The Entity
I've been terrorized in my sleep for several years now. This thing, which is not visible to me, will only attack me when I'm sleeping. The attack is very strange and hard to explain. I’m awake but I'm not able to move. It’s as if my whole body has been stunned. I can partially feel the effects before this happens if I'm not completely sleep at the time.
I have children in the house and each one of them has cried out in the night from time to time. Because of their ages it has not been possible to confirm what actually happened.
Since this has gone on for many years, I don't expect it to end. Not even when I'm dead, because I believe that this entity is from the dead. I have only survived up to now because of my faith in Jesus.
Ronald (9/28/98)
I have experienced a similar sort of ‘stunned’ feeling myself, Ronald, on several occasions. I feel as if I am conscious of my surroundings, yet unable to move my limbs, or even worse, control my breathing. As you mentioned, this occurs right when I am passing between the sleeping and waking states (the so-called hypnogogic state).
There is a perfectly good explanation for this type of occurrence, however. The base of the brain, called the medulla, controls several of our involuntary functions such as respiration, heart beat, reflexes, etc… In addition, this part of our bodies shuts off the brain from our spinal cord while we are asleep. This is usually a very good thing, because our brain ‘believes’ we are actually awake while we experience REM (dreaming) sleep. Without this ‘shutting-off’ of our bodies from our brains, we would act out our dreams… This is the origin of sleepwalking and talking in one’s sleep. I believe that in my case (and possibly yours) that this ‘shut-down’ mechanism is slow to relinquish its control. In otherwords, our brain is conscious of its surroundings, but the medulla is still preventing voluntary brain signals from reaching the rest of our body (it thinks we are still asleep). I know (from personal experience) that this can be a very disturbing and scary experience, but it probably only lasts for a few seconds (although it seems like it lasts a lot longer). I’ve also found that this ‘stunned’ feeling is more likely to occur after I sleep on my back than if I sleep on my side or my stomach.
Perhaps the most intriguing, and potentially disturbing, aspect of your story is that you attribute this type of ‘stunned’ feeling to an entity attacking you. Why do you believe it is indeed some kind of creature from beyond, especially when the entity is not visible to you? Do you hear things during, before, or after an attack? What exactly do your children say has scared them so badly to make them cry out? I think we would all like to hear a few more details about your experiences. My prayers go out to you.
I would like to respond to the person that wrote the article 'The Entity'. About 20 years ago, I experienced the same phenomenon when I first got married. My wife and I moved into an apartment building in Queens, NY on the 5th floor. The visitations started about a week after moving into the apartment. Every night when we would go to sleep, this thing or 'entity' would wake me in the middle of the night. I knew it was the middle of the night because I had an alarm clock and I would sometimes look at the time. It would always display between 1:00 & 3:00 AM. The difference in my situation was that I was able to see the entity, it was dress in a black-hooded long outfit. I was able to see it because some light would enter my room from the windows. At first, the entity started waking me up and would just stay at the foot of my bed. Needless to say, I was scared out of my wit! The evil that I felt was unbelievable. I would like to make a note that the entity never touched me, but there were times that I was not able to move my body. I always was able to feel its evil and I knew it wasn't there to chat with me. I would close my eyes and start to pray and ask God to please send his Archangel Michael to get rid of this demon from my room. I would also remember in my prayers to ask God to cleanse me with his Holy Blood so that no evil could touch or harm me in any way. This worked, but only for that one night. After some time went by with this happening, the entity started coming closer to me. After waking up, I would see it float, not walk, to the side of my bed so that it would actually be standing right next to me. The only way it would leave every night was if I asked God to help me in a prayer. This kept happening for almost a year. I got so tired of this happening just about every night that I spoke to the pastor of my church about it. He and I started to pray together. He told me to have faith in God and that only He can make this entity go away. I would say a prayer before going to bed as the Pastor suggested, but this demon would still come to scare me.
I will now till you how I was able to get rid of this demon. One night when it woke me as I was lying in my bed, I said a special prayer to God. I can still remember, after these 20 long years, the prayer that I said. I asked God to cleanse me with his Holy Blood and to give me the courage and strength that I needed to BATTLE IF NEEDED with this demon. I asked God to give me the shield and sword that the Archangel Michael would use to defeat his enemies. After asking God for these things, I arose from my bed and looked straight at the demon and told it that this was the last night I would ever see it again! I said, "I'm right here if you want a piece of me! Come and get it because I want to kick your ass right out of my home! I am tired of you coming every night and scaring the daylights out of me! From this moment on, you will NEVER scare me again!" Right after I said those words, it vanished and never came back. I believe that my prayers and the fact that I was able to FACE MY FEARS were what rid me of this demon. Once these entities know that you are not afraid and that you have faith in God, they will never come around again at night to scare you. I know that my story is long, but please send it to the person that is having a problem with a similar entity. It might help them resolve their problem.
Miguel (10/1/98)
Thank you so much for your response Miguel! I am sure that Ronald (and others out there with similar experiences) will be thankful to know that they are not alone. I have a couple of questions that I am sure several of our readers will be curious about. When these visitations took place, were you always alone at the time or was your wife in bed with you? If so, was she also able to see the entity and did she feel its evil as well? If you could, please send another email describing the effects of these visitations on your wife and your marriage. Thanks again for your excellent (and timely) response.
I have had the same phenomena attack me while I sleep. However, I do not attribute it to a ghostly entity but rather to some kind of physiological disorder. Our brain is not too dissimilar to a computer; for whatever reason they just do funny things. My "attacks" are often accompanied by loud aural sensations. One sounds like a loud high-pitched pump with a superimposed deep "whum, whum" like a heartbeat. The next day I also suffer from little flashes of light. Complete paralysis and sheer terror always accompany the noise.
Anonymous (8/1/99)
If you have any comments or similar stories to share, PLEASEdo so by sending mail to my email address: schorr@cems.umn.edu OR by clicking on the spinning skull icon on my home page! THANK YOU!
