Post: #26

(12-18-2015 04:57 PM)Days of Broken Arrows Wrote:  Sleep paralysis means your brain awakens and your body doesn't. For most people, when the times comes to awaken, the brain sends out signals to the muscles saying "We're ready to wake up!" For the muscles to spring into action, they have to get a signal from the brain which (I think) involved sending out an enzyme.

But when you have sleep paralysis, the brain doesn't send out those signals. It just pops into action while the muscles lie dormant.

As such, you end up with "locked-in" syndrome. You're awake but can't move. As GlobalMan said, it can be terrifying.

Since I am aware of all this (and now you all are), it's less terrifying. When you find yourself in this state and you can at least think "It's my brain being awake but not my muscles," that's the first step in beating it.

Makes perfect sense logically and scientifically. But i think we've been so brain washed into believing there is a scientific explanation for everything, that we tend to abruptly and harshly dismiss anything spiritual or paranormal. Check out that picture Miscbrah posted. That was how countless people and different cultures since ancient times have experienced and described "sleep paralysis". A ghost/demon or whatever literally sitting on your chest attempting to strangle you.

Quote:In Persian culture it is known as bakhtak (Persian: بختک), which is a ghost-like creature that sits on the dreamer's chest, making breathing hard for him/her.

In Hmong culture, sleep paralysis is understood to be caused by a nocturnal pressing spirit, dab tsog. Dab tsog attacks "sleepers" by sitting on their chests, sometimes attempting to strangle them.

In Fiji, the experience is interpreted as kana tevoro, being strangled and "eaten" by a demon.

In Swahili speaking areas of Africa, it is known as jinamizi ("strangled by jinn"), which refers to a creature sitting on one's chest making it difficult for him/her to breathe. It is attributed to result from a person sleeping on his back. Most people also recall being strangled by this 'creature'.

Europeans, Persians, Pacific Islanders and Southeast Asians ... some of which historically have no contact with each other all describe the same phenomenon of something sitting on their chests and strangling them.

I've experienced this before. The scariest part was even before it happened i had a feeling something was in my vicinity. When i tried to wake up and move, i could not and felt the weight of an adult person sitting on my chest. This was not evenly distributed weight ... i remember distinctly feeling limbs and maybe an ass. Moved my left arm a little bit but a hand literally grabbed it and pinned it back down. I'm not a superstitious person but i truly believe that there are so many things in life we can not explain scientifically. Sleep paralysis being one of them.

Post: #27

Until earlier this year, I was an atheist since I was about 14 years old. Recently I've been becoming more interested in religion, and I started reading the bible again. After I started reading the bible, I started having sleep paralysis. I had it a few times when I was younger, but it was happening weekly at this point. When I would pray, it would go away. Once I tried to pray, but I literally couldn't talk. I could think of the words, but not say them, and even if I tried screaming I couldn't speak at all.

I confided this in a religious person, and he said it's because I'm turning away from atheism. The idea is that before, damnation was guaranteed, but now that I'm becoming religious, I am being tormented by demonic entities to discourage and intimidate me. It has only hardened my resolve, though. I'm sure there is some logical explanation for all that, but there's just too many coincidences for me to explain away, and I know what I felt when it happened.

Also, read the comment sections of this Return of Kings article:
http://www.returnofkings.com/69943/what-...e-exorcist

Post: #28

(12-22-2015 03:34 PM)thoughtgypsy Wrote:  Until earlier this year, I was an atheist since I was about 14 years old. Recently I've been becoming more interested in religion, and I started reading the bible again. After I started reading the bible, I started having sleep paralysis. I had it a few times when I was younger, but it was happening weekly at this point. When I would pray, it would go away. Once I tried to pray, but I literally couldn't talk. I could think of the words, but not say them, and even if I tried screaming I couldn't speak at all.

I confided this in a religious person, and he said it's because I'm turning away from atheism. The idea is that before, damnation was guaranteed, but now that I'm becoming religious, I am being tormented by demonic entities to discourage and intimidate me. It has only hardened my resolve, though. I'm sure there is some logical explanation for all that, but there's just too many coincidences for me to explain away, and I know what I felt when it happened.

Also, read the comment sections of this Return of Kings article:
http://www.returnofkings.com/69943/what-...e-exorcist

Thanks for that link. This comment really stood out to me.

"For a comparative example, try playing russian roulette once a day with an old style revolver...you will probably luck out (you only have 1 in 6 chance of dying after all) more often than not, until that day comes when the chamber with the bullet pops up."

Post: #29

I've recently started reading a book called Dark Intrusions: An Investigation into the Paranormal Nature of Sleep Paralysis Experiences



It presents a great deal of support, including the ubiquity of the phenomena in many different independent cultures, for the notion that most cases of sleep paralysis cannot be simply dismissed as a mere physical condition.

It's interesting to note that many of the cultures who describe instances of sleep paralysis share immensely detailed accounts, despite there being no apparent cultural overlap.

For those who've experienced sleep paralysis, is there any method you've successfully used to stop future episodes from occurring, or to end an episode prematurely?

Post: #30

(07-21-2016 02:03 PM)thoughtgypsy Wrote:  It presents a great deal of support, including the ubiquity of the phenomena in many different independent cultures, for the notion that most cases of sleep paralysis cannot be simply dismissed as a mere physical condition.

The urge to dismiss sleep paralysis as a purely physical phenomenon comes from the same impulse as the need to insist that all mystics are epileptics, all demonic possessions are Tourette's syndrome, all inexplicable healings are spontaneous remission (a phrase with zero meaning, even less than the power of prayer), and all predictions are confirmation bias.

There is a lot of unexplainable stuff out there. Dismissing it reflexively, quoting your gospel verse about St. Occam and his holy razor, does nothing to explain anything.

This stuff is worth exploring.

Post: #31

It happens sometimes to me, I get fully awake but my muscles won't budge. Though it never came with hallucinations or feelings of terror... Hard to explain, but I learned to "focus" everything on my shoulder muscles, and after some seconds I managed to whip him forward a bit and my entire body gets unstuck.

Post: #32

(12-22-2015 03:34 PM)thoughtgypsy Wrote:  Until earlier this year, I was an atheist since I was about 14 years old. Recently I've been becoming more interested in religion, and I started reading the bible again. After I started reading the bible, I started having sleep paralysis. I had it a few times when I was younger, but it was happening weekly at this point. When I would pray, it would go away. Once I tried to pray, but I literally couldn't talk. I could think of the words, but not say them, and even if I tried screaming I couldn't speak at all.

I confided this in a religious person, and he said it's because I'm turning away from atheism. The idea is that before, damnation was guaranteed, but now that I'm becoming religious, I am being tormented by demonic entities to discourage and intimidate me. It has only hardened my resolve, though. I'm sure there is some logical explanation for all that, but there's just too many coincidences for me to explain away, and I know what I felt when it happened.

Also, read the comment sections of this Return of Kings article:
http://www.returnofkings.com/69943/what-...e-exorcist

That's fascinating. You're not the only person I've heard that from, by the way. It seems to be rather common among people who are either finding faith or strengthening their faith.

Take that for what you will. I'm not exactly the most religious man in terms of practice (I firmly believe the truth of Christianity). That being said, I'm convinced that there is a literal devil.

Post: #33

Kind of related but I woke up once screaming the loudest I have ever screamed in my life for about 15 seconds. I could hear myself and see the ceiling but couldn't move or stop screaming. Read about it and I think it's called a night terror. Apparently it's caused by extreme stress and needing to take a piss, which was the case at the time. I drank a ton of water the night before and I was extremely stressed around that time.

But you guys seeing demons and shit? Fuck me.

Post: #34

I get this along with a kind of waking hallucination about once a fortnight that takes either of two forms.

Either the ceiling seems to be right at my nose and I think I'm about to be crushed, or there are black spiderwebs hanging all over the place and a large spider is descending towards my face. In either instance I can't move for a short time but as my muscles come back to life the illusions (or whatever) sort of inexplicably correct themselves and I'm back in my structurally sound, spiderless room. I can't say that the roof rises or even that the spider and the webs disappear. Honestly I can't even explain the transition. It isn't sudden, but I'm unable to grasp what happens during the transition (even just trying to conjure it in my minds eye is driving me nuts, because there's nothing there).

Good times.

Post: #35

I don't have sleep paralysis, because I eventually get up which I suppose qualify as sleepwalking, but I frequently 'wake up' after a short time of sleep, perhaps 30-50 mins and find myself in an obvious dream state despite being awake. This means I see things in my room that are not there, clothes hung on a chair become some creature, red icons from electronics turn into omnious staring eyes, shadows seem as eery creatures on the wall, along with a distinct sensation of some 'beings' in the room. It's terrifying to be honest. You have to willfully tell yourself it's not real because it sure seems that way. I think it's because of waking up when you just got a shot of 'dream hormones' which allow this kind of strange paralyzed fantasy that dreams are.

Post: #36

It sounds to me like you guys might live in houses that are haunted. You are upsetting the ghosts more by refusing to acknowledge them.

I had a guy I knew from the navy stay at my house for a while. He was a basket case of stress and anxiety. He was working on getting disability for PTSD. It was fucked up, and I don't really believe in PTSD. The things this guy, and many others saw, did not seem so bad to me. They were bad, but not ruin your life bad.

This dude had exploding head syndrome. Whenever he would fall asleep he would wake himself up claiming there were explosions.

Eventually he got on a litany of psych drugs, and now he's a zombie.

Aloha!

Post: #37

(07-23-2016 09:05 PM)Kona Wrote:  It sounds to me like you guys might live in houses that are haunted. You are upsetting the ghosts more by refusing to acknowledge them.
...
Aloha!

You can joke, but in one place my wife and I lived we both woke up having had a nightmare. Got some coffee because we couldn't get back to sleep. She asked me what my nightmare was about and went pale when I told her because hers was exactly the same.

No "shared experience" in recent memory could explain it. The event was near the top of the list of reasons we moved from that place not long after.

Post: #38

It's happened to me

For some reason a decent amount of Koreans have experienced it...

The one time I remember was in high school... that night I had gone to a girl's birthday party and that was when I had just started driving so I turned on the GPS to go home

The GPS led me to a graveyard, I figured there was a road leading out of there but I go down this hill and reach a dead end, upon which the GPS says "you have reached your destination." Needless to say, I was freaked out - had to reverse up a really steep hill in a dark, quiet graveyard at like 11-12pm in the suburbs (ghost town).

That night I had sleep paralysis - thought I was awake but couldn't move. Saw a dark shadow coming for me from the corner of my eye. Closed my eyes at that point because I thought it was the end for me

Pretty trippy shit

Post: #39

Not exactly related but this morning before I woke up I had a vivid REM type dream where Hillary Clinton was talking on a microphone and walking around the room. I couldn't figure out why the fuck she was there, but I was looking around for security/secret service types because I wanted to go up and choke her. For some reason I went with plan B and just grabbed the microphone from her and shouted MAGA ! into the mic. Everyone in the crowd started cheering.

My phone rang, I woke up, and realized I had left the TV on and she was babbling on about her VP pick. I must have heard her talking and incorporated it into my dream.

Good times.

Post: #40

(12-22-2015 03:34 PM)thoughtgypsy Wrote:  Until earlier this year, I was an atheist since I was about 14 years old. Recently I've been becoming more interested in religion, and I started reading the bible again. After I started reading the bible, I started having sleep paralysis. I had it a few times when I was younger, but it was happening weekly at this point. When I would pray, it would go away. Once I tried to pray, but I literally couldn't talk. I could think of the words, but not say them, and even if I tried screaming I couldn't speak at all.

I confided this in a religious person, and he said it's because I'm turning away from atheism. The idea is that before, damnation was guaranteed, but now that I'm becoming religious, I am being tormented by demonic entities to discourage and intimidate me. It has only hardened my resolve, though. I'm sure there is some logical explanation for all that, but there's just too many coincidences for me to explain away, and I know what I felt when it happened.

Remember, I'm the most most logical person alive, and I can't explain this rationally.

Same process for me over the last six months, a very complex sequence of events that I'll just break down quickly:

- Questioning a faith I thought I abandoned years ago.

- Many quiet discussions with strangers testifying their faith to me out of the blue when I comment on how 'wrong' the world is, about how good is evil and evil is good, like we're recognising some fundamental decency in each other in public, and being drawn together to be reassured we're not alone.

- A constant sense of something wanting me to give into my anger and hatred and just go along with the wickedness.

- Waking up with something on my chest, holding me down, feeling the weight and the presence, unable to speak, before it is suddenly is swallowed into my chest.

- A few weeks of a black cloud of unhappiness and a sense of another presence nearby.

- My sister telling me she's hearing this happening to many people of faith she knows, to offer my suffering up as sacrifice, and that I'd know when it was time to say the name.

- Struck with fever, wandering outside in a dark night, suddenly screaming "Begone!" in a voice that didn't sound like my own, and saying the name to drive something away.

- The darkness receded almost instantly, some presences lurking and growling, me sneering back saying they will never have me.

- Cloud lifts. Been good ever since. I know my strength and that I'll never submit, and, as such, I'm not so upset by what is happening to the world, because I can stand any trials ahead.

- Sister rings early in the morning, and says she and my sister-in-law were together last night and both suddenly knew I was being attacked, and prayed for me. I didn't know my sister-in-law was Catholic.

I can't explain any of this. I don't suddenly feel like a True Believer or anything - I'm too humanly-flawed a man for that. As an intelligent, logical man, faith has always been a hard thing for me to get my head around, but I also feel I'm not arrogant enough to dismiss it outright either. Who can say?

Wherever my experience leads me from here, I gained this knowledge: whatever the opposing force is, the name of Jesus Christ seems to have power over it, whether the reality is calling on a spiritual force or simply a focused point of mental resistance.

Stay strong everyone, and fight back.

Post: #41

(07-24-2016 06:37 AM)AnonymousBosch Wrote:  Remember, I'm the most most logical person alive, and I can't explain this rationally.

That was quite a story AB, thanks for sharing. I am not aiming this at you, but I thought this would be a good time to bring up a thought experiment on the nature of logic.

What makes certain lines of reasoning logical, and others not?

We've all been conditioned into only accepting concepts which are strictly based in a narrow materialist viewpoint and officially recognized by science. "Science" is the new religion, and to even question the dogmas put forward in some circles will label you a heretic. Why do we use the language of "Climate change denier" instead of "Climate change skeptic"? One has religious connotations.

People are looking for answers, and with the destruction of our spirituality and our acceptance of a purely religious framework, we are attempting to grasp for answers recklessly. And the answers we come up with are flawed, giving us an imperfect explanation of the universe around us.

Science is a human institution which can often be inaccurate, or even outright wrong.

Most research is conducted by Universities, government bureaucracies, and private corporations. In order to win grants and proposals, the research must reflect the political worldview, or self-serving financial interests of whoever holds the purse strings.

You will often read of studies that do not produce the desired outcomes, so the study is abandoned and never published. You will also never see studies that, when questioning the sociopolitical dogma of their time, ever see the light of day, and if they do, they're rejected by the "scientific community" as a whole, who all wish to keep their jobs.

Many who blindly cling to the notion of infallibility of science will point to the peer review process as it's shining achievement. But we know that the peer review is broken: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.v...er-Review/

It is rare that you will find scientists brave enough to admit this, let alone openly challenge their peers to adopt a higher standard.





Real science, divorced from human bias, is difficult. As someone whose been involved with many brilliant minds working on multi million dollar empirical electromagnetic studies, I can attest to the ease of human error, and the allure of finding a desired result.

Science is a useful tool in our explanation of the universe, but it is not the whole toolbox. Often there is much that it cannot explain.

Yet many people who've never worked in a scientific field in their lives will confidently declare that a narrow, purely material explanation of our reality is the only model we're allowed to consider logical. Not only that, anyone attempting to prove otherwise should be met with outright condescension, and even contempt!

Why would intellectual disagreement warrant such an emotional response?

"The unknown exists. Each man projects on the blankness the shape of his own particular world-view. He endows his creation with his personal volitions and attitudes. The religious man stating his case is in essence explaining himself. When a fanatic is contradicted he feels a threat to his own existence; he reacts violently."

Rather than being a dispassionate model of reality, we can see that modern Science™ has consigned itself to the status of state sponsored religion.

Why should we allow a biased state religion to declare a monopoly on what is considered logical?

Now, let's consider the phenomena of sleep paralysis. To even raise the topic without dismissing it as a purely biological phenomena often leads to at the very least, eye rolling, and potentially even risking being labeled delusional.

Why the rush to dismiss the concept? Why the emotional response? Is it perhaps because it doesn't fit our narrow view of reality, and perhaps forces us to reevaluate our current worldview? People like to feel in control, and a conclusion that leads to more questions than answers is perhaps frightening for some.

Sleep paralysis is a phenomena that's been described in nearly every culture across the world. In each culture, the experience is nearly the same, down to the most minute detail. This is all from cultures that developed completely independently over the course of thousands of years, where no cultural overlap would create a bias in producing similar testimonies. What is the probability that it's all just coincidence?

Yet those with a purely materialist, aspiritual viewpoint will insist just that!



We must understand that logic also involves the idea that identical patterns persisting over millenia suggest a high probability that perhaps it is not mere coincidence. To deny it would be illogical.

Post: #42

(07-24-2016 06:37 AM)AnonymousBosch Wrote:  I can't explain any of this. I don't suddenly feel like a True Believer or anything - I'm too humanly-flawed a man for that. As an intelligent, logical man, faith has always been a hard thing for me to get my head around, but I also feel I'm not arrogant enough to dismiss it outright either. Who can say?

Wherever my experience leads me from here, I gained this knowledge: whatever the opposing force is, the name of Jesus Christ seems to have power over it, whether the reality is calling on a spiritual force or simply a focused point of mental resistance.

Stay strong everyone, and fight back.

I think I understand your mindset, as I've been in such a situation myself. I've reflected on this question for some time, and I wanted to share my thoughts in hope that you might get some value from it.

Religion and spirituality are only ever promoted in an absolute, literal sense. You must accept all of it as literally true, agree with everything, or you must become a firm atheist. This binary thinking is counterproductive, and ultimately leads to many people rejecting religion completely.

While I'm not an atheist, I don't think it's accurate to call myself a Christian either. By taking on a label, we force ourselves into an all or none mentality, and allow ourselves to be manipulated into accepting a very narrow interpretation of spirituality that we would not otherwise accept.

Now, I understand the danger in allowing ourselves to become our own judge. We are imperfect beings, and it's comforting to rationalize away our failings than to hold ourselves accountable.

On the other side of the coin, many religious authoritarians will demand that we take the biblical account literally, despite being riddled with historical inaccuracies, or outright mutually exclusive testimonies.

The conflicting accounts in the Gospel can't be reconciled. The similarity of the account of Jesus/Mary/Joseph to Horus/Isis/Osiris, to Mithraism, to Adonis, and numerous others which predated Christianity suggest that it's not all grounded in history.

By forcing someone to believe otherwise, and condemn them to eternal damnation if they can't will only breed cognitive dissonance and force them into an all or nothing battle over their spirituality.

I would suggest that a huge portion of mainstream religions have been riddled with conflicting accounts, and their essence diluted in order that men and women throughout history could wield them as political control, and discourage those seeking true spiritual enlightenment.

But that does not stop me from recognizing the beauty and wisdom of phrases like:

"A tree will be known for it's fruit"

"One cannot worship both money and God"

Nor being humble enough to admit:

"Forgive me lord, for I have sinned.."

Post: #43

I've had it as well. Multiple times. Sometimes it's being Chocked, or the feeling of multiple beings in the room. One time it was a bunch of kids that wanted to kill me. Like AB says, invoking the name of the Lord Always seems to make it go away.

Post: #44

I would say it has something to do with demons.

The ancient definition of demon is simply intelligence. No doubt they could continue to sow discord and confusion even in a world of scientific instruments.

Edit: Jesus H Christ AB, ever since I found faith in detox demons have been plaguing me but to an intense degree. I drink a bit (or a lot), it goes red and dark, I smell sulfur and blood and I do horribly stupid things. Holy shit man. I need to do some reading on demonology or something. I guess watching Supernatural is not a bad bet. Eating or throwing salt helps me out a lot.

Second edit: All sorts of people seem to confess to me all sorts of things all the time and often start crying. I am going to start wearing some crosses or bling from here on out.

Thanks for the tip on invoking the name of Christ, granted I believe to a very deep degree but such things tend to slip the mind when one feels terribly alone. I have a nagging suspicion that Legion is looking for a seemingly righteous or high profile meatsuit to give rise to the Antichrist.

Post: #45

I've had similar experiences as what others have mentioned.

Luckily I was raised in a Christian household so the name "Jesus" was always on the tip of my tongue, even though I couldn't actually get it out.

I would wake up abruptly but not be able to move because of some force pulling me down and holding my tongue (not physical tongue but my ability to think/speak in my mind).

Every time I find myself trying to yell "Jesus", and by the time I eventually finish the second syllable the force is gone and everything is normal again.

All the times it's happened have been when I'm trying to get out of a depressive rut I may have got myself into or when I start studying the bible in depth. What ever it is seems to HATE that.

This is the type of stuff that makes Christians appear totally crazy to a stone hard atheist. If there was such a thing as a dark force trying to steer you over a cliff to eternal suffering, is it going to interrupt you as you walk? Or is it more likely to mess with the person who is starting to learn about cliffs, or worse the person yelling out STOP - CLIFF!

I've since done some research and formed a pretty good idea of what's at play in the spiritual world.

If mere mortals like a Clinton can so easily pull the wool over peoples eyes, how much more proficient in deception is the king of lies?

There is a great book by an ex psychic / medium turned pastor called The Spirit Universe:A Christian View where he talks about applying the scientific method to the paranormal and also his experiences with the paranormal.

Post: #46

Yeah. Another night of terrifying nightmares and I'm done with it. I'll start going to church.

Post: #47

(07-25-2016 05:50 AM)Hades Wrote:  Yeah. Another night of terrifying nightmares and I'm done with it. I'll start going to church.

While I would encourage you to continue to seek spiritual enlightenment, I'd be cautious before falling into the "You must literally believe everything in the Bible and practice blind faith otherwise you will go to hell" mentality that many churches ask of their members.

There are many conflicting parts in the Bible which I believe were placed there at some point in time (or more likely, the Bible is a largely cut and paste job from multiple religions and histories) in order to cause confusion among readers and make them question the essence of the message. It's subtle but effective.

It's due to these easily disproven logical errors that many people will confidently become atheists, and reject the entire message out of hand, throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

If you do decide to join a religious community, I'd encourage you to only accept that which does not cause greater confusion and incoherence. Some of the ritual practices of certain sects, like the drinking of Christ's blood in Catholicism also gives me pause.

I agree with St. Aquinas' view on religion and science: That the truths of science cannot contradict the truths of faith. God is the author of all truth and whatever reason discovers to be true about reality ought not to be challenged by an appeal to sacred texts.

As for cures for sleep paralysis, many people seem to find the following effective:
- Avoid sleeping on your back whenever possible.
- Sleep on your side if possible
- Remain as calm as possible

Post: #48

thoughtgypsy/AB

If you guys want to look into this stuff further, there is no better resource than Malachi Martin, a Jesuit writer and priest and exorcist. He is an excellent guide for a few reasons. First, despite the fact that he is a man of god, he is an extremely well educated man:

Quote:Martin was born in Ballylongford, County Kerry, Ireland to a middle-class family[2] in which the children were raised speaking Irish at the dinner table. Catholic belief and practice were central; his three brothers, including Francis Xavier Martin, also became priests, two of them academics.[3][unreliable source?]

Martin received his secondary education at Belvedere College in Dublin. He studied philosophy for three years at University College, Dublin. and on September 6, 1939, became a novice with the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits).[4] He taught for three years, spent four years at Milltown Park, Dublin, and was ordained in August 1954.[5]

Upon completion of his degree course in Dublin, Martin was sent to the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, where he took a doctorate in archaeology, oriental history and semitic languages. He started postgraduate studies at both the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at the University of Oxford, specializing in intertestamentary studies and knowledge of Jesus Christ and of Hebrew and Arabic manuscripts. He undertook additional study in rational psychology, experimental psychology, physics and anthropology.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malachi_Ma..._education

One of the things that keep people with some degree of brain power from even looking into the spiritual is that the people who peddle it often seem to be aggressively anti intellectual, which is rightly seen as a deal breaker.


Another reason is that Martin is such a mensch, and has that old school courtliness and respect, no matter who he is talking too and how they challenge him. He is a breath of fresh air from the past. On the Art Bell show he effortlessly disarms all the callers, even the hostile ones, and even, especially when they are trashing the Catholic Church, his church.

And finally, though he is an educated and decent man, Martin is also an exorcist for the Catholic Church, and he has dealt with many people from all walks of life who are either possessed or think they are.

There is a surprising intellectual rigor to how he approaches exorcism, for example anyone who claims to be possessed first has to see a doctor to make sure there is no physical problem, and then a psychiatrist, to make sure they don't have any mental illnesses, and even after that, there are many standards they have to meet before he will take their claims seriously.

There are also various levels of interaction between spirits and human beings, it doesn't go straight from being normal to being possessed, and the things both of you describe in your sleep paralysis sound very familiar to me after having listened to his interviews on Coast to Coast radio.

Another aspect of all of this, something that is separate from pure pragmatic materialism is something that I have heard an English clergyman call "The Ring of Truth."

Both of your experiences have the ring of truth to me, and so does the things that Martin says in his interviews.

As both of you are obviously intelligent logical men, what a lot of the people rolling their eyes at the mention of spiritual weirdness of any sort fail to recognize, is that for either of you to admit that you are experiencing something inexplicable has not only a social cost (possible ridicule) but also the personal cost of having to re-examine the articles of faith of your own belief systems.

Many people in this world would rather kill someone else than take a fresh look at their own beliefs, so I think the two of you should be encouraged because it is actually a pretty gutsy step to take.

Here is Martin's first interview with Art Bell on Coast to Coast radio. IIRC, he devotes a lot of time to the demonic in this interview. There are many many more hours of interviews with him that can be easily found.

Obviously no man has all the answers. This man though is sane, reasonable, considerate, and he is a good place to start:





A bonus aspect of these interviews, is that he preshadows a lot of the things we wrestle with on this forum, like feminism, political correctness, the New World Order, the eroding of traditional morality, and all of this was in the late 90's.

Happy, or not so happy, listening if you are interested.

Post: #49

(07-23-2016 07:15 AM)The Black Knight Wrote:  Kind of related but I woke up once screaming the loudest I have ever screamed in my life for about 15 seconds. I could hear myself and see the ceiling but couldn't move or stop screaming. Read about it and I think it's called a night terror. Apparently it's caused by extreme stress and needing to take a piss, which was the case at the time. I drank a ton of water the night before and I was extremely stressed around that time.

But you guys seeing demons and shit? Fuck me.

I've also experienced night terrors when I was younger, though mine were different from yours. I would always wake up physically, yet my brain would still be in a dream state so that I could be walking around, talking, and physically active, but seeing things that weren't there.

I would see the most horrible things (monsters/demons, people trying to kill me or my family, etc). Obviously they weren't actually real, but in my waking dream state they were VERY real. Truly terrifying. The worst part is that I could not come out of this state on my own, nor was it easy for others to get through to me in that state. Family members would have to force me to snap out of it -- a process that could take quite awhile in some cases. Needless to say it freaked them out too, especially when I'd be trying to protect them from some crazy force that only I could see. The weird thing is that I would have a very hazy recollection of these events upon waking the next morning, almost as if I wasn't sure it actually happened or if I had just dreamed the whole thing. It was only when family members would bring it up the next day that I knew it really happened.

I mainly got them when I was sick, usually with a fever, so at least they were semi-predictable. My doctor at the time said that stress/anxiety likely played a major role as well, as I had a fairly stressful childhood. Fortunately I seem to have grown out of them because I haven't had one since I was about 15.

As far as sleep paralysis goes, it's only happened to me twice. Both instances were incredibly similar to other accounts in that I sensed some sort of presence next to me which then proceeded to "smother" me so that I couldn't move. The first time scared the shit out of me, but I managed to remain calm and the sensation slowly dissipated on its own. The second time was more bizarre than anything because I vaguely understood what was going on. Oddly enough, I also happened to be sleeping on my stomach the second time it happened. I guess for most people it happens when they're on their backs.

I've never really made a religious or spiritual connection with these things, but reading some of the stuff you guys have posted is pretty fascinating. Definitely makes one wonder.

Post: #50

[GUIDE TO SLEEP PARALYSIS]

In the sleep paralysis state it is possible to go a step above and experience lucid dreaming or OOBE (out of body experience). From my personal experience you could "trigger" this, but it might take some time to get it right.

The only way that I know to "trigger" this is to wake up after you fell asleep. After you do this you need to immediately try to fall as sleep on your back, but here is the tricky part....you need to "remain half awake, half asleep" AND listen to the "silence".

So what does "listen to the silence" means? Well...you know when you go to a place where the "silence is deafening"? Its so quiet its disturbing? Well that kind of silence I'm talking about! You basically need to shut your mind, and listen to the silence.

Now once you do this...you will hear a ringing in your ears. Some people might called this tinnitus, but I have no idea why this happens every time you enter this "state". Here is where it gets REALLY SCARY! Four things might happen

1.) You fall asleep and will need to try again the next day
2.) You might enter enter the dream state, and might become aware that you are dreaming. There is no guaranteed.

If the ringing is still going on, then the intensity of it might literally shock you. Basically the ringing starts out really low, then it becomes really loud, up to a point as if a PLANE is near you. After this state, most people might have snap out of it (you can do it my moving fingers, toes, or neck from my experience), if you are still going (even I have snap out of it from time to time, since its so frightening), it will come to a point where you feels as if you are sucked into a vortex at a MILLION MILES PER HOURS. I know some of you might find it ridiculous, it is completely understandable, but rest assure the experience is really something.

3.) You might now have an OOBE, and see yourself floating. I have yet to do it on a constant basis, since it is really hard.
4.) Might fall asleep as if nothing happen.

Feel free to ask me about any of these stuff. Actually this is the first time posting about this stuff/this method anywhere, so try it out to see if it works. But be wary of it since it might be scary