S18 Ep30: Sleep Paralysis Stories Volume 1 (Sn. 18 Ep. 30)
01:03:27 Share

Good evening and welcome to Monsters Among Us. I am your guide, Derek Hayes. Welcome back, ghost ghouls and goblins, to another thrilling-themed episode on this terrifying Tuesday evening. Now, before we get started tonight, let's quickly talk about the Los Angeles wildfires.

Now first off, many of you have been asking, and Sarah and I are fine. Our house is fine, and our community is as well. At this time, the fires are not that close to us, but our hearts go out to everyone affected by this insane scenario. And a heartfelt thanks to all the firefighters, police officers, National Guard, brave citizens, and volunteers that bravely fight these fires and aid the victims.

Now, we get a taste of all this late last summer. We were evacuated for eight days. So I can only imagine what everyone down in L.A. is going through right now. Now, as a result of the destructive Santa Ana winds that have fed this fire, we've lost electricity for a day and a half already this week. So that's put me a little behind schedule. But as they say, the show must go on. And that's exactly what we'll do.

So that's my way of saying we have brand new content here this evening. Stories about a terrifying phenomena that affects individuals of all walks of life. A demon in your sleep. A hag on your chest. The devil in your bed. Tonight we're talking all about Old Hag Syndrome. Paranomia. Night terrors. Or as most know it, sleep paralysis.

A sleep disorder that, depending on who you talk to, either subjects you to wild, hellish hallucinations, or possibly helps open a gateway to another world. Now before we begin here this evening, I thought it would be wise to start off with an average sleep paralysis experience. And to do that, we welcome in Anonymous from Parts Unknown.

So I was laying in my bed and I'm pretty sure I was asleep, but I remember laying down, the TV was on, the door was halfway open to the room and it was lights off, just a reflection of the TV. So when I woke up, I could not move. It was like a paralysis, a sleep paralysis.

and I can really move my eyes around. And when I move my eyes from my bed, you can have a good view of the hallway that leads to the bathroom. So when I look into the hallway that leads to the bathroom, I see this black figure looking thing that just came towards me. And the figure was just like a black, like it really didn't have a face. It was just like a black, it was just a black figure. Then I just feel like coming closer and closer to me. I can't move. I can't scream.

And I just feel it come and it just kind of like leaned over my body and I could just feel the pressure of the black figure on my body. And then while this is happening, I'm trying to make myself move or wake up, I guess, from the sleep paralysis. And then after trying and trying, I was finally able to, I guess, wake up from it and I was able to move and the thing was gone. But...

It was like nothing ever happened. Thank you, caller. Now, like I said, an almost textbook experience. You're asleep. You open your eyes and you realize that your body is completely immobile. You can't move a muscle save for maybe your eyes. Well, as your hazy morning vision darts around the room, you begin to notice a presence. Someone or something is in the room with you.

Now, some of you hear the experience, others actually see it, but the events that follow are tailored to each experiencer's version of hell. Shadow men, little creatures, strange beings, balls of light. And tonight, we explore a wide variety of these semi-paranormal experiences. And to kick us off, we begin with a call from Michelle. Welcome to the program.

Hi, I'm calling because I met Sarah and I have a story for you. So I'm going to tell you. Back in 2006, I was trying to sleep in my bedroom with my husband at the time and he was a very heavy snorer and I couldn't fall asleep.

So I left the bedroom and I went into our living room and laid down on the couch on my back. And it was like a love seat, a two-seater couch. So it was kind of, you know, my legs were hanging off one side and my head was on the armrest of the other side. And...

I fell asleep and I got woken up by something pulling my hair, like pulling my ponytail. And it woke me up out of my sleep. And then I felt this crushing sensation on my chest, like something was on top of me, pushing me into the couch to the point of like,

I almost felt like I was going to fall through the couch. There was so much pressure put on me and I tried to scream and no matter how loud I screamed, no sound would come out of my voice. It was just silent even though I was screaming. And I was screaming for my husband and I was screaming for my oldest son and I was just screaming their names and it was almost like the pressure went away from my chest and

and I was paralyzed with fear, just completely paralyzed. I couldn't get up off the couch to go for help or anything. Again, this was about in 2006. It was the only time that ever has happened to me. And ever since then, I've never slept on my back out of fear that it happened again. But something definitely pulled my ponytail and was pushing me into the couch. And I was wide awake. I was not sleeping at this point because I couldn't go back to bed. Anyway, my name is Michelle and

And that's my story. Thanks. Bye. Thank you, Michelle. Another typical experience. Now, Michelle mentioned that sleeping on her back might have caused this episode to occur. And I think she's 100% correct in assuming so. Because according to sleepeducation.org,

Certain demographic groups, such as students, people with psychiatric conditions, like anxiety or depression, and those with sleep disorders, such as narcolepsy or sleep apnea, have a higher likelihood of experiencing sleep paralysis episodes. And additionally, stress, certain medications, and sleep position have been identified as potential triggers.

And get this, sleeping on your back makes you three to four times more likely to trigger sleep paralysis than someone in any other position. So Michelle, you're certainly on to something. Now, when we return, I have more calls just like these two to share with you, but those are relatively tame in comparison to what I have in store. I'll be right back. ...career downgrade... ...going to Pacific...

And then he said, and I thought this was a very effective line. It's got to be somebody else. Now, as promised, here is another terror-filled nightmare. Danny from New York, welcome to the show.

Hi, my name is Dani from New York. I actually live on the Native American reservation, and my story took place in 2014 or around there. My fiance and I had just moved into our first apartment together, and it was...

garage apartment on the outskirts of the reservation and it was behind another house but the entrance was in the back and it was up a lot of wooden steps. It was little and we could hear anybody coming up the back steps. Behind it was a field and a tree line of woods and hills so it was pretty rural.

We had a few experiences there. We had a leather recliner in our apartment and, like I mentioned, the wooden steps on the outside so we could hear everything if anybody was there. For a few nights, we heard footsteps coming up the steps and thought someone was going to knock. And when we looked, nobody would be there. We had a little window that faced the back, along with the back door. We could see out the kitchen window.

We'd look, nobody would be there, the lights would come on and nothing would be out there. That went on for quite a while. And then one night we were both sitting on the couch watching TV in the leather recliner I mentioned. We heard something, we both looked at it, and there was an indentation in it as if somebody was sitting in it.

We both freaked out. We looked at each other and we didn't say anything. We were just like, are you seeing this? And then it went away like they had gotten up. Well, nothing happened for a little while. About a week or two later, my fiance went to work and I was still in bed. Well, I have had sleep paralysis before growing up as a child and I've had some other experiences growing up.

but nothing like this. I was absolutely paralyzed. I woke up. I know I was awake. I could see the light shining in the windows. The bedroom was in the front of the apartment, and I could see the light coming in, and I just couldn't move. I started hearing this growling sound coming from on the floor right beside me, well, to the left of me on his side of the bed, but it was coming up

around the bed. Our heads were up against the wall and then the rest was open. So if you can picture that, I was completely paralyzed. I couldn't move. I couldn't say anything, but I could hear and I could see. I was absolutely horrified. I heard it and it was creeping. You could hear something like

All I can explain is when a dog or a cat is on carpet and you can hear their little claws, you know, digging into the carpet. Well, this thing was scratching, like, the fibers of the carpet. I could hear it. It was coming closer and closer around the edge of the bed, and I couldn't move. I couldn't scream. I'm getting, like, emotional talking about it.

There was a pillow by my foot, and I thought if I could get enough strength to kick that pillow off the bed, maybe I'd scare it away, whatever it is.

I was just thinking of anything I could do. And somehow right before it reached where my head was, I was able to get enough strength, every ounce of me it took to kick that pillow off the bed. And as soon as it hit the ground, I was out. I was good. I could move. I could sit up and it was gone. The growling sound went away. The scratching sound went away. And I

I started crying. I was terrified. I called my fiance and told him about it. Needless to say, it wasn't long after that that we moved out of there. I couldn't stay there anymore. That was absolutely terrifying. You can hear my voice, I'm sure. It still shakes me up to this day.

I don't know what it was. I want to say it could have been something demonic. I don't know. But I never felt terrified until that point. Before that, it could have been the previous tenants. Someone maybe died there and it was their energy. But that made it seem hostile. Like I thought I was going to be attacked. It was horrifying. But anyways, I just started listening to your podcast and I love it.

I've heard some similar stories, and it really helps me cope with it. I've had some other experiences, and I will call back another time. Thank you for calling in, Danny. We even got a little bonus ghost story with this one. And naturally, that might cause you to wonder if the haunting and Danny's sleep paralysis might be connected in some way. Could a ghost cause an episode?

Can a ghost more easily make contact with the living during one of these sleep paralysis episodes? What exactly are the rules here? Well, regardless of those guidelines, we thank you again, Danny, for sharing your nightmarish experience.

Now, folks, if you have a story you would like to share here on the program, give my hotline a call at 888-608-NIGHT. That's 888-608-N-I-G-H-T. Or record your story on your phone and email the voice memo to me at MonstersAmongUsPodcast at gmail.com. And don't forget the rules. Call from a quiet place, finish your story, and please speak loudly and clearly.

Your story is extremely important to us, and we want to give it its fair shake. And the better the quality, the better my opportunity to do so. Next up is a call from the Peach State. Welcome to the show, Adam. Hey, this is Adam from Georgia. I've been listening to the podcast, and...

I've been bringing up a lot of memories. I've had a lot of experiences. I feel like maybe I'm a little bit more in tune with this kind of stuff than your average person, I guess. Which sucks because I don't want to be. It all freaks me out. But when I was probably four, maybe five years old,

I remember laying in bed. We used to live in this apartment complex. It was like little duplexes.

And it was the middle of the night and I woke up and I couldn't move and I was freaked out. I know now it's sleep paralysis. But at the time, I didn't see anything. But my bedroom door slowly opened and I'm laying here, my heart is just pounding. And I know that any second something's gonna come through the door. Nothing did, but I remember crying out for my mom.

you know, mama, mama, but no sound would come out of my voice. It was just like a whisper. And I was straining so hard there were tears coming out of my eyes. Like I said, that happened when I was very, very young and

In that same apartment complex though, a few years later, I was probably seven or eight, maybe nine.

I was sitting in the living room at my grandmother's house because she lived in the apartment across the cul-de-sac from us. I would go there after school until my mom got home from work. And I was sitting in front of the windows in the living room in a rocking chair watching TV with her. And I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. So I turned my head and I see a little boy walking past the windows like he's going towards the front door.

And there was a kid in the neighborhood named Bradley who I thought it was him.

So I told my Nana, "Hey, I'm gonna go outside and play with Bradley." She said, "Okay." So I jump up and I open the door and I step outside and there's nobody there. I look both ways. We were on, like the apartments were duplexes. So it was like two units attached to each other so it was a pretty long structure. So I jetted around the corner to look right there at the corner we were at. He was nowhere to be found.

I look to the right where he would have had to have ran the entire length of the building. I would have seen him. There's no way.

But he was gone. It looked like when he walked by, he was holding a flower in his hand or something in his hand that he was messing with. He was looking down, wasn't even paying attention. But like I said, then I get out there and there's nobody there. So that was pretty weird. Michael went back inside and sat down. My grandmother said, well, I thought you were going outside to play. And I said, no, I'm just going to watch TV with you. And I sat there, never really told anybody about this one.

There's a lot of things that have happened that's unexplainable in my life. Or at least it was until I started looking into all this kind of stuff. One final thing that I can remember from my younger years when we lived in this apartment complex, I was probably 13 at the time.

I was home alone. My parents were at work. I didn't have school that day. My brother was somewhere, a friend's house or something. So I had my PlayStation hooked up to the TV in the living room, and I was playing my game, and I heard my mom say, Adam, come here. I need to talk to you.

and it thoroughly freaked me out. All the hairs on my neck stood up. I kind of froze because I knew I was home alone. This was probably 11 in the morning, give or take. So I sat there for what seemed like a long time before I finally was like, okay, it's time to go. And the way the living room was set, the TV was right by the front door. So I was sitting in the floor playing the game. So I just got up and...

I walked outside to just get out of the house. I gotta get out of here. So I go outside and I'm sitting there and nothing else really happened as far as a voice or anything. But when I went back into the house, when I left, I didn't turn off my PlayStation. I didn't turn off the TV. I just got up and left. So I went outside for the rest of the day until my mom got home from work. She went and got my brother and they came home.

Thank you, Adam. Another ghost story possibly connected to reoccurring sleep paralysis.

Now, typically, I see sleep paralysis as a medically recognized sleep disorder and not some sort of paranormal episode. But when these experiences seem to pair with ghostly stories like Danny's and now Adam's here, it plants a seed of doubt into the back of my mind. And I suppose for that, I thank you both. Now, it's time for another quick break. But when I return, more sleep paralysis stories. So don't go anywhere.

Now another thing that plants a seed of doubt into my brain is when two people experience the exact same sleep paralysis episode at the exact same time. Like Sarah's entry. She's calling in from Nevada.

Hey, Derek. My name is Sarah from Nevada. And I just wanted to call in because I hear so many stories about sleep paralysis, which I've suffered from for probably like a decade. I'm in my late 30s now. But I found the 100% cure for it. But then also I have kind of a devil's advocate story. So my sleep paralysis, thankfully, I didn't really see things, but I had felt things like

Yeah.

an even more stressful job as a firefighter. So I would just try to pretend I'm, like, doing confined space training and try to calm myself down and do box breathing. And it was just all the time. I knew that it would happen about three times a week, especially if I were to take a nap in the middle of the day with, like,

the TV on or something. So I actually went to the doctor just for like anxiety and they put me on Lexapro, like five milligrams and it's helped with the anxiety. But the first thing I noticed is that it stopped the sleep paralysis 100%.

I could put myself in a situation where I would 100% have gotten sleep paralysis in the past and now it will not happen. I can't even make myself get sleep paralysis if I wanted to. So, you know, if somebody's out there suffering from it, talk to your doctor. I don't know if that works for everyone, but when I went on Reddit, it seems to be the cure for sleep paralysis for a ton of people. But

But my devil's advocate story is... And I told this to one of my coworkers, and she's very devout Christian and is very honest. Like, she's not the type of person to make up stories. She said...

there was a time when she was laying in bed with her husband at night and they both saw like a black mass hovering over them and it felt very ominous and dangerous. And so she squeezed her husband's arm and said, Hey, do you see that?

And he said, yes, he confirmed that he could see it. And so they're just sitting there staring at it, not knowing what to do. And from the other side of the room, she said like a bright light, like a flickering bright light shot across and grabbed that dark mask and shot it out the window. And both of them were just gone.

As far as I know, sleep paralysis does not happen to two people at the same time. So whatever this medication is doing, maybe it's helping me to not be sensitive to the paranormal or like dampening that part of my brain that, you know, picks up the paranormal. For me, that's okay because the sleep paralysis was...

disturbing enough that I would rather just take the Lexapro and not have to deal with it even if I never get to see a ghost or a UFO oh well so yeah that is my story and thanks for your podcast yeah keep it spooky thanks bye thank you Sarah a shared experience and a cure now of course I'm not a doctor and it doesn't sound like Sarah is either but if you suffer from old hag syndrome ask your doctor about that particular medication

And if it works, well, you gotta let us know. And as for the shared experience, well, in my personal opinion, I don't believe that sleep paralysis that they're discussing is just a plain old sighting. But whatever it was, we thank you again, Sarah, for taking the time to call in. Now, it sounds like based on a lot of tonight's calls, that a dark figure is what most people end up seeing, for the most part. A Shadow Man-esque entity.

all black, blurry, sometimes with glowing eyes. But what if I told you that that's not all that people are seeing? In fact, some of the beings experienced during these bouts with Paranomia make these shadow entities look like Sesame Street characters. If you don't believe me, take Brian's entry, for example.

Hey Derek, this is Brian from Georgia, long time listener, first time caller for your podcast. So I wanted to share my sleep paralysis experience. I've had sleep paralysis all my life. Happy to say that only three times has there been a hallucination, which is what I'm going to share. I just wanted to preface by saying sleep paralysis is sort of this feeling of dread that you can't move. You know, your brain thinks that you're asleep, but you're not technically.

You try to move your muscles, but you just can't. You try to scream, but it's just a whisper. Luckily, my girlfriend and I have gotten down a rapport where if I'm yelling, help, help, in my sleep and I'm sort of hitting her with my arm or flailing if I can, that'll clue her to wake me up. But let's get on to the three incidents I want to share. When I was very little, grade school, my first hallucination was...

and my bedroom door closet was open and a very traditional creepy looking soft monkey was sitting on the top shelf. It just sort of floated off and wiggled its limbs and floated down at me and disappeared. And I also want to mention that I've never experienced sound in sleep paralysis. I know some people say that it's dead silent for me. My second incident was when I was in late high school or early college and

And it was broad daylight. I slept in at my parents' house. And I saw the old head that everyone talks about, the old woman. She was standing in my room. Next thing I know, she wasn't. And then next thing I know, she was at the side of my bed. And she wasn't standing. She was crouched. So she was sort of looking over the bed. So her fingers were like clutching the bed. And then I saw the top half of her head from her nose up. And her eyes were very wide, just

Just sort of surprised, but didn't move. And then when I woke up, the weirdest part was that, you know how when you look at the sun or something bright and it sort of burns in your retina for a minute? So when I woke up, those hands on top of her head were burned in my retina for like 20 seconds. And it was super creepy. And then my last incident was five years ago. I was at home at my parents' house.

And it was a sad time because my father passed away on this trip. And it was a very traumatic, sad experience. But that could have attributed it to the experience. But it was my first and only time seeing shadow people. There was a shadow person stepped into my room in my open bedroom door. There was

There was a light in the hall. So, silhouetted this figure, but the figure was pitch black. No features, no details. Totally smooth form. I don't know why I got the impression it was a woman. Nothing would immediately tell me it was, but like, I just had that feeling.

And very stiff, just staring at me, and I felt pure terror. And on top of her head, or at least I imagine that's what it was, it felt like the head was elongated, like it stretched up. Not like a cone head, like some tall, ridiculous head piece or something. I don't know why I...

thought I saw that, but this figure stood in the doorway and then sort of power walked, like walk ran up to my bed, on top of my bed, on top of me, and then behind my head just sort of went into the wall behind me. And I woke up. I was so shaken by it that I had to get out of my bed and go downstairs and stay up a while. And then I eventually went and stayed in the room where my mom was sleeping.

I told her about it, and she let me just sort of sleep in there because, yeah, there was no way I was going back to my bedroom. Anyway, those are my three experiences with sleep paralysis. I look forward to hopefully hearing it on your show if you ever get a chance to cover sleep paralysis again soon. And I always love hearing other people call in about it. It's a nice shared experience. Thanks so much for taking my call, Derek, and take it easy.

Thank you, Brian. That seems like some people still experience the old hag and even floating sock monkeys, apparently. Now, Brian's story brings up a good question here. How young can a sleep paralysis victim be? Well, according to the sleepfoundation.org, this is what they say. Sleep paralysis can occur at any age, but first symptoms often show up in childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood.

After starting during teenage years, episodes may occur more frequently in a person's 20s or 30s. Now, I am a sufferer of this disorder, but I only first experienced it in my early 30s. Apparently, I'm a late bloomer. But Sarah and I too have a similar arrangement. When it happens to me, which is maybe once a month or so, she usually reaches over and shakes me until I come out of it.

And I'm very thankful that she's there. Thank you again for sharing the entry. Now folks, I think I have time for one more call before our next break. So here with his experience is Jim out of Northwest Ohio.

Hi Derek, this is Jim. I'm from Northern Ohio around the Cleveland area. This call is about a sleep paralysis and hat man encounter that I had a little less than a year ago. It started off by just falling asleep like normal and in the middle of the night I remember waking up but not being able to move at all.

and I was kind of stuck to where I was. The only thing I could do was look around my room. So, I've experienced sleep paralysis once before. So I look around and I look in the corner of my room and I see this dark shadowy figure with like a fedora on. You know, I couldn't see, no eyes, no facial expression, just like a dark shadow.

And my instant reaction was to try to get up. I was trying to move to get up and it was a struggle. And I was able to actually pick my arm up, just curl my bicep. And by the time I did that, I looked at my hand and looked back at the corner and it was gone. And as you know, I kind of just fell back asleep and I woke up like normal. Nothing ever happened.

Thank you, Jim. Now wouldn't it be something if these shadow people and hat men are somehow conjured and released by folks experiencing sleep paralysis? Each time one of these figures shows up in someone's night terror, it's then brought to reality and manifested into our world.

our dimension, or our plane. Wouldn't that be something? That certainly would explain where all those things are coming from. Now, I doubt that's the case, but it's fun to imagine. So thank you again, Jim, for the food for thought, and thanks for calling in. When reoccurring, automated text messages consent, not required to purchase. Message later received. I don't want to hear this. I hear this all the time. And Jim, please record this, because I am not kidding.

Now this next entry comes to us from my state of California. Please welcome Carrie to the program. Hi, my name is Carrie. Heard about you guys through Cryptonaut Podcast and started over from the beginning and decided after I heard a couple stories that I wanted to share one of my stories with you guys. I live in Northern California, Humboldt County area. Born and raised here. It was 2003.

I just graduated high school. I'm not going to college yet. The town I live in was Arcata, California, and it's a college town. So, you know, there's a lot of parties on the weekends and stuff like that while college was in session. And I had a friend who was going to college, so I hung out with him a lot. And we went to a party that night, a state at his house, I want to say...

It was July 2003.

I stayed at his house after we went to a party. I wasn't drinking at the time. Obviously, I was underage, but nobody follows those rules, really. But I didn't feel like drinking. I didn't like drinking. Still don't really like it. But he had drunk a little bit, and we drove back to his house, and I decided that I wanted to sleep on his floor in his bedroom.

He kept offering me the bed. I was like, no, I'll just sleep on the floor. It's not that big of a deal. He got me some cushions from the couch so I could be comfortable on the floor. I think we went to bed around like 1.30 in the morning.

And I don't know how long I had been asleep, but I remember kind of being groggy and not really realizing where I was, but knowing I had to go to the bathroom. And I was like, kind of like, oh, I'll just roll over and go back to sleep. And I tried to go back to sleep. And then I felt my midsection, like I was on three cushions. I felt the middle cushion, my midsection move a good foot.

two feet to the left. And that's when I woke up.

And then I felt it push back into position a little slightly forward. And I opened my eyes and I couldn't really see anything. And as I was struggling to move, I couldn't move. I was trying to move. I was almost starting to panic. I'm looking around the room, seeing what is trying to hold me. And all I see a little black,

shadow shapes like two feet high with red eyes and all of a sudden it feels like there's three big arms on me and I'm being pulled out of the room

And I'm full panic mode at this time, but I still can't move. I'm freaking out. I'm freaking out. And after what feels like five minutes, I finally am able to cry out my friend's name, like half moan, half forced scream at him. Like, eww! And he woke up, and then everything went away.

And I told him that I did not want to sleep on the floor anymore and I did not care if he slept in the bed with me, but I needed to sleep between him and the wall. And I probably fell back to sleep around 5 o'clock in the morning when the light was starting to come up because I didn't feel comfortable being there in the dark anymore.

Anyways, that's my story. Thank you for listening. I haven't really told too many people the story before, but I love you. You're doing a great job. I love all the creepy stories. Keep up the good work, and I hope to hear another story here soon. Thank you. Thank you for sharing the experience, Gary. And a big shout-out to Chris, Mark, and Uncle Rob over at the Crypto Knot Podcast. If you like deep dives on obscure and random cryptids,

Check out my friends at CryptoNaut. Now, Carrie brought up another good question here. Does alcohol cause or alter sleep paralysis episodes? Now, a quick Google search tells me that the answer is a resounding yes. So if you're a sufferer, and you'd rather not be, you might want to put down the bottle. But in Carrie's case, she didn't even drink a drop, and she still had a bad experience. So I guess you should take that advice with a grain of salt. But either way,

Thanks again, Carrie, for taking the time to reach out. Now folks, do me a solid and visit our merchandise shop. We have all kinds of awesome designs created exclusively for Monsters Among Us from artists in the paranormal community.

People like Jonathan Dodd, Brett Manning, Caitlin Grabenstein, Kit Fox, Chetty Winks, Easton Hawk, Adam Parnell Deal, Jordan Hirshberger, Hog Island Press, Maximus Prime Art, Liz Pavlovic, Greg Johnson, Cryptid Zoo, Eerie Eric, and Brian DiGiorno. Probably pronounced that last name wrong. Sorry, Brian. But to check out all these fine works of art, just visit MonstersAmongUsPodcast.com and click the shop tab.

We can't thank you enough for showing your support and for rocking our gear. Now this next call takes night terrors to a whole new level. What do you think could make one of these experiences worse? Well, how about disembodied laughing children? Lance from California, welcome to the show.

Hey, this is Lance from San Diego, California. I have an encounter that I experienced back in 2005. This is the summer of 2005 at the heat of, you know, the heat wave that was happening.

So I remember that one of these nights, I forgot what day or day it was specifically, but I remember getting ready to go to bed and me and my brothers, we all slept in the garage. And, you know, my parents and my sisters had the rest of the house, but we all slept in the garage. And the thing about sleeping in garages, when it's cold, it's really cold. When it's hot, it is hot.

almost unbearably hot in garages. And that whole entire summer, every night has been really hot. It's hard to sleep. You're pretty much sleeping with nothing on half the time. And this particular night, when I was getting ready to go to bed, I felt cold. I felt...

really cold to the point where I'm going to bed like sweats and a sweater and I packed on maybe three or four blankets on me before I went to bed. I'm looking back on it now and thinking, oh, that shouldn't happen. But I didn't think anything of it at the time.

So, we go into bed and I pretty much go to sleep right away. I don't remember like how long I waited. But then I had this sleep paralysis type thing. That's the first time I ever had that. And I just remember not being able to wake up, open my eyes, just laying down there. And I keep hearing laughing all around me.

children laughing specifically. And I just remember being so scared. I'm trying to move something to give myself back control to wake up from this nightmare that I believe I was having. And this happens for what felt like forever. Like I can hear this lady breathing on me while the kids are still laughing around me. And then in the most creepy voice I've ever heard,

This lady starts angrily saying to me that I want to be a somebody. And then I felt these hands grab onto my shoulder and she just like up and down slamming me on my bed at least four or five times. And then I remember it stopped and I was able to finally wake up. I am drenched in sweat.

And I couldn't move my legs. I was so terrified I couldn't move my legs. And all my blankets were off me and across from me, because, you know, it's just a giant garage, was my brother sleeping in his bed. Oh, he had the futon back then. And the TV was on, and all I could think of is, I can't be alone right now. I got to go wake him up. I got to do this.

but I can't move my legs. So I just end up throwing myself down onto the floor and just slowly crawling until I get where my brother's hand is. I just grabbed his hand and I passed out right there. In the morning, I remember waking up

And my brother said, "Yeah, I helped you get up and go back to bed. I don't know what you're doing on the floor." And I tried telling him what happened, but he was just chalking off to, "Oh, you just had a bad dream or something." He never believed any paranormal stuff until like a bit later.

But nothing like that has ever happened at the house before, and it was my parents' house. And nothing has ever happened like that since. So I don't know if, like, I went somewhere that something followed me. I was in Boy Scouts at the time, so I went to a lot of mountain ranges and summer camps around that time.

But yeah, that is my story. It's really creepy. It always kind of scares me when I think about it. Even now, I'm like 31 years old, and I think I was 13 when that happened, 13 or 14. But yeah, I started listening to you guys three days ago. I finished off your last season of Parkway, and I decided to just start out from season one. So you guys have a great day. Thank you. Thanks, Lance.

That's definitely one of the creepier manifestations of this strange disorder that I've ever heard. As if the hat man and the old hag wasn't enough. It sounds like poor Lance here got more than he bargained for. Thank you again for calling in. Alright folks, next up is an unusual version of these familiar events. Welcome to the show, Johnny. Hey Gary, this is Johnny. The date is June 17th and the time is 3.50 a.m.

For the past 26 years, I've had sleep paralysis. I'm 32 years old now and I can still remember the very first time I had it. And to be honest, the only reason I'm calling is because I just had it about 20 minutes ago. So a story with my bird-ghost memory is that I was actually wide awake and watching my TV with just my plush toys

because I was always scared to be alone. I was in my parents' room watching TV. It was around 4 p.m. And apparently I dozed off and opened my eyes wide open. I mean wide open, awake, full on. Looked to my right to my parents' master bathroom.

and I see this tall white figure, a female. Apparently that a couple years before we bought the house, a lady had a heart attack. Apparently she was actually very tall and robust. Anyways, I saw this tall pale figure. I went unconscious. When I came to, I woke up and I was still watching the same cartoons.

Mind you, I was very young, so right after school, part two, we were a thing. So we move on about 10 years after that. I was laying down in my living room, coming still with cotton all over my couches. My mom was washing the pillows. And another sleep paralysis thing happened. I woke up with the feeling that somebody was looking at me.

like super piercing. I can't explain it. Super piercing and I look at that figure and it was like, oh, this is a kid. Let me open my eyes real quick. So I get up and I see him run down the hallway and my sister's door had a distinct sound when it opened.

You didn't need to open, turn the knob or anything to open the door. You just slide it back and forth. So I knew it was my sister's room. So I went running to my sister's room. I looked at her and she was still asleep. And I looked in her closet and there was nobody there. I remember whoever ran there was wearing baby blue.

So I go back to sleep. It's around 7 a.m. when I wake up and my mom wakes up to go to work. And I ask her, Mom, were you waiting for Baby Blue earlier? She's particularly short. She says, No. Oh, well, well, were you taking care of my cousin Matthew? He was very small back then. He was just a kid. He's around 20 now.

She said, "No, no, I wouldn't take care of Matthew." And I told her, like, "Wow." I just saw a kid running around the living room, and he was staring at me. I avoid that. My mom tells me that it must be a dwarf, and it must be lucky on me to see if I'm doing any misdeeds. Anyways, get forward.

and I've had sleep paralysis like more times than anybody could count in a single year. One of my most recent scariest times is when you have mentioned about the New York man. So this was back in, I would say 2010. I was in my room, now my room had three doors.

One that was my closet, one that led to the hallway, and one that led to the kitchen. So when I wake up, this was, okay, it sounds kind of weird, but this was at 3:33 a.m. And I know it was that time because I looked at my cell phone at that time. I was looking to my left to look at the time. And I looked forward.

And I see a shadowy figure on top of me. Now, he wasn't sitting on top of me. He wasn't laying on top of me. He was standing on top of me. Like his knees were on top of my knees and his legs were going through my bed. And he told me, my name is so-and-so. I forget his name. And this is my soul.

He showed me a quarter-sized, shiny thing. Very, very bright. He dove it into my chest. Mind you, I am full on awake. Full on awake, Derek. And I feel warm. At that time, I was thinking, I'm not going to die. He's a demon. But no, it felt warm and loving. And so...

Four hours go past and I sense that I'm living somebody else's life. I have a family, I have kids, I'm with somebody I know and I don't want to say the name but I'm with her. I'm wide awake there, wide awake. And I come to four hours later.

And I look at his arm. I see that figure walking to the right along with another figure. And then I see another figure walking to the left. So there's three in my room. Two of them walking to the right and one of them walking to the left in unison, both peering off my doors in synchronized fashion. I hear voices to my right saying, do you think you learned this lesson this time?

I hear those voices to the left saying, "I don't know, we'll find out." And I'm stuck in paralysis. I'm just trying to shove and move and screaming for my roommate, but I just can't scream. So my therapist always told me that it's like my spinal cord's being perfectly aligned with my neck. So the best thing you do is just move your neck to snap back out of paralysis. So I do the best I can.

And I look over to my watch and I'm like, "What the hell?" Just a while ago I saw it was 3:33, now it's 3:31. It's like I went back two minutes or something. Like, I honestly couldn't explain how weird that was. And it just woke up from another sleep paralysis kind of feeling, you know, this is different.

So shadowy figures, hat men, old hags, sock monkeys, and laughing children. And now an elf, or some other sort of little person. That's a new one for me.

But as I mentioned before, this phenomenon can manifest in all sorts of different ways. So thank you again, Johnny, for sharing your unusual experience.

Now folks, before I push play on this final call, this is the quietest time of year for our program. The spooky season is over. The holidays are over. No one's traveling. No one's taking vacations or going on road trips. Every year, our numbers take a nosedive over January and February. And that's okay. We can't expect folks to tune in every single episode. Only a real nut would do something like that.

But to minimize that dip, I ask that you take a quick moment to share the program with a friend, family member, co-worker, neighbor, or loose acquaintance. Show them your favorite episode. Tell them that we have the world's largest collection of true paranormal stories. Now, I don't know if that's really true or not, but we sure do have a lot of them. And it sounds impressive. Impressive enough that it just might get them hooked.

So if you like what you hear, throw us a bone and share with someone you think might enjoy the program. Or if you're like me and have no friends, share it on your social media account for all your fake friends to see. However you do it, we can't thank you enough for sharing our little show with your world. Now, for the final call of the evening. And this one has a bit of a wrinkle, but I dare not give anything away. Bella from Texas says,

Welcome to the program.

Hi, my name is Bella and I'm from Texas. I've had a long list of supernatural occurrences happen in my life, but I'm just going to share a couple. The first isn't strictly supernatural, but just extremely odd and vivid. It happened last semester. So as a backstory, I am a college student living in a townhouse, meaning the second I step out of my garage, I'm just a few steps from my neighbor.

One neighbor in particular I was friends with, and quickly he had become extremely infatuated with me to the point where I felt threatened by him and somewhat scared, as I've had multiple experiences with abusive relationships in the past.

Eventually, I started dating my current boyfriend, which meant that I had to tell my neighbor that it was inappropriate to be bringing me flowers and giving me handwritten letters, which were often multiple times a day. One night, I was sleeping in my bed with my boyfriend, and in the middle of the night, I experienced my first sleep paralysis episode.

I opened my eyes and saw my neighbor walking into my room, and I was actually able to say, like, out loud, what are you doing in here? To which he responded, I'm here to see you, and sat at the edge of my bed closest to me.

I quickly responded, get out, get out of my house. Meanwhile, I turned my head, which, again, I was able to do, even though it's very unusual of sleep paralysis episodes, to my boyfriend, and he was sound asleep, despite the fact that he's an extremely light sleeper.

After a couple of minutes, I was able to collect myself and get up and check the doors. Every door and window in my house was locked. I eventually went back to sleep, and the next day, I mustered up the courage to text my neighbor,

I found out that he had actually been several hours away and had been for several days, which I could confirm since his truck had been gone the entire time that he had claimed. The other experience actually happened a couple days ago. I was listening to the podcast, laying in bed, and eventually I fell asleep.

I woke up at about 5:30 in the morning while it was still dark outside. I opened my eyes and my phone is about a foot from me laying on my bed, still playing the podcast. From only the ear laying on my pillow, I hear the loudest, most painstaking sound I have ever heard.

If I were to describe it, it would have to be a mix between a terrible quality radio show mixed with a static and someone screaming bloody murder in my ear. After about 30 seconds, it faded away, and I was left with nothing but the sound of the podcast and deafening silence.

I've had weird experiences in terms of hearing strange things over the years as they go, like, in and out of phases of interest in the supernatural, but that's a story for another time. This time, however, I'm 100% sure that it wasn't manipulated by dreams or outside noises, including the podcast.

The sound left my ear ringing for minutes on end. It had me so shaken up I had to sleep with the lights on until the sun rose. Anyways, I love the podcast so much and really appreciate you giving people a platform to discuss sensitive topics. Thanks so much. Bye bye. Thank you, Bella. Talk about terrifying. Now sure, ghost monsters and aliens are spooky and all, but the scariest thing that I can think of is us.

Humans. People. Our cruelty knows no bounds. And when you catch the wrong person at the wrong time, it's a lesson you will learn whether you're ready for it or not. And to have one of these sleep paralysis episodes where someone you're afraid of in real life manifests, that's akin to psychological torture.

Now I have zero doubt that the stress resulting from the clingy neighbor had a huge part in this sleep paralysis episode. It seems to be an obvious connection. But hopefully this was a one and done kind of thing for you Bella. Because I can imagine something like this easily keeping you up at night. A big thanks for the phone call and a huge thanks to you dear listener for joining us here this evening.

Now I have mixed feelings about sleep paralysis stories, but when you string a dozen or so of them together like this, you start to see some interesting trends. So I hope you enjoyed this closer look just as much as I did.

Now Monsters Among Us is written and produced by me, Derek Hayes. Copyright Red Crow Media. Additional support is provided by Sarah Carter Hayes and Delaney Bowers. All media used in this production is done so under the protection of fair use. Give us a like and follow at Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. Leave us a rate and review wherever possible.

And don't forget to catch us every Saturday evening at 11 p.m. Eastern on the OnX Digital Network. Just visit onxnetwork.com to learn more. And finally, tonight's score was provided by Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse, Co.ag Music, and Carl Casey at White Bat Audio. All right, folks, that's it for me for tonight. I'm off to get started on Thursday's episode.

which will be a brand new installment filled with all sorts of horrors that I can't wait to share with you. But until then, don't forget about Shadows in the Desert, High Strangeness in the Borrego Triangle. Just visit borregotriangle.com to learn more. And remember, you can get that baby free now on Tubi and Amazon Prime, if you have it. And lastly, Monsters Among Us Jr. is brand new tomorrow. So grab your young ones and tune in.

Delaney and I would love to see you there. All right, folks, that's it for tonight. I'm out. Night-night, everyone.