I see dead people.
It all began when I was eighteen. On a nightly basis I would wake up and see shadowy figures standing at the bottom of my bed.

On one occasion I leapt out of bed, ran past this figure, out the door and was down the stairs before I properly woke up. Regularly I would wake myself with my screams from seeing these things. Often it would get so bad that I would refuse to return to my room.

I saw doctor after doctor, I saw psychiatrists too yet none of them could come up with a reasonable explanation as to why this was happening to me.

Once in the Lake District I was staying in a b&b and I awoke to see a little old lady standing at the end of the bed.

More recently I awoke to see my (then) baby son crawling up the wall above my head. I can't even begin to describe the terror and fear I felt. I jumped out of bed, turned the light on and searched under the bed then ran into his bedroom to make sure that both he and his brother were still where I'd left them…and they were.

Shortly after that I woke again to a figure standing over me and this time the figure wanted to take me with him. I fought and screamed and only after properly waking up did I realise that the (then) Mr Chickenlady was holding me back, not dragging me off to god knows where.

One GP I had some years back asked me if I believed they were ghosts….

That would be nice, wouldn't it?

Really nice to know that somehow we go on after death…even if it is to scare the bejeezus out of (relatively) innocent women in the countryside.

When the film the Sixth Sense came out, or at least the trailers for it, you know the ones, where the boy whispers that he sees dead people….I saw that at a cinema and went cold….the way it was depicted in the trailer was *exactly* what I'd been experiencing all those years.

I saw dead people.


But….

I have now found out all about these Night Terrors and just how common they are amongst children and some 'lucky' adults too. Unfortunately when I was doing the rounds of the doctors most of them seemed unaware of these and blamed sleep paralysis - but I'm not paralysed, I wake up, see the 'thing' and switch the light on.

I know now that these are entirely concocted by my overactive imagination and once the light is switched on they flee back to the darker reaches of my subconscious.

And as I'm far less scared of them now they are tending towards the ridiculous…

The other weekend we were visiting PJM's parents in Norfolk….we had a very pleasant day and after a few glasses of wine, retired for the night.

I fell fast asleep rather quickly until approximately 45 minutes later (it's always the same pattern of sleep). I opened my eyes to see….and this is no word of a lie…


A giant purple elephant sporting rather fetching large yellow spots. The elephant was attempting to walk from the bedroom wardrobe through the wall and then, obviously, down the road to rejoin the circus from whence it had come.

I quickly elbowed PJM and insisted he switch the light on to see the size of this bloody elephant….the light went on and the bugger had scarpered.

That Dumbo is a total bastard.
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Mon 7 Jul 2008, 17:48, 9 replies)

And is that the first time
you've wakened PJM with the words

"Open your eyes and look at the size of that thing?"

*arches eyebrows*

*winks*
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Mon 7 Jul 2008, 18:03, closed)

Are you sure it wasn't...
...a Giant Purple Snorklewacker?
( Amish Information Systems hates misplaced, commas, Mon 7 Jul 2008, 18:06, closed)

Yes..
It's the first time I've woken him with those words.


*snigger*
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Mon 7 Jul 2008, 18:08, closed)

@ AIS
Yes, very similar...see, it's a known phenomenon!
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Mon 7 Jul 2008, 18:09, closed)

I used to get
incredibly vivid images of spiders, snakes etc creeping about in my room. When I woke up, the first task would always be to locate the buggers.

After anywhere between 10 seconds and a couple of minutes, I'd realise what had happened and go back to bed.

Only last week my 'always acccurate' radio-controlled alarm clock went crazy and set itself forwards by over three hours. My alarm went off at around 3am, but the clock said 6am. I trusted that clock so completely that, even though it was pitch black outside, I just rolled with it, got dressed and ready for work, at which point my wife finally questioned my sanity.
( chart cat has an itch, Mon 7 Jul 2008, 18:12, closed)

I remember having a red wooden spider crawling up the wall once
Its legs were red wooden cylinder type things - the sort of thing you'd find in a child's wooden block set. They were jointed together with thick red wool.

Terrified me.
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Mon 7 Jul 2008, 18:18, closed)

I've started doing the spider thing in the last few years
Wake up and see them where I really am, scream, swear, run around blindly before waking up properly and realising I'd done it again.

It was brown larvae on the covers the other day though and my sister had to wake me up properly as I was hopping about standing on my bed in a panic.
( vix0r was not Matthew on, Mon 7 Jul 2008, 19:04, closed)

Ack!
More recently I awoke to see my (then) baby son crawling up the wall above my head.

Like Trainspotting? That was fucking creepy!
(TDub Nunc id vides, nunc ne vides on, Mon 7 Jul 2008, 20:34, closed)

*clicks*
*types own version of events*

Hehehehehehehe
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Mon 7 Jul 2008, 20:48, closed)