The Night I Woke Up and Couldn't Move: The First Time I…
0 reactions
The Night I Woke Up and Couldn't Move: The First Time I Met Her
I've heard stories about sleep paralysis for as long as I can remember.
People waking up unable to move.
One friend once told me that during an episode, he could see himself floating above his own body, looking down at himself lying in bed.
I always thought those stories were terrifying.
I never expected to experience something like that myself.
At the time, I thought this was my first experience with sleep paralysis.
Years later, I realized it wasn't.
But that's another story.
This is the night I met **her**.
I was in my mid-twenties.
I don't remember how my dream started.
I remember being somewhere else, watching some kind of event unfold. Then, without any transition, I was suddenly standing inside a cave.
It was completely dark.
Not dim.
Not nighttime-dark.
There was absolutely nothing around me.
I couldn't see the walls. I couldn't see the floor. I could barely see my own hands.
But far ahead, there was a tiny light.
I started walking toward it.
The light became brighter as I approached, and eventually I realized it was a fire.
A bonfire.
It was sitting in the middle of a large cavern.
There were four paths around it—one going left, one going right, one continuing straight ahead, and the path behind me that I had just come through.
Then I saw someone beside the fire.
She was squatting.
At first, I couldn't tell whether she was a child or an old woman.
Her hair was long, black, tangled, and completely wild. It hung around her face and shoulders in thick, filthy strands.
She was shaking.
Not trembling from fear.
Her entire body seemed to twitch as she rocked back and forth, her head moving from side to side.
And she was making a sound.
A low growl.
I wasn't scared yet.
I remember that clearly.
I was more confused than anything.
Then I realized she was eating something.
I took another step closer.
And another.
That's when I saw it.
A leg.
A human leg.
She was crouched over it, tearing pieces of flesh away with her teeth.
Blood covered her mouth.
She kept chewing.
I froze.
I was only a few feet away from her.
The problem was that the path I needed to take went directly past her.
There was nowhere else to go.
So I started moving sideways.
Slowly.
I kept my eyes on her.
Her hair was hanging over her face, but I could see her features now.
Her skin was unnaturally pale, almost gray.
Her face looked old and decayed, but her body was tiny.
Her eyes were dark and sunken, surrounded by deep shadows.
And her mouth—
Her mouth was horrifying.
It was stretched unnaturally wide, with dark, uneven teeth exposed beneath blood-covered lips.
She continued eating.
And growling.
I kept moving.
One step.
Then another.
I was almost past her.
Then she stopped.
Her chewing stopped.
Her head slowly lifted.
I didn't wait to find out what she was going to do.
I ran.
I ran straight into the darkness.
I didn't know where I was going.
I couldn't see anything.
All I could hear was my breathing.
And somewhere in the darkness—
*Drip.Drip*
Water.
Then I heard her.
That growling.
Behind me.
At first, it was distant.
Then it got closer.
I ran faster.
The sound followed me.
Closer.
I could hear her breathing now.
I could feel something behind me.
I closed my eyes.
And then I stumbled.
I hit the ground.
When I opened my eyes, she was on top of me.
She grabbed my left arm.
I screamed.
I tried to pull away.
She was unbelievably strong for something so small.
Her face came toward mine.
I could smell blood.
Then she sank her teeth into my arm.
The pain was immediate.
I screamed as loud as I could.
And then—
I woke up.
I was in my bedroom.
For a moment, I didn't understand where I was.
My room was lit.
I never sleep with the lights off. There are reasons for that, but that's another story.
I could see everything.
My computer.
The furniture.
The walls.
My daughter sleeping beside me.
She was about six years old at the time.
Everything looked completely normal.
Then I tried to move.
Nothing happened.
I couldn't lift my arms.
I couldn't move my legs.
I couldn't sit up.
I couldn't even turn my head.
I could move my eyes, though.
And that's when I saw her.
She was on my left side.
The same woman.
The same tiny body.
The same long, tangled hair.
The same pale face.
She was standing beside my bed.
She had my left arm in her hands.
**And she was eating it.**
I could see the blood.
I could see her teeth sinking into my skin.
I could see her tearing into my flesh.
I felt the pain.
It wasn't a dream anymore.
At least, it didn't feel like one.
I tried to scream.
Nothing came out.
I tried to move my arm.
Nothing.
She bit down again.
I felt it.
I felt the pressure of her teeth.
I felt the pain shoot through my arm.
And all I could do was watch.
I started crying.
My daughter was lying only a few feet away from me, completely asleep.
I wanted to reach for her.
I couldn't.
I remember thinking:
*Am I dying?*
Then I remembered my friend.
He had told me that when he experienced sleep paralysis, he would concentrate on moving his toes.
So I tried.
I focused everything I had on my feet.
*Move.*
Nothing.
I tried again.
*Move.*
A tiny twitch.
Then another.
My body slowly started responding.
The woman's grip seemed to loosen.
I could move my toes.
Then my foot.
Then my leg.
I pushed with everything I had.
And suddenly—
I sat upright.
I was free.
I was drenched in sweat.
My heart was pounding so hard that I could hear it.
I was gasping for air.
I immediately looked at my arm.
There was no blood.
No wound.
No bite mark.
Nothing.
But my arm hurt.
Not a little.
It genuinely hurt.
The exact spot where she had bitten me in the dream was throbbing.
I touched it.
There was nothing there.
I looked at the clock.
**3:00 AM.**
I didn't sleep again that night.
I stayed awake until morning.
And for days afterward, I was afraid to close my eyes.
I told my mother what happened.
I described the woman to her as best as I could.
At the time, I simply called her **the Old Hag.**
I didn't know that name had any connection to anything.
I hadn't been watching videos about sleep paralysis.
I had never seen an image of her.
I had no explanation for what happened.
Years later, as the internet became filled with stories about sleep paralysis, I eventually came across descriptions of something called the **Old Hag** or **Night Hag**—a frightening figure people sometimes report seeing during episodes of sleep paralysis.
The descriptions were disturbingly familiar.
But even then, I didn't know what to believe.
Maybe my brain was creating an incredibly vivid hallucination.
Maybe it was sleep paralysis.
Maybe there was another explanation.
I don't know.
What I do know is that I experienced the pain.
I felt her teeth.
I felt her hands gripping my arms.
I remember one dream, years later.
I was walking through a forest, and the only light came from the moon. Then I saw the entrance to a cave.
Even though it was just a dream, I somehow knew she was inside.
**Is that the same cave?**
**I could feel her presence.**
I didn't go near the cave. I avoided it completely.
Then I woke up.
It was only a dream.
**But somehow, I knew she had been there.**
I’ve never shared this story online before.
I’m in my late 30s now, and I’ve always been afraid to tell this story—to share something this personal with complete strangers. I always wondered if talking about it might somehow affect someone else.
I kept it to myself for years.
But lately, I’ve had this strange feeling that maybe she wants me to tell it.
So here I am, sitting at my computer, randomly sharing this with strangers on the internet.
Maybe it’s nothing.
**Maybe someone out there has dreamed about her too.**
For years, I thought that night was the first time something like that had ever happened to me.
But as I experienced more episodes like it, I slowly began to realize something.
**It wasn't the first time.**
When I was much younger, something had happened to me that I had completely forgotten about.
It wasn't her.
**It was something else, but that's a different story.**
You may wonder...
Did she ever visit me again?
She did.
**Years later.**
Eventually, she visited me for the last time.
**Or so I hope** but that's another story.
#entertainment
source
I've heard stories about sleep paralysis for as long as I can remember.
People waking up unable to move.
One friend once told me that during an episode, he could see himself floating above his own body, looking down at himself lying in bed.
I always thought those stories were terrifying.
I never expected to experience something like that myself.
At the time, I thought this was my first experience with sleep paralysis.
Years later, I realized it wasn't.
But that's another story.
This is the night I met **her**.
I was in my mid-twenties.
I don't remember how my dream started.
I remember being somewhere else, watching some kind of event unfold. Then, without any transition, I was suddenly standing inside a cave.
It was completely dark.
Not dim.
Not nighttime-dark.
There was absolutely nothing around me.
I couldn't see the walls. I couldn't see the floor. I could barely see my own hands.
But far ahead, there was a tiny light.
I started walking toward it.
The light became brighter as I approached, and eventually I realized it was a fire.
A bonfire.
It was sitting in the middle of a large cavern.
There were four paths around it—one going left, one going right, one continuing straight ahead, and the path behind me that I had just come through.
Then I saw someone beside the fire.
She was squatting.
At first, I couldn't tell whether she was a child or an old woman.
Her hair was long, black, tangled, and completely wild. It hung around her face and shoulders in thick, filthy strands.
She was shaking.
Not trembling from fear.
Her entire body seemed to twitch as she rocked back and forth, her head moving from side to side.
And she was making a sound.
A low growl.
I wasn't scared yet.
I remember that clearly.
I was more confused than anything.
Then I realized she was eating something.
I took another step closer.
And another.
That's when I saw it.
A leg.
A human leg.
She was crouched over it, tearing pieces of flesh away with her teeth.
Blood covered her mouth.
She kept chewing.
I froze.
I was only a few feet away from her.
The problem was that the path I needed to take went directly past her.
There was nowhere else to go.
So I started moving sideways.
Slowly.
I kept my eyes on her.
Her hair was hanging over her face, but I could see her features now.
Her skin was unnaturally pale, almost gray.
Her face looked old and decayed, but her body was tiny.
Her eyes were dark and sunken, surrounded by deep shadows.
And her mouth—
Her mouth was horrifying.
It was stretched unnaturally wide, with dark, uneven teeth exposed beneath blood-covered lips.
She continued eating.
And growling.
I kept moving.
One step.
Then another.
I was almost past her.
Then she stopped.
Her chewing stopped.
Her head slowly lifted.
I didn't wait to find out what she was going to do.
I ran.
I ran straight into the darkness.
I didn't know where I was going.
I couldn't see anything.
All I could hear was my breathing.
And somewhere in the darkness—
*Drip.Drip*
Water.
Then I heard her.
That growling.
Behind me.
At first, it was distant.
Then it got closer.
I ran faster.
The sound followed me.
Closer.
I could hear her breathing now.
I could feel something behind me.
I closed my eyes.
And then I stumbled.
I hit the ground.
When I opened my eyes, she was on top of me.
She grabbed my left arm.
I screamed.
I tried to pull away.
She was unbelievably strong for something so small.
Her face came toward mine.
I could smell blood.
Then she sank her teeth into my arm.
The pain was immediate.
I screamed as loud as I could.
And then—
I woke up.
I was in my bedroom.
For a moment, I didn't understand where I was.
My room was lit.
I never sleep with the lights off. There are reasons for that, but that's another story.
I could see everything.
My computer.
The furniture.
The walls.
My daughter sleeping beside me.
She was about six years old at the time.
Everything looked completely normal.
Then I tried to move.
Nothing happened.
I couldn't lift my arms.
I couldn't move my legs.
I couldn't sit up.
I couldn't even turn my head.
I could move my eyes, though.
And that's when I saw her.
She was on my left side.
The same woman.
The same tiny body.
The same long, tangled hair.
The same pale face.
She was standing beside my bed.
She had my left arm in her hands.
**And she was eating it.**
I could see the blood.
I could see her teeth sinking into my skin.
I could see her tearing into my flesh.
I felt the pain.
It wasn't a dream anymore.
At least, it didn't feel like one.
I tried to scream.
Nothing came out.
I tried to move my arm.
Nothing.
She bit down again.
I felt it.
I felt the pressure of her teeth.
I felt the pain shoot through my arm.
And all I could do was watch.
I started crying.
My daughter was lying only a few feet away from me, completely asleep.
I wanted to reach for her.
I couldn't.
I remember thinking:
*Am I dying?*
Then I remembered my friend.
He had told me that when he experienced sleep paralysis, he would concentrate on moving his toes.
So I tried.
I focused everything I had on my feet.
*Move.*
Nothing.
I tried again.
*Move.*
A tiny twitch.
Then another.
My body slowly started responding.
The woman's grip seemed to loosen.
I could move my toes.
Then my foot.
Then my leg.
I pushed with everything I had.
And suddenly—
I sat upright.
I was free.
I was drenched in sweat.
My heart was pounding so hard that I could hear it.
I was gasping for air.
I immediately looked at my arm.
There was no blood.
No wound.
No bite mark.
Nothing.
But my arm hurt.
Not a little.
It genuinely hurt.
The exact spot where she had bitten me in the dream was throbbing.
I touched it.
There was nothing there.
I looked at the clock.
**3:00 AM.**
I didn't sleep again that night.
I stayed awake until morning.
And for days afterward, I was afraid to close my eyes.
I told my mother what happened.
I described the woman to her as best as I could.
At the time, I simply called her **the Old Hag.**
I didn't know that name had any connection to anything.
I hadn't been watching videos about sleep paralysis.
I had never seen an image of her.
I had no explanation for what happened.
Years later, as the internet became filled with stories about sleep paralysis, I eventually came across descriptions of something called the **Old Hag** or **Night Hag**—a frightening figure people sometimes report seeing during episodes of sleep paralysis.
The descriptions were disturbingly familiar.
But even then, I didn't know what to believe.
Maybe my brain was creating an incredibly vivid hallucination.
Maybe it was sleep paralysis.
Maybe there was another explanation.
I don't know.
What I do know is that I experienced the pain.
I felt her teeth.
I felt her hands gripping my arms.
I remember one dream, years later.
I was walking through a forest, and the only light came from the moon. Then I saw the entrance to a cave.
Even though it was just a dream, I somehow knew she was inside.
**Is that the same cave?**
**I could feel her presence.**
I didn't go near the cave. I avoided it completely.
Then I woke up.
It was only a dream.
**But somehow, I knew she had been there.**
I’ve never shared this story online before.
I’m in my late 30s now, and I’ve always been afraid to tell this story—to share something this personal with complete strangers. I always wondered if talking about it might somehow affect someone else.
I kept it to myself for years.
But lately, I’ve had this strange feeling that maybe she wants me to tell it.
So here I am, sitting at my computer, randomly sharing this with strangers on the internet.
Maybe it’s nothing.
**Maybe someone out there has dreamed about her too.**
For years, I thought that night was the first time something like that had ever happened to me.
But as I experienced more episodes like it, I slowly began to realize something.
**It wasn't the first time.**
When I was much younger, something had happened to me that I had completely forgotten about.
It wasn't her.
**It was something else, but that's a different story.**
You may wonder...
Did she ever visit me again?
She did.
**Years later.**
Eventually, she visited me for the last time.
**Or so I hope** but that's another story.
#entertainment
source
| 4,000 mlx | |
| 10 | |
| 0 |