From: Keith
To: shadowpeopleorg@comcast.net
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2015 3:40:53 AM
Subject: Shadow Beings and Sleep Paralysis
Hi my name is Keith. I have experienced encounters with shadows since I was about 15 years old, I am 40 now. Most of my encounters are somewhat alike; they usually happen when it is dark and when I am lacking proper sleep and most happened while on my back.
They usually start off while falling asleep or shortly after. First, I think I am awake and feel totally confused thinking: “Am I awake? What’s going on?” Then I realize that I can’t move. That’s when the fear usually kicks in (naturally).
I have never seen ‘them’ face to face, nor do I always see them during sleep paralysis; sometimes it’s just a strange noise that is so loud and intense, like nothing I’ve ever heard. Some are just rustling noises in my room, giving the indication that ‘something is there’. When I do see these dark figures, they usually back away or disappear to a darker part of the room (usually the only light on when I sleep is the digital clock on my nightstand). The more freaky encounters I’ve had were when these things pull my feet or “invisible” ones seem to press or sit on my chest, or the covers pull tightly down on me. These are quite disturbing because you feel at the mercy of these things.
Over time though, I learned that if things get too intense, you must will yourself to shake your head and eventually you will, and that (for me) stops it.
Two of these experiences, I will never forget. One was very nice and the other was dreadful. The good one was when I was about sixteen, and I will admit it here, I had just started experimenting with LSD. After a long day and night of tripping with friends, I had finally made it back home at about 7 or 8am. I was pretty damn tired at this point, most likely had some cereal, then I was laying on my bed listening to music with the lights on, on top of the covers. Suddenly, I woke up in kind of in a panicked state. I don’t know if in my sleep I put the covers over me or not, but right after I “woke up” the covers slowly tightened upon me, the blinds on my window seemed to tighten up (if that makes sense). The whole room seemed to be under some kind of pressure. Then to my surprise, I felt a sensation in my chest muscles. I couldn’t see anything odd except the room looked kind of hazy. The only thing I can compare it to are muscle spasms but not quite. It was like my muscles were being gently pulled and massaged from the inside, from the top of my chest down to my lower abdomen. The whole thing lasted what seemed like a minute or two, and at this age, I had no idea about sleep paralysis, this was maybe my second or third time, and just wrote them off as bad or weird dreams. After the minute or so was up , so was I and everything seemed normal, and as I glanced around my room confirming everything was back to normal, I realized that I felt extremely refreshed and revived like I just had ten hours of sleep and the best deep tissue massage. I wish I had checked the time before and after but I didn’t. That was the only sleep paralysis I have ever had that was very positive, and the only one that happened with the lights on. Hmmm.
Now let me tell you about the second one. This one happened in 2011, normal night, I don't remember being sleep deprived or stressed. But this one was a bit different than sleep paralysis. I woke up at some point, and just felt that dread feeling. I do remember I was sleeping on my side, because I turned over to look around, and what I saw was very large black dog standing about six inches from me at the edge of my bed. I mean very large; this thing was looking down at me (my bed is about three feet high). It seemed very real too it looked kind like a Rottweiler, but all black and very menacing, I could hear this thing breathing! Fortunately it didn’t last long; I looked at it for as long as I could, maybe ten seconds, lol, then turned away in disbelief. Of course I had to check again and yeah, it was gone. Shortly (about two months) after that scary lucid dream, my dog, Champ, my good friend died. I went through a really tough time after this. It’s even hard to express now, I just never loved an animal that much in my life. Eventually the feelings of loss and depression began to subside a bit, and “normal” life resumed.
Well one day, I was on YouTube looking around and came across sleep paralysis videos. I must have watched at least five or so. Then I googled some info about the subject, and came across the black dog apparition. It is represented in Celtic, British Isles, South American and other folklores. Most describe it as an all-black, larger than normal, malevolent dog that is an omen of impending death. That freaked me out! There are other stories too of large black dogs haunting specific areas, and even a story about one in France A.D 856 when one was said to materialize in a church with dark shadows surrounding it while it appeared to look for someone up and down the aisles. If anyone knows of any books on this subject please let me know.
Thank you for sticking with me so far I just have one more thing to share. There is a several part video on YouTube and the web that I believe induces sleep paralysis, very strange dreams, and general paranoia because you think you are seeing things out of the corner of your eyes. I do not recommend this at all! Also I'm not going to name the video because I think a lot of people would have a worse time with it than I did. Also I don’t think you can find it by searching sleep paralysis inducing video, so don't waste your time. I thought it was worth mentioning though.
Anyway thank you for reading, and thank you for giving me an outlet to talk about this, it isn’t the kind of subject you can talk about to most people without getting a religious lecture, or the “you’re crazy” look. Thanks again and take care.
