The scariest thing that has ever happened to me is...

[tommy2]

Since it is almost Halloween, I figured it is time to bring out our personal scary stories--100% true only. Here is mine.

When I was in 2nd grade, we lived right on the 7th hole of a municipal golf course. Once it was nighttime, there was no visibility whatsoever beyond our backyard. We had a pretty big yard, with a swing set on the far part of it, the part closest to the golf course.

I had my First Communion in the late spring. We had a party at our home and all of the guests were in the backyard. All of the adults were near the house, under the lights, talking and eating. The kids were playing "freeze tag" at the other end of the yard (closest to the golf course). It was about 7:30pm and the sun was almost completly set; there was just enough light to make out shapes, but not faces or details.

I was gleefully playing freezetag with my friends and had just been tagged by one of the girls, Erin...I was frozen in sort of a semi-splits stance, but standing upright. As I stood there while the 10 of us played, I heard a gutteral sound coming from just beyond our chain link fence, in the golf course, but real real close. I then heard a animal-like growl and then (I swear to God) a dark orange pitchfork came flying towards me and landed about 3 feet from my outstetched leg. All my friends turned towards the growl, none of them noticed the pitchfork initially. Then, we all ran together to the adults.

About 12 years later I was talking to my parents about it--they not only remembered it happening, but we still had the GD pitchfork in the garage. I still can't hardly believe that it happened.

[daryn]

one time i was in the bushes near this golf course and some kids were playing a game. it was pretty dark out so nobody could hardly see me and i threw a pitchfork at this one dude. almost hit him too... scared him stiff.

the scary part was, i was laughing so hard on the way home that i almost got hit by a bus.

[Iplaydrunk]

LOL

[wacki]

One time I woke up and I could open my eyes and look around, but I couldn't move or talk. I knew my body was still asleep, but for about five or ten minutes I couldn't do anything.

It happened several times in one month about a year ago, but hasn't happened since. It was almost like I had tetrodotoxin poisoning, but I hadn't been to a sushi bar. I didn't like the experience at all.

[Dominic]

Actually, that's not uncommon...when you go into REM sleep, your body produces a semi-paralyzing agent so you can't move your body and accidentaly hurt yourself while you're dreaming of being chased, falling, etc. People who sleep walk don't produce enough of this agent.

What's happening to you is that your mind is waking but for some reason your body is not clearing out the paralyzing agent fast enough for you to be able to move your limbs before you wake...

I read about this somewhere once and I don't remember the name of this agent or hormone or whatver, that's why I'm a little vague! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
One time I woke up and I could open my eyes and look around, but I couldn't move or talk. I knew my body was still asleep, but for about five or ten minutes I couldn't do anything.

It happened several times in one month about a year ago, but hasn't happened since. It was almost like I had tetrodotoxin poisoning, but I hadn't been to a sushi bar. I didn't like the experience at all.

[/ QUOTE ]

This has happened to me on multiple occasions.

[Cosimo]

[ QUOTE ]
One time I woke up and I could open my eyes and look around, but I couldn't move or talk. I knew my body was still asleep, but for about five or ten minutes I couldn't do anything.

It happened several times in one month about a year ago, but hasn't happened since. It was almost like I had tetrodotoxin poisoning, but I hadn't been to a sushi bar. I didn't like the experience at all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sometimes this is called 'old hag,' and if you're having half-waking dreams of an ugly old woman on you, then a succubus has just stolen your soul. If you've been watching too much X-files lately, then this will be a great alien abduction story.

I was "abducted by aliens," and this particular phenomenon is why. It was pretty cool and all. Damn scary at the time, tho, given a sleepy head and the complete paralysis (except for the eyes, which makes sense wrt REM sleep). To be clear here, no I do not believe I was actually abducted. They just visited. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Crackpot description
but we're scientific crackpots
Dream Lab

[wacki]

Thanks Salt, Dominic, and Cosimo!

I figured it was just natural, but it really messes with your mind. It only happened during a one month stretch so part of the time I was worried I was slowly becomming paralyzed. The other part I simply figured my body was still asleep, but atleast now I know its ok.

Salt did you ever get any "night demons" while experiencing this like they talk about in Cosimo's links. I did, but only a couple of times. I didn't even see them, just heard them in the house. For some reason I knew whoever they were, they weren't friendly. There was a knife on my desk next to my bed and all I wanted to do was grab the knife. Of course, I couldn't move. All I could think about for ten minutes was how I was going to die and I couldn't even pick up a knife that was a foot from my bed to defend myself. It sucked!

[TylerD]

Its called sleep paralysis.

[TimM]

[ QUOTE ]
Its called sleep paralysis.

[/ QUOTE ]

I used to get this quite often, but it hasn't happened in months.

For those who haven't experienced it, you wake partially from a deep sleep, but you can't move a muscle or make a sound. You are fully aware of this and it is very unpleasant. One thing I found I could control is my breathing, so the best way to get out of it is to breathe harder and faster until the motion and noise wakes you up fully.