I was blissfully dreaming when I was jolted from my sleep & couldn't move a muscle. My entire body seemed heavy, my chest tight & I was gasping for breath. In front of me loomed an ominous whitish figure floating quietly. The presence of evil terrified me, I tried screaming but to no avail. All I could do was recite some verses in my heart as I struggled to free myself. It seemed so real, but at the same time I'm not sure whether I was conscious or still in a state of dreaming.
The next thing I remember was slipping straight into another dream, where upon waking up, I mulled over what happened the night before & found a deep gash on my side of my leg.
I finally realized it was all a nightmare when I woke up for real, and was relieved to find there was no wound.
Scary or not? Did I give you the spooks? I'm sure most people have experienced this before. Relax, it's not a paranormal occurrence. Thanks to someone who enlightened me about sleep paralysis (SP), I understand there's a perfectly scientific explanation behind all these 'tahyul'.
Thing is something new for me, sleep paralysis. All these while, if it happens, I would just shrug it off & pass it as a 'mainan tidur' or a 'sleep trick'. Some people who shared their experiences with me believed they were being 'usik' (teased) by specters & spirits, while if I didn't know any better, I'd be convinced I came face to face with 'hantu hempap'!
It is actually a little bit more complicated than that. Sleep paralysis happens when your mind wakes up, usually still in semi-REM state, but the body is still relaxed (or asleep). This will result in the brain panicking that the body is truly paralyzed.
And get this : the most remarkable symptoms of SP are the accompanying audio and/or visual hallucinations often causing extreme terror in it's sufferer, who would believe that they are being visited by malevolent beings or evil presences!
A quick research led me to a wikipedia page that listed cultural references regarding this stupefying phenomena. From Asian folklores to Russian beliefs to medieval English theories, SP transcends ethnical, cultural & religious barriers. What is more fascinating is that people believe in almost the same thing - the justification of paranormal activities - demonic & ghostly visitations, witches, possessions, out-of-body experiences, alien abductions, djinns & 'iblis's. Even those in modern societies believe in the 'old hag syndrome'.
The depiction of the old hag
The Nightmare, Henry Fuseli, 1781
Also, from here, I learnt that it usually happens if you sleep on your back with face facing upwards (which is true in my case), within dark surroundings (your brain plays tricks on you when it's dark :) and if you are stressed or sleep-deprived (true, true).
I think this is the reason why as a child, my Tok always told me to sleep on my side, or if I'm sleeping on my back, I should bend my leg a little over to the sides and never sleep spread eagled or terbongkang tak ingat dunia, coz apparently, iblis suka kat orang tidur macam gini!
So, I hope this is educational for you as it is to me. If Mama Sarah is reading this, I hope you're not spooked.
And for that friend who gave such an insouciant response & was so unimpressed by my attempt to dish out a delectable ghostly tale, I owe you my thanks.
I think this is the reason why as a child, my Tok always told me to sleep on my side, or if I'm sleeping on my back, I should bend my leg a little over to the sides and never sleep spread eagled or terbongkang tak ingat dunia, coz apparently, iblis suka kat orang tidur macam gini!
So, I hope this is educational for you as it is to me. If Mama Sarah is reading this, I hope you're not spooked.
And for that friend who gave such an insouciant response & was so unimpressed by my attempt to dish out a delectable ghostly tale, I owe you my thanks.
11 comments:
Man...this is spooky... uuuuuuu... :D (thanks for droppin by)
hehe, wc zemms (man ke lan ni?) thnks for dropping by too!
salams anne. Your article did initially gave me the spooks until i read further on. thanks for enlightening us ... it explains what recently happen to sarah.
well sarah has been unwell recently - down with fever. The night the fever started, Puan Mama Sarah suddenly woke me up in the middle of the night - at around 3-4 am & asked me to tend to sarah. I didn't realise why puan mama sarah was so panicked until she explained that sarah had been pointing to the door, looking extremely scared & shivering saying that there were three "beings". sarah used the word "hantu" which surprised puan mama sarah and yours truly as we'd never conciously teached sarah that word before. sarah said one of the beings was the nyang from before...
your articles were interesting - but i do take them in with a pinch of salt.
... oh i forgot to add one more thing. The next day I was oncall and during oncalls I normally get back home late at night.
puan mama sarah said, that night while watching TV Sarah suddenly lifted her head up and said, "uh-oh mama, cuba tengok - babah..."
puan mama sarah said, not 3 minutes after that I was turning the keys to the door.
puan mama sarah & yours truly thinks - sarah it's a bit pelik. if you know what i mean.
MYNNNNNN! it was you who gave the goosebumps! The hair on my arms stood for a whole minute!
1stly, I doubt sarah had SP, because she looked conscious & was talking. If i'm not mistaken, those who suffer from SP will appear asleep to others. Do 'beringat2' when you come home late, and recite the Quran on a regular basis. I still remember your 'nyang' story.
Err, freaky things are happening in coventry. I dont blame ms if she was a lil jumpy when I LOL during our yahoo chats. That banshee-like laughs must have fed nonsense to the imagination
cady, your story more 'horror' than mine. You can describe what you saw, while my 'haunting' is a lil mild. Maybe your hallucination came from a better fed imagination, hehe
and ooh, four poster bed?? niiiice :D
Yeah, had those kind of dreams before too. Pernah kena himpit, pernah mimpi ada momok (macam orang utan tapi ngeri sket) tarik2 kaki. Hmm...to say I didn't wash my feet before going to bed, siap solat Isyak dulu!
anne, am so not going to read this entry. ya understand?
along, how are you feeling dear? I hope you're doing OK. Your momok sounds scary, but im sure it's one of those SP symptoms too. I must remember to recite a whole line of doa's & 3 quls before retiring for the nite :D
mama sarah, after what mynn told me, YEAH! I understand perfectly. Take care
lepas je aku baca entry hang ni semalam, terus horror nak tido since i normally sleep terlentang (but with my hands bawah me buttocks.. beh woo suammm je muhahahaha)
cik db, i have no idea this lil entry of mine will make ppl expose more than i will bargain for!!
woit, tido ikut sunnah sikit ek!
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