Sleeping Paralysis by a Ghost
To be honest, I’ve never really experienced any paranormal events from childhood to now. It might be because I’ve always had a forgetful nature since I was young, so even if I encountered something strange in my childhood, I didn’t take it seriously and eventually forgot about it.
The only thing I remember is… When I was a child, I had a storybook titled “The Three Little Pigs.” The cover featured a cartoon pig with a very happy smile, holding a red apple in its hand, while in the corner was the big bad wolf with a fierce expression. I remember one time I even told my mom that I wanted to eat such a red apple, thinking it must be very sweet. However, after some time, when I looked at the book again, I was surprised to find that the pig on the cover was empty-handed… There was no apple at all. So, even now, I’m not sure if my unreliable memory played tricks on me, haha. Maybe the red apple was just a product of my overactive imagination.
I’ve also had a few experiences of sleep paralysis. In college, one night, I suddenly woke up from my sleep. Actually, my sleep has always been quite good, and I rarely wake up during the night until morning.
Our dormitory was in an old building, and we had bunk beds with metal frames. On that night, I saw a dark figure slowly descending from the upper bunk of my roommate’s bed. It looked as if the person on the upper bunk was holding onto the bed railing and peering down at me. The figure kept lowering, right down to the edge of my pillow.
I felt like “it” was staring at me, and at this point, I started feeling a bit scared. I realized I couldn’t move my body, and I tried to move towards the inner side of the bed or make a sound to call my roommate, but I was completely immobilized and couldn’t make a sound.
Then, the dark figure came closer and closer to my face, and I got so scared that I tightly shut my eyes. But curiosity got the better of me, and despite my fear, I very slightly opened my eyes to see what it was. It was as if “it” sensed that I was looking at it, and almost playfully, it tried to startle me by suddenly lunging towards my face. This terrified me, and I shut my eyes again. But after a while, I couldn’t resist peeking, and once again, it tried to startle me.
When I opened my eyes again, the figure was gone, but I still couldn’t move my body. At that moment, a hand suddenly appeared above my body, palm facing upward, as if making an inviting gesture.
I’m not sure what I was thinking at that time, but I made a tremendous effort to extend my hand towards that hand, even though I couldn’t move my body. Subconsciously, I felt like it was a man’s hand, the kind that could save me. Slowly, with great effort, I managed to place my hand on the hand above. However, as soon as I touched it, I was overwhelmed by fear. The sense of comfort I had previously vanished instantly, and I quickly pulled my hand away.
Suddenly, my body was able to move, and in the pitch-black night, all I could hear was the frantic pounding of my heart and the sound of my heavy breathing.
My roommates were still fast asleep, completely unaware of the intense experience I had just gone through. To this day, I can’t forget the sensation of touching that hand, cold and strangely sticky, damp and slippery, I don’t even know what it was.
This was my first experience of sleep paralysis in my life (though I tend to forget things, so I might have experienced it when I was younger and simply forgotten about it). After recovering from this state, it took me a long time to eventually fall asleep again.
The next day, when I shared this strange experience with my classmates, I heard that students in the dormitory opposite ours had also had nightmares.
Thinking back, I still can’t understand what I was thinking at that time or what I had actually held onto…
Later on, I experienced sleep paralysis a few more times. Each time, I couldn’t move at all. One time, I saw a corner of my blanket being slowly lifted, and another time, I dreamt that someone was strangling me, which really scared me. During those times, I kept repeating the Buddhist mantra “Namo Amituofo” in my mind, and gradually, I would calm down, and my body would regain movement…