Opening his eyes, unable to move, Junior Jake Ly looks around his seemingly empty room, eyes drifting around until they land upon a figure in his chair. Demonic and unearthly, it begins to whip, the whip made of cryptic and distressing words such as “Pride” and “Death.” Panic and fear overtook Ly, and he eventually wakes up. 

     Night terrors are a strange sleep phenomenon identified by many key characteristics including, but not limited to, screaming randomly at night, violent flailing while sleeping, waking up incredibly panicked and distressed, and hallucinations. These many symptoms cause it to take quite a toll on the life of anyone unfortunate enough to experience these on a recurring basis. Ly has been experiencing night terrors for the majority of his life.

     “I had more visions of some sort of demonic entities or figures hovering over me and approaching me slowly with nothing I could do,” Ly said. “I really had it bad because, at the time, I was losing a lot of things in my life… The stress coupled with really bad habits for my health,” Ly said, emphasizing that the worst comes when under the most stress. 

     “I vividly remember not being able to move no matter how hard I tried while also being conscious I was sleeping,” Ly said. It was at that point he realized he was experiencing another night terror. These were commonplace in his life, so he knew what to expect. His mind, however, threw a curveball, and this turned out to be, in his opinion, one of his worst night terrors. 

     “It was absolutely terrifying and traumatizing,” Ly said. “I’ve had sleep paralysis, but it wasn’t necessarily genuine paralysis until that night…I could not move.” 

     “I was conscious that I was lying down, and I could see my whole room, even though I was sleeping,” Ly said.

“So while this was happening…something sat in my computer chair and continuously whipped me.” This was a turning point in the experience because pain can be experienced, though it is a less-than-common symptom. During night terrors, it is common to thrash about. This can cause bruises and cuts when flailing limbs hit surrounding materials.

“I’ve always had night terrors. As a kid, I would always wake up, my heart beating at 1,000,000mph.” Night terrors affect both the body and the mind. An incredibly fast heart rate is a common symptom. Alongside the flailing, this can be quite the medley of harmful things and the mental strain for your brain to wake up in a panic.

“Night terrors have prompted me to connect deeper to God because especially when I have sleep paralysis, I physically cannot move. However in my experience, I use every muscle fiber to call to God”