The United States of Esoterica

Another good article Lesley, I like your take on things. About sleep paralysis and abductions, you wrote:

I've experienced sleep paralysis all my life (although I've noticed they're not as frequent as I've gotten older) and, I've had UFO and paranormal events all my life. Yet I've never, not once, thought 'aliens" or "abductions" during even the most intense sleep paralysis episode.

I have had the very real sense of a "something" that is both unpleasant as well as non-human in the room during these times, but never considered them UFO or alien related in any way.

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I have had a number of sleep paralysis episodes in my lifetime. Although I was unable to move I was conscious of what was happening in the room. I never have felt like I was hallucinating or dreaming. The experiences I have had are rather tame. I just can't move. I realize what is happening and try to relax. Usually I fall back to sleep before I regain feeling.

There is one exception: I woke up and felt the presence of something. There was a loud buzzing in my head and I felt a hand on my back holding me down. I screamed but couldn't make a sound. I was able to turn my head slightly and could see a black figure out of the corner of my eye. The LCD display on my VCR (yes it was quite a few years ago) in the room was a very bright green light. I could make out a small silhouette may 5 to 5 1/2 feet tall. Maybe it was a hallucination and that is what I expected to see...so my brain made it so. I can only describe it as terrifying. Beyond terrifying. It bothers me to think about it even now years later. It only happened once but I've always been afraid that it will happen again.

And there is something else, even if someone did see an alien and it was during sleep paralysis -- why does that absolutely confirm that they are hallucinating aliens and abductions? Kind of like when they ask people who have seen UFOs if they were drinking or doing drugs -- like that automatically would mean that they are seeing things that aren't there.

Sometime today Tim will post my continuation of my musings on hallucinations. I just am not sure there is any such thing as a hallucination.

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