Recently I saw the film “Insidious” which is about a boy who can astrally project into a supernatural realm called “The Further”. I am rarely affected by horror movies. I usually just find them boring. However this film really disturbed me, I think, because some of the things they depicted so accurately reflects my own experiences. It hit a bit too close to home.
Mostly when I was a child I would see and hear things which weren‘t really there. One time when I was about six I saw a boy running around the garden. My sister couldn’t see him but to me he seemed as real as my own hand. Then he disappeared. One scene in Insidious reminded me of this - anyone who has seen the film will know the one I am talking about. Another time when I was getting ready for school I saw a person in white walking up the stairs to me. I would also just see strange activity such as chords swinging back and forth and stopping abruptly, doors swinging open and shut, figures and apparitions in the mirror or tv screen. Even as a gullible child, I didn’t think much of this and attributed it to tricks of the eye or some such.
In both of the houses I lived in as a child I would often hear what I can only describe as a “groaning” and I could never rationalize the source of it. I would also just hear random voices from time to time. At night time I still hear “scratching” coming from the walls, though this has been happening less frequently over time. I’ve been told that this is mice scrambling around inside the walls.
More recently I have experienced sleep paralysis or “hag phenomenon”. Unlike any nightmare I've ever had, it felt absolutely real. At first I couldn't tell whether I was dreaming or not but then it started to feel like I was totally awake. Someone (I could sense them) was dragging me down my bed by my foot. I couldn't move, I couldn't make a sound and I damn nearly felt I couldn't breathe. I could just physically feel myself being dragged down the bed by this force. Then I felt another presence in my room. I turned my eyeballs (couldn’t move my head) and could make out the bleary outline of a dark figure in the doorway. I thought it might have been my mother but since I could neither move nor scream I had no way of knowing. I felt conscious, but totally paralyzed. It was an awful, terrifying experience. Seeing Insidious really brought that back for me.
I was totally freaked out by the incident for weeks until the topic of sleep paralysis and "night terrors" came up in my RE class. It said in the book that someone experiencing a night terror wakes suddenly from a slow-wave sleep and often feels a presence in the room. The description was so familiar that I relaxed and stopped being bothered by it.
A while ago my boyfriend told me of a similar experience that he had when he was a child, except he saw a dark red demon at the end of his bed. It is uncanny how similar his description was to a scene in Insidious.
I am not a spiritual person by any means. However I am interested in finding out more about this phenomenon - scientific explanations and such. What is it about our psychology and our physiology that makes us have these so-called “paranormal“ experiences? And why is it that we see these things in particular (ghosts, dark figures, demons, etc)? I have read of people seeing these things throughout history and in cultures where the Christian angel/demon mythology was hardly prevalent.
Why would a child in particular, who has no knowledge of demons, dream about them? Basic oneirology states that dreams can only reflect your living experience, i.e. you cannot dream about that which you have no knowledge of.
My knowledge of this is basically limited to a few wikipedia articles. Any more nuanced input would be appreciated.
Mostly when I was a child I would see and hear things which weren‘t really there. One time when I was about six I saw a boy running around the garden. My sister couldn’t see him but to me he seemed as real as my own hand. Then he disappeared. One scene in Insidious reminded me of this - anyone who has seen the film will know the one I am talking about. Another time when I was getting ready for school I saw a person in white walking up the stairs to me. I would also just see strange activity such as chords swinging back and forth and stopping abruptly, doors swinging open and shut, figures and apparitions in the mirror or tv screen. Even as a gullible child, I didn’t think much of this and attributed it to tricks of the eye or some such.
In both of the houses I lived in as a child I would often hear what I can only describe as a “groaning” and I could never rationalize the source of it. I would also just hear random voices from time to time. At night time I still hear “scratching” coming from the walls, though this has been happening less frequently over time. I’ve been told that this is mice scrambling around inside the walls.
More recently I have experienced sleep paralysis or “hag phenomenon”. Unlike any nightmare I've ever had, it felt absolutely real. At first I couldn't tell whether I was dreaming or not but then it started to feel like I was totally awake. Someone (I could sense them) was dragging me down my bed by my foot. I couldn't move, I couldn't make a sound and I damn nearly felt I couldn't breathe. I could just physically feel myself being dragged down the bed by this force. Then I felt another presence in my room. I turned my eyeballs (couldn’t move my head) and could make out the bleary outline of a dark figure in the doorway. I thought it might have been my mother but since I could neither move nor scream I had no way of knowing. I felt conscious, but totally paralyzed. It was an awful, terrifying experience. Seeing Insidious really brought that back for me.
I was totally freaked out by the incident for weeks until the topic of sleep paralysis and "night terrors" came up in my RE class. It said in the book that someone experiencing a night terror wakes suddenly from a slow-wave sleep and often feels a presence in the room. The description was so familiar that I relaxed and stopped being bothered by it.
A while ago my boyfriend told me of a similar experience that he had when he was a child, except he saw a dark red demon at the end of his bed. It is uncanny how similar his description was to a scene in Insidious.
I am not a spiritual person by any means. However I am interested in finding out more about this phenomenon - scientific explanations and such. What is it about our psychology and our physiology that makes us have these so-called “paranormal“ experiences? And why is it that we see these things in particular (ghosts, dark figures, demons, etc)? I have read of people seeing these things throughout history and in cultures where the Christian angel/demon mythology was hardly prevalent.
Why would a child in particular, who has no knowledge of demons, dream about them? Basic oneirology states that dreams can only reflect your living experience, i.e. you cannot dream about that which you have no knowledge of.
My knowledge of this is basically limited to a few wikipedia articles. Any more nuanced input would be appreciated.