Waking To A Creature
So late to the party but why not.
I used to have sleep paralysis episodes for a few years when I was like 17-20. When reading into it I learned many people experience hallucinations and terrors while having an episode of paralysis due to the ‘dream’ part of the brain not shutting off right away or something. This had never happened to me and my episodes just consisted of paralysis with the heavy weight feeling on my chest for about 5 min before I came to, but I was aware of the possibility of “dreams” when having an episode.
One night I wake very suddenly, like no grogginess just BAM wide awake. It’s dark in my room but not pitch black from the moonlight coming through the curtains. So I wake up and immediately there’s a face hovering right above mine. Maybe a foot away, really close but not touching noses close. I remember what I had read about sleep paralysis so I’m not freaked out at all I’m just kinda staring at this figure waiting for my brain to fully wake up(note that I wasnt having an episode I was able to move). While I’m staring I notice how clear the face is, even though the figure was completely black I was able to make out features like its nose and cheekbones, chin etc.. it seemed like it was darker than the rest of the room, the figure was pitch black while the room was just dark.
So I’m laying there for a while cause I’m thinking my brain is being weird but this is kind of neat, so I’m just analyzing it. About 10 minutes has gone by and I’m thinking to myself “I really think I’m awake by now, what the hell is this thing, is this actually a thing”. I should note I didn’t feel threatened at all the whole time, like it was just watching me but not maliciously, but not necessarily in a good way either. At this point even though I wasn’t really getting bad vibes I’m starting to get a little freaked out because the clarity of the figure, and the fact that I’ve been able to watch it for a solid 10min and it’s still there, just looking back at me.
So I start to sit up and it mirrors my movement, pulling its head back as I rise keeping roughly the same distance. I can see it’s body now and it’s fairly big, but pretty thin, hunched over on the floor at the foot of my bed probably about 10 feet tall if it had been standing. After sitting up I decide to keep watching it for a while before I move again, so we just watch each other for another 5 minutes. Slowly getting more freaked out I figure it’s time to turn of the lights so I slowly take my covers off and step out of bed off to the right for the light switch, keeping my eyes on the figure as I go.
His head follows me while I make the journey to the door, and I stare at him again one last time before hitting the lights, kinda shaking my head and rubbing my eyes to snap myself to my senses to see if that helps. He’s still there, and starts kind of leaning back a bit, I flip on the lights and he instantly vanishes.
Never saw him again, or had any similar experiences, really strange mostly because of how long it lasted, if I was still dreaming of whatever I think it would have gone away. I had trouble sleeping for a few nights even though I didn’t think he meant any harm.
Edit - it’s also worth noting this happened about a year after my last sleep paralysis episode. I only mention it because I knew the brain can be weird when first waking up because I had read about it, which is why I waited so long before doing anything.