I had a night terror last night. It’s the first one I’ve had in YEARS! At least I think it’s been years. Let’s just say it was very normal for me to have a night terror once a week. I think it was about 2 years ago I made a real concerted effort to halt them. The real concerted effort consisted of me deciding not to have them any more and avoiding caffeine after dinner.

Last night, just before I closed my eyes to sleep, I remembered that I couldn’t remember locking my front door. I was so tired that I decided to let it go and risk the boogeyman. Little did I realize that by allowing myself that simple thought I would open myself up to a night terror. As is typical, within an hour of falling asleep, I opened my eyes to see a dark cloaked figure standing in front of me. I screamed and charged right through the ghost and ran smack into my bureau. It always pleases me when I attack. When my night terrors first started to occur, I’d stay in bed and scream. After a few years, I started running, trying to escape. One day something happened. I stopped running away and I started running toward the terror. I like to think it’s me confronting my demons– but who knows. Maybe it’s just the different phases of night terrors. You’d think that after having a night terror so real and so terribly frightening occur, I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. Ha! I went back to sleep and I slept like a baby.

Usually my terrors are all the same. It’s either a dark cloaked figure who has the apparent intention of hurting me or its bugs, or a floating, swirling clown with dark wings. In my vast arsenal of night terror stories, there are two episodes that scared the crap out of me but didn’t quite fit the night terror mold. The first one occurred about 5 years ago. I was in bed and I was aware I was close to sleep. My eyes were shut and I felt very warm and comfortable. Suddenly I felt two small points of pressure on my chest. I wondered if it could be Mr Cocoa, pressing his paws on me trying to wake me up to put him out. Nope. The little points of pressure turned out to be two little hands that grabbed my nightgown and pulled me up and thrashed me down upon my pillow. Over and over. When it stopped, I opened my eyes. Standing atop me was a little boy. I could see through him but he was still visible. He smiled at me. I tried to grab him. My hands went right through him as he turned and ran away. It was almost like he exploded into light. I can’t say “and then I then woke up” because I was awake. I remember sitting there, trying to figure it out. Maybe this wasn’t a night terror but rather hallucinatory sleep.

I had another similar episode. I was in Las Vegas at a trade show and I was sharing my room with a roommate. I was awakened by pressure on my chest. I opened my eyes to see a white cat perched atop me. I couldn’t move– I was paralytic! The cat stared at me. I whimpered and tried to scream. I tried to move but I couldn’t. Fear gripped me and I prayed to God: Help me! The cat jumped off and walked away, disappearing into the darkness of the hotel room. There was no waking up since I was awake. Night terror or hallucinatory sleep disorder? Who knows. Thank goodness it doesn’t happen often. Regardless, I blame caffeine.