Thursday, January 21, 2010

The Mind is a tricky thing


I had a weird thing happen to me the other morning, and it really bugged me out. I've written posts about my mother's house on Long Island, where I grew up, basically, she lives with ghosts. My whole family has seen them, Luke had a conversation with one once. If you want the full story, here is the post about it.

I've been feeling like we have a ghost of our own, lately we've had a few weird things happen, we woke up one night to the television in our room turning on, then off, over and over. Another night we were sitting in the family room, Mike had just built a fire in the fireplace, and one of the glass panes in the fireplace shattered. It was if someone had hit it. The fire wasn't hot enough yet to cause that, and we didn't see or hear any sparks fly before the glass broke. My sister thinks that we have some kind of spirit hanging around. Maybe it's all in my head, but I think it's weird.


Okay, this is going to sound nuts, but bear with me. The other morning, I woke up at five when Mike was getting ready for work, but then I managed to fall back asleep. I started to have a dream that I was at my mother's house, and was showing two women a face that appeared in a bedroom wall. I thought it was a ghost. Then I woke up, to something odd. I was on my side, and it felt like someone was holding my hand and foot down, and I felt a dark presence hovering over me. It leaned in and started talking in my ear, but I couldn't make out what it was saying. I couldn't open my mouth to yell out, so I just thought in my head "I don't believe in you." Then it went away. Good luck going back to sleep after that!

I emailed a friend of mine who is a psychic (I have some interesting friends) and explained to her what happened. She said it could be a spirit, since it seems like I have a sensitivity to seeing them, or, more likely, it was a sleep paralysis episode. I googled it, and I think that's what it was. It's fairly common, and is caused by irregular sleep patterns (check), increased stress (check) or a lucid dream that precedes the episode (check). It's when you wake up from a REM cycle of sleep, but your body is still in REM mode, so you can't move.

I've always been a terrible sleeper, and I think this has happened to me before. Regardless, whatever it is, I don't want it again!

Pictured, a blurry shot of Yoda that Eliza took the other day when she swiped the camera....makes you think of a creepy ghost like presence, no?

22 comments:

Pining for Pinterest said...

Okay, I have to admit I was a little scared reading your post! I hate scary movies! I hope you get some good rest soon with good dreams :-)

Liz Mays said...

I'm so glad you ended that by saying it was probably sleep paralysis. That was freaky!

But the rest of your ghostly incidents....I'd be dying!

Flory said...

I've had a similar dream. I'm always dreaming with bad spirits - creeps the heck outta me. Sleep paralysis - thanks for the info, glad to know there's an explanation.

JennyMac said...

this scared me a bit. Yikes. I do hope you get a great night sleep and soon.

and will you link your email to your blogger profile, pretty please? I wanted to reply to one of your comments on my blog and got 'no reply at blogger' as your email. :)

yonca said...

Thanks for the info Molly.I'll be checking it out. Sometimes, in my dreams, I can't speak, I need to ask help,call my hubby's or my son's name but i can't even open my mouth.

Zoƫ said...

Woah! That is freaky! I've been watching too many episodes of Ghost Adventures and Ghost Hunters...
I hope everything "feels" better in your house soon.

Nicole said...

That is a scary post! You should get Ghost Hunters over to check it out. I think the seeing and talking to them at your mothers is most probably really a ghost, but the REM sleep thing sounds like it might be that, (hopefully anyways). that is kind of weird that glass would break on its own...i don't know what would cause that,maybe it was older glass? or else you definetly have a ghost, hopefully its a nice one!

Katie said...

Oh my goodness so creepy! I would honestly be terrified. I hate scary movies and being scared- I'm such a wuss!

kristen said...

I have all those symptoms too, but thankfully I've never had such a crazy expereince like this. Creepy! No way you could fall back asleep after that.

kristen said...

p.s I was just getting caught up on your last 7 posts [yes, 7 I'm sorry :(] and I just realized you tagged me too. Thanks for that. I didn't get to mention you and I now feel like a tool.

Jen @ After The Alter said...

wow, I'm intrigued!! I am terrified of horror movies..but I have always wanted to interact with a ghost. i believe in them, but I would love to see one to truly believe. I can't get over your stories and am amazed how many people have seen it! wow...where in LI? I live in LI:)

Elle said...

Oh how spooky! I would be completely freaked out.

mudmama said...

yikes! i am a believer! in my book i had a whole chapter talking about some paranormal things i have experienced, sleep paralysis sounds a bit scary too, but not as bad as a gggghost!

Rookie on the Run said...

When I was in college, I had that exact same feeling happen to me a few times. I'd wake up feeling a dark presence (for lack of a better description) on me. I would be able to move my eyes but that was all. It felt as if something was holding me down... and what's worse, there would always be a terror attached to the experience. I would pray and within a few seconds (?) it would go away. I used to think it was demonic but I've since learned of the whole sleep paralysis thing and prefer to think it was that... which it probably was. It would happen when I was stressed and/or about to make big life decisions.

Scary, though. I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone!!

I do believe in ghosts and demons. And yes, that Yoda photo gave me the creeps!! :p

Susan Fobes said...

Ahh! I wish I hadn't read your post right before I'm getting ready for bed!!

Anonymous said...

Oh My! SO, how did you sleep the next night?!

We have weird things happen here too.

Mandee said...

Oh the stories I could tell you about my house! My house is actually a historic home. My grandmother lived here fore over 30 years and then my Mom lived here for a year or so. It has never been a secret that there are spirits here, however my kids have recently started seeing them and they call them shadow ghosts. It can be a little creepy at times, but ours seems to be completely harmless. I would love to talk more about it, but not in this post. :)

Debbie said...

That would freak me out completely!

Mel -Tall Mom on the Run said...

Molly....GEEEZZZ!!

You need some training to corss over these poor fireplace ruining spirits.. SPOOKY!

Our oldest keeps telling me that we have ghosts in our house.. I never know if he is being honest or trying to get out of going to bed. It is hard to tell with a 4 year old. I have never noticed any weird happenings in our house..

HautePinkCloset said...

That is so scary! Things like that use to happen to me quite often about 12 or so years ago.
I would awake to whispering but I could not move to see where the sounds were coming from and I could not call out. Once even after I was "fully awake" I could still feel the pressure on my neck from where I was being held down in my "sleep paralysis."
It is interesting to read that others have experienced this!
Hope you are getting a little more sleep now. Have a great weekend!

Tara said...

Ok Molly, I think that your whole family needs to go see an exorcist (sp?)!!!!
I remember that story that you told a few months ago about your moms house and THAT story gave me chills. As I was reading about your experience at your house, I could feel my hair start to stand up! AHHH! That would have totally freaked me out.

Thanks for your food buzz name. I'm not on there, but I'm going to check out your profile and the website. Have a great ghost free weekend!! :)

Amo said...

That is so interesting! Ghosts and spirits freak me out and I don't ever want to meet one. I don't care if they are nice or not. No thank you. I believe they exist, though. I've never heard of sleep paralysis! I'll have to look that one up!