#TuesdayTruthday: Goody Feed Beings Describe Their Sleep Paralysis Horror Stories

We all agree that the Internet is filled with nothing but truthfulness: that influencer whom you’ve been stalking definitely looks like a diva 24 hours a day, and travel 365 days a year.

Your friend is in a great relationship because he’s been posting lovey-dovey images on Instagram, despite the fact that you saw him on Tinder this morning.

With so many people having such a perfect image online, we thought of having a weekly section called #TuesdayTruthday, whereby we Goody Feed, the imperfect human beings on the Internet, reveal some of our stories to show you the truth online.

And since it’s Halloween week, we thought we’d write about something spooky: sleep paralysis.

For those that don’t know, sleep paralysis is a temporary inability to move or speak that occurs when you’re waking up or falling asleep.

In other words, it’s your worst nightmare come to life; you’re awake and conscious of your surroundings, but for some reason, your body is unable to move.

If you think we Goody Feed beings are lazy asses who sleep all day and stay up all night finishing the work we put off doing, you’re right. Unfortunately, nature has punished a few of us sloths by paralysing us in our sleep.

So, here are three stories of sleep paralysis to send shivers down your spine:

The One Who Regretted Taking A Nap – Deputy Editor, 27

Now, there are no ghosts, goblins, creepy dolls, or girls from The Exorcist in my story. Just good ol paralysis in my sleep.

It all started with a heavy lunch. I had lots of rice, which always turns my body into a big lethargic beanbag.

So, like many other full-stomached humans, I decided to take a nap.

Yuge mistake, yuge.

The nap was glorious, I fell into a deep pillowy cloud and drifted off to sweet slumber within seconds.

However, when I woke up two hours later, I realized something was wrong. My eyes were half-opened, but my body, like my grandfather watching a sad film, was unable to be moved.

Anxiety started creeping in and my chest started to tighten. I tried with all my might to shift my body to the right and left but nothing happened.

Strangely though, my eyes could move. I looked at my phone and then towards the door, hoping someone would come to my rescue.

I knew nothing about sleep paralysis at that point, so I assumed I had accidentally injured myself while napping and would be paralysed for the rest of my life.

Thankully, a few minutes later, I felt the life return to my body and was able to get up with some effort.

It took me a few hours to recover from that shock and I vowed to never nap again.

(But I napped the next day and everything was fine)

The One Who Saw The Girl From The Exorcist – Deputy Editor, 20

Even though it happened nearly two years ago, I can still remember it quite clearly like it just happened last night.

I remember waking up in the middle of the night and seeing my door ajar. My family always leaves an orange light on during the night because otherwise, the whole house would be really dark, and as someone who is afraid of the dark, I’m thankful that they do that. 

Anyway, the familiar orange light was on and glaring in my face, but there was something different. A little girl was standing right at my doorway with the light behind her. She was just a dark figure from where I was. The only thing that was clear about her was the outline of her figure. She had shoulder-length frazzled hair and was wearing a dress that poofed out at the bottom. 

For some reason, the girl looked like the one in The Exorcist. And I’ve always hated that movie because I used to have so many nightmares after watching it with my brother when I was five. She didn’t move. She just stood there and stared at me. I tried to get up but I couldn’t move.

And all of a sudden, I felt rapid tapping on my bed. It was similar to the feeling of how my dog used to tap on my bed all the time. I tried to tell him to stop but the tapping continued. That’s when I realised whatever I was feeling, and whatever I was seeing, wasn’t real. My dog was only allowed to roam in the kitchen at night, so it wasn’t possible that he would be in my room. 

I tried to look at what was tapping my bed but I couldn’t. This time, my sight was obstructed. I couldn’t see anything and I couldn’t open my eyes either because my eyelids were so heavy. I tried to move but it was like I was paralysed. Maybe that’s why they call it sleep paralysis.

After a few moments, I could finally move again. I immediately got up and noped the eff out of there. It was 5am in the morning and I went into my parents’ room to sleep on the couch. Needless to say, they were pretty shocked when they woke up at 7am and saw me curled up on their couch. 

It was an overall scary experience and I wish I never ever have to experience that again.

The One With The Creepy Bugs Bunny – Writer, 24

Sleep paralysis. A tale of fear and despair. And small wonder really, considering how this scientific phenomenon renders your two most innate fears true:

A helpless state, and vivid hallucinations that breathe in your ear.

I mean; I would know, seeing how I was forced to go through the ordeal some seven years ago, when I was still in my adolescent phase and standoffishly ordering my mum to get cookies. I remember it so vividly, clear as day; it was a cold, lonely night, and I had settled into bed for what seemed set to be a long night’s rest.

“Good night, world,” I whispered. “Good night, Bugs,” I added, patting my Bugs Bunny doll on the head fondly.

It simply stared back at me with that silly grin of its, buckteeth exposed in all their gray prominence. Sighing, I closed my eyes, and I soon knew nothing as I slipped off into a dreamless state.

Snap.

My eyes burst open. Someone was whispering into my right ear. And it didn’t sound human.

I tried to shift my body posture. I couldn’t. My right shoulder seemed to be clamped down on. Forced down. I tried to speak, but nothing came out.

The voice never ceased mumbling, never stopped its deep, illiterate chant in my ear. It was slurred, uncomfortably so, and painfully labored in its speech. And as my eyes darted back and forth in fear, I witnessed moving shadows on the wall facing me. They lurked in the corners, looming ever closer. And as I watched, their ‘heads’ seemed to spin multiple times before they stared in a central direction.

Mine.

The whisper in my ear intensified. The shadows seemed to convene in a single spot on the wall, figures now undeniably, unquestionably pointed towards me. I struggled to move, but it was futile. Somewhere in my nether regions, the floodgates of my empire threatened to open.

“Please,” I remember thinking. “Please, get me out of this hell. Please.”

My right shoulder felt bruised. I couldn’t breathe. My entire body was immobile, painfully so. The shadows leaned in, and a cold wind swept the tip of my left ear.

“PLEASE.”

And then the voice ceased. The shadows were gone. The pressure lifted. I could move again. I sat up instantly, panting as I felt my right shoulder. I had broken into cold sweat and I wasn’t even aware of it.

“What was that?” I asked, my whisper protruding in between ragged breaths.

I looked around hesitantly, scanning the room with almost flawless paranoia, and then I set eyes on my Bugs Bunny doll. Its grin, so cute and harmless in the day, now came off as dark, borderline creepy. I stared at it for a moment, and right there, before my very eyes, the doll’s mouth seemed to move.

“Good night, Zhi Hao.”

I threw the doll in the storeroom and made a mad dash for my parents’ room, where I camped the entire night. The next morning I begged my mum to throw the doll away. And after endless persuasion, she gave in and left it in the rubbish corner.

Granted, I wasn’t aware of sleep paralysis back then, and the effects it would have on the human brain. So in a sense, Bugs Bunny was probably never to blame, and the good night at the end a mere product of my lucid imagination. Yet, even with that knowledge in mind…

I just couldn’t see Bugs Bunny the same way. Ever again.