Question: I am a 19 year old female and have had episodes of sleep paralysis since I was 6. First off I’ve never done drugs and don’t drink. My episodes begin with a completely dreamless and solid sleep. My eyes spring open and my chest feels tight, as if someone is sitting on it or has the blankets pulled tight around me, and I can’t move a muscle or make a sign. I lay for a few seconds and think to myself “this is just a dream, you’ll wake up soon.”
The this voice comes out of the corner of my room says “I wouldn’t count on it. It’s not a dream.” It’s an old man, or what I can make out through the darkness, wearing a straw hat. The guy walks to me with very heavy footsteps, my lamp turns off over my head, and the things on my dresser fly off. I try my hardest to move as he gets closer. Once he is sitting right on my bed I am able to move and he’s gone.I only wonder how I could imagine such a thing and how the hallucination couldn’t be real. My lamp is always turned off and my things scattered across the floor. Is it possible that the sleep paralysis is caused by something else?