Sleep paralysis is a disorder where the person cannot move or speak for seconds or several minutes upon falling asleep or waking up. Surveys show 25% to 65% of the population have experienced sleep paralysis at least once. Around 10%  of the population have experienced one or more of the many other disturbing symptoms that are associated with this disorder. The most common effects are the visual hallucinations, such as shadowy figures or lights or a strange creature figure in the room, and phantom auditory sounds, such as hearing voices,footsteps or weird clanking or banging noises.

A person can also feel pressure on their chest and can have difficulty breathing. Others describe being held down when they try to move or come out of the sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis may explain tales of  aliens or ghosts is because of the strong sense of a an evil presence lurking in the room, or the feeling of being watched, or of not being alone. This is one of the most commonly described aspect of the disorder. Peoples have  also described unusual and strange kinesthetic sensations, such as feeling as though they are being dragged out of bed, or vibrating, even flying or falling.

These episodes can even sometimes lead to out-of-body experiences, or astro-projecting, where the person is up out of bed walking around, only to zip back and realize they are still in bed and haven’t even gotten up, and still paralyzed. Sleep paralysis is described as extremely frightening or terrorizing, causing many too fearful to go back to sleep and end up becoming sleep deprived. Although it is very terrifying, it is not harmful or dangerous, and thankfully, the episodes usually only last a few seconds. Researches, scientists and doctors have no viable explanation for this phenomenon.