Many people who suffer from sleep paralysis feel that they can see through the veil or to look through the veil because of the visions that they see. When we wake up and we see the creatures standing over us or in our doorway.

These ‘spirits’ are what people refer to when they are talking about the big dark shadows that are seen during a sleep paralysis episode. You see when I say spiritual, I am not talking about the new age concepts of spiritual or spirituality. I am instead talking about beings such as demons, succubi, incubi, aliens, vampires, and shadow people. In truth, they are all the same being, but we see them as they take on different forms.

Many people when they talk about sleep paralysis are told that they are hallucinating which is one of the reasons that so many people do not talk to their doctor or even their friends about the problem. We live in a world where so much is accepted however, we still live in a world where if you claim to see something that other people cannot, you are ‘hallucinating’ and probably suffering from a mental illness. People are still very close minded when it comes to the spiritual.

When a person uses the word ‘hallucination’ when they are talking about a sleep paralysis experience, they are deflating the experience and suggesting that it was meaningless. Therefore, when I talk about what a person sees while they are in sleep paralysis, I refer to them as visions.

I find that this important because no one should feel that their sleep paralysis experiences are meaningless. I personally know that some of these experiences can be very important and they can be life-changing.

When discussing sleep paralysis with a well-known psychic, I learned that every single vision has some meaning. These visions do not come to us randomly. They are there to affect the person’s beliefs, their spirituality, or their life.

Many sleep paralysis visions have influenced fairy tales and even movies. In fact, there are many movies that have been written by a person who was suffering from sleep paralysis as a way to express what was happening to them. Different people experience the visions in different ways. Some claim that they have been visited by the dead during sleep paralysis, others believe that it is angels that are coming to visit.

There are those who think that they are being abducted by aliens, that a witch has placed a curse on them, that an incubus or succubi is coming and visiting them or that they are having a sexual encounter with a demon.

These experiences that occur during sleep paralysis are real. You must remember that even if the doctors are correct in saying that your body is not yet awake, your mind is. Anyone who has suffered from sleep paralysis knows how alert they are which is why many of them do not buy into the medical world’s explanation.

However, we must accept that these experiences are not happening in this reality. For example, if I were to stand in the room with you while you were having sleep paralysis I would not see what you do. However, there have been reports of a spouse or a significant other seeing a specific being in the room while a person was suffering from sleep paralysis.

One example of this is a story that is told on The Nightmare. One of the men talks about how he was asleep in bed. When he woke up he went right into sleep paralysis. He saw standing next to his bed, a dark shadow with red eyes. As the being was telling him that it was going to kill him, his girlfriend woke up and saw a black cat with red eyes sitting on his chest. She said that it was speaking in a language that she had never heard.

When we are experiencing visions during sleep paralysis, we are looking into the veil. We are not usually able to completely make out what we are seeing or have any control over it, but we are able to see something that is in a different realm.

The medical world claims that what we are seeing is the manifestation of our dreams in our own world. They may also call these hallucinations, however, let me make this very clear: you are not insane, you are not seeing things, you are not losing your mind.

Sadly, we simply are not allowed to discuss these experiences nor do the medical professionals want to hear about them.

You see, it is fine for those that do not believe in any spiritual realm to believe that sleep paralysis is completely medical and if you are one of those people, I will not to try and convince you otherwise. However, for those that believe that there is more out there, we cannot accept that something which feels so spiritual could be nothing more than some odd medical phenomenon that medical professionals have not ever been able to understand.

Sleep Paralysis and Demons

One of the reasons that many people do not speak about their sleep paralysis experience is because to speak about being attacked by demons in the 21st century is to bring out every hater that is hiding in the woodwork.

You see, if you start talking about being under demonic attack today, you are going to be ridiculed. Being spiritual is one thing that people refuse to accept in our time and they will do everything that they can to make you feel crazy or as if you are simply not relevant as a person for believing in the spiritual realm.

I do not know which is the most disturbing, a world where millions are suffering from attacks from entities when they try to sleep or a world where it is literally the only taboo topic out there. What is even scarier is that one study showed that if a patient came to a psychiatrist and reported that they were having the symptoms of a sleep paralysis episode, half of the psychiatrists would have diagnosed them as suffering from psychosis.

Sadly, even though these experiences continue to happen society has brushed them under the rug and pretended as if they are nothing more than dreams. In fact, the medical field has had very little to say about sleep paralysis until recently. However, it is my hope as well as the hope of many others who suffer from sleep paralysis that they will soon begin to understand it much better.

I am not going to sit here and pretend that every single sleep paralysis episode or case has to do with demonic beings. However, what I will tell you is that there are many records of people suffering from demonic attacks as they sleep. Why? It is when we sleep that we are the most vulnerable. We are not focused on protecting ourselves from other beings but instead, when we sleep we are completely open to everything out there.

There are records of physical damage being done to people while they are sleeping or in the middle of sleep paralysis. I have personally woken up with huge bruises in the shape of handprints from my shoulder to my elbow. People have been thrown across the room. Bedding has been pulled off the bed. These are demonic attacks.

People have also reported bite marks when they are released from sleep paralysis. These bruises and bite marks are found in places that are impossible for the person to do them to themselves. How can science explain these physical manifestations of the attacks away?

It is obvious that science and the medical field do not have answers for attacks such as these. I do advise that if you feel you are being attacked by a demon that you first consult with your doctor to ensure that there is no medical reason for the sleep paralysis such as seizures.

Do not allow people to use demonic attacks to terrorize you. If you are suffering from sleep paralysis due to a demonic attack, do not allow any ‘religious’ person to scare you. There is nothing that they can do that is going to be worse than what you have already dealt with.

If you turn to religious leaders for help do not let them convince you that you must donate money to the church to stop the sleep paralysis. You do not need to have the demon cast out of you. Do not allow anyone to try to manipulate you when you are at your most vulnerable. It may be suggested that you have your home blessed or sleep with a blessed item, however, you should not be made to feel that something is wrong with you.

Remember, religion is not going to save you from the sleep paralysis, only Jesus will be able to do that.

Now when it comes to demonic possession, many people believe that it is possible for a person to become possessed after repeated sleep paralysis attacks. I suffered from sleep paralysis for almost 30 years and I do not feel that I have been possessed. However, if this is something that you are afraid of, you are more than welcome to seek out an exorcism.

You can also use religious symbols to keep the demon from entering your room. The cross, the Star of David, the Bible, or other religious symbols help to reduce the attacks and they are a great way to help you feel safer when you sleep.

Succubus and Incubus

Before I started researching sleep paralysis, I had no idea what an incubus or a succubus was. However, as my sleep paralysis began to get worse, the only way that I could describe it was that the life was being drained from me. I knew that something was not right and if I did not find an answer, I would not have the strength to keep going.

That was when I stumbled upon some information about the incubus and succubus. What are these creatures? A succubus is a type of demon that will take the form of a woman and will visit men as they sleep to engage in intercourse with them. She is there to take the man’s seed. Some cultures believe that she will also kill infants.

The incubus is the male version of the succubus. The incubus is a demon that will come to women in the night and eventually it will have sex with them. It is believed that certain incubi can impregnate a woman. The child would be what the Bible refers to as a Nephilim. This is a creature that is born of the seed of a fallen angel and a human.

Other cultures also believe that the incubus will take the seed that the succubus stole from the man and put it into the woman. There are also those that believe the incubus and the succubus are the same entity simply taking on different forms.

The incubus and the succubus can force themselves upon the person who is suffering from sleep paralysis causing a very traumatic experience. However, the experience can be consensual as well. When this happens, it leads to what is known as a spiritual marriage.

The spirit husband or wife will come to you each night and have sex with you. They are not violent in the beginning, however, if you enter a new physical relationship with a person they can become very violent when they are jealous. While the spirit is having sex with the person that is suffering from sleep paralysis, they are taking their life out of them. This bond must be broken, and you must send this spirit back to where it came from.

If this bond is not broken, the demonic spirit, which is the incubus, or the succubus will go and bring other spirits to you so that they can have sex with you as well. This will bring on a whole other set of problems.

Shadow People

Have you ever heard of the shadow man? Maybe you have, and you just don’t realize it. I’m sure you’ve heard the song… 1… 2… Freddy’s coming for you… Freddy Kruger and he shadowman or hat man as he is also known have a lot in common.

He is the boogeyman. The thing that goes bump in the night and that fills everyone who sees him with complete terror. I remember watching The Nightmare on Netflix for the first time and seeing their depiction of the shadow man. Fear filled me even though I knew he was on television and nothing more than a man dressed up in a costume. Yet I had seen him in my room lurking and terrorizing me.

Seeing the shadow man or the hat man is one of the most terrifying things that you can every experience, however, shadow people are not only seen during sleep paralysis. Shadow people are usually seen out of the corner of one’s eye. You will see something move out of the corner of your eye and as you turn your head to look, you will find that there is nothing there.

Shadow people are also reportedly seen at haunted locations such as the Waverly Hills Sanatorium.

This is a low vibrational being that seems to enjoy scaring people for no reason other than scaring them. It is said that he will visit you or that you will suffer from sleep paralysis simply by learning about sleep paralysis. Therefore, if you have sleep paralysis and you know someone who has never experienced it before, you should not tell them about it.

What is the shadow man? Is he a curse? Are you going to have to deal with him for your entire life? Some believe that the shadow man is nothing more than a myth. However, those that have seen him will tell you that he is all their biggest fears rolled into one scary dark mass.

He is blacker than black meaning that even though your room is dark and there is no light, he is darker than the dark. He is completely void of any light at all. Sometimes the shadow man will have bright red eyes, other times, they are black and there are times when it does not appear that he has any eyes at all.

Shadow people, in general, are usually male although females have been reported rarely. Many people believe that shadow people are the spirits of children, thinking that they are going to be small, however, a shadow person is quite large. The hat man is a specific shadowman that wears a hat. His outline looks a lot like Freddy Kruger. If the shadow man is not wearing a hat, he is not the hat man. Other shadow men will wear a cloak, trench coat or some other type of overcoat from years gone by.

The shadow man is different from a normal shadow. You see, he is not on a wall. He is three dimensional, he is able to stand in any part of the room just as you or I can, and you cannot see through him.

Shadow people move faster than anything you have ever seen. They usually do not say anything however, there have been a few occasions when they have spoken. The laws of physics do not apply to shadow people as they are able to walk through walls, fly through the roof, and so on.

Many times, they look scary, demonic, or terrifying.

Written by Brandy Morrow, author of Sleep Paralysis: How I Killed the Demon and Why You Can Too