it did nothing.  In fact, I couldn't fall asleep at all.  We've recently relocated to a new state so, I'm looking for a doctor.  Anyone have any suggestions?  Behavioral or psychological?  Good to know I'm not going completely stark raving mad......

[DrNoopurMD]

Hi,

These visual hallucinations could be a part of sleep paralysis which is characterizes by temporary skeletal muscle paralysis and hallucinations. A sleep study will be diagnostic.

[emmy466]

Ive started suffering from this over the last few months.  Im 24, have a very healthy lifestyle, gym 4 times a week, eat well, have a good 8 hours sleep and do not suffer from stress.  It started every few weeks but now its happening every night!  Its really starting to make me tired during the day because of waking in the night and also, every time, im waking my partner up to show him what I see.  I started patting him down one night because i thought there was a huge spider on him, then I saw a balloon float into the room and all around the room, im contantly seeing changing shapes and orb like balls floating across me and ive even seen a man at the end of the bed.  Im of course scaring my partner to death every time i wake him, especially when i told him there was a man in the room, ha!  Im also singing and talking quite a bit.  What i dont understand is where and why this has all of a sudden started!  I find it quite fascinating really and im not scared at the time and i go back to sleep with no problems at all.  Has anyone been diagnosed of this type of thing?  Would really like to know what has changed that has started this?

[ASUgirl11]

Wow I totally thought I was crazy for having this happen to me. I've always had really vivid dreams but the spring of my sophomore year of high school (I'm about to be a sophomore in college), I remember waking up and seeing fog all in my room coming up over me and I closed my eyes and when I opened them, it was gone. A few months later, I remember having a very restless night of sleep and seeing a dark figure of a man in my closet. I ran into my parent's room and told them very calmly that there was a man in my closet. They didn't call me crazy or anything. I'm pretty sure they thought I was sleep walking. But I remember it very clearly and I also remember feeling very stupid for waking my parents up over it.

The next few occurances I've had have been seeing moving patterns on my wall coming out of my poster or seeing a little boy by my night stand or just random objects moving around on my walls. It went from scary to just plain annoying because I knew they weren't real. All I'd have to do is close my eyes and they'd go away. These "night terrors" as I've come to call them only happened to me 2 times in the entire year I was away at college for my freshman year. The first thing that happened was around Halloween. I looked over at my closet and thought that these two boys that lived in the dorm next door to me were sitting on the top shelf of my closet. My roommate was gone THANK GOD because I literally remember yelling at them to get out of my closet (I'd been pissed at them earlier in the night for being drunk and making a scene in my room) but then I blinked and they were gone. The next time I had one was in April. I woke up and just seemingly instinctively looked over the edge of my lofted bed to see someone sitting at my desk. I closed my eyes and looked back over AND IT WAS STILL THERE! It took a good 15 minutes for the image to fade and I was almost paralyzed with fear even though my roommate was asleep in her bed and I could have yelled for help had it been real. But then I blinked for a final time and it was gone. That was by far the scariest because it was a very scary looking man just sitting at my desk staring straight ahead. NOT COOL!

I've read some of your posts saying that it's stress related but I've only noticed it happening when I'm NOT stressed. Like right now I'm stressed beyond belief and it hasn't happened to me all summer and I've been stressed all summer. And when it first started for me in the spring of my sophomore year of high school, I had just come off a very stressful period in my life and things were actually quite mellow for me and not stressful. So I don't even know. But I wanted to share my experience!

[Noxit]

Hello to all,

First let me start out by saying I am not crazy in anyway. I know what I see at night, and I know that I am NOT sleeping. I have been to many many doctors trying to find out why I see what I do, and all of them say the same thing "your perfectly healthy".

I am 24 years old and have been seeing things sense I can remember. I am extremely athletic and 100% stress free. I love everything about my life with the exception of bedtime. I completely understand those of you who say that it can't be anything medically wrong with us.

Examples of what I see:
children
mobile shadows in all four corners
snakes
elderly women
spiders
and many many more

For those of you who cant find a cure for whatever we are cursed with, I wish you the best of luck and a light in arms reach.

[Got2no]

I am researching for a friend of mine.  She awakens in the night and sees pictures that appear to be projected on the wall.  She sees bright lights shining in her window (no matter how many sheets/curtains she hangs).  She sees little red and blue piercing lights outside.  She has also seen people - men in white tee shirts.  She believes that a "gang" is terrorizing her.  This has been going on for 3 years and she is too terrified to live alone (I don't blame her).  However, anywhere she stays, she says they follow her and continue to shine lights in her room.  She believes they can see everything in her room using these high-powered lights.  She has never seen these men "in" her room and she has not mentioned seeing spiders on the wall or anything, but I was wondering if anyone has seen the things she has seen?  The only reason I think it could possibly be a hallucination of sorts is because it has been going on for so long!  What gang would continue this for so long and never take it any further?  She is in her fifties, not a crazy person - she only takes medication for hypertension (or high blood pressure).  Has anyone had a similar experience?  Would love to hear all about it.  Thank you.

[Mkatt]

I am glad that I am not alone!!! Its a joke in my family now. A few months back I woke up terrified, saying its him, its him, and my boyfriend kept asking me who i was seeing, i just kept on repeating it, and then went on to grip him so tightly, i drew blood. he has scars today. I too see these balloons and sometimes inverted cones on the ceiling (funnels). I cant go to sleep on my own, I need someone next to me.

[Suri123]

Hi Mkatt, how are you, since when have you been suffering from this kind episodes? Have you been under care of a neurophysician or a sleep specialist? Stress is one of the most important factors in triggering the episode apart from the sleep deprivation. Try to change place ad sleeping position (avoid sleeping supine), and better to sleep early. Avoid - alcohol at night with smoking, caffeine, too spicy bulky meal and going to bed late night. Exercise and meditation can be helpful. Alprazolam before sleep can be tried. Get your stress level assessed and proper care at a stress management. Consult a sleep specialist and get a sleep study done. Please keep updated on progress.

[laura_lou]

Hi Guys

This has been happening to me for a while now and last night it happened again for the first night in a while. Last night i was up about four times seeing things round the room mostly a little dragon type thing under my pillow after flinging my pillows around the room for about 10 seconds i settle back down to sleep. I have also woke up to spiders in different places around the room and a huge spiders web on my wall. At least i know im not alone.

[Mkatt]

Dear Suri 123,

Incidents of sudenly waking up to find myself running away from my bed have happened from 6 years ago, but were not often, maybe 2 episodes a year. 'Seeing things" episodes have just begun over the last 2 years. And have gotten worse now. I was stressed a year and half ago, but in fact am much more at ease now and it seems to have increased. No i havent seen a sleep therapist, should probably now. Dont want to take medication. But yes what puzzles me is that we are seing similar shapes!!!! Thanks for your input!!

[Jackie21]

im now 20 years old and i have been seeing things in my sleep for as long as i can remember. i am engaged and living with my fiance and suggests i see a sleep therapist now. i dont see bugs or snakes i see people or weird objects. example last night i saw a pole attached to our dvd collection and our window. or friends of mine sitting around the room. at first it was kind of funny, it was always a joke among my friends but now its starting to affect my life. im surprised that there are other people who know what im talking about. i have been looking for awhile to find some information on this...problem.

[Sweetie1202]

I am so happy I am not alone. I too "see things". I can be sleeping, then i can feel myself wakening (not due to any unusual feelings or anxiety, just merely due to the fact i want to turn around/move or get comfy again) and there they are... people as clear as day in my room! there can be a few or just one person. Sometimes they are facing me sometimes they are looking out the window or looking at things in my room.  That is it though i only see people: men, women & children. Never spiders etc like you all to have in common..

i am only 21 and have had sleep paralysis since i was about 14 (which at its peak was very severe - i was wakening up to not being able to breath or move at least 7-8 times a night), although in the past 2/3 years i have not been getting this very often at all. My sleep paralysis was blamed on stress.. at 14!? If this is the case iv been stressed constantly for the past 7 years without a break!

As for seeing these people, its never normally the same - one little boy has appeared often and iv had a man with really white shoes appear twice within a week or so but generally its never the same people.

I remeber one clear episode when i was staying at my boyfriend's house. I woke up to a man (in 18th century clothing might i add) standing over my boyfriend. He wasn't doing anything but i had this horrific feeling that he was going to hurt my boyfriend. I was terrified, i hid under the covers knowing this couldnt be happening but when i looked out he was still there, looking directly at me. I hid under the covers again and tried to wake my boyfriend up but he merely hugged me in and fell back asleep!! I kept myself under the covers for what felt like forever but must have only been 5-7mins (until i got too hot under there) and when i looked out he was gone.I didnt get back to sleep for shaking with utter fear but could barely move for the next hour still physically terrified of this man.

This was unusual, most of the time these people dont bother me, i do get frightened but it happens so often that now i just leave them to it and go back to sleep because i know they cant be real.

What i dont understand though is how there is so many people coming away with the same thing yet can no-one tell us what this is!? I know if i went to a sleep study id have a "people" free night and look like a complete idiot! But at the same time, this is getting really old and its beginning to effect my day-to-day life as i am beginning to feel tired from wakening up 3/4 times a night. I really want answers and possibly help as to how to beat this and get a good nights sleep without waking up to strangers in the room. Anyone have an answer for someone who sees nothing but people!?

[dreamkid1]

since i was kid i had this prob i understand and sympathise with u,most nights i have disturbed sleep seing insects,ive even had spaghetti coming from the ceiling,its so embarrasing,only the other day i had to check my cupboard having thought there was a spider on it the light went on and i even reassured my sleeping husband!!!!at times i have been seing my mother who died in 1987,when i am awoken i am fully awake i can hold full conversations and am sure i would be able to run down the stairs although i wont risk that!!im thinking to try some herbal remedies and if no luck will go for help,its alarming for my husband,when i sleep at familys house .there was a man at the bedroom door the other day,i see many things!!!!help and support needed for all of us!!

[beri]

I am glad to have found this forum.. Its 2 am and Im sitting in bed with the lamp on. I was trying to go to sleep and when I opened my eyes I got dizzy and felt a presence of people in the room with me (dark shapes). I tried to go back to sleep and just really felt like there was something in the room so I turned the light on. I am too scared to go back to sleep now, knowing it will just happen again.
I used to have visions when I was younger, almost nightly. Alot of times I would see bright shapes, people in the room, dark "clouds" in the corners of my room. One night I swear i saw an "alien" like figure standing in my closet with the light on, I closed my eyes and when I opened them he was standing next to my bed, I closed me eyes and pulled all over the covers over me until I was profusely sweating and I swear I could feel him touching me. I am still haunted by this event to this day and It must have happened over 10 years ago. I remember when I woke up in the morning my closet was open and the light was on. STRANGE huh?
I am healthy, I would like to think that Im not crazy, and I would love to figure out whats going on!
Some other info: Every night that I sleep I have extremely vivid, very intense dreams that seem to last days. After waking up I can usually remember the whole dream as if it was a story or movie. Most of the time my dreams consist of me running away from someone, a group of people, or an animal.
Anyways, I feel like im rambling so Ill stop. Hopefully someone can come to this forum with some insight of what is going on!

[milesmartin]

I have had this problem. I have woken thinking there is a spider dangling down towards me on my bed, i get up and put the light on but there is nothing there. Yesterday night was weird though, i got woken up by my dad making a noise and i saw a clothes hanger move across my room. I felt totally awake and grabbed my phone to light it up but there was nothing there? Bottom line is though, I wake up and see things but i find after a few seconds nothing has actually happened or been there?

I have had sleep paralysis before so i wondered if it could be linked to that in some way?

[LizDragoon2002]

Your experiences "seeing things" when you wake during the night seem to be shared by many others.  One of my friends  had a similar experience; her neurologist was concerned about a skiing accident she had during her college years as a possible brain injury condition.  She was prescribed a medication which helped.  

Hoping you can find a speedy treatment for this frustrating condition!

[ash616]

it's not really a question, it's falls more along the lines of shareing what i've been experiancing for quite some time now....

a few times a night every once and a while i regularly find myself wakeing up randomly and seeing objects floating in mid air right in front of me (any normal objects), things like cages dangeling from the ceiling, dark figures with long flowing (hair like) stands hovering above me or standing by me, in some instances glowing letters wrighten all over the walls, and once a glowing ball of light with two distict fluttering arms (it was yellow) and it actually made buzzing/wing like sounds as it moved around franticly getting close to my face to where while i was trying to figure out what the heck i was lookimg at i was also bobbing my head back and fourth because it was that close to me. then it'd jump back...

when i see these things i KNOW they're there..i squint..open my eyes wide stare as long as i want.... it's there. then once i actually realize "hello it's really there you arn't dreaming" i jump back i fright then useually fall right back to sleep.  but for the past year and a half (strictly bc of the dark human like figures) i have been terrified to sleep in the dark...thats the only time i see them...everything else it doesnt matter...light or dark

[mfaye77]

OK SO I TO HAVE THESE TERRIFYING NIGHT VISIONS! IT STARTED WITH SEEING SPIDERS CRAWLING UP THE WALL AND WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES AND REOPEN THEM IT STARTS BACK IN THE ORIGINAL SPOT I SAW AND BEGINS CRAWLING UP THE SAME PATH. IT DRIVES ME CRAZY AND SINCE I HATE SPIDERS I ASSUMED IT WAS SOME FORM OF ARACHNOPHOBIA UNTIL THE OTHER VISIONS STARTED TO DATE I HAVE WOKEN UP TO.... A SMALL BLACK FIGURE (LIKE A CHILD) WALKING TO THE BED AND STARTING TO GET IN BED WITH ME AND MY HUSBAND, SPOOKY I STARTED SCREAMING AND SCRAMBLING IN TO MY HUSBAND ALMOST SHOVING HIM OUT OF THE BED! I HAVE ALSO SEEN PEOPLE STANDING IN MY DOOR WAY AND MANY DARK FIGURES IN THE ROOM NOT TO MENTION THE COUNTLESS TIMES I HAVE SEEN SPIDERS ON THE BED AND THROWN THE COVERS COMPLETELY OFF OF US! SO THE REASON I LOOKED UP THIS TOPIC THIS MORNING IS BECAUSE LAST NIGHT WAS REALLY BAD I WOKE TO SEE A DARK SHADOW POINTING A GUN RIGHT AT ME AND JUMPED FROM THE BED AND RAN DOWN THE HALL TO THE GUEST BATHROOM AND LOCKED MY SELF IN, I WAS SO SCARED AND REALLY BELIEVED SOMEONE WAS IN THE HOUSE! AFTER A FEW MINUTES I REALIZED IT WAS ANOTHER EPISODE AND WENT BACK TO BED. I HAVE READ A FEW BOOKS ON RECOVERING FROM CHILD ABUSE AND SURPRISINGLY THIS IS A SYMPTOM OF POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DUE TO A LACK OF FEELING SAFE FROM PRIOR ABUSE OR TRAUMA. HAS ANYONE ELSE READ OR HEARD OF THIS AND I KNOW THIS IS PERSONAL BUT IS ANYONE ELSE A SURVIVOR OF CHILD ABUSE LIKE ME? THANKS AND GOD BLESS LET'S GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS AND GET SOME GOOD UNDISTURBED SLEEP!
~ MELINDA`

[sherim1973]

Hi All, I'm reading your comments with relief.  I've been seeing people in my sleep for about 7 years now.  It started after Sept. 11 where I lost my best friend of 30 years.  I began seeing people in the corner of my room watching me sleep and even seeing cameras and such taping me in my sleep as well.  I've even seen people in detail - seen a woman with flowing blond curls, an brunette man in his 40's.  I wake up my husband in fear a few times a year - usually I just wake up in fear and then go back to sleep.  When I wake up, though, I still can see the face of the people that are watching me.  Sometimes I feel that they are almost trying to tell me something.

So, I'm looking to this list to see if there is someone that has a solution for me.

Hopefully,
Sheri

[mfaye77]

HI SHERI,
I FEEL FOR YOU BECAUSE I KNOW HOW SCARY IT IS WHEN YOU THINK IT'S SO REAL LOOKING! I'M PRETTY SURE THIS IS ALL IN OUR MINDS EYE LIKE WE ARE STILL DREAMING YOU KNOW? I PRAY IT'S NOT SOMETHING PARANORMAL BECAUSE THAT **** SCARES ME EVEN WORSE! TRY SAYING THE LORDS PRAYER NEXT TIME AND SEE IF THAT HELPS I HAVE BEEN PRAYING AT NIGHT BEFORE I GO TO BED AND ALSO SOME HOW TRAINED MYSELF TO KEEP MY EYES CLOSED WHEN I WAKE UP IN THE DARK SO FAR SO GOOD. DID YOU READ MY POST ABOVE YOURS, ARE YOU A CHILD ABUSE SURVIVOR? OK HAVE A GREAT NIGHT SLEEP TONIGHT AND LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND ANYMORE ANSWERS. THANKS~ MELINDA

[mfaye77]

SO TWO NIGHTS AGO I WOKE UP AND BEGAN SCREAMING AND THOUGHT I SAW SOMETHING THEN MY HUSBAND SHOUTED, "WAKE UP YOUR DREAMING WAKE UP!" AND IT STOPPED SO I JUST WONDER IF HE SNAPPED ME OUT OF WHAT EVER STATE MY MIND WAS IN TO BRING ME OUT OF IT. I ALSO HAVE BEEN LOOKING UP NIGHT TERRORS AND IT SAYS IT IS USUALLY CAUSED IN ADULTS WITH A TRAUMATIC PAST WHICH FUELS MY THEORY OF IT HAPPENING MORE OFTEN TO ADULTS WITH ABUSIVE CHILDHOODS. ALRIGHT THAT'S ALL I HAVE FOR NOW ~ MELINDA

[jeva]

I wonder what these things are caused by, all the suggestions sound like the usual...but I'm not stressed, altho I have been a veggie for a while. I found I started seeing things once I got married, my husband thinks I'm a nutcase - and he is has taken to just ignoring me when I wake up screaming my head off. The last one was 2 nights ago, I saw a blue ladder sweeping around the room. The problem with me is that all the things I see start off at a distance then they gradually come closer and closer to me, hence the mental screaming. When I stare at them they do fade away. I hardly ever see figures of people, I usually see inanimate objects or insects, wires and random shapes but they are always changing and moving - never static. I hope one day there is a wonderful reason why we're all having disturbed nights sleep, not that we are lacking insomething. We are special, let's be proud until we know otherwise...lol!

[MichelleMyBell630]

Hello,

I have now bookmarked this forum! I am a twenty four year old female. I have had sleep paralysis in the past but have not experienced it in some time. for about a year however I have had the spider visions when I wake up. They are horrible!!! Mine last for anywhere from 10-45 secs and when I close my eyes and open they are still there often moving along the same path as when I closed my eyes. My family has a history of sleep apnea and I currently have insomnia on and off. I just finished grad school so of course I have no health insurance. I also have lupus but not really bad I dont know if that has anything to do with it. It just feels good to talk about it but I can say if I start seeing people I will lose my mind!

[shay68]

It is comforting knowing that I am not alone.  I do not see spiders but I see bright images or objects.  Sometimes it is flowers which are not scary, but they seem so real.  I thought I was going crazy and did not want to tell anyone what I was experiencing.

[pzahut]

Im reading all these posts and I am having the same things happen to me. Crazy thing is I had it long ago and then it stopped. About a month ago it picked up again and my boyfriend is not happy about it. I will fall asleep and then wake up about an hour later screaming, swatting at bugs or saying "did you see that?". He is dead asleep and it wakes him up and angers him. I dont remember what I say or what I do, all I can remember is somthing attacked me and there is nothing there. I am in tears ya'll! I have been crying for the past hour because Im not sure whats happening to me. I dont have sleep problems, never did. I dont drink or take drugs. I am not stressed, matter of fact I am happy and today we went to the park.

Some strange things do happen in our home and my boyfriend hears things and sees things. The doors shut themselves and you get that feeling sometimes like you're being watched.

I dont know what to make of this and it doesnt happen to him, only me. Why?

[zero_]

Ok, here we go. I have had exactly the same experiences. I have had the massive spider only once, coming down from the ceiling. It's mostly objects flying towards the bed and then hovering above the bed, the flying balls happens quite often. I have been seeing these things for about 3 years now, on and off. Now the really weird thing is that a few nights ago my wife jumped out of bed in a panic, I was asleep and just thought she had a dream, comforted her and went back to sleep. The next day I asked her if she remembered that she jumped out of bed last night, and what that was all about? I was quite freaked out when she told me that she had seen these floating balls right above her head. I have never discussed with her what I have been seeing because I don't want to frighten her (although I'm never scared of it, it's more like an annoyance), so for her to see flying balls - what are the odds?? She has never seen things before. After that, I decided to see if I can find anything labout this on the net, and came across this site. I don't think that it can be a coincidence that so many people see the same things (flying balls of all things?), at least I know it's not just me. It does bother me that my wife has seen it now as well, which means that it's not just my immagination - it is always extremely vivid and I am always 100% sure of what I see. In which countries are the rest of you guys based?

[Dr_Smita_S]

Hello
The symptoms describe suggest some type of sleep related hallucinations. They are a type of parasomnia. They are mainly visual, but may also involve sound, touch and taste and smell sensations.
They are usually seen in teenagers and young adults as well as in older people. They may be related to alcohol, anxiety, mood disorders, insomnia or some current medication. In case your symptoms are associated with severe daytime sleepiness, then you may have narcolepsy.
Sleep related hallucinations however, tend to resolve with time, many a times requiring no treatment at all. You should maintain proper sleep hygiene and avoid alcohol.
You should consult a sleep specialist. Based on your complete medical, psychiatric, and sleep history, he may prescribe you some medication which best suits you.
Good luck.

[zero_]

Hi, thanks for the reply.
I do not have any of the symptoms you mentioned, no anxiety, mood disorders, I sleep like a baby (when I go to bed - so no narcolepsy), hardly have any stress and don't drink, use drugs or are on any medication. How wide spread would this "condition" be? To be honest, I find it very hard to believe that my wife, who has not experienced anything like this before, had seen exactly the same thing, which I see most of the times i.e the flying energy balls. As I mentioned, I have never told her what I have seen, so she could not have made it up, but by her description it was almost exactly the same thing.
How can this be explained? It also looks like quite a few other people on here has seen the flying balls/spheres...  

[san4peace]

My mom recently had an episode, only this time she is in the hospital. I am abroad in Canada, she is in the U.S.

My mother was sexually abused at the age of 4, and she had one episode like this 25 years ago.

She just had another one happen again just yesterday.

Some of the symptoms you all describe here are very similar to what she sees. We went to multiple eye specialists without any luck. She has floaters, she has seen spiders and people mainly trying to hurt me or our immediate family.

She is under medical supervision now until she is stabilized. She has been dealing with this since March and I am surprised she lasted this long.

Everytime I talk to her, I tell her how much I love her, she cries with that tired feeling in her voice, it's heart breaking. But I am not sure what sort of things she is seeing, because, she doesn't want to tell me anymore. I think she seriously feels like someone could hurt me if she talked to me. Probably the things she is seeing...

What I am surprised about is that, that no one has done a EEG (Electroencephalagram) to see what's happening...

Well, I guess they will find out soon enough this week. She is not talking though, I think she has become fearful.

I am at a loss for words... I feel for all you people. Seeing my mother in this much agony, is just not fair..

All the best to all of you!

[chrisd86]

Hey, im pritty shocked to see that im not the only one who is suffering like this, i have woke up on 3 occasions that i can remember, first time i was convinced thr was a massice spider in my bed i got my mam to strip my bed and search my room. 2nd time i woke up screaming that thr was someone stood in my room at my door. and most recently which happend last night i woke up thinking thr was a frog on me bedroom floor. its horrible because i am so convinced that its happening.

[julianne07]

I used wake up often and think I saw people in my room( in the corner, floating above me etc..), and I mean I see them very vividly. My doctor said because I was severly hypothyroid it is rare, but some  people have audio-visual hallucination when things get really bad.

I have been treated for my thyroid and still see things when I wake up from time to time. However I wake up at least 3 times a week with my heart rate very rapid, which really bothers me. I just open my eyes and its racing...

[nikki123888]

hi does anyone see there partner or child as a diff thing ie i once saw my boyfriend with a devils head and my baby had an adults head it was really disturbing and upsetting i also see little hooded men in the tv screen wen its off !!! does anyone else panic uncontrollably wen they have these scary visions ? i do . if any1 else does, how do they cope with it? would love some tips on how 2 calm myself down thanks nikki

[Tomi8713]

I too have had similar experiences.  When I was a child (5 or 6 yo) I woke up to see a man dressed in older clothes like from the turn of the century holding his hat, standing in my closet, the light was on and the door was open.  I wasn't afraid, but I watched him for a long time.  A few years later my family visited relatives in NC and I saw the same man in a portrait hanging in my cousin's living room.  I was told that he was my great, great, great grandfather (cousin?). I saw him again in my teens same scenario, and I still was not afraid.  I think what I was really this person but I'm not sure why he was there.

Over the years I've only once seen a large spider, that turned into a hand like Thing from the Adams family, crawling up the wall, this was at a hotel in DC.  But mostly I see people, children and most recently deamons.  More specifically, twice last night.  I was having a dream where I was fighting someone off with a knife, in my dreams I usually don't get to the point where I'm actually engaged in a fight, I usually find another way out, so this was particularly freighting, and I woke up from this quickly, like a sit up in bed moment and saw beside my bed a very strange creature.  It seemed that it was only a really skinny torso with a small head on top (like the little creatures in Men in Black) with really small eyes, and it was touching my leg, but it moved back and elongated when it saw I was looking at it.  I watched this thing for about 2 minutes, and when it didn't go away, I turned the light on at which point it disappeared.  

I was finally able to fall back to sleep an hour or so later.  Then my alarm went off which woke me up, I turned over to hit the snooze reached over and opened my eyes to see, for lack of a better description, the head of a deamon.  My hand touched the alarm where this thing had it's mouth(?) like it was upset that the alarm was sounding.  It turned and looked at me, it's eyes were unlike anything I have seen, but it looked straight at me, it turned it's head upward and opened it's mouth, which was fully of long pointy teeth.  The strange thing was it sort of incorporated itself into my light (which wasn't on).  I told it to go away, that I banished it, but it just kept looking at me.  Since it was early morning, the sun was coming up so it was getting lighter.  The lighter it got, the more faded it became.  Heres the really strange thing, the time on my alarm was wrong by 2 hours, it was two hours later than it was went I went to bed.

I'm not sure what all this means, but I don't think this is from stress, or lack of sleep, and I know it seems crazy, but I don't think I'm crazy.

[Crissy520]

Wow, I can't believe how many people there are actually out there experiences similar things. I'm 21 years old, and for years, I have woken up seeing people. Once, when I was in high school, I was staying at a friends house and in the middle of the night, I woke up and could've sworn I saw her mom, I even talked to her, and she answered me. I even remember looking at the clock after she "left" the room, it was 1:30. The next day I asked her about it, and she said she didn't get home until after 2:30 and went went straight to bed. Also a few years ago, I was in my apartment and saw someone sitting on top of me, but I didn't feel the weight of them, ever since then, i have to have the door open and some sort of illuminating light, but it doesn't help they still come back. The only thing I do to relieve it is turn on a light and sit up and read until I fall asleep.

[elitekid]

I wake up and see a random face usually. I woke up this morning and saw a woman's face next to my clock. Apart from faces the only other thing I've seen is a woman's naked body laying across the ceiling. I find these quite interesting and they don't bother me so I don't think I'll see a doctor.

[PaulS232]

Hi, I too often wake to see insects flying at me from the ceiling. Normally they seem abnormally large, and make me jump out of bed to get away from them. Afterwards I go back to sleep relatively easily and all is fine. I  
decided to google this problem as last night I woke again to see a Chinese girl standing at my door which made me shout out in shock and this time terrified me. Im suprised to see so many people with a similar problem and i'm glad i'm not the only one. If anyone knows how to stop these hallaucenations from happening i'd be very grateful for information.

[Jary08]

Wow, these experiences are fascinating....obviously not for everyone who suffers from them...i understand they are terrifiying! Its odd that so many people see similar things, the human mind can certainly do the strangest of things.


Ive had hallucinations when i have an SP attack....the most prominant hallucination was a little goblin sitting on our bed.

I could feel the weight of it to and i knew i was awake so it seemed so surreal that theres this creature which looks so real and so terrifying (mainly because i was paralysed tho)

I just feel on edge for a few days after the experiences....anyone get a strange energy from their hallucinations? I could feel that my goblin was evil but it didnt want to hurt me.

[Cigee]

It really is amazing how many people have this sort of sleep issue.  I think my experiences are a bit different from most though.  Although these episodes of "seeing things" are really annoying, mine are actually not terrifying in any way.  I mean I have seen the occasional large spider on the ceiling, a really big bug I swore was flying around in the room of the cabin I was sleeping in terrifying my fiance in the wake of it but in general mine are pretty innocent and sometimes funny.  I saw a monkey hanging on the drapes once when I was 19 and woke my mom up to get it off.  Another time when I was 24 I saw a monkey eating the base of a large bookcase next to my bed to the point that I literally thought the bookcase was falling on me. I promptly sat up and held the bookcase until I was certain it was stable.  At that time there was an actual lemur monkey staying in my house that I hated and thats who I thought I saw.  I see people standing next to my dresser and then realize I'm just having another one of my moments.  I save my fiance from certain doom on a regular basis.  Last one was when I thought he was being suffocated by some yarn from a loom I was knitting on.  I really wouldn't mind this aspect of my sleep except I am driving my fiance mad and it is always so hard to wake up in the morning.  I am not narcoleptic, I know this.  I am A D D and have only recently started medication for it but I have been doing this forever.  My neurologist suggested I may have sleep apnea but I have pretty much thrown that idea out since my fiance, who can't go back to sleep once woken up, has watched me sleep, by request from my neurologist to see if when I snore I stop breathing.  He says it has never happened.  Who knows?  Maybe I just need a new bed or handle my stress a lot better.  The great thing to know is that I am not alone and there are other people out there kind of like me.  

[CD92]

i am so happy to have found this forum..it just happened to me 2day as a matter of fact...i was taking a nap after being terribly tired frum lack of sleep last night and wake up to a huge spider-like thing crawling on my bed..i was struck with paralizing fear! i have the biggest fear of spiders and i couldnt move for about 5 minutes because i thought it was completely real.. i jumped out of bed and shook my covers and finally realized i was imagining it all up...i also was drifting off to sleep one time after having trouble falling asleep the whole night and as clear as somebody talking to me i heard a little girl next to my bed by my head say something..i saw her too..although im not sure if i was dreaming seeing her but i sure heard her clear as day..i also think this might be linked to an underlying condition like bi-polar, depression, or anxiety because i have been having mood disorders for about a year now that i dont beleve are normal (my parents divorced a/b a year ago and i have had major emotional problems with it, still do, along with a list of anxiety problems including social)..i try to talk to people about them but nobody takes me seriously..i have a history of depression and anxiety disorders in my family..my dad was on meds for them...i have also had an anxiety attack once before and other heart palpatation problems..if this continues i think i will be seeing a doctor..i think it could be linked somehow

[alynnm]

I get the same problems! But mine do not happen while I am sleeping, I will be doing the dishes and see some type of small insect on the wall out the corner of my eye. Scares the hell out of me! I just jump back and close my eyes and then when I look its gone. This only happens about twice a month but it still cannot be classified as normal!

[Madavigne]

I was doing this for a while, as an adult.  I'd often wake up and think a man was standing next to my bed, leaning over me.  I don't know if I was just dreaming and it woke me up, but it was always the same thing.  I could even somewhat describe what he looked like, his silhouette.  It eventually stopped happening as often, but every now and then I'll do it again.  I'll also wake up in the middle of the night and notice the tall dresser we have in our bedroom and think it's a person standing there.  As a child I'd do things like this too.  All I can tell you is I hope it gets better, hang in there.  Mine come and go.  It may just be stress induced too.

[sara33794]

I have this.  I've had it since my teens.  Mine is completely hormone related.  I've tracked it for years and it occurs usually about 2-7 days before mensus.  I was a psych student and discussed it with a psychiatrist once and was told it is something that happens upon wakening, usually due to lack of sleep (which made sense for me because I am a shallow sleeper when I'm hormonal).  I've grown to accept this part of my life.  Originally my hallucinations were insects or objects moving around the room but they've changed in nature, I've seen toys, candy, just unusual things to hallucinate about.  I wouldn't suggest anyone taking meds to rid themselves of this behavior since medication has its own drawbacks.  I would suggest journalling this behavior, keep track of how often, what you see, what is happening in your life at the time.  Unless, of course, these hallucinations are very bothersome and are damaging you physically or hurting your relationships somehow.  My family knows I have these and recently jumped out of bed and yelled to my family that a **** was on the wall (usually I know better since I'm use to it but this time I believed what I was seeing).  They looked, saw nothing, told me it was gone and not to worry about it.  I went back to sleep and we talked about it in the morning.  They've learned not to say "there's nothing there you are seeing things."  BTW/seeing people or images of people can be a result of something completely different so if you are having those problems I would suggest talking to you psychologist.  I'm referring to seeing objects, insects, things moving around the room or changing shape.

[hlywd59]

I have similiar things happen to me. My wife often laughs but sometimes she gets annoyed. Especially when I knock down the blinds or break something. I read alot of these postings and I cant believe there are so many like me.

I didnt see anyone mention that maybe we all have some type of ability to see paranormal activity when our brain is in this state. I know it seems far fetched but with all these ghosts shows on now a days ( That seem to have a bit of legitiamcy)  it makes me think its possible.


Does this appear possible?

[Madavigne]

It was around 12:00 am Monday morning and I had an episode that seemed to be real, but maybe not, maybe it was a dream? I have had many, many hallucinations while in the "twilight" section of my sleep. I've seen people in my room, or dancing fat Italian men dressed in chef's clothing on my grandmothers dresser, etc. I know...before you read any further, I've had a sleep disorder for years (since I was a child), this is why I get these crazy things. Anyway, for a long spell, in my old house, I had this man in a baseball cap leaning over my bed starring at me. Sometimes I'd wake up and not really know what to think and other times I'd wake up and start to "fight" him off by putting my arms up over my face in defense. But, Monday was different...very disturbing! My husband came to bed late because he was working in the office on computer stuff, as always, and I took my shower and my sleeping pill, turned on the t.v. and drifted off to sleep. When he got in bed with me, I slightly woke up to kiss him good night and I rolled over to my left side so I could snuggle with him. It was about 10 minutes after that, when I felt someone else was in the room with us. You know how you get that feeling that someone is starring at you, or behind you? That tingling, hair-raising feeling on the back of your neck. I had that feeling, the only problem was that all of a sudden, I was paralyzed! YES, I said paralyzed. I could not moved to see if someone was in our bedroom, standing behind me, I could not talk to tell him to look, I couldn't do anything, totally immobilized. I just laid there in hopes that he would go away and not bother us. I somewhat calmed down after a few minutes and closed my eyes. Next thing you know, again...he's back! I feel someone in the room again and I'm paralyzed, AGAIN. This time, my husband heard me making noises in my throat, as if trying to scream or talk, but I couldn't. My arms and legs, paralyzed again. I don't know what happened or what I did, but I finally broke free of this dream or actual experience and when I did, I told my husband, "Someone was in the room, but I don't see him now." He assured me nobody was in the room with us, and to go to sleep. It wasn't until the alarm went off for work at 6:00 am that I fully told him what was going on. He told me he heard me making noises, as if I were trying to talk or scream, but it's not like he's never heard me making sounds while I'm asleep or awake. This is just the most bazaar thing, ever. I was totally disturbed by the whole thing all day on Monday. Even on Monday night, I was somewhat afraid to go to sleep because I didn't want to be paralyzed again and be stuck in that situation.

[Thor0149]

I have had many of the same episodes that have been decribed above and it is really spooking me out.  I am awake the entire time and I swear these things are happening but everyone is enjoying my problem without giving me any good suggestions.  I wonder if my room is haunted?  Best luck to eveyone.  If you have any suggestions for getting rid of these (whatever they are), I will gladly listen.  It is becoming very difficult to go to sleep.  I feel myself getting more frightened as the night moves on.  Am I crazy or not?  I don't know.  This has been happening for the past few weeks and is really scaring the hell out of me.  

[Madavigne]

This is something none of us can really answer.  Maybe you should go to your doctor to see if they can come up with any solutions for you.  Best of luck to you.

[Rose775]

I to have had these kinds of occurences, not quite as extreme but i have seen figures in my room and energy balls as well. Normally when I see the figures they only last about 2 seconds after waking up abruptly, They usually look like they are surrounded by electricity or have glowing holes like stars through them. I also sometimes see fashes of light or static in mid air, i always fall asleep imidiatly after and at the time am not very scared. The next morning when i remember these things that is when they freak me out. The thing i find odd is that the nights i see these things, are nights when i have a hard time falling asleep because i countinously feel like something is touching my face and neck whenever i close my eyes. The night of my 20th birthday i was feeling things and woke up feeling like i was being slightly electricuted. Even stranger when my Mother was pregnant with me she said she woke up one night paralized and feeling like she was beeing severly electricuted, it only happened that once in here entire life. I have also woke up feeling like my whole room is full of electicity and see lots of static, I dont have a tv are anything in my room so i find that strange. I often think of these things as possibly something paranormal, i have heard alot about orbs and shadow figures this site looks like it might offer some insight on that front if any one is interested
http://www.psychic-experiences.com/real-psychic-story.php?story=1922

Rose

[Tillywillywoo]

I have suffered this for years since a small child and | am now 33, female.

I wake up in the night and see strange objects floating across the room slowly or coming down towards me, the more I stare they seem to slowly disappear into thin air.  It doesn't matter if I close my eyes or not as I can still see them there.

They are all sorts of weird and wonderful things, an abstract type painting of a red tree with swirly branches, a sort of wierd bush. Can't explain the other shapes but I never see insects or people just objects.

I tried to touch one once but my hand just went straight through it.

I also have vivid dreams and also suffer the loud vibrating noise in my ears upon going to sleep, so loud it hurts my ears, I can recreated the sound when I make my ear drum vibrate or when I yawn with my mouth shut, I know I am about to have one of these weird experiences/episodes. My eyes are closed and I am aware of my surroundings but feel an evil presence in the room and sometimes hear stranges sounds like there is something moving around my bed on the floor.

It slides me off my bed either onto the floor and moves me around the room or levitates me up into the air and then swings me round all over the room.  It is  very frightening when it happens and feels very real.  I am unable to shout out, move or open my eyes.

I first had this experience in my late teens/early twenties. I was paralysied in my sleep but was aware and could see a female like creature crouched down by the end of my bed on the floor, abit like an erchin or imp I suppose all black with glowing green eyes. But the creepy bit was that she was purposely at the same time trying to sexually excite me, does that make any sense??  That sort of episode has only ever happened once.

I am a committed christian now and have been for the past year or so and I regularly have vivid dreams of demons and evil spirits trying to frighten me, I recite the lords prayer out loud to them over and over and command them to leave in the name of Jesus and God.

I don't know whether it is a spiritual thing or not but I do know it feels extremely real and disturbing.

Does anyone else suffer the presence that pulls you out of bed??

Sometimes before it gets that far I am able to concentrate on trying to move and I can wake myself up.

[Tillywillywoo]

It happened again lastnight (the strange objects).  Last night my one year old cried out next to me which made me jump up and there it was again a strange swirly pattern, bit like abstract painting over in the corner of the room. I said out loud over and over while my heart was jumping in my chest "in the name of the Lord Jesus, I cast you out".  It faded away, my heart slowed down and this is the really funny thing but immediately after it faded I felt completely calm and relaxed. That is the first time I have told any of the weird objects to leave in the name of Jesus.

So it's worth a try but it helps alot if you actually believe in Our Lord.

[KC83]

I am surprised that I never found a forum like this before!  I have never read so many experiences so similar to my own.  When I was young I was just a sleep walker - I rarely remembered why I was up and what I was doing.  As I got older, it slowly turned into REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) where you act out your dreams and when fully awake, can remember exaclty what you were doing and why.  Coupled with this, I have also had the same "visions" though my doctor and I call them "episodes" - I see things in my room.....and many times it's violent.  Well, I should say over the past two years it has been more violent than not.  My episodes usually involve me seeing people - lately it's been people trying to harm me; I wake up and I'm convinced that my room has been sabatoged; snakes; and other objects.  

It's a horrible feeling to go through the night afraid of what you're going to see.

Last spring I went to a sleep specialist and a neurologist after throwing my glass lamp at the wall to protect myself from an "animal" in my room and pounding on my neighbors wall because I was trapped in my room.  They worked together to figure out what was causing this.  I did an overnight sleep study (which was horribly uncomfortalbe), an MRI, and a sleep deprived EEG.  At first, the only results they had to go off of was the sleep study.  The sleep specialist put me on clonazepam to help me sleep - which has been effective in treating sleep walkers.  However, this didn't work very well. Yes, I had no trouble getting to sleep, but I was still seeing things and trying to act out my dreams but couldn't move since clonazepam is meant to keep you in bed.

My neurologist called me back to his office after he received the EEG results.  It turns out that my brain waves during sleep are very abnormal.  In fact, he really can't diagnose it properly.  It's not a seizure and it's not normal.  Very few people have brain waves simlar to mine during sleep.  I bet that many of you on this forum have the same though - we all experience the same types of episodes which, other than my mom, I haven't run into.  

During sleep, my brain waves jostle in an odd way and don't follow a correct pattern.  The medication my doctor put me on is Phenobarbitol, which is used to treat seizures.  This was the closest medication he could come up with.  It works on and off - and my episodes were scarce and non-violent....until recently.  The past few months I've been having horribly vivad dreams - all involving me being attacked.  Here's the odd thing - people around me started having scary incidents involving an attack and a close encounter.  Then, two weeks ago I started seeing things in my room again - mostly threatening or leaving me paranoid.  I'm going back to see my doctor soon to discuss this as getting up every time you see something in your room leaves you absolutely exhausted.  

Here are two other strange things: 1.) my dad used to be haunted by dreams of Lucifer.  For about 2 years Lucifer would be in every dream, constantly trying to convince him to leave his family.  I throw that out there since it's so strange to have that particular recurring dream. and 2) I dream very vivadly. I always remember what the dream was about, there's always great detail, and I can (at times) control the dream.

I recommend anyone who is seeing things and acting out dreams to talk to a sleep specialist AND a neurologist in the near future.  Another reason that prompted me to see a doctor (other than being violent and not getting sleep) was that a study from the Mayo clinic came out stating that RBD is linked to degenerative brain disorders, such as Parkinsons and Dementia.  I asked my doctor about it and he said that the patients in the study had RBD for 6 decades and never got treatment.  Risks decrease when you seek treatment.

Again, I'm amazed at all of your stories because no one else in my life seems to quite understand what these episodes are like.

[impact360]

I personally believe that the majority of us who are having these visitations when we wake up are actually evil spirits attacking us or tormenting us.
I am a Christian and I have found that in the name of Jesus they leave,even the orbs leave too.
If you are not a Christian then at that moment when the evil spirit or orb or insect is there, call out to Jesus to help you.
I hope my post helps.
Even if you don't believe in Jesus, it can't hurt to give it a try.
You might end up finding out that He is real :)

[Jen0555]

Hello all, I am SO GLAD as many others seem 2 b that I am NOT CRAZY and that this is really happening all over the world to many people!!! I am at work so I cant say much right now, but this weekend I will b coming back on here to add and read more. I have the same EXACT things happening to me, only it started with me seeing bugs and dark figures in the doorway, now it's changing to me waking up so scared that someone has cameras set up in my room watching me sleep! I even woke up one time to see an antenna like device with a camera on the end in my face coming out from my dresser and when I opened my eyes it retracted, then I realized, I was "dreaming" and it went away. The objects always go away after a few seconds, but it is absolutely terrifying to wake up in the middle of the night like this, I have woke my son's father up trembling all over shaking him trying to get him to wake up & see what I was seeing, then we have a quick laugh or he does and I go right back to sleep with no problem, I have jumped out of bed thinking bugs or mice were in the bed with me....this is really scary and I'm glad I'm not alone...I will be seeing a doctor on this very soon, so I will keep everyone posted on what may be causing this...also to Melinda I also have an abusive past (sexual) and It only happened once and I hid it from my mom (and EVERYONE) for 10 years, so maybe this IS some sort of post traumatic stress thing since I hid it for so long and acted like it never happened or bothered me and the man lived with us the whole 10 years (but Imoved out when I turned 17, so I lived with him for 6 years after this happened to me!), he was my mom's boyfriend at the time and I was terrified to tell because of what might happen to me & my mother, and I was only 11 years old when it happened....so hopefully we can find an explanation 2gether and hopefully some treatment...maybe just talking about it will help us....good luck 2 u all!

[angelanmcd]

I have the same thing happen but have only become really aware of it in the past couple of years.  I see things coming out of the walls, spiders, last night I saw some sort of bug hovering above the bed.  My husband is used to it by now and tries to convince me that nothing is there.  It just seems sooo real.  I think I may have had issues with this as a child because I took to sleeping with a light on and still do to this day.  It helps keep the "shadow people" away.  Once though I actually did have someone break into my house and when I woke to someone standing in my room I thought that it was another 30 second waking dream..  I am just getting  tired of it because I have dove off the bed, this has happened while being on vacation and I'm currently 7 months pregnant.  I'm afraid if I have another one that causes me to dive off the bed that I could hurt myself or the baby.  I'm just glad I'm not the only one, I was just trying to convince my husband last month that maybe I needed to go get checked for a brain tumor.  

[Liz611]

Last week I was awake in my bed. My eyes were closed and I felt something bump the corner of my bed.I feel this bump on my bed quite often 3-5 times a week. I always sit up to observe nothing at the foot of my bed. This past incident I had decided to remain in bed and just open my eyes. I saw a black object floating by me.This object had some distorted facial feature. In a split second It changed shape to resemble my bandana  on the nightstand. I blinked my eyes and looked at my bandana and then back at the object floating by me. I thought I was having an hallucination until I heard the object bump my bedroom wall. This stuff isn't a sleep disorder. It's something real being turned into or categoried as sleep disorders to satisfy the medical proffession. If you can feel and hear it it's a reality not a fantasy or delusion.

[mishven]

I am so relieved to have found this website. I too like many of you have been experiencing this ‘veiled world’ or ‘shadow people’ since my early teens. It began when I lived in Rome (Italy) as a young teen. My first vision was of an entire family floating across the ceiling of my bedroom, father, mother and children dressed in gowns. They appeared to float from one end of the room to the other, and disappeared through the wall. Over the years I have seen too many things to recount, from strange objects such as bunches of flowers spinning across the room, large tangled masses of wool, orbs, to disembodied nightgowns swirling around the room and shooting up into the fireplace.

One of the most terrifying being; waking to see a giant spider on my bedroom wall and the strangest one I remember, waking to see what I can only describe as a lizard man crouching on top of the window sill, who after a while leapt up and flew across the room landing on top of my wardrobe. These experiences are not localised in one house, I have experienced this in Italy and Australia where I currently live. This has happened in many houses I have lived in.

In recent years in addition to the 3D apparitions I now also see shadows on my bedroom wall. Many faces appear on my wall at night, I am in no way frightened of them, they appear to be Aboriginal people. They tend to just look at me. One night my young teenage daughter was sleeping with me and this particular face would turn from me to her. It was just observing us, just dropping by for a look.

For many years I was terrified by these visions, I have now decided to embrace them. They truly are weird and wonderful. I feel privileged to be able to see them, it’s like a window has been opened to another reality, a veiled world and only a few of us can see it.

[nate1388]

A couple weeks ago I was in my room getting ready to fall asleep.  As soon as I closed my eyes I saw a dark face start to form. When I opened my eyes I saw a shadowy distorted face lying right next to me just looking at me.  It was as if it was waiting for me to go to sleep so it can bother me in my dreams.  Since then I usually sleep with some kind of nightlight and yes its embarrassing because I'm a 20 year old young man.  Where are the ghostbusters when you need them lol,,, nah not really.  I beleive what I saw was a demon and usually these things come hang around things that have led to some kind of oppression(torment) in you or someone close to you.  It can be pornography, filthy music, or any kind of addiction that bothers you.  I don't think any medicine will make these go away, lose the nasty habits, and get help from the only doctor that can help us with this....Jesus.

[busted81]

It's nice to know that I'm not alone! I have had the same problem on and off since I was a child. It's like I wake up but I'm still dreaming at the same time because I'm seeing something that's not there. Once I remember waking up and seeing this salamander type creature hanging on my wall above my headboard. Except that it had a baby head with a mouth full of fangs and was hissing at me. I freaked out, jumped out of bed and turned the lights on to make sure nothing was there.

It was okay when I slept alone, but now that I'm married it's getting kind of embarrassing. I have seen the shadow of a person, spiders and bugs, snakes, racks of coffee mugs hanging from the ceiling and I think the base of a floor lamp suspended in the air. I'll usually say something to my husband like "Do you see that?" and he'll ask what the heck I'm talking about. It usually takes a few seconds and then the images go away. Sometimes if I see bugs though, I'll pat down the bed just to make sure nothing is there.

I wish I knew what was causing it because I would like to know how to make it stop. As a kid I used to sleepwalk and sleeptalk, but I was never conscious of any of it. With this type of thing I know I'm awake, I know I'm "seeing" something and I can hold a conversation with my husband. I'm not under much stress, I eat fairly healthy and have never had a problem sleeping and don't get tired during the day.

Like I said though, at least I know I'm not alone!

[littlechinadoll]

This sort of thing happens to me all the time. Well actually the reason I'm on here is because it happened again today.

Before I used to just get, err what is it called, sleep paralysis? Where I wake up, but I can't move. The first time, I can't really remember what happened but then on vacation in the 8th grade I woke up not being able to move again but this time I was seeing things. I could hear a classmate of mine screaming and I could see her floating there with her hands all bloody, then I guess I fell asleep again. But anyways its not always sleep paralysis. Sometimes  I will be "falling" asleep, but still half awake and I start to hear doors slamming and creaking and various noises which I know aren't real.

Also what happens a lot is, I will wake up in the middle of the night, and see things. A lot of the time I will see a group of these tiny white/yellow lights floating near my ceiling. I don't get scared or anything usually I just look then fall  back to sleep. Once I saw something else floating I forget now, I think it was some sort of fruit ahah. Or once I even saw a person.
One weird incident which happened this summer was where I actually started to sleep walk in this half awake/half asleep state. I heard noises coming from the window of my room which is why I woke up and it seemed like a man was trying to get into my window so I got up and in the pitch dark went stumbling to turn on the light or find the door but i couldn't so I started screaming for my mom. Well it turns out I was on vacation in a cabin, sharing a room with a friend! & i thought at the time I was still at home. Needless to say I scared the **** out of my friend! I ended up at the side of her bed flailing my arms at her. ahah.

I know this is getting very long but I have a few more I wanted to share, just the more interesting moments.
The thing that happened today, well I was home from school sick and I "woke up" in that half sleep state but I couldn't quite keep my eyes open. I kept closing them, and trying my hardest to open them. I heard noises, like shuffling on my floor and kept trying my hardest to roll over and see if it was a mouse (I had a chocolate bar on my floor). Then I realized I couldn't move, (figures lol), but I could still see the doorway of my room to the hall (just not the floor) I was sort of on my side, hard to explain, anyways!
So I kept hearing more noises like someone was in the house (I was home alone) I looked at the doorway waiting to see if a person would walk by hoping it to be my dad. the noises got closer. I could have sworn they went by my door but I didnt see anything. Then I could "imagine" (but not actually see) a person with black hair waiting by the side of the doorway hiding. But the walking noise kept going by my doorway again and again, so I concluded in this state that it was just a ghost. Then I could hear the cardboard boxes on the floor of my room moving around. I then heard the "ghost" unlock the front door to my house, and then go down the stairs to my basement. Thats about when I fell back sleep and started to dream for real.

One of the earlier incidents which happened when I was about 13, really scared me. I woke up in the dark and I could hear screams (a lady and kids) and bombs going off, guns, it sounded like a war was going on. Then the sound disappeared quickly. I thought it was the tv, or my brother on the computer playing his games, so I got out of bed and checked both rooms. But everyone in my house was asleep. I was so scared. Usually when this weird stuff happens Im not scared and I feel very comfortable though. I kinda think of it as, well my ears are dreaming, but my eyes are awake.

Okay Okay this is way too long but I have onee more. (maybe)
When I was little I would have all kinds of crazy nightmares, (most of them occurred in my room or my house actually) but this one I had, seemed so real I now wonder if it was of the same sort of half awake state. Anyways, I was very young, I think the 3rd grade. My grandparents were baby sitting me because my other grandfather was in the hospital. I woke up and I looked at the mirror in my room which was white. You know how through door cracks, when light comes though in a strange triangle shape, well the light was shining on my mirror and I could see a figure of a man and a lady standing close (just the head/bust area). As if maybe it was a shadow from the hallway.I could also hear a heart beating very loud. At first I thought it was mine, but then I listened, and I could hear two. I got up out of my bed then, and I could feel the cold floor, I remember feeling the cold tiles on my feet so much,  that's why I think it was real partly. Moving on, so it was dark but one of those nights when the moon is big, so you can still see things, but in strange colours. I see my two grandparents across the room leaning on the table, my grandma was smoking, and i could see they were talking to each other but I couldn't hear any words. I started to call for my grandma then, I kept calling her but she wasn't listening. It was like she didn't hear me, or see me. Then I could hear a mans voice call my name. But it wasn't one of my grandparents (i couldn't see any other people though). He called me to come towards him, so I walked over the fireplace tiles towards the voice, and they clicked like usual, it felt so real. Then I went back to my room. It kinda freaked me out when I got older because I realized that my other grandpa who was in the hospital died that week.

My experiences vary a lot. From just "hearing things" and not seeing things, or sometimes I will see things,but not hear them, or sometimes both. Sometimes I feel very calm and fall back asleep but others my heart will pound and I get very scared. And on occasion there's the paralysis. Gah darn sleep problems!
Sorry I ramble wayy too much.

[Fran265]

What I want to understand is why do we all see spiders?  My hallucinations happen as I'm waking up.  I've seen red spiders, black spiders, opaque spiders, spider webs, string, string with fur, driedels, and a submarine.  I see spiders most often.  I'm not afraid of spiders.  I don't think about spiders, nor do I dream about spiders.  So, why do we all see spiders?  I also hear sound on occassion and it's usually a doorbell or a loud tone.  I've never seen ghost, thank God.  Oh, and I am not having a nightmare before I see the spider.  I ponder if the the spider is my animal totem.

[ccgriff86]

Wow, I can't believe there is actually a forum on this subject. I thought that I was just a weirdo. I guess not. I'm a 23 year old male, I'm healthy and I get great sleep.
I've always seen things since I was a kid, I would see people for very short periods but it would always scare me. One time I took a nap when I was about 13, I woke up and saw a swirling S. I probably stared at it for 5 minutes. Blinking and thinking to myself, "What the heck?!".
Only after I sat up did it go away.
Over the years I've seen Spiders, babies, shadow people, swarming insects, and all sorts of shapes to say the least.
About two years ago in my room, I awoke and saw a big black and red spider on my wall. It proceeded to jump off the wall and grow arms, like propellers, and fly towards me. I jumped in fear, ran outside, and after coming back to my senses I realized that I had locked myself out of my room! Many more hallucinations and months later I was in bed and I saw a floating feather type object that floated for a second then darted towards me. I jumped up on my bed and my foot fell in between the mattress and the frame at the foot of my bed. I scratched up my ankle pretty good from that.
The past few nights I'm seeing people on my T.V. as reflections running around. I get spooked and turn on the lamp beside my bed because they don't go away if I blink. Since my wife deployed I sleep with a night light. I'm not necessarily afraid of the dark but afraid what my mind will think of next. Also it helps when I pray before I go to sleep.

I always thought I had these Illusions because I have an over-active imagination. I dream every night and my dreams are always active dreams, like, shooting zombies, flying, having super powers. Crazy fun stuff. I also wake up completely covered in sweat almost every night.

I wonder if people that have this "disorder" also dream a lot or can control their dreams. I wonder if seeing objects at night is just a product of a very active mind.
Could seeing things at night also be a different type of sleep walking? I don't know and I doubt we'll get a straight answer any time soon because it's hard to determine anything that has to do with the brain. Best of luck to us all and sweet dreams.

[taylorhanson86]

Wow! It is so crazy that it happens to all of these people. It happens to me all the time- I started noticing it when I was 20, I am 23 now... in our last apartment I used to see all kinds of spiders falling from the ceiling, black figured men staring from the doorway (which totally freaked me out because I hate the thought of strangers watching me sleep.)  I would freak out and actually jump ON TOP OF my boyfriend, trying to wake him up because I thought that somehow that would make things ok. Poor guy. Now in my new apartment I see spiders, snakes, and a couple of days ago I even saw a frog. That was new.  I haven't seen a person yet in this place but I keep seeing things... It lasts for about 10 seconds then I pass right back out.  Sometimes I leap out of bed because I think there are spiders on my bed. Or on my face. And I swear this one time in my old place, I had the spider vision and thought it was climbing on me, I slapped my leg to kill it and I even FELT the dead spider. My boyfriend is used to it now- "You always do this..."  Im not sure this is supernatural, though I do believe in these things, but it is fascinating that all of these people have similar hallucinations...

[CareerLady]

The name of this phenomenon is Hypnopompic Hallucination. (If you have this problem as you are falling asleep, it's called Hypnogogic Hallucination) Both of these things are called parasomnias, which just means they are disturbances in your sleep.

At a recent sleep conference, research was presented that shows these sleep disturbances to be more common in folks with sleep-breathing disorders such as apnea. Besides apnea, there is a milder disorder called Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome, which doesn't involve stopping breathing, in some cases, not even really snoring. There is always fatigue or daytime sleepiness involved. People with Upper Airway Resistance can be young, not overweight, etc. Some doctors don't know about this, you should look it up at Dr. Steven Park's site, if you think it sounds like you.

Hypnopompic hallucinations happen during REM sleep, probably because your muscle tone is low then, and may allow your airway to become smaller. Another notable fact about hypnopompic hallucinations discovered by researchers is that, well over half the time, folks were sleeping on their backs.

The moral of the story: try sleeping on your side or stomach more. If you still are bothered by parasomnias, ask your doctor if you can do a sleep study.

[jean133]

This is strange, I've been looking everywhere online to find some answers and nothing till now.
I feel alot better knowing there's others out there who go through this. It started about 3 months ago. The first time I was sleeping with my daughter who is two years old, I was laying on my side. I woke up and my first thought was "ok what time is it?" I opened my eyes to look at the clock and right there in front of me I saw a shawdow the size of a man I guess. I needless to say freaked out. I jumped across the bed, over my daughter and starting screaming, At that time my oldest daughter woke up (she's 8) and ran in and turned on the lights. I was stunned cause there was nothing there, confused and leary I did go back to sleep after a while. Well, It was very weird for me and has never happened before that i'm aware of so I was fully confident that it would not happen again. I was wrong. The next month it happened again except this time when I woke up (also laying on my side  this time) There was a figure up close to my face, I panicked once again and my husband ran in and tried to calm me. (he wasn't home the first time). SCAREY!!!! Ok now that's it! Nooo more. Right?  Well just last night I awoke once again < thankfully it wasn't sooo scary this time but I saw my daughter (8yrs) dancing in circles in the room, then it was gone. I may be going crazy. I'm not for sure but I figure it's going to continue being that its happened a few times now. I'm very healthy and In good physical shape. I don't know what culd cause this out of the blue. Any more suggestions?

[alexai55]

So me and my friend were watching the movie Taken, a little scary. I must have fallen asleep and maybe half of an hour or so later i wake up to a tall figure shining in the dark. It felt so real that i started yelling "Get away! No! Stop! Don't touch me!". The entire time my friend had been watching me thinking i was having a nightmare, she saw that my eyes were wide awake though. I turned to her and seconds later had jumped on her telling her to turn the light on there's a man over there. Turns out there was no man, i feel much better knowing i'm not the only one who has seen figures when they wake up. It could just be the movie i was watching earlier or the caffeine i drank.

[Tazzie86]

I have been having these things happen for the last couple of years.  They happen every few months.  I had one the other night- I woke up to have a man with blood all over his face in my face, I jump over my husband and woke up properly on the floor.  I get such a fright that I need to contain myself in another room and then go back to bed.

My sister once came into my room to find me standing on the bed screaming with fear.  I saw a huge raccoon run from underneath the bed and in the same night I awoke screaming because there was a bright green ugly witch right in my face.

One of my worst was about a year ago, I was awoken by a huge cracking sound and I looked out my window and a massive tree was falling onto my house and I literally dove out of my bed and landed at my bedroom door, I actually properly woke up to find myself very sore on the floor.'

I have also had men coming towards me with there hands out like they are going to grap me and I have also had what looked like to be an old hunched over woman sitting at the end of my bed.

I find all of this very strange, I'm just hoping it doesn't get worse.  Does anyone else who suffers from this have very clear dreams that they always rememeber along nightmares???  I always dream that I am being chased my someone and all of my dreams are very weired they always jump around, but I remember everything the next day.

[Star379]

Im not trying to say doctors are wrong nor science but try opening your mind to what I am about to tell you because sleeping pills aren't always the answer yet that is what the doc will say after diagnosing THIS problem as a sleeping disorder. Just research Astral Projection. I have both  exsperience with this as well as years of studing Astral Projection.

[SmittenKitten84]

First off, I have been having these episodes since I was a small child. I remember seeing a cloaked figure at the end of my bed at least a few times a week, reaching for me, Long fingers. Always just making out a face, ragged and sickly. Demonic in fact. I was never allowed to watch scary movies, or bad things on TV, I was never harmed in any way. We ate healthy and I was in a normal active lifestyle. Spending my summers in the pool and playing in the sun. My father went as far as spraying perfumed water around my bed. Called it Bad Dream Chaser. I would often flee to their room, and tell them that there was something in my bed room, the first time this  happened my father jumped up and went running with his bat in hand. See, these hallucination were sudden. Real and Vibrant, so alive.
As I got older I began to seek counsel from those around me, of course they had never seen anything, telling me I was just sleeping. Bad Dreams. To my shock, when I told them that I had not been sleeping that I was awake and seen it all.... they thought I was crazy. Oh well. It happens right? Seeing the shadowed form, I began to get used to. It was a almost nightly thing. But suddenly it wasn't enough. I would wake up, to the feeling of someone in the bed. Reaching out, I would feel the sheets were raised and a form beneath them, sometimes I even felt hair and a face. I would jump out of bed in a panick, sweating, heart pounding, I would slowly SOWLY creep to the light watching that bump in my covers like a hawk and as soon as I would turn on the light the sheet would fall, I seen it actually move with the light on, and nothing would be there. I would tell my story to my mother, and father, they just told me I was dreaming, I don't think anyone can really understand what it is like when you see and even feel things, it may be the darkness... but it just doesn't make since, and when it isn't a form in my room, or where ever I am sleeping at the time, it can be spiders, roaches, smoke, beasts, small toys floating, things I cant even understand what they are, and much more. Just "things". I will close my eyes, and reopen them and the items/persons are still there, UNTIL I turn on the light, they vanish. Gone. Poof. But, until that moment they are there, but, there have been times when I turn the light back off and I can still see the form. This is when I have to turn on my light and calm myself down, and just  breath. and it can happen more than twice a night once a week, to every few days. I am just glad that I am not alone... that there are others out there that have seen, and know how it is to see things at night. I would like some answers, but it seems to me that the doctors know no more than we do, on this subject. That so many normal people will have such sights at night..... it just doesn't all add up. That we all are having these issues but there is no answer for something so common?

[jean133]

I think alot of this is waking up in the middle of an intense dream and kinda some how bringing the last thing you saw with you. I kinda trick of the eye and mind.

[jean133]

Wow, I've been reading some of these and it doesn't sound like a sleeping disorder of any kind. Sounds like some of you have actual demons messing with you. spiritual warfar sort of say.  I will pray for you all, this is tuff on you I'm sure. And people probably look at you like you're insain when you speak about it. I'm so sorry. Well, you might think I'm crazy but Go to church seek help through a pastor, or a minister. A good church that I can recommend is a Calvary Chapel, non-denominational. I feel that your only way out of this and living a better quality of life is to Find God.

[misterhowy07]

LOL. I literally just read this entire page because just recently I've started having these strange things happen to me as well. I'm completely healthy, only 21 years old and it literally started happening about a month ago.

I woke up in the middle of the night, about an hour after I went to sleep, and there was a dark man looking me square in the face (should I call it a man?) and he said my name! Verbally out loud I could hear him say it. I was completely awake. Being a Christian, I immediately rebuked him/demon/soul in the name of Jesus. He was gone.

After this happened, a couple nights later I saw an orb...just chillin' in my room. Fun stuff eh? And tonight...yes tonight (which is why I am typing this out) I saw another orb. Don't care much for the orbs OR the man.

I really feel sorry for SmittenKitten84 and your terrible experiences, seeing as how mine most certainly pale in comparison. Luckily, rebuking in the name of Jesus has seemed to work quite well. They won't happen for days at a time, and I've found that this REALLY works: Get the Bible on CD and play it ever so slightly when you sleep.

Yes yes I am that crazy Christian who will not buy all of those physiological/ purely psychological explanations. Why? Because they don't add up. We've seen the facts, and the doctors can't explain it. Yes maybe part of it is explained somewhat, but not fully and convincingly enough. Maybe the doctors' explanations have helped some people with genuine physiological/ psychological issues...but for the rest of the people on this forum...it looks like we'll have to find the answer ourselves :D

[Fran265]

I completely agree with you though I have had a hallucination after falling asleep sitting straight up in a recliner.  I awoke to see a bright red spider.  I can't sleep on my side or stomach due to a neck injury.  My doctor ordered an oxygen test that I do at home.  I haven't done it yet but it test my oxygen while sleeping.  I'm  hoping this test will show something, so that I can get the sleep test.  My sister has these hallucinations worse than I do and she had the sleep test.  They told her that she doesn't have sleep apnea.  My husband has sleep apnea but never has hallucinations.  This is all so confusing.  I don't believe this has anything to do with demons as someone mentioned.  This is clearly a fascinating sleep disturbance that has us all seeing extremely bizarre things.  I have all the symptoms of sleep apnea not demon visitation.

[robinonthewing]

I too have had similar experiences to a lot of people on this forum. I remember having this one experience of sleep paralysis ("night terrors" they call it). I was about 16 or 17 at the time, sharing the same bedroom as my older sister, and it's hard to describe if I was fully awake at the time or dreaming with my eyes open, but I remember being unable to move and having this dark shape swirling over my upper body, pressing me down (it almost felt like someone sitting on my chest) and I couldn't move or even scream (which I wanted to)...but I did scare the bejesus out of my sister because I was trying to scream and only a raspy and creepy sounding "hhheellllp" was escaping my lips and Kelley said my name and the shape disapeared and I fully awoke to tell her what had happened. We were both terrified of that and convinced that our room was haunted.
I do not discredit the paranormal, I would just feel more comfortable if it was something we could explain.
Anyway, over the years I have always seen hypnopompic and hypnogogic images invloving random shapes, lights, orbs, spiders, shadow people, etc.
Maybe there is something to be said about the "veil" thing mentioned earlier as I do believe there is more to this reality than meets the eye. Even Einstein who was completely scientific did not discredit the belief in different dimensions. Maybe when we are in a relaxed enough state such as waking from and falling into unconciousness some of us have the ability to see into other dimensions...
I will also look into a sleep study, prayer and meditation, as it is wise to consider all of your options...thanks guys for sharing all of your stories!!!!
Also, I think it is important to note that all three of my sisters and I have all experienced this phenomena in some way or another...interesting, right?

[Trivetai]

I have the same problem, I have woken up on numerous occasions normally after only being asleep for an hour or so (I know this because I am so awake when it happens i always look at the time) I have opened my eyes to see a spider running towards my face and more often i see birds flapping above my head, sometimes they are really brightly coloured as in neon yellow or pink.
I always find that when this does happen to me it is when I am in a very relaxed state of mind. When I have no worries and stress, I am so relaxed.
I am a very sensitive person anyway and have seen people in my room but the neon moving objects kind of freak me out!  

[ard88]

I am glad I found this forum. I've been trying to explain these episodes to family and friends, but I feel crazy. I'm 21 and have been dealing with this since at least high school.
My experiences have been being jolted awake to either people watching me sleep (but they are people I know) and i will ask them what they're doing there and when they don't respond i usually snap out of it. I have also experienced waking up to one or multiple black spiders either crawling toward me on my bed, or on the wall right next to where i sleep. i have to get out of bed and turn on the lights, look through my covers, before i realize they are not there. Along with the people, and spiders, I too have hallucinations where I see strange floating objects. Last night I woke up to one floating next to my bed that I can only describe as a "paper bag jelly fish" shape. I was jolted awake and I remember saying "I knew this was real! I knew this was ******* real. Someone come here! Someone come here!"
I thought it was interesting how some people here mentioned they are vivid dreamers and are able to control their dreams. That is the case for me. I dream in color, and I dream every night and every time I fall asleep.
I'm glad to know that I am not alone, and I am absolutely surprised that so many others are experiencing these exact things. At least that gives me some comfort. It is a shame that this has not been diagnosed, especially since it does seem to be a common thing.

[ash484]

I am glad to find people who are dealing with the same issue as me!  I have had these hallucinations for SEVERAL years now.  I actaully had them when I was a kid...they stopped....then I started having them again when I was around 20 (I am 25 now).

I see spiders, people (actaully a hanging robe), snakes, and random bugs.  On a few occasions I actaully pushed all the blakets on my bed in a pile to get away from the bugs. I see "things" hanging from my fan, and most often have spiders or snakes in my bed. I often jump out of bed to turn the lights on trying to see if they are real.

Last night I had my most random "dream" for some reason I took the pictures off of the walls and placed them but my night stand.  It seems as though I am alseep or just waking up.  Its strange and often frightening.

Like I said these "dreams" are frightening and I want them to stop!! Oh and one last strange thing is that I can go straight back to sleep afterwards!

[crusader1337]

this happens to me all the time. I see spiders and things like that usually. I mean they are vivid and they actually move. i see them for awhile till i close my eyes and reopen them. it always freaks me out. and alot of times i will be dreaming about something nice and then its like i get woken up suddenly and there it is. its almost like something forced me to wake up. I'm glad for this post because i thought i was alone w this. but i see a few ppl have posted the same thing. a few times i have seen ppl. twice in a span of 10 years i saw a little girl in pigtails and jean overalls at the end of my bed smiling at me. obviously i freaked out and started screaming and then she disappears. thank God she is smiling and not scary lol. but thanks again for these post. i dont feel alone anymore.

[crusader1337]

Hi, i just posted my story of seeing spiders and such, but i read more of these post and wanted to share my story. i too am a Christian but that doesnt influence this story at all. This started with my sister at age 2 and before i was born. my parents bought an old church to build apts in, while living in one of the apts my sister had an emaginary friend named "Paul" she said he would turn into a dog and sometimes he was mean and tried to bite her. all this happened while my mother was pregnant with me. so my dad being the smart man he was(not) decided to call me "Paul" hoping my sister would forget about her emaginary friend. welp.. she called him paul 1 and me paul 2. so my parents started teaching her about God and Jesus and made her say a prayer and when she did he would leave. And then i was 2.. and my sister was almost 5, she had forgotten about her emaginary friend and one day i went up to my mom and said "hey mom i have an emaginary friend and he has the same name as me" scary huh.. ya i know. so my parents tought me about jesus and God and i would pray in the name of Jesus i command u to leave and he would leave untill he eventually left for good. but i still have seen things growing up, images and such. but about the past 3 years i see spiders and bugs now. i dont know why. anyway i thought i would share my childhood with u all. hope this helps.

[punkybruce123]

      My hallucinations staarted happening all the time as of about two years ago, getting more and more frequent. Last night it happened about 5 times, including 1 time my 3 year old daughter came in to my room, I saw bug all over her face and I think I grabbed her cheeks and freaked her out.
       I think mine has something to do with my anxiety attacks. When I was 17, I started getting panic attacks. Only when I would drink too much cafffeine, and/or forgot to eat.
      Then in my early 20's I started waking up in the middle of the night gasping for air, it would last for about 5 seconds and then immediately call back asleep.
      Now I am 30 and have seen things since about 28. Here is the info I have about myself, I hope it helps someone. I'm not over weight; my blood pressure is low-normal; I have had a sleep study for sleep apnea and I don't have it; My circulation is not great and I am anemic 80% of the time. oh, and I read on here that someone suggested Alprazalom, which is generic for Xanax. I wouldn't suggest that as a solution. It will work temporarily, but the only reason it works is because it completely knocks you out. The problem is that if you work in the morning, you wake up feeling like your head weighs a 1000 lbs.
     The only thing I still would like to get shecked out is my heart, because sometimes I feel like I have palpitations. But I truly believe, that if I start taking vitamins, start stretching and working out regularly, which will help my circulation, that it might actually get better.

I will let you know how it goes.

[misterhowy07]

Well this is just a quick update on my situation. It's been nearly two months and I have yet to see the scary dark man figure and I haven't seen the orbs anymore either. It took a little prayer and fasting on my part, but apparently this whole thing is over for me :D

In the past I've had strange things happen to me like getting the covers pulled off of me, seeing a burnt moaning figure on top of me (wow that didn't sound inappropriate at all lol). Mostly I just wake up with a pressing feeling on top of me and I feel like I can't move, breathe, or say anything. Luckily these experiences do not last long because as soon as I even attempt to say Jesus, they are gone. Honestly I think they've just given up.

Once again, I know that some of you will not like the spiritual explanations. I am simply providing them for those who choose to attempt a spiritual remedy first, as opposed to a costly medical remedy.

[Fran265]

I've discovered that if I sleep in pitch dark I don't see the hallucinations.  Also I quiet my mind with no radio or television before sleeping allowing my mind to slowly drift into sleep.  These sightings are so random that I can go months without seeing one.  I put a special blind on my window to block out the morning sun.  Also, I have a ceiling fan on high keeping my body temperature cool which helps.  If I get overheated at night I can have nightmares.  So far so good, this is helping me.

[ccruse1980]

I can not believe this happens to so many other people. I thought I was a freak. I have only told one person, ever, and they kind of thought I was crazy. I have been having these "hallucinations"/"visions"/ "nightmares" for YEARS. It usually happens in patterns. I will have them in increasing frequency and then they will stop for awhile. I have never even thought to ask a doctor about it, but after reading all of your posts, perhaps I should. My experience seems identical to most of yours...black patterns spreading across a corner, spiders on long spiderwebs coming towards my face from the ceiling, dark figures, hands, even people. It used to terrify me. I would scream, jump out of my bed, and throw the light on. I remember once waking to see a scorpion in front of my face. As you can imagine, I did not go back to sleep. I googled this phenomena because I had an episode today. I was really tired from having a carb-heavy brunch and decided to take a nap in my bed. Well, about 45 minutes after falling asleep, I jolt awake to see a floating form in the corner of the ceiling. I was really disturbed because it seemed to take forever  to fade back into the wall. Also, I found it odd that it occurred during the day, which never happens. Well, after going back to sleep, I wake again to have the same thing occur, with the same image. The object moved towards me first, then faded. This happened a total of four times during my 2 hour nap. The image changed the fifth time into a cracking, spreading hole in the ceiling. I also felt like I was having a low blood sugar attack. I was trembling, sweating a bit, and weak feeling. I was so disturbed by my nap that it ruined my day. And here it is 2am and I don't want to go back to sleep. It is weird because I have been dreaming very vividly for the past couple of weeks and maybe that is a precursor to whatever this is. Up until today, this has never happened during the day. Also, it only happens when I am in a bed. I have never had this occur when I was sleeping on the couch. I think it is most likely that we are suffering from some kind of sleep disorder. I am relieved to know I am not alone. This provides a little comfort. However, this still scares the hell out of me.

[4267concern]

I have read a lot of the postings and realize that I have a lot of the same symptoms.  But does anyone know what cause this to happen.  Mine usually happens at night, several times a week.  I don’t find myself scared, and I fall right back to sleep only to awake again to the same issues.  This may happen several times throughout the night.
Was just very interested in knowing if anyone knew why this was happening.

[Fran265]

I don't think doctors even know what is causing this.  I ordered the book Sleep Interrupted by Dr. Steven Park, an expert on sleep disorders.  I'm hoping to find some answers in this book.  My sister has these hallucinations worse than I do and she had the sleep test.  They told her that she doesn't have sleep apnea.  My husband had the sleep test and he does have sleep apnea and he does not have these hallucinations.  It seems to be very common for people to see the hallucinations within the first hour of falling asleep.  I want to know why we all see spiders.  This is such a common theme.  If anybody trys to tell me some kind of psychobabble about fearing spiders I'll know that they have no clue what they are talking about.  I have a very healthy respect for spiders and realize some are poisonous but I do not fear them.  I can think of a million other things that I would fear more like drunk drivers.  Maybe we can blame the spider fear on the Brady Bunch episode in Hawaii when a tarantula landed in Peter's bed or was that Bobby?

[deRoy]

Wow!

I have the exact same problem as many of you. I thought I was starting to go crazy too.

Thankfully none of what I see is frightening. I almost always see bugs, usually spiders. I hate spiders but they never scare me, except for the odd occasion where I see one on the bed right in front of me and I have to pop up real fast. Then there are times where I feel silly after getting up to smash one on a wall, getting really close and even trying to touch it and seeing it disappear before my eyes.

I saw a little girl once, and this is the only thing that wasn't an insect, so I can totally relate to people who say they see demons, people etc, anything that could genuinely scare you. Thankfully I knew immediately when I saw it that I was hallucinating, I didn't even question it, I knew I was. I was just astounded at how long it lasted. I looked down, rubbed my eyes, looked back up and it was still there. I had to move my head forward and focus harder for it to disappear. It lasted about 10 seconds, which is the longest I've ever had one last. Usually they are around 5 seconds or less.

Hypnopompic Hallucination is what I've got from here, and that sounds right. It's never when I wake up because of an alarm, or someone else waking me up, it's always something that wakes me up... like I don't hear anything that would wake me up, but for some reason my eyes open and I see it.

This has only been happening to me for me since this year began (2009). I am 20 years old. My sleeping hours are messed up, and this does seem to happen more when I awake during the day than at night, so maybe that has something to do with it. These really do feel real, so I sympathize with anyone who is scared by them. For me I'm just curious, and perhaps a bit worried about what will happen if what I see begins to go from innocent bugs to real horrifying manifestations. That would drive me insane if that started to happen, so hopefully it doesn't!

[ross_b]

i woke up lastnight and thought i seen water all over my floor like it was flooding then yelled what the **** and turned on my light and realised wow then as soon as i hitthe pillow lights out... im not sure.. but i have been kind of stressed lately and i do not take any drugs either

[2doxiesmom]

My entire life I have had “awake dreams” of seeing insects (mainly spiders) on my walls, in my bed etc since I was a very young child.  I would often go running out of my room screaming with my head covered positive that my room was infested, only to have my mom usher me back to bed because there was nothing there. I am now 34 years old, I still experience the occasional “spider sighting” that may or may not result in waking my husband to help me. I always attributed this to my extreme fear of large spiders. Up until I got married and lived with my husband 12 years ago I would sleep with my light and TV on because I was terrified about being alone at night in the dark. However, in the past year or so my “awake dreams” started to change.  

Now a little history on me, I suffer from MS and do take injections 3 times a week at night for this.  Occasionally I will take a sleep aid to help me sleep through the side effects (horrible chills ets) of the injections however I have started to track when I have taken the meds vs. when I have my “experiences” and I am finding that there is no correlation.  Below are the most recent occurrences I have had in the past week or so:

Last week I awoke to the image of a “man” figure standing near my side of the bed, I evidently woke my husband up and just sat upright in bed pointing and staring wide-eyed toward what I was “seeing”, of course he said there was nothing there but I could not stop pointing because I could see it.

Four nights ago: Iridescent, hovering about my bed going towards the ceiling fan, I stopped to watch it intently, focusing on whatever it was.  It looked somewhat like the shape of a humming bird only a little larger, with the rapidly moving wings; it was iridescent and glowing in hues of blue and purple, it was beautiful.  I felt like I was watching it for a long time before it ascended into the ceiling fan motor, but I could still see it glowing after I could no longer see the image of the “bird” figure.  

I awoke 2 nights ago to something on my bedside table, I cannot say what it was, I am not sure I was even “seeing” anything but I was completely SENSING it.  At one point I started to get goose bumps & a tingling sensation and I was aware that this was different than all of the other times I had experienced “seeing” something.  This was affecting me physically.  I was not scared, just focused and interested on whatever it was. Again, the experience seemed to last for minutes before I finally drifted back to sleep.

I am no longer frightened by these experiences (thankfully), but I am so interested when they occur that I focus on them intently as if I am hoping to learn something from them.  I honestly can’t describe it and I am so completely grateful to hear that I am not alone.  I am a believer in the paranormal so I was starting to attribute it to that, I’ve even considered seeing a medium to see if they can get a reading from me that would lend some credence to that theory.  I do routinely see a neurologist for my MS who is also a sleep specialist and I have thought about asking him to see if he has any insight, but I am too embarrassed to say anything about it.  

[ybmagpye]

Geez... I never thought of the 'waking up seeing things' as a disorder or sleep problem. I'm 58 now, and have had the phenomenon since I was a kid. As a kid, my brother had it too. He would wake seeing spooky stuff like ghosts or mysterious figures hiding on the closet door. As for me, his kid sister, I saw things more gentle things like floating giant turtles or animals or hot air balloons containing teddy bears; some of the objects scared me, some amused me - it's the same way now as an adult. The things I see as I wake are often as solid as the furniture in my room, or sometimes they are dank, floating miasmas. They're always interesting to me.

I'm not saying I don't become frightened by the floating stuff from time to time. But when it happens I just pull the covers over my head and wait about 20 seconds, which is usually the time it takes for the objects to disappate.

These days I see spiders, giant faces, and my favorite sighting ever was a full grown mountain lion over my closet. That was AWESOME!  

Unless the sightings are freaking you out, stop seeing it as a disorder and think of yourself as having a quirk, and think of the money you save not having to buy hallucinagins to 'have a trip'. Some of us are just lucky like that.

[2tinytoes]

Seeing images when I woke up happened after my mom died. The first image I saw was a balloon floating along the wall. I even turned my head to watch it float away to the other side. I only see objects, from a flying helicopter with chopper noises to a giant cloud that was moving toward me. When I close my eyes and open them again, they disappear. Last night, I woke up to an object on my bed. I reached out to touch it and felt a vibrating sensation, that vibrated my hand, and moved throughout my body like I was experiencing an earthquake.

I have experienced sleep paralysis since I was a kid, but I knew it was a spirit because I would hear a high pitched noise before it happened. It would move inside me and I could not speak or move or even open my eyes. Once I moved out of that bedroom, that didnt happen anymore. If I had sleep paralysis, I could wake myself up from it. But as I got older, I am 33 now and moved in with my husband, I see more of the images at night.

I think we have a gift of sensing the paranormal and spirits, not a sleep disorder. My husband has sleep apnea and sleeps with a CPAP but never sees these images.

Days after my mom died, I walked into her room and felt an incredible joyful energy surround me. It was my mom. My husband sensed her spirit too. Months later, I was dreaming and heard my mom calling me, and felt someone standing over my bed. As I opened my eyes, I saw a dark shadowy figure. I have never seen a spirit in my life so I was freaked out! But when my eyes were completely open, nothing was there! I knew my mom came to visit me, but it was terrifying at the time.

I think we should all stay in touch and support each other. But also recognize that this is a gift and not to be afraid of it.

[Knives]

This is nuts that its happening to so many people, and with so many doctors not knowing what it is. The exact same things, spiders and shadowing ghost like figures. I have experienced both A LOT and it disturbs me. Not to mention the number of posts about the same topic. I see no answers. The Discovery Channel needs to run a special on this, anyone got any connections? lol

[vinnie980]

The same things happening to me. I will see tons of spiders crawling on the wall, last night i woke up and jumped out of bed and i swear i saw huge a bug flying around i threw my blanket on it and yelled for my mom. I looked to see if anything was there after she came in nothing. Then another night woke up looked up and thought i saw a flame comming from my ceiling. i Yelled turned on my light and just a little black spot was there. I get enough sleep... around 7-8 hours a night,very healthy diet, and i practice football three hours a day each week day.

[slopey_dopes]

Hey Everyone,

It's nice to find this site as I didn't know much about this.
I too have these strange visions. Apparently when I was younger I used to sleep walk sometimes. My Mum said she found me downstairs on the sofa hugging my knees and when she asked me what I was doing I said I was watching TV. I was sitting staring at it but it wasn't on. She suggested I went to bed and I followed her but have no recollection of it.
I often have a really confused state when I wake up. My boyfriend used to comment on this when I moved in with him at university. It would normally be me saying something strange, once I woke up and told him that I had a splinter and then not to worry as it was only an axe wound!!
  It's only been the past year that I've started seeing things. It started when I finished uni and move back to my house with my boyfriend. There were some cobwebs on the ceiling and I was worried about spiders. Then I woke up a couple of times flapping my arms about because I was convinced that there were spiders descending towards me. I would turn on the light and be frantically scanning the ceiling panicking before realising that it was dream. I've also had this with flying things too. It normally takes aout 30 seconds after me waking up to calm down.
My worst one started as a dream where all my friends became frozen and this man with an 8 ball eye started moving towards me slowly. I remember seeing my boyfriend btu still seeing the dream. He doesn't like some of the episodes as 1: he gets woken up and 2: sometimes, as in this case I whimper and with this particularly dream I was begging him to help me.
Obviously he thought something was really wrong. A couple of times he has thought that I've been having fits as my breathing has become very shallow like I've been running and I remember running in my dream.

  I don't know whether I did this when I was younger as there was no one in the room to tell me. I know I sometimes jump when falling over or tripping in my dream as I wake myself up.
My Mum has the same sort of things and will wake up shouting about dogs on the ceiling so I don't know wether this is something I have inherited from her. I have also heard my Dad sort of screaming in his sleep. Mum's are the closest to mine but it's never got above seeing insects yet.

I also have another strange sleep thing. I did about dreaming when I did psychology and remember being told that it takes 3-4 hours to start dreaming.
A couple of times I've woken up from a dream to find my boyfriend awake and so have told him about what happened. Once I told him a really detailed dream for about 5 minutes and he was confused. He told me that I basically had my eyes shut for 10 seconds at most. I've done this a couple of times now and find it strange that I seem to be able to manage to start dreaming so quickly after falling asleep!!

It's nice to know that I'm not going insane though!

[HannahM]

From a young age I've seen things drop from the ceiling or crawl down the walls at me, mainly spiders but also bugs or flies.
I've noticed for me that it usually happens within 40 mins of going to bed, not usually afterwards though there have been rare incidences.
When I see something my hearts usually pounding and usually I leap out of bed and turn the light out and it takes a few minutes for me to calm down. These days I don't look for the spider/bug because I'm so used to it being a hallucination, but in the past I've pulled my bed apart searching for a spider which wasn't there.
I used to think there weren't many people with what I had, but after reading this forum I'm surprised to see so many responses.
I don't drink, take drugs or fall asleep during the day, though I do find that sleep doesn't refresh me usually.

[frenchy_37]

You can't believe how relieved i am to see someone else has this going on.i have experienced this off and on for several years.The first time it happened I saw a snake coiled up on the ceiling but that was the only time now I just see spiders,spiders hanging from webs or just big spiders sitting there...once I have to say i've really been scared was when I had went to sleep in my childs room and awoke to see a spider with red glowing eyes looking straight at me as if looking to my very soul and it was above my child this time.I have tried to shrug it off as maybe a hallucination but why do so many have the same thing going on with spiders and i did read one account on another sleep site that she felt as if something awakened her and thats what happens to me.I do believe in god and jesus,i was brought up in religion,maybe we're all involved in something were not aware of like reading astrological signs or something...opening doors that are not for us...just don't know.Or just maybe overactive minds!

[frenchy_37]

Also forgot to mention last night was the first time in a year this has happened but this time it was a brown bunch of globs of spiders together,usually it is transparent but not this time and my husbands lamp on his side of the bed was on so it wasn't dark so i'm confused!

[amber0307]

I have had these hallucinations since I can remember, waking up my parents screaming most nights when I was a child.  Have not had one for a while but last night I woke up, and then started to see something wriggling underneath the end of my my bedcovers, like a large bug, rat or something.  Then all of a sudden the bedcovers were rippling in multiple places like something was crawling under them.  I jumped out of bed fully awake and the movements stopped.  I've never been so scared!  Other halucinations I have had have included spiders, birds, people in my room.  What causes this.......is it just some kind of sleep disorder or is it something spookier I wonder?

I'm glad I found this forum - its comforting to read other people's experiences with it too.

[mel8151]

For many years I have woken up during the night, sat upright in bed because I can see people in my bedroom.   I feel as if I am awake and I am looking at them, looking at me.   I have had an old lady standing in the corner of the bedroom stretching out her hand to me and as I am staring at her she fades away. I have seen a lady lying on my bed in a green and white floral dressing gown, I have seen a bride standing in the bedroom doorway. Also I have woken up to find my dog rising up slowly and back down to the floor again slowly. When I checked the floor she was walking around the bedroom which is very unusual because she's deaf and usually sleeps all through the night. I find it very strange because I fell I am awake, sitting up in bed and watching them.  I constantly wake up my partner and he finds me sitting upright and I'm telling him what I can see but he can't see anything. I've even seen a group of insects hovering above him which I'm trying to catch in my hand

[buymeroses]

Hello, I am a senior in highschool and have always had very vivid dreams. I always remember my dreams. I sleep walk pretty frequently usually into my mom's room and say random things. With the lack of oxygen issues, I used to have breathing problems when I was younger and have had an operation to remove my adenoids (adenoids).
Anyway, I don't ever really have a deep sleep. I wake up atleast twice every night. Usually I wake up around 3 am (something I used to associate with the paranormal) watch a bit of tv and sleep. However a few weeks ago I had an odd experience where I woke up sitting up in my bed to see a spider with more legs then it used to crawl up my walll, into the corner of the ceiling and then disappear. I didn't think too much of it until the same thing happened last night where I saw the spider again. It would not move with my eyes and I actually could follow it up with my eyes, it's direction seemed to be controlled by itself.
When I decided to look this up, I was so pleasantly surprised to not be the only one with this.  

[vr6_dub]

Recently I've awoken paralized and not being able to move, this has happened on 3-4 occasions since the school year began (I'm a senior in highschool), but tonight I awoke to hearing wierd muttering and seeing more then one figure as i sat up I saw a wierd figure in the corner of the room which seemed to be stretching his neck towards me and as i blinked and turned on my lights he disapeared, i don't know what can cause these things to happen i go to sleep 11 usually each night and wake up 7:30 go to school then to work then usually out to relax with people or my girlfriend. tonight i woke up feeling tingley and anxious which happens to me on the other occassions to and I was only asleep for abnout a hour if that. any ideas?

[JReed52]

My name is Jason Reed.  I believe I have a unique perspective on this issue.  For the past 6-8 years I have experienced sleep paralysis.  And for the past 3 years I too have been seeing disintegrating black spiders when I wake up(sometimes).  My particular brand of sleep paralysis has given me an uncanny perspective of how a dream creates itself.  I would say that during my sleep paralysis I am more conscious than other people that have had the experience and described it to me were.  I have read dozens of accounts online and I think I have a calmer sleep paralysis experience than others do.  I'm like 60% conscious and 40% dreaming.  Most people have the alien abduction, or stranger sitting on their chest dream when they have a sleep paralysis experience.  I don't though because I am completely in control of my mind when this happens, just unable to move.  So instead of having a big scary dream, I have a normal dream like I would were I not paralyzed.

And it's very weird/interesting to see how a dream creates itself out of nothing.  

A very small amount of stimuli turns into something larger, and then all of a sudden that's the plot.  It could be something the television is saying, or something that's on your brain, or a small noise the person next to you makes.  

That's why we see the spiders and the things that we do.  It's because we're looking for them.  That's why those of you who see the people, and the lights, are seeing them.  You're dreaming, but you're more conscious and not paralyzed like a person who is having a sleep paralysis attack.  I see spiders sometimes when I wake up, because I always look for spiders.  I live in northern California where Black Widows are rampant, and deadly.  And that's why I see them on the wall when I wake up sometimes.  But for those of you who don't live in fear of spiders you see other things that you fear/love.  

There is no cure, because there is no problem.  You are what you are.  

I would love to talk to anyone about this on a more personal level.  

jason_reed7***@****  
please put something about sleep or spiders in the subject line.  

-Jason

[Mortagon]

Hi I'm a 31 year old man who has been suffering from night terrors and insomnia since childhood. I am so relieved to see that I am not alone in my situation. The last ten years or so I have been seeing spiders of various sizes and colors crawling on the wall. Each time I experience these episodes I have just waken up and is filled with dread and sweating. The visions lasts from 10-40 seconds. I also have a form of bipolar disorder and insomnia. I have seen these visions both when I'm on my meds and when I have been off. As far as I remember I have mostly seen spiders and luckily no people (that would probably scare me to death), although I always have a sense that there's someone else in the room with me. I have also seen tiny balls of energy on a couple of occasional. I have no special fear of spiders and since I live in Norway there are no dangerous species to be found either.

[LiveIt_NOW]

Hi, When i was younger my family said I would wake up in the middle of the night screaming, but i never remembered it the next day. I remember often durring the later part of the day I would hear a noise, like the sound of a motorcycle, or a loud refrigerator, and it would get louder and louder, and louder and so loud that i would start crying. I also saw spyders when i was younger, they would be crawling all me and to me they were real. I all stoped until my mid-teen years. Then i started seeng the spyder again, but on the walls, and other insects too. Then it stopped again for a couple years. Now I'm 21, and for the last couple years it started again, but worst. If i look at my partner when the light is off at nigh her face gets distorted, sometimes really scary. Often i wake up and I see the shadow of someone near my bed, of something floating obouve me sparkling and spinning. Over the past couple month it doesn't happene to offten, but sometimes it happens durring the day, when I'm awake, an I hear things too now. Sometimes scary things like people screaming, but sometimes people just talking. I also find myself watching the clock often, and the different numbers...like 4:44. I use to think that songs or movies had a hidden message just for me, like it was trying to tell me something. Well, as for right now, this very second, im pretty scared, i dont handle these situations very well. But typing all this made me feel better, so thank everyone :)

[Lexinu]

I have had similar experiences. Seeing spiders or feeling them crawl on my face. I'm never paralyzed or unable to speak like some of the others. I usually always (and do) jump out of bed and run screaming. lol There were three instances in particular that stand out in my mind.

One time I woke to find a friend standing in my room. The bedroom door was open and the light in the hallway was on. My current partner at the time was also not in bed when I woke. My friend stood there looking at me and once he realized that I was awake and looking at him, he waved. He then walked out of the room and down the stairs. I got out of bed to follow him to see what was going on and ran into my partner coming back from the bathroom. I asked him why 'so and so' was here. He didn't know what I was talking about and after searching the apartment, we realized that I was just dreaming it. But it was very real.

Another moment happened when I woke to find a man in an astronauts suit kneeling next to the bed next to my partner. I had a feeling that he was there to hurt him or both of us. I woke my partner only to notice shortly after that the man was no longer there and I was only dreaming.

And the last incidence was when I saw a very very large spider. (The size of a medium dog) It moved from the door way (where I sleep) to the other side of the bed out of view. (Where my partner sleeps). I jumped straight up and out of bed. I actually ended up running down the hall and into my daughters room. Luckily I didn't wake her but my fiance was upset that I had woken him. (As I have so many times before)

All of these situations seemed very very real. I've done some research on it. I've found three things that seem to explain everything that is going on with everyone in this thread.

Lucid dreaming- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream
Hypnagogia
Sleep paralysis  - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

I'm having trouble finding decent information on Hypnagogia but it's definition is a the term used to describe the transition from wakefulness and sleep.  There is a wiki about it but it reads like a medical text book.  But from what i'm reading, it seems to describe exactly what I have been experiencing. My fiance has experienced some sleep paralysis in which he is unable to move or speak and he has this sudden feeling of dread come over him. Very frightening.

Anyway, I hope this helps someone. If you are looking to stop this or become more in control of these experiences, I would strongly suggest that you read deeply into lucid dreaming. There are techniques to help you gain control of how and what you dream.

[jdm1976]

Wake up seeing things???
by SAK521, Dec 09, 2007 12:26PM
Tags: hallucinations, waking up, sleep
I have, on SEVERAL occasions, woke up about an hour or so after I dose off (at night) to sleep and I think I see things.  Example:  I woke up one time swearing that there was a spider on the wall.  I woke up my husband and he said there was nothing there.  I feel like I'm totally awake, eyes open, speaking clearly, everything.  I just don't understand why this happens.  Sometimes when it begins, I tell him that it's not like before and I tell him that this time I really do see something.  So...I do realize what I'm doing at the time.  Then I go right back to sleep with no problems.  It's funny when it occurs because it's become a regular thing but I know this can't be normal.  Can someone please explain why this occurs?

I also have experienced this problem for years. I have experienced them so often that Ive taught myself to respond to the situation rather than rreact to it. By responding, I learned several factors that always exist when it happens to me. It is extremely realistic and frightening when it occurs.

Whenever I see the spiders or bugs it is ALWAYS on a light colored background(white,tan sheet, etc)

It ALWAYS appears to be moving as my eyes adjust

I can NEVER find the spider and on many occasions have torn a room apart looking(In the beginning)

The image ALWAYS grows weaker as I become more awake.

The conclusions Ive come to is that it appears to be ocular and/or relating to the nerves in my eyes. I believe its the magnification of these nerves against the light background as you lay there. When you open your eyes, your pupils move and I believe what your seeing are the magnification of those nerves moving as your sight becomes clearer and pupils are focusing. This would explain why the bug always seems to disapper at precisely the time your finally aware to do anything about it.

Do you have a Stigmatism? Wear glasses? Im nearly certain this is the issue here.
Hope this helps..

[SeaTreasure]

I have just recently began to experience this type of phenomena.  I have had 3 or 4 strange events happen that seem to violently awaken me from my sleep.  The most frequent being that of a face being mere inches from my own, upon which I sit up violently and yell.  The face disappears immediately and I feel very foolish.  Once I was near the end of a sleep cycle (I think) and someone loudly said my name as if to awaken me.  I set up in the bed thinking that my husband was awakening me, only to realize that I was alone in the room.  
Then last night I was awoken after being asleep for a short while (did not look at the clock, so am guessing), to something fluttering/flapping in my face.  I not only heard the very loud sound of buzzing or flapping, but I also felt the wings or the breeze upon my face.  I was so terrified that I jumped out of the bed screaming and my husband was awakened as well and running around the bed to me to find out what was wrong!  
The strange thing is that I am normally a very deep sleeper and can sleep through just about anything!  I rarely remember my dreams and even then, they are very vague and fleeting.  As far as I know, I do not have sleep apnea.  I am 50 and have never had problems like this before.  I do suffer from insomnia and take over the counter sleep medications like Tylenol PM.  
I think that the medical conditions suggested so far sound like very plausible diagnosis for many of the members here, but I wonder if this condition can be caused by many different physical factors that could affect our brains.
I have a persistent ringing in my ears, am overweight, probably have high blood pressure and have frequent sneezing fits that have no apparent cause.  I have also begun to have frequent right temple headaches.  I also suffer from some type of hereditary tumor condition (undiagnosed) which causes me to have many, many small tumors all over my body.
Just a guess, but I am thinking that a brain tumor may be a plausible reason for my symptoms.  Just throwing that out there.    It would be great to find a paranormal explanation for this phenomena, but doubtful.  Maybe there is a portion of the brain that is being effected and causing us to all have similar experiences but the actual trigger may be different for some of us.
My husband suffers from sleep apnea and has extremely vivid dreams.  He used to sleep walk as a child and when he is really tired, talks quite clearly and loudly in his sleep, even going so far as to have conversations with whomever is in the room.  He has NEVER experienced "seeing or hearing" things that are not there upon waking, and only remembers dreams and not "talking or walking".  I am very thrilled to find that I am not just loosing my marbles and that there are many, many others who have these same occurrences.  
Thanks to all of you for sharing your accounts!

[heyjude1]

look up Hypogongic Sleep Episodes, this may explain what you are experiencing.

[theInferno]

i've had this happen numerous times. i woke up once to a green spider the width of my bed was on my bed coming towards me. i threw the blanket off and slept on the couch. i believed it was real even when i woke up in the morning.  i looked under the bed and everything.  i also had a really creepy hallucination when my brother was in iraq.  i heard someone behind me and they bent over me and whispered arabic or something in my ear and it was my brothers voice.   it was really weird and i turned around and no one was there. these things always happen in the middle of the night and i wake up and see them

[daveyr7]

I am 25 yrs old, perfectly healthy, it is extremely rare that i even get a cold. Never have I done any type of drug, and do not like to take medications or drink. No food allergies either. Tonight is the first night that i have ever had such an experience.

Somehow this day i had the worst running nose and some congestion, even though i do not feel the least bit sick or weak. I rested in bed early and fell asleep  for about an hour before I reopened my eyes. There was still some light outside coming in and i could see what looked like the fluff like top part of a dandelion seed without the seed floating in air. It was the size of a basketball, thick in width, and a little dark in color. It started to float towards me slowly in a straight line. I panicked thinking it was a large spider which bother me greatly and ran out of the room. After a minute i search around and of course nothing.

Recently i have had a change in sleeping habits, going to sleep and waking up much later than i used to for most of my life. Not sure if that has anything to do with it but with my stuffy nose im sure i had problems breathing. I think this problably helped to induce what happened.

[faiz125]

Hello, such a big relief to have visited this page. I had assumed the possibility of a case being discussed like mine (The floating balls/energy orbs one) was nil. I am again really glad to have come here.

I am Male, 25 and am certain that such visions which usually occur when i hve slept real late and suddenly woken up soon after, are an implication of sleep deprivation. I am yet to read all the posts but searching for "balls" gave enough hits. :) . Also i am usually playin a game on my laptop before sleepin. The games change by the months but being on job, thats the only time i prefer unlike other colleague who prefer job-timings with the highly-mediocre stone-age category community-based online games.  

But you have to give it to them. Mine were like dark purple and were in groups spread across the room and in every group the balls/orbs were like spiralling within themselves going up and down or some at same level. And scary part was some were very close to me. Sort of like the sentinels of the Matrix movies. Atleast made me remember God for a moment, but sleeping late ensures you dont get to worry abt such and i just dozed off again....  

[napman]

In 1998, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. In a 2000 MLST, I was dx with severe hypersomnia with suggested narcolepsy (4 naps; 4.9 average sleep latency; REM = 1). If REM had equaled 2, I would have been dx with narcolepsy. Today they give you 5 naps. The REM came in my fourth nap. So if they would have gave me a fifth nap, I'm pretty sure I would have been dx with narcolepsy back then.

I too had hallucinations upon awakening from dreams. But with me, sometimes I would know I'm dreaming and I'd be about to wake up. That would prevent me from even trying to open my eyes, because I was afraid I would see the last part of what I was dreaming. But when I got bold enough to open my eyes, I would see images, then they would suddenly fade away. It would seem like the whole room would also fade away. These would be images of horrible faces. Once I saw the image of a female skeleton wearing a head scarf sitting on me in the top position (if you know what I mean).  All these incidents scared the living daylights out of me, especially the latter one. I began to wonder if I was doing myself more harm by trying to stare these images down. What if one night or morning the image didn't go away. It's like I'd be asking for a heart attack or something. In that case, I'd been better off keeping my eyes closed like I used to do as a kid.  These images are more cartoonish or animated, but still horrifying...which could be more terrifying in a sense. I remember in bible study when I was about 12, we were taught to turn a away from such images. Although this was pertaining to ghost people may see during the day, I guest it would pertain to these images to. But some of the people in this link appear to have seen more real images in a more awake state than I have...to the point they are trying to protect their spouses. I haven't experienced anything that lasted that long, not as an adult...and of course I don't want to.

The closest I came to anything decribed above was when I was about 4 years old. I remember seeing, what I today believe was a true demon. He was short, green and had a face like Slimy from the ghost busters, however he had human arms and legs. This was around 1965, which was way before ghost busters. It was horrible. It would be in the bathroom, opening and closing the door slowing, scaring me half to death. I would turn away and close my eyes until I feel alseep. But he would not come beyond the bathroom door. I sometimes believe he wasn't allowed to because of the hand of God...if this demon was real. This thing appeared about three or four times to me as a child, then suddenly stopped. This other image or whatever it was appear to me on several occassions when I was about 5. We had to spend three consecutive nights at my baby sitters apartment. Every night we went to bed, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw this image of a boy standing by the dinning table...as we slept in the pull-out couch in the living room. He appeared to be a couple of years older then me. I could never see a face, because it was too dark...plus I was too scared to look long enough. I would turn away and close my eyes until I fell asleep...the same as I did when I thought I was seeing that demon when I was four . Sometimes I'd wake up again and he'd be still there and sometimes I'd wake up and he'd be gone...and I'd be so releaved. I believe one night I woke up and he was actually closer to me. This boy appear to me on about two other occassions when we had to spend the night there. These incidents seemed very real. I guess most children have these early in life.

Wow, I didn't mean to go on that path. After reading some of these post, I had to. Now back to the present. As an adult, these images I was seeing upon awakening from dreams began to subside after constant use of CPAP. Before treatment, it had reached the point that I would hear peaceful music just by leaning back in my chair at my old evening job and placing my head up against the wall and closing my eyes. Ofcouse, I'd have to be drowsy...but not sleep however. On a few occassions, I thought I heard someone yell in my ear. And another occasion, I thought I heard a bomb go off. Most of these hallucinations went away after I began treatment for sleep apnea, again the CPAP in particular. However I still have the excessive daytime drowsiness. But one very frighting thing happened to me a few nights ago while trying to wake up from a dream. This was the worst case, in which I thought someone had struck me. I only had this happen twice that I can remember. It felt like somebody gave me a moderate knock against my CPAP mask. It felt so real because I was about to wake up..but I couldn't. So I began to shake my body with the CPAP hose swinging around, and I was finally able to wake up. But when I woke up, I was lying still as though I didn't move a muscle. Although I only hallucinated about someone hitting me twice, that's alarming enough. I know I was sleep on both of these occassions, but it felt too real...being so close to waking up. Again, I would say it's most frightning when your hallucinations began to physically attack you. I never hear of this before. If anybody else has, please share...

[kindasaprize]

well people I am so glad I'm not alone, I see spiders on the walls every now and then, I wonder if I am awake or asleep. My partner is on the net all night working and I ask him to watch how I sleep this gives me peace of mind. But as always he has nothing to report other than I'm restless and I do get up but Im still asleep because I am incoheriant  to him.
Now my father is the same he sees things in his sleep spiders etc and he has a heart specialist this Dr told him that it is lack of oxygen to the brain that makes him see things and it is not dangerous to the mind or body(unless you act on what you see that isnt really there by trying to chase them or catch them and end up hurting yourself of cause)
and hearing this puts me at ease and im going to go with that explanation because it gives me an answer.

[katythedoggroomer]

Hi every one.
I am a twenty year old girl and am suffering from the same things as you i see rats spiders deep see fish people everything in my bed at night.It doesn't happen just when i fall asleep it happens hours into my sleep.I woke up last nigh seeing fish very scairy fish jumped out of bed fell hit my hed on the floor and wouldnt get back in until my boyfriennd checked all the blankets.Im really getting sick of it.
It use to be once ever two months or so and now its twice a week.Im afraid to go to doctor incase he puts me on tablets.I eat ahealthy diet life not to stressfull
I need answers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[allmymarbles]

I haven't read through all the replies so I don't if what I say will be new. I have had hallucinations and, like you, aside from the things I saw, I seemed perfectly normal. It turned out I had mercury poisoning. Cleared up the mercury - no more tame rats, etc. Whenever our mind plays tricks on us we assume the cause is psychological. We do ourselves a disservice by not seeking a physical cause.

By the way, if you have mercury poisoning you will notice that you seem to have an awful lot of skin to shed when you bathe. You may even be able to peel some off as you would a sunburn. That is what tipped me off and took me to the doctor, who tested me and confirmed the diagnosis.

[AnnieMo]

I am so glad to have found all of you and this site. Since I was a little girl i have always been able to remember my dreams vividly and it is rare for me not to remember my dreams. My hallucinations happened the first time when I was 23 and pregnant-I saw a blonde boy glowing and smiling at me. All the other times they have been like yours....I have seen spiders crawling in bed or on walls, bright neon orbs floating and then disolving into the ceiling. I have seen people on occasion; one was a ancient African woman face to face with me just looking at me and the other time I have seen four people in the corner of our bedroom just looking at me or off to the side (two young boys and two older men).
I have seen TOO many floating objects such as bouquets of flowers, balloons and last night I saw a neon dragonfly. A couple things they have in common is that they are almost all brightly colored with beautful neon colors (the people just look like people), and they always seems to disolve after 15 seconds of following them with my eyes. Each time I wake to these objects I seem to always be very relaxed and calm and drift back to sleep only to be uncomfortable about them the next morning (like the people staring at me).
One time my husband got up to go to our daughter who was calling his name, as he got up I looked at him and saw a swarm of flies behind him. After I told him he started freaking out  and swatting them and then realized nothing was there and probably thought....."ohhh, it is my wifes hallucinations". I am so imberessed about them.

I am a wholistic person: No meds, no drinking, no smoking, no drugs, sleep like a baby always have (except for these incidences that happen in clusters every couple of months) even then I still sleep  like a baby.I am 28 years old,  I am a religious person and feel very protected by the Lord so I know they are NOT demons. I am also a counselor who has a degree in psychology and a Masters in psychology and I have annalyzed everything in my life....I am not a stressed person at all, this is a good time in our lives. I also know it is not sleep paralysis because my husband suffers from it and I see what he goes through. I have been never paralyzed in my dreams (thank God).
So glad to have found you all!  I feel a little less crazy. Just so curious as to what causes  this? Who knows maybe we are just special and awesome people who can see past the veil? ! :-)

[Jess1600]

WOW! I'm not alone in this either! I see random wierd things. I seen a lamp above me , spider coming from the ceiling-many times! Just other things I can't explain. It takes me several blinks before it disappears and then I realize I've experienced "one of those things" again. It is really scary at times, but I'm starting to get used to it. It's been on and off for maybe 5 years now. I've only told one person about it, and never heard of anyone going through the same thing.

[alopez78]

Im so happy i found this forum, for a while I have thought I have been crazy all my life. Ever since I was little I have been seeing things (hands coming out of closets, people in the corner, shadows in my bed, floating above me) the visions/hallucinations are soo real that I start screaming, slapping stuff around and jumping out of bed. It has been getting alot worst lately which is what prompted me to google it. I know I suffer from night terrors sometimes I will just randomly scream in the middle of the night, I wake up my boyfriend and my kids. There are times where I know im scared and there is someone in front of me and I get up to hide.... my roommate found me hiding behind my lamp one time.
Last night I woke up and saw someone right on my face just looking at me I could feel them breathing on me... I started flailing my arms scared...and then it disappeared.
I have gone to the doctor, all they say is that I should take anti depressants because I also suffer from insomnia.. I don't want to! Im fine otherwise im just tired of course because I can barely get a good nights sleep. If I sleep 4-5 hours a night wow that's really good night. I get up maybe 9 to 10 times a night because I hear stuff, I check on my kids at least 3 times  night, I check the windows I mean I thought I was going crazy.

Im not going crazy though because I function great in the day, my children are healthy we go to family therapy and I dont think I am but this is really starting to get old.

When I was a little girl growing up in a old fashioned Hispanic family who was very catholic, well they did everything but perform and exorcism on me ... I however have never been been very religious so I have been trying to find a scientific answer... but what the heck is wrong with us??

[Yikes49]

Hmm, I didn't think I was alone about this problem.. but this many people? Wow.. I decided to check this problem out on the internet after last night, when I saw another one of my visions.. this time it was a beautiful woman in a white dress, looking at me, and then walking through the wall away from me.

What I think is strange, is that everyone see the same things. I have seen them too, all of them! Spiders (both big and small, few and many), men staring at me, faces above me, shadows crawling on the walls, etc. I even once woke up really frightened, because there was someone with a double barrel shotgun pointing at my face. I threw myself to the side to not get shot, but when I looked back, it was gone.

So most of us here do not have any stress related problems, and everyone goes to sleep quickly after the situation. Just like me. Very strange indeed. I think this might be a problem that does not have a name yet, but it should really be investigated more. I have not seen any energy or lightballs in the room yet.. I have seen people glowing, though.

It might be worth mentioning that I sometimes dream that I need to wake up, and that I try my best to scream in my head to wake up, without being able to. The scary thing is that the best way to wake up from these dreams, is to kill yourself in some way. I don't like that.

I have on the other hand never had any problems with the visions grabbing me, etc. They usually just stare at me until I realize I am just being stupid. I hope it doesn't become worse..

[frenchy_37]

I want to thank the lady that wrote in about finding physical reasons for this,she said she had this problem and had blood work done to find mercury poisoning was her problem well I had blood work done and found out that my problem is hypothyroidism,it makes you have hallucinations and visual disturbances..all this time I thought I was going crazy!!!!

[jonicole]

Well I am very happy I have read all the comments above, I have had experiences for a very long time that are very similar and very odd.  Spiders have been the most common image for me, dangling down from the ceiling, or crawling in the bed, I can see them clear as day, and my eyes are wide open. I used to scream and wake the whole house up, almost giving my boyfriend a heart attack, but now I embrace the images, stare at them for as long as I can, even if they’re coming towards me, I want to see what will happen when the reach me but the minute I blink they’re gone or they fade into the darkness.  I’ve seen bright lights, getting bigger the more I stare, stretching lengthways as if they’re going to turn into the image of a person, or big bright bubbles floating around the room, but the room is dark and the images never light up the room no matter how bright they are.  Recently I’ve see strange objects on the ceiling, dark shapes, cobwebs, which all come rushing towards me and then disappear. I’ve also seen fairy like images flying round the room. The images are so real. I wondered if I was going to meet people ‘on the other side’ but since I’m not a complete believer in it I’m baffled as to a sound explanation.  I must admit I’m now not scared of these things but more intrigued by what I will see next, I sometime look forward to it (odd but true). I always sleep very deeply, and get to sleep quickly, I always remember dreams and can feel a big difference from these ‘images’ to a dream, after the images appear, I’ve always slept very soundly after. It could be some sort of channel in between sleep, reality and something else we just can’t explain. One day I will find out I’m sure, my strong will as a person wants me to find out what these images are, I feel as though that they may want communicate with me. I hope it isn’t all just in my head. In the past dreams I have had have come true….. Which scares the hell out of me, I rarely tell people since they automatically think I’m making it up. I don’t want to see anyone about it as I find it intriguing, but feel slightly reassured I’m not alone.

[jumpinjupiter]

What fascinating reading.  I too have experienced these visitors/visions.  Four years ago I awoke (eyes wide open) to bright red and blue molecule clusters rotating next to my bed.   At first these molecules would vanish after a second or two, but as I became more aware of them they would stay moving around and growing until I went out to touch them.  I put this strange phenomena down to the fact we were living in an apartment across the road from a medical testing lab, bazaar as it sounds, but how else could I explain this?  We moved a few months later to a house in the suburbs.  That’s when I stopped seeing the molecules and starting seeing people.  

The first ghouly encounter was also the only time my husband sensed him too (which relieved me to know it wasn’t in my head, but scary nonetheless).  I nicknamed him ‘Mr Homeless’ – tall, ragged features with missing teeth, tattered clothes, oft a drunken stagger and this intense evil energy, like he wanted to harm me.   That first night Mr H was leaning over me with heavy breath, peering, my husband jumped up and punched his face/the air saying “I got him babe”.  He was most definitely there.

Now, we are not a couple who divulge in supernatural experiments, we are both healthy, fit, normal people, but to both experience the same thing?  Hardly scientifically or medically explainable.  Mr H would often show himself, either in our room corner or he would lean over me.   Sometimes he would be standing there smiling at me in a leechlike way, but usually I was so terrified I would violently shake my husband awake to save me.  If he is not sleeping next to me, I scream for help.  Unfortunately for my poor husband, I am not paralyzed while this happens and consequently he's suffered face scratchings and bruises on numerous occasions.  

When awake I'm generally a placid natured person and couldn’t hurt a fly.  It's worth mentioning that since childhood I have had a sense of fear in the dark, and prefer to sleep with a light on when alone.  I have experience mild insomnia from time to time, often taking hours to fall asleep, but choosing not to take sleepers.  I can also severely grind my teeth and have also experienced hypnic jerks.  

We are now living in another country, no more Mr H, but I do have other people visiting and they are often angry and can rampage into the bedroom, sometimes with weapons, scaring the life from me.  I too have seen the spiders, sometimes huge and sometimes many.  These scare me just as much as the angry men, and I’ll flail my arms around or guard myself with a pillow to stop them.  On occasion I have seen beautiful bright neon dragonflies, changing shape patterns and other weird floating objects which don’t frighten me.  

Apart from all this madness, I am a normal, happy, mostly stress-free woman.  I think a good idea is for someone to start a website about these strange but obviously not uncommon occurrences.  I must admit I had a few chuckles reading the above posts as it’s really nice to know you are not alone.

[Yikes49]

Jumpinjupiter said: "The first ghouly encounter was also the only time my husband sensed him too (which relieved me to know it wasn’t in my head, but scary nonetheless)."


Now THAT is scary to me. I of course do still believe this is something in my head.. But it seems so real that its scary sometimes. I used to like sleeping, but lately I don't fancy it anymore. I for once am tired of having these hallucinations, and I want to sleep peacefully without disturbance.

Anyways, this is very interesting. Does anyone know how many hours after they fall asleep they usually see the visions? And how often do people have them? Once a week? Once a month? Maybe every night?

[jumpinjupiter]

After that first encounter my husband and I discussed it in the morning, I was wanting to make sure we had seen the same thing as we were both in deep sleeps when it appeared.  (Remember this was my first time seeing a person and the most traumatic - my heart did not calm down for the rest of the night).  He said it was an energy he felt whereas I saw the man clear as day.  I often wonder if it was my husbands natural instinct to protect me when I'm in fear that made him lash out at this 'energy', or if the energy could be felt or seen by anyone.  Someone above had mentioned that his wife had described seeing the same thing as him in their room without him mentioning these occurrences to her.  Also, my husband too has seen energy balls/orbs in the past, so he does not think I am a complete freak when I tell his of these happenings (apart from the ones where I scream or shake him awake with force!).

[cailey345]

wow am i ever glad to have found this sight, i didnt think i was alone but its a relief to hear stories simular to my own, sorry for all my short handed typing, its the texter in me coming out, i have always seen things in my sleep, but recently i have been wake up and having people standing there reaching out to me or moving closer, sometimes they talk altho i dont understand all the time. i also wake up with wierd marks on my body that really cant be explained.  but what really got me thinking about these things in a few months ago i kept having this same dream of my sister being in a car accident it was so real i had to call her each time i had it. a couple months went by and nothing happened to my sister but i still had this dream, then one of her friends gave her a car, she called me (we live 3000 miles apart) i told her the make model and colour of the car also the plate number.. she sold the car, i havent had many dreams like that but i wonder what causes it?

[taimy]

I have been seeing floating objects when I wake in the middle of the night. Every time I see things I open and close my eyes atleast 5 times and also try to grab the objects with my hands until it disappears. Here it goes: only once about two weeks ago I saw a giant spider which looked like a tarantula black in color. It must have been approximately 3 feet by 3 feet, a painting, my bed spread floating, numerous times I've seen men standing next to me by my night stand. One time I even fought with one of the men and woke my husband telling him there was a man in our house, my son standing next to my night stand when he was actually sleeping next to me. Hot air balloon, silver floor lamp, smoke, broom, colorful strings, fire many many times and not only do I see it, I smell it and once even felt the heat, rats running and crawling over a bench I have inside my house. These rats were so real to me I left at 2 in the morning to Walmart and purchased mouse traps and of course  I didn't catch any 'cause there wasn't any to begin with. The most terrifying episode I had was I got my gun from my night stand and aimed at a supposedly person and I was shaking and my heart was beating uncontrollably. Thank God I didn't fire my gun. Since that episode I do not sleep with my gun by my bedside. Every time I wake up to these hallucinations I get extremely petrified and I am afraid that one day I will have a heart attack in my sleep. When I was around 7 years old until the age of 14 I was sexually molested. I don't know if this would have something to do with these occurrences at all.  The weird thing is that every thing just floats except the people I see. I see them just standing next to me by my night stand. Every night I am afraid of going to bed. I do pray every night before going to sleep. These hallucinations occur sometimes consecutively each night, once per night or sometimes every other day. Please help!!!

[taimy]

I have been seeing floating objects when I wake in the middle of the night. Every time I see things I open and close my eyes at least 5 times and also try to grab the objects with my hands until it disappears. Here it goes: only once about two weeks ago I saw a giant spider which looked like a tarantula black in color. It must have been approximately 3 feet by 3 feet, a painting, my bed spread floating, numerous times I've seen men standing next to me by my night stand. One time I even fought with one of the men and woke my husband telling him there was a man in our house, my son standing next to my night stand when he was actually sleeping next to me. Hot air balloon, silver floor lamp, smoke, broom, colorful strings, fire many many times and not only do I see it, I smell it and once even felt the heat, rats running and crawling over a bench I have inside my house. These rats were so real to me I left at 2 in the morning to Walmart and purchased mouse traps and of course  I didn't catch any 'cause there wasn't any to begin with. The most terrifying episode I had was I got my gun from my night stand and aimed at a supposedly person and I was shaking and my heart was beating uncontrollably. Thank God I didn't fire my gun. Since that episode I do not sleep with my gun by my bedside. Every time I wake up to these hallucinations I get extremely petrified and I am afraid that one day I will have a heart attack in my sleep. When I was around 7 years old until the age of 14 I was sexually molested. I don't know if this would have something to do with these occurrences at all.  The weird thing is that every thing just floats except the people I see. I see them just standing next to me by my night stand. Every night I am afraid of going to bed. I do pray every night before going to sleep. These hallucinations occur sometimes consecutively each night, once per night or sometimes every other day. Please help!!!

[ssamantha30]

You have a gift, you should get in contact with some kinda spiritual advisor to learn how to control and deal with it. Maybe try asking these people, "spirits", what they want. Or yell at them to go away.

[ssamantha30]

Oh yeah and forgot to mention... I dont really beleive in being able to see past life experiences but could be what you are going through. Maybe in your past life you had something to do with the floating objects you see.

[somemanthacee]

It is really nice to know that I am not the only one! I am a 19 year old female, and probably since I was maybe 15 or 16 I started seeing things too. I would wake up from sleep and see something in my room, and after I blinked about 10 or so times it was gone. Once I actually was woken up and my gut told me to look on the floor of by bedroom and a little boy was laying on the ground looking at me. He looked dead...it was so scary and after I blinked again and again and fully woke up he went away. I couldn't sleep for hours afterwards...

I also see men in my room hiding in the corner, they have no faces, and once I saw my younger brother hiding behind my door too, even though it wasn't really him. I don't see spiders like a lot of you but I once woke up and saw a huge centipede crawling all over my pillow and I tried to kill it but it disappeared...and I have seen orbs of light as well. I also saw something that wasn't mine sitting on my shelf, it was a doll head...and that was really weird but like I said when I fully wakeup everything goes away.

[brit2010]

Well for the past coulpe of years i would wake up and see people in my room. i would get so scared i cant go back to sleep or even move. when i was really little i would wake up and cant move because i knew something was in my room. i have to say that i felt sooooo embrassed when i told people because they said i was being dumb. but the other night it was stranger then usual. i woke up and for what ever reason knew to look at my mirror and saw a very real like man run past it. i know what he looks like and every thing. i also wake up a few weekends ago and had a friend spend the night. when i woke up yelling saying there was a robot in my bed she took it in stride thank goodness. ive seen water,people,dogs,and a whole bunch of weird things. when i found this web site i felt so much better because i knew i wasnt the only then i told my boyfriend and hes seen the same things! my mom thought they ghosts and stuff but how can that be when its different things almost every time. i dont know whats going on but im a happy person and eat right... im just glad im not the only one;p

[sarahlou88]

Ok, so it started when i was about 14 and i woke up to find a head and shoulders on my wall talking to me, i screamed for my mum and she told me there was noone there, i soon settled and went back to bed. Then every couple of nights i have reoccuring dreams about spiders and bugs flying at me etc etc and even a man staring out my window. Anyways i learnt to live with these until the other night, i woke up and was having visions of a black hole in my wall and someone trying to force me to go in it, and then next thing i remember is me running down the stairs flingin my arms and pillow around screaming and my partner telling me its just a dream. As if that didnt freak me enough, last night i woke to find an elderly lady hunched over in my doorway!! I stared at it for a bit and as i starred it gradually faded away! I then managed to fall back to sleep for an hr, then i woke up again and i was convinced this elderly woman was in my wardrobe (that was right nex 2 my bed) so i sat bolt upright in my bed for about 20mins too scared to reach down to get my phone incase this woman grabbed me!! Theyre really starting to scare me nw and im almost too scared to go to bed tonight

[MCMHW]

Wow! I can't believe how many people have this same weird sleep pattern. It is so strange and unbelievable (like something Stephen King would conjour up) Its common for me to wake up and see a spider...big one too...crawling up the wall. I see things like flying pixies or fairies fluttering around the room. I will follow the vision with my eyes for about 5-10 seconds and it gradually fades. The last episode was a really long centipede hanging from the ceiling above my head. It finally retreated back towards the ceiling and disappeared but what a jolt I had! I fall back asleep quickly after the vision. I have never seen people in my room....that must be extremely disconcerting. I am not really afraid of these visions anymore because I know they aren't real....and so many of you are having the same experiences. Could it be something we are eating/ drinking? There must be a common denominator here to trigger such similiar symptoms. Any thoughts?

[saltylambo]

I started waking up seeing people when i was about 13 (im now 23) I remember it started as two dark figures in the shape of a woman and child, this has progressed through the years to proper images of people, i can describe them clearly the next day and often have seen the same image two or 3 nights in a row. I sometimes open my eyes before falling into a proper sleep and still i can see people then. I remember recently waking up to see two women standing by my boyfriend and i woke him up tryna protect him from them. they have never moved their bodies much or iv never heard them speaking but definately see more detail. i have been travelling around the past 3 years and usually see at night however after moving to our new home two months ago, i havnt seen any people in my room, which is strange? i never recognise the people except for one time i saw my grandfathers face which did really scare me cos i thought something was after happening him, however her was fine so its just all in my head?

[NDJH]

Hi everyone, I am totalling blown away at how similiar many of our experiences are! Just thought I'd let you know some of the things I've seen over the years ... I'm 25 years old and have experienced waking up suddenly and seeing things since a young age.

Some of my visions have been ...

3 women in 1800's english attire standing next to my bed laughing at me
Creepy guy laying in my bed next to me and he smiled right at me (he had a really evil presence)
Spiders / large flying bugs like mosquitos / scorpions and weird insects crawling up walls, flying towards me, crawling in the bed or on my boyfriend
Demon like creature who completely freaked me out!
A lady who looked like she'd be in a car accident, was all wet and bloody and she pointed out the window ... that was the scariest by far
Moving smoke like patterns like someone's turning around in faint light
Black figure shadows that move around my bed and lean towards me

I still freak out big time but I've learnt to take a deep breath and focus away until the disappear ... or just turn on the light

Like so many of you mentioned ... I do find it so interesting that I am in a deep sleep and wake so suddenly, sit / stand up and look straight at the 'thing' ... it's as if I know where to look everytime and can see it clear as anything even though I'm in an almost pitch black room ... so strange

Anyway just thought I'd give you some of my experiences to compare with. I am so thankful I found this site ... still can't believe just how many people experience the same thing!


Thanks

[afraidofthedark]

Hi everyone-just found this site today.   Here's is my situation...
I have been having sleep paralysis since I was about 16, I am now 40.  The sleep paralysis has been pretty sporadic, but I would classify it as chronic.  Starting about a month ago, I began having a different sleep type thing happen.  I woke up after having an intense dream, my heart was pounding(this always happens when I experience sleep paralysis as well: starts with an intense dream and my heart pounding) and when I opened my eyes, I saw thousands of black spots at the foot of my bed, when I looked at them, they gathered into a spriral and floated to the top corner of the room.  A couple of weeks later I awoke, again after an intense dream, to an image in the upper corner of the room of an odd shape that was kinda moving up the wall.  Then, last night, I slept on the couch, was afraid of seeing something again and thought maybe sleeping in another room would help.  I woke up about an hour after falling asleep, after an intense dream with my heart pounding(i can never quite remember the dreams) I awoke to a dark shaped figure in the upper corner of the wall kind of slithering/climbing up the wall.  It was about the size of a large crab(but didn't look like a crab at all-just that size). It climbed up the corner( it moved like one of those things you throw at the wall and it sticks and slowy "walks" down the wall...) and as it turned the corner of the wall, it kinda spiraled and vanished.  One of the odd things that I have taken note of, is that when I wake up and immediately open my eyes. I am already looking directly at the shape, I am already focused on it.  Does anyone else experience that?  this completely freaks me out, i am not married and have to sleep alone, I have thought about going into one of my teenage sons rooms to sleep, but that would completely freak THEM out, lol.  I am afraid this is going to turn into something even more scary....

[DrStrangeluv]

Hi everyone my name is Alex and I can say I'm part of the club, my mom sees this things too. A few hours ago I saw something when I woke up, it was like a dry lotus flower spining in the air, I stared at it for about 3-5 seconds and then it turned into a gray dot and it was gone...  it all started a few years ago, sometimes I can go for  bout a month without experiencing these things, but then I remember having one week where each night I would see something... It all starts when I go  to sleep, then suddenly,   I'd say generally  in about 30 mins or so of falling asleep, I wake up and see things, this is a list of the things I've seen:
- I have a fan on the celiing of my room, well one night I could swear it was moving across the ceiling, this other night, I just felt that it came down on me.
- One night I saw something like the tail of a jelly fish just floating through my room, it had no color, the next night I said to myself, "it was just thos nachos I ate", well fell asleep and saw the same jellyfish but it was colored.
- I have a shirt with a buddha face that I have on my closet, I would swear I saw it looking at me.
- Then this other night I saw like a small black cloud going from one side of my room to the other.

I told my mother about this, funny thing is, she says she saw the flying lotus yesterday, she has seen things like spider webs covering her room, a floating fish, and something like a cone shooting sparkles beneath it. I get scared when I see this things, but then I realize, it might be related to the fact that I have a light sleep, so the slightest sound wakes me up but  I'm  still half asleep and the the line between reality and dreams is blurred.

[TrdFurgy]

I am really releived to find that I'm not alone.
I've been experiencing these dream-like episodes for about three years now, i'm 19. after the last two episodes have caused injuries to myself I have decided to do some research. Here is a list of the things that have happened to me.
spiders coming down from the ceiling towards me
"ghosts" flying across my room
tiny balls of light flying around
once there was a tiny ninja, about 1 inch tall hoping around on my window seal, i tried to pinch him
fires in my room
second to last i saw a giant saw disk slowly coming towards me, deciding not to take a chance on it being real, i rolled backwards off my bed to get out of the way, but i ended up landing on my computer desk hurting my self
and today or last night something was gonna fall on me and sat up so fast that I did something to my stomach, hurting pretty bad

[gatorgirl2000]

Hi everyone. I just found this forum because I was looking for something to explain what happened last night. Prior to last night I had these "dreams" or at least at the time I thought they were dreams. But the next day when explaining it I would always say this dream was weired because the room was the exact same and at the time of the dream I thought it was real.

As a child I always had horrible nightmares. To this day I can remember one I had when I was still sleeping in the crib. Both my parents are shocked because I can explain how the room was set up and what bedding I used. They both said I was around 2 when we moved from that house, so I had to be pretty young. There are no pictures and the way I see the room to this day is from the point of being in the crib. I can even remember seeing the light under the door from my dad coming in to get me. My dad remembers me screaming like he has never heard me scream before and running to my room when I was still young enough to wear diapers. So we both think that that crying must have been the night that I had the horrible dream. I scared my parents so bad with my screaming that they moved me into their room until I was older. But in this dream I remember a dog jumping thru the window coming after me, growling and barking and just mean.

I do not remember much as a child but the next time I remember anything happening I was about 26. I again thought it to be a dream. I heard a sound like the front door opening. I was laying in bed and the room looked exactly like it would if I were awake even my sleeping husband next to me. Then I heard the door open and saw a man walking down the hallway to my little girls room. I freaked out and started to yell and cuss and trying to get out of bed. But all I could do was sit up. I remember trying to get my husband to wake up but we would not. I even thought about throwing a rock at the man because I had a candle arrangement next to the bed with rocks in it. But at that time the man turned around and started to head back to my room or the way out. As he did this a tiger appeared on a leach next to him. I thought it was a dream but not like any other dreams before because the room was so real and everything int he room was in place and even the time on the clock was correct.

That is the only thing that happened to me with a person in it. Usually it is about a bug crawling next to me in bed. Last night I had the baby sleeping next to me and I saw a yellow and black snake around her little feet. I was sitting up on my side and trying to look for the snake without waking her up. I looked at my sleeping husband and asked him who let the freaking snakes in the house. He asked me what and I repeated it to him. At this point I start to think that it might have been one of those "dreams" but still cannot sleep because I still think there is a snake in the bed that he just might have gone under the pillows or something. I am still going to strip the bed down and look for this snake because that is how real it is. I know that I was seeing things but part of me feels like it was real and for peace of mind I have to strip the bed and look.

I just wonder if any of you talk in your sleep? I wake my husband up a few times a month or every other month talking. He does not usually know what I am saying and says that I look to be awake but out of it. He says I will look at him and say something. Like one night I said they are in the house and then laid down and went right to sleep. While he is running around the house with a bat to beat the heck out of someone. Other nights I wake up and mumble something that he does not understand and fall back to sleep. Sometimes he knows what I say and it is not very nice others I say something but it makes no sense.  

Sorry to be long winded. I honestly thought they were just vivid dreams until last night. Then I started to think that last nights "dream" was more like seeing things than a dream and thought back to the other times and thought that those too were more like seeing things that were not there than a dream.

[jeny1981]

This stuff has been happening to me for quite awhile now but I remember everything.  The ceiling collapses on me and i jump out of bed.  tarps fall on me and i can't breathe.  I see people in corners and hunched on my dresser.  I've told my husband to watch out for the tree limbs that came from the window.  Sometimes i wake up trying to find whatever i've seen and get so embarrassed so i make up a story for my husband.  I see spiders, orbs, and things talking in a creepy voice and language.  I think most is spirit related but i want to know why they picked me and why it is happeneing.

[girlfromgisburn]

Last night I woke at 3am - I wasn't sure why I woke but I could hear a crackling noise like electricity, and when I opened my eyes an object was floating towards my face which looked something like an iridescent transparent ball (about the size of a tennis ball) with lots of iridescent whitish spikes coming out of it all over, that were about 20cm long and 1cm wide.  Overall, the object was roughly the size of a football, and was moving fast towards my face.  I s**t myself and went under the covers, and then ran out of my bedroom onto the landing, and when I returned to my room it was gone.  My heart was pounding so hard I thought I was having a heart attack!  It's funny though, as I too have seen giant spiders when I was younger, and a male dark figure in a corner of my room but these were a long time ago.  I wonder what it's all about????

[starjonz]

This is absolutely incredible!!!!  I am not alone. i have been waking up seeing things for years. I have seen spiders dropping from the ceiling toward my face and would roll out of bed hitting the floor. i usually see spiders, in large webs that spread across the entire room, in the bed, on the ceiling, i see shadows, animals. Once, i saw pink panther on the wall. It used to freak me out but now i know it'll disappear in about 15 seconds. I used to wake up my husband in a panic, but he eventually got really sick of me "seeing stuff". Now before i wake him up, i wait, then of course it disappears. It has become a huge joke in my house. My husband tells me what i saw the night before and we laugh, laugh, laugh. I woke him up to tell him a banana jumped down my throat!  And i was choking! Last night i woke up asking "how many kids do we have" and i kept looking under pillows looking for more kids. Years ago, i jumped up screaming "they're coming, they're coming!!" my boyfriend at the time went to sleep on the sofa. This usually happens if i dose off on the sofa. I'll wake up and say to the family "u guys, i am not sleep i swear but there are a bunch of spiders on the ceiling" they laugh. I can go on and on with silly stories.  Thankfully these aren't scary and they provide much entertainment. It's funny because i swear im awake and coherent and what i see is real. Sometimes im more awake then other times. I can't remember all of my episodes but he'll tell me the next day. The episodes i do remember, i am awake! i can see everything, im aware of my surroundings, i know what's going on. I hope there is nothing seriously wrong with me but im glad im not alone.

[Nij84]

wow I did not know this happened to people other then me.  Sometimes I would wake up and my whole room will be covered in spider webs, other times I will see dark people figures, I could never see who they are but I know it is a person.  I also sometimes see baskets floating on the ceiling and it would have writing on it that I can not make out. Does anyone have any idea to why this is happening?  Sometimes I would scream beacuse of the things I see, then it would be like they just disappear

[noonanbobby]

Oh my gosh. I have been having this happen to me for about 3-4 years now. At first I started seeing large spiders descend from the ceiling, and I'd run out of my room or start swatting the air....and then spend an hour or so trying to kill it! (but nothing was there)

Last night was pretty nuts though...Just like GIRLFROMGISBURN said, I woke up at 3 am and saw a ball flying above my face. I jumped out of my bed with my arms flailing and ran out of my room....there was nothing there

I hope I dont start seeing people like others are saying...that would just be f***ed up.

[Zipfile5]

sounds like the Matrix.. With you all seeing the same thing.... something is going on. Just too many of you experiencing the same thing.  I found this site looking for something a bit different but am glad mine is much milder than all of you.  

Good Luck to all of you and don't settle for less than the truth and what is real... keep searching.

[Jack987]

I have had similar experiences. Every now and then when i wake up i would see something. One night i was sleeping on my stomach. I woke up and to my left of the bed about the same level i was on, i saw a head of an Old man floating. I could recognize the old man but had no idea who he was. Anyhow, after maybe 2 or 3 seconds he started to gradually fade away and was gone. It was wierd, and i know i had similar experiences before of other things so i brushed it off and went back to sleep. I figured it was the way i was sleeping. I was sleeping on my stomach and with how the arms were positioned and such, i figured it may have had something to do with my nerves because i would always suddenly wake up out of nowhere and then see these things. Well, when i have these hallucinations or whatever you want to call them. But they don't happen every night, but seem to happen randomly. I mentioned i thought this was due to how i was sleeping right? Well, i don't think it's that anymore. Because i have gotten this while sleeping on my back as well. More than once i have suddenly woken up in the middle of the night to find a sword hovering over me. Funny thing is i would always jump up to grab its handle. Each time i had this episode i would jump at  quicker and quicker. Then just last night, i nodded off in my studio. Suddenly i woke up and noticed there was writing on the ceiling. It looked very real, and then it started fading away and disappear. What i found alarming, or unusual about this episode is that i remember what i was dreaming before i just woke up. I was talking to people! .Then i wake up and all of the sudden i am seeing writing on my ceiling which then disappears. I find this very unusual and cannot help but wonder what it is.  A part of me is thinking that this is some kind of psychic phenomena, but that does seem a bit far fetched. I always figured it was due to the way i was sleeping, nerves or something. But i am not doing anything unusual that would affect my nerves while i am sleeping on my back. Then this last episode where i remember what i was dreaming just before waking and seeing this seems unusual....There are other epiosdes that i remember when i was younger but i wont talk about them becuase they seem a bit silly i think.

[beccabug84]

This is amazing guys! i always thought that i was insane or something. I have no idea how long this has been happening.....not my whole life though i know that. I'm fine during the day, not drowsy or anything at all but then at night i see all sorts of things. It's really weird cuz sometimes it's not things in my room, it's me in my bed in a whole different room. I had this happen alot and i was in the drama room at my school. They aren't scary for me usually and i've always been alone when it happened. But then one day we had a young wemons retreat and we slept at another house. I was next to this girl and i woke up thinking i was seeing a spider falling down onto my head. I started freaking out and i felt really stupid after. I would love to know what all this means :) but it's a super comfort to know i'm not alone!

[spalton25]

I often wake up seeing people in my room and also spiders and what not. I always thought it was something paranormal or something. It scares the living crap out of me!

[AR1988]

Thank god I am not alone! This would happen to me occasionally for about five years now, but within the last month its been hapening almost every night.  I wake up and then wake my boyfriend up telling him there are spiders and rats in the bed or room.  I also do it when I am alone and I end up jumping out of bed and shaking my blankets.  Does anyone know what causes this, I was thinking probably stress?  It is very interesting how so many people see the spiders, I wonder what that means?

[beccabug84]

Hey i was wondering how long have you all been having them? What age did it start?

[beccabug84]

for me it was end of 14 maybe beginning of 15 is what i'm guessing

[cloud99]

Hello my case is a little different in that i used to wake up hearing a voice telling me to walk around my house for no reason...

I felt awake but very drowsy since i had just woken up and one morning my mom even asked what was wrong with me the night before. Once something told me to walk all the way from up stairs to stand at the doorway downstairs in the kitchen. i just stood there afraid of the voice until my mom came and interrupted.

This was a few times when i was 7 or 8...always hearing something telling me what to do, me going towards the kitchen, and having an urge to appease the demands out of fear??

[ZZ1001]

Hi everyone!

I'm so glad to hear I'm not alone. I've been experiencing these things I guess since I was a child or in my teens, and it happens more and more often. When I talk to people I know about it they just look at me like I'm insane or something. I'm mostly focused on visual sphere of these things, but I think I also experienced audio version. Most of the times I see spiders, crawling on my wall, coming down from ceiling, or climbing on my bed. Once I saw a fish floating in the air and coming down towards me from the ceiling. Many times I got so scared and jumped out of the bed so quick and I suppose my sugar got really low and I was feeling really sick for few minutes (nausea, cold sweat, high rate heart beat...), on a verge to faint. Few times I saw people.

And it also happened to me about an hour ago after waking from my afternoon napping. I saw some strange creature between a frog and some kind of locust climbing in the basket on my closet. I watched it coming inside of it, and after few moments decided to check the basket although I was really scared it would jump on me if I do. Of course nothing was in it.

It's starting to bother me more and more cause I don't know anymore what's real and what's not, and are things I saw in the middle of the night true or not.

[beccabug84]

to the last person that just posted: try smacking it. i know it sounds dumb but i can either hit it or turn on my light and usually it's enough to convince myself :) try it and tell us if it works. well or any of you :)

[cayleyturnbull]

Such a relief to hear other storys... Mines pretty scary and kinda creepy but i shall tell. I've recently started having these dreams as well. When i was a child i would have night terrors of cats often but never full on awake dreaming.
I have been having dreams of demon possession quiet a bit lately. The last time I dreamt that I was on the couch and something evil had entered my body. I was trying to call my roomates for help but hardly no words were coming out. I was crawling towards her room across the floor. I felt so wake through this all that its incredible. I wanted to pass the demon onto my roomate. but then i decided thats terrible and to get rid of it myself. I had to cough out this black smoke like/hair like mess. I awake from my dream i was no longer on the floor where i had been in the dream. This is how i know i was full on awake. The sun was coming up. I seen a large white spider crawl out of the room out the front door. I felt like i expelled a demon that took form of a spider.  
All this isn't the scary part, the next day my roomate had told me to watch my head while going outside. We had a pet spider in the door jam... the spider was white.. Kinda a weird.

[Nij84]

I have never experienced a demon possesson, but I have had many dreams where I gave people exorcisms.  I am really terrified of demon possessons, but in my dreams I am not scared.  I have had experiences where I woke up and I heared a voice saying that "the devil is in the room with you" and it told me to look in the corner of my room.  In the corner of my room there was an empty chair and I can feel someone starring at me.  I prayed to god and my grandma and asked for thier help, and I immediatly went back to sleep.  The next morning my sister came to me and the exact same thing happened to her (we slept in the same room).  This was around the time when I started playing with the quiji board (I do not mess around with these types of things anymore).  Most of these experiences happen around 3am, and untill recently I learned that 3am has something to do with demons and ghosts.  Almost everynight I wake up between 3am-3:15am. I also see alot of people when I wake up at night.  One time I woke up to someone touching me on my breast from behind me (my bed was against the wall so I do not know how the person was behind me), I started screaming and the person said "oh allright" and they came from behind my bed, walked to the corner of my room, and dissappeared.  I wanted to talk to doctors about the things that I have seen but I am afraid that they will say that I am crazy and put me on medication.  About 3yrs ago I talked to a preacher about these things and he said that I am most likely seeing ghosts or demons, and they are trying to communicate with me from the other side.  The preacher gave me some books to read, but I lost all of the books he gave me.  I am really trying to get over my fear of these things, because I am learning that maybe God has a special purpose for me and I should not be scared.  One time I woke up from sleep and I can feel someone there, and I heared a voice in my head saying get ready because you are about to see something, I again prayed to god and said I am scared please do not let me see it, I am not ready yet, and again I feel asleep.  The preacher told me not to be afraid and whatever I need to see, then I should see it.  So I again spoke to god saying that I am ready now (I am still scared), but I guess I am ready. I have seen and heared so many different things ever since I was a little girl, way befor I started using the quiji board.  I think it is great that I am not the only one going through these things because I thought it was something in my head.

[Nij84]

I also had 2 incidents where I would wake up from sleep and it would be pitch dark in my room but for some reason I can see a spider as clear as day.  When I turned the light on, sure enough there was a spider on my wall (this happened twice).  I still sometimes see spiders, but when I turn the light on they will be gone.

[beccabug84]

has anyone tried hitting it yet?

[gabrielamryp]

I'm also glad to know that I'm not the only one experiencing this things.
It has happened for years, and I got kind of used to it. Just last night I saw the spiders, and when I started blinking they started to go away until they disappeared. I've also seen flying insects and tried to touch them but they just weren't there. I remember seeing a telescope or something like it looking at me. And the first one, like 10 years ago, was someone sitting on my bed, that was scary, I just started kicking until it faded away.
I've also experienced sleep paralysis, at first it was anoying and scary, but then my boyfriend at that time, told me he had it too, some kind of disorder on the REM cycle, and that I should stay calm and then the paralysis would go. Since then, I've been able to control that, but it's still annoying when it happens, eventually I'll be able to move again.
Best of luck to all.

[Lovely1082]

Wow, I am 27 years old and can't belive that i finaly found people with the same problem. Come on you tell somebody you see bugs when you wake up and their is bugs everywhere and there is nothing there. You better belive people are going to look at you like you are some kind of NUT. I am so glad I am not the only one. But my bugs go away if I stair at them really hard. But I can't believe I am not alone. My own husband says to me " You are triping and triping hard" and i get so upset. I no what i see and that ***** because for so many years just freaking out, I would imagine it would have gone away by now, since it started since I was 16 years old. Thank godness for this site.

[Daintee]

I too see long legged spiders on the wall or ceiling when I wake up.  The first time it freaked me out, and now I understand the spider is not really there.   This week the hallucination has appeared on 2 separate mornings.

Aside from the spiders....does anyone else get a jumble of faces and people flashing before their mind's eye before falling asleep?  This sometimes happens to me and it seems as though the situations going on with these people are sometimes taking place in real time.

I am not sure if my mind is just dumping garbage, but I have to say, I am usually not around strangers all day.  I go to the same gym for years and work out of my home office.  The people's faces I see are strangers to me.

[keke633]

Science cannot explain spiritual things; I perceive some things are done from evils of the world either from an evil source as witchcraft, etc. Just remember, the Word of Gods states many are the afflication of the righteous, but God delievers them from it all. So hold on to your mind. I most often say- I know why the saints of old prayed; Lord, keep me clothed in my right mind. So, do not allow evil forces to overtake you. I have overcome great evil and I am still battling w/ evil devices to enemies try to place as a snare. But, I am determined not to allow them to win and let go and let God have his perfect way in my life. :) Be encourged, "there is nothing new under the sun." The answers are in the Holy Bible and revelation by the Holy Spirit of God.

[OytheGreat]

I've had this problem for as long as I can remember.

My first vivid experience was when I was 4 or 5 years old.  It was the "projector effect," but the movie playing was of my parents and family standing in my driveway.  It wouldn't seem like an unpleasant visual, but it terrified me as a child.  I remember crying so hard that I woke up my mom.

I'm now 35-years-old, and I'll have two or three of these a month.  (They do seem to increase during my period.)

When I was younger, in my late 20's, however, it happened for about 3 months straight. The visions were repetitive during that time, the same vision over and over again.

Like most people here, they happen about an hour after I fall asleep.  I wake up for no reason whatsoever, and the visions always follow. I feel awake and aware when I'm seeing the visions.  I can even pinch myself to make sure.  I'm also a normally good sleeper.  I exercise, eat well, and I'm not on any medications.

This has been a lifelong problem for me.  I also did a lot of sleep-walking and sleep-talking as a child.

Here is a list of things I've seen:

Shadow people (standing in the room, running at me, leaning over me)
A floating motorcycle
The ceiling caving in
Spiders
A dark hand reaching out from the wall for my head
The walls covered in skin
Floating lights or orbs
Demon-like creatures fighting angel-like creatures
My bedroom covered in rust
Several "projector visions"
Giant cobwebs covering the ceiling

The visions range from the horrific to the mild.

I'll sometimes get "stuck" on some visions, and they will repeat themselves night after night.  I can't think of any life events that precipitate these "stuck visions," but they tend to become exhausting and stressful just in themselves.

Anyway, I'm glad I'm not alone.

[texas53]

My 1st time waking up to see an "apparition" if you will, at least the 1st that I remember was when I was about 5 yrs. old. I woke up all of a sudden ( it always happens that way, like it summons me or something) & I saw an old man in a hospital gown walk out of my closet & walk over to my dads bed & layed down in it. I was soooooo scared & I tried to speak but I was so frightened that no sound came out. I couldnt move or make a sound i was paralyzed with fear. And as I am laying there I see a mans face appear on my dads chest & it looked right at me & he seemed to be nodding his head "yes" to me. I got so scared I covered my head with my blanket & eventually I regained my senses & could move so i got up & went to lay down with my dad. I think that not only was I scared out of my mind but I needed to see that my dad was ok. Which he was.

The next time it happened was a few years later & again I woke up & I see a black lady in a purple dress suit walk out of my closet & right pass me & she actually walked right thru the wall.

And the last time it happened,thus far (knock on wood) was about 7 yrs ago & this was the 1st time the "apparition" didnt seem "human-like" I guess you could say. I wake up & theres a figure about 10 ft away from me & its like maybe 9ft tall & its leaning against my wall in an odd slumped way. And I cant see its face or anything for that matter because its covered in a dark cloak like thing, even had a hood covering its face. I got a very sinister evil feeling from it & it still scares the daylights out of me thinking about it. I covered my face under the blanket & didnt dare look again & eventually i fell back asleep but it took a while because my heart was beating so fast.

It only happened a few times with years in between & each time i lived in a different home. When i told a friend about this stuff she said it was because i was special in way to see these things & it was a gift. I didnt feel like it was a gift & basically couldnt do anything wiht this gift because it scared me so much. I feared the next time it may happen. SHe told me to pray to God for this to go away & I did & it hasnt happened since. BUT im only 27 & it seems to be years in between each occurence so I dont really know yet if Im free of these visions or not, but Im not looking forward to it! Oh & I have never seen spiders or bugs at least not visions of them that arent really there. Just people that dont belong there.....spooky.

[Nij84]

just wondering if any one has an idea of why this is happening? Is it spiritual or something that has to do with the brain?  I was just wondering because I am afraid to go to doctors because they might put me on medication or say it is all in my head.

[teed01]

I myself have been having this happen to me since as long as I can remember.  My mother has it happen, and I think my grandmother may even the way she explains things to me.  I usually see strange things above my head (not bugs or spiders thankfully), but I have seen bouquets of flowers, once a bowling ball.  I usually even have my hand in the air reaching out for it, then of course it is not there.  
The most frightning thing I see are people in my room though, once someone right in my face, then I scream.  I have seen many people and I see the room, which really makes it seem real, very scary.  I drive my husband crazy when I scream out loud, he jolts from the bed, the last time a few weeks ago he hurt his shoulder from rolling over on it.
I really wish I would know also what is causing this weird reaction, it is very frustrating and the screaming has gotten worse here over the last few years.  I am 43 by the way.

[janesophias]

I have the same thing happen to me, it started where I saw snakes slithering up my wall and behind my curtain, however now its people that I see, and not just anyone, its people that I know, and I sit up and hear them talking to me, for example; last night this guy i know and his dad were in my room whilst i was obviously lying down asleep, one of them said 'oh are ya just gonna sit their and watch us do all the work' in which i replied 'no no..im getting up', i then got up and put my shorts on..then through tiredness just fell asleep. I don't understand why, but its happening almost every night now, and always with people that I know. is this trying to tell me something? help me out here.

[husband06]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone can help me. Last night i stayed up bit longer than my wife did watching tv. She was in bedroom sleeping. I walked and was getting ready to turn light off, when she jumped started looking at me and screaming very loud. I tried touching her leg and telling her honey is me than she started screaming even more and kicking her legs like she was afraid of me. She basically was afraid of me and wanted to get away. This also happen before but only she would jump a little and i would tell her is me and she would lay down sleeping. I have never seen anything like this. I was so afraid her heart might explode of fear. We got up went to watch tv, i made us some tea to calm us down. She was crying and fell a slip right after that. I on the other hand could not go to sleep whole night. What is weird she say she does not remember anything until she woke up and saw me. She do not know if she was dreaming anything bad, or that she was fighting with her legs or screaming. I can mention that someone wanted to kidnap her once from when she was going to bus stop to school. Can this play big part. Please help I will take any advise, do I take her to doctor, to be honest i afraid my self to. It was horrible, but only lasted for like 10, 15 sec. until she woke up.      

[wolfiejen]

Holy Crap! Really?! I have been having these visions, nightmares, what ever you want to call it since I was a little girl. I'm 40 now and it has intensified and increased. I've mostly gone with the paranormal explanation and now that I've seen so many people with the same thing, from all walks of life and life choices, it makes me believe that even more. I see people, the woman and the child. The man. And the things I don't believe to be human( solid, like they are there). Once a little boy was next to my bed. I screamed and then he screamed, turned around and ran out of my room. We had eye contact. Another time I saw a figure sitting on my boyfriends(ex) chest. After research I believe it was an incubus. It looked at me and said "He's mine." All of this and hundreds more experiences have got me questioning "what is happening?"  I write this now because I had an intense happening last night(shortly after falling asleep, finally, which seems to be a recurring theme) I 'awoke' to see a not human but some kind of large figure floating by my closet door. It was big, maybe 6 and a half feet tall. I screamed and threw my pillow at it as I moved to the foot of my bed, closer to where it was. It was still there so I threw another pillow at it. Then it was gone. My heart was pounding so hard it hurt. I was breathing heavily and crying because I'm so tired of these things happening.
I laid there for awhile and asked God to "please make these things stop bothering me'. Then I went to sleep and slept well.
Yes, this happens shortly after I fall asleep. And not just at night-When I take naps on the weekends I see these things that look like spider legs(but like yarn) of black or red with no central body, hanging from the walls or door frames or on pictures in the room. I blink and blink(trying to "wake up") But it's still there for 20 seconds, maybe less.
I usually, like others have said, sleep well after the occurrence.  
I have to many experiences over the last 38 years to mention( the first when I was two and fully awake-ask my mother, she'll tell you about the little people in the corner who wanted to play with me that I told her about. She told me to tell them "no".) It has gotten much worse in the last 6 months. It used to be I would only experience these things every couple of months, now it's almost every night.
Something is happening- What? Is the question.

[Razzbe]

I've woken up and seen spiders on the wall that weren't really there. First time was a huge shadow of a spider..I had just woke up and was actually talking to my husband when I looked over his shoulder and saw it crawling up the wall. I was so scared I couldn't speak and just pointed, he turned around, and could see nothing. Second time almost a year later I woke up in the middle of the night, looked to the side of me and saw an even bigger black spider(was about the size of a small dog) that was scuttling toward me and sorta hunched up like it was about to pounce. I jumped out of bed tripping, screaming and crying then I froze waiting for it to pounce me. My screams woke my husband up and he was able to calm me down and convince me it was not really there. Off and on since then I wake up to see stuff scuttling across the walls but I just try and ignore it. I told my doctor about it and he told me that I when I wake up I'm still in a dream state and that is why I see them. I just wonder why it's always spiders.... especially since it seems I'm not the only one who sees spiders.

[dlr0703]

Last night I had a horrible experience myself.  In the past I have woken up in the middle of the night to see snakes or spiders or shadows of people, but with the people never able to make out any specific features.  Well, last night I woke up and saw a man standing at the foot of my bed just watching me.  The difference with this experience is that I could make out every feature about him.  He was of average height and build, probably in his mid-60's.  His face was wrinkled, he had gray curly hair and a gray beard.  He was wearing a dark gray or black long trench coat which was open down the front.  He had on some sort of plaid shirt and pants under the coat.  I started screaming and kicking at him and started shaking my husband and screaming at him to wake up.  My husband sprang up in the bed and ask me where he was.  I pointed directly at the man, but my husband could not see him.  About the time I pointed at him he was no longer there.  My husband turned on the light and looked around the room and finally just comforted me and said I was having a bad dream.  Maybe so, but I've never seen anything so vivid before.  Anyway, it's somewhat comforting to know I'm not alone (although I wouldn't wish this on anyone)!