The scientific term is Pavor Nocturnus....
...and the fear it produces is incomparable to anything I've ever experienced.

I'm asleep, basically. But I don't know this when it happens. Please remember that as you continue to read. All I know is I'm lying in bed, completely paralyzed from my head to my toes. And then they come. 'They' are the barely-glimpsed demons that I catch in the dark through the needle-like gaps in my eyelids that it takes every ounce of strength in my body to force open. They creep, at first, around my bed; clawing at the covers and whispering to each other. The whispering gets louder as they circle. They have eyes of fire and feathers on their heads. They appear to be discussing me and, in doing so, getting angry. As they get angry they start to beat, claw and kick me. I still feel the blows despite the physical paralysis. I want to scream but I can't. The covers are removed completely and the whispers turn to screams - other-wordly shrieks of malicious, hateful intent. With every fibre, sinew and muscle in my body I'm trying to move; to run or defend myself. But I can't. I can feel tears rolling down my face. I can feel sweat on my face. But I can't move an inch. I am, certainly, about to die in a most horrific way. Sometimes I'm hauled on to the floor or thrown against a bedroom wall. Sometimes I'm just set-upon and torn to pieces where I lay, stricken and immobile. But the savageness of their attack, the acrid smell of death upon their breath and their terrifying, dripping maws are always the last thing I witness before I wake up on the floor, against the wall or wherever they have deigned to leave me, caked in sweat, shaking and weeping.

The doctor calls them Night Terrors and, as they only occur once or twice a year, hasn't deemed them worthy of treatment.

What I shied away from telling her is the bit that really scares me.

Sometimes I can still hear their whispers after I've woken.
(R. Jimlad twitter.com/sirmarkymark, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 17:24, 25 replies)

Well thanks
That's my sleep for tonight fucked then.
(bblgoose, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 17:36, closed)

And it's the best explanation for

- alien abduction
- demonic posession
- ghosts

My sympathies, though, it sounds terrible.
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 17:37, closed)

Well written,
you utter lunatic.

*click*
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 17:40, closed)

It's called sleep paralysis
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

Too much Stress and too much Alcohol/Drugs. Cut down one or all of these and it will go away. Essentially your body goes to sleep but your mind is still racing.
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 17:44, closed)

You are my doctor
AICMFP! :o)
(R. Jimlad twitter.com/sirmarkymark, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 17:50, closed)

LOL - It happens a lot to doctors and nurses
on account of the long shifts and harrowing work they do in Hospital training. It's often called 'Night-nurses' paralysis'
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 14:52, closed)

You know how something usually benign
accrues in your body until it reaches a level that triggers an allergy? Some people suddenly become allergic to nuts when they never used to be.

I think your condition comes from a similar thing, whereby something that acts as a hallucinogenic builds up in your body until in the quiet and darkness of bedtime, it begins to affect the subconscious, probably triggered by something else you've ingested as a catalyst and manifests itself as creepy malevolent sprites.

That's my theory anyway.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 17:56, closed)

(sigh)
I would pay good money for that.
( DukeEuphoria Comes highly reccomended, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 17:58, closed)

Some times it isn't at all disturbing
one time I dreamt that there was some woman on top of me bouncing up and down on my boner.

Once you know what it is it isn't a problem, you just go with it and eventually your brain goes to sleep. It's just the first time it happens to you is horrendous - usually involves dreams of ghosts or alien abduction. In years gone by victims thought it was witches or demons.
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 14:57, closed)

Interesting.
I'd never considered that. Trouble is they happen so infrequently it would be very difficult tracing the cause should your theory be correct.
(R. Jimlad twitter.com/sirmarkymark, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 18:02, closed)

Not without
keeping a strict journal of everything you eat and drink.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 18:34, closed)

a few beers and a bag of cheesy doritos
makes nightmares happen, fact
(Monkeystrumpet monkey. Monkey, MONKEY!!!, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 9:56, closed)

(wince) That's well written indeed.
Good luck with getting rid of those.
( DukeEuphoria Comes highly reccomended, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 17:57, closed)

Do they ever nosh you off before they kill you?

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 18:21, closed)

buggery is more likely
hence the "caked in sweat, shaking and weeping."
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 18:35, closed)

That is disturbing just to read.
Must be horrific to experience.
( Ugi , it's a game of give and cake, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 18:37, closed)

I saw a telly show
about this once. Horrific stuff. Hope you get rid one day.
( Herb Alpert's Taxi Driver I have very beautiful lips, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 19:01, closed)

Jesus!
I used to get the paralysis when I was younger, but I could hear all that was going on around me, and even made sense of most of it - nothing scary/creepy like you have though, and I haven't had the paralysis for over 15 years.
(dchurch bah, Thu 7 Apr 2011, 19:03, closed)

Scary. But...
a few years ago I had a dream featuring the Chuckle Brothers. I was referred to a sleep-disorder specialist who told me to prevent its re-occurrence, it'd be best for everyone if I took my own life.
(judgetheobscure used to sweep in butchers' shops., Thu 7 Apr 2011, 19:05, closed)

To You

( brown-wings Made with three kinds of butter, Fri 8 Apr 2011, 15:36, closed)

Just noticed you posted this
I get it too - my hallucinations are more audible than visual although i've had a few scary visions.
(mr-lizard Hell's teeth man!, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 2:10, closed)

If you don't mind me asking...
How regularly do your 'events' occur?

The doc tells me mine's a strange case because mine don't appear in 'any stress-related semblance of order'.
(R. Jimlad twitter.com/sirmarkymark, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 4:22, closed)

It seems
like I should have read page two before posting my own story. According to wikipedia, the music I hear sometimes is an auditory form of the same thing. That sort of stuff happens quite often to me, but the more vivid and terrifying visions only happen once every couple of years or so. Usually during the summer, so I blame it on that damn sun.
( Ithyphallophobia, Sat 9 Apr 2011, 6:26, closed)

Nasty
Happened to me a couple of times when I was over stressed at work and sleeping on a very uncomfortable sofa bed. In mine I saw a bright light outside the window opposite my bed and there was a noise like rushing water which turned into what sounded like a huge engine starting (sort of like the enterprise going up to warp in the original star trek). It got louder and louder and I felt like I was being charged up with energy to be accelerated out my window at ludicrous speed. Just when I thought I couldn't take any more I passed out again.

I'd read about sleep terrors before this happened, so I knew what it was but it was still utterly terrifying.

Still doesn't explain the sore arse the next morning and the fact that now on clear nights I can hear the transmissions from orbiting satellites in my head.
( pixel_fucker is going to need a bigger brush, Sun 10 Apr 2011, 10:46, closed)

Ex got those
Although im not sure who shit themselves more when she had them.. me or her.
(bredstkcriminal, Thu 14 Apr 2011, 1:50, closed)