Normal Sleep Disturbance or Paranormal?

A friend of mine has a very odd sleep problem. I won't be able to do the description justice, but I would appreciate some answers on his behalf, if you have any -

He sleepwalks and acts out in his sleep, and talks, etc., so obviously he has some sort of disturbance anyway.

In addition to this, though, he has experiences where he says it's as if the sleep & the awake are overlapping, and he will believe he is awake, but he can see people. He will not know whether the people are real or not until he turns on a light. They vanish when the light comes on. He says they just stand there. It's been going on all his life.

The creepy thing is, he will see the same people in various locations. He always sees the same woman when he sleeps at his grandparents' house - but he doesn't know her, and he only sees her when he is at that house.

His current house is newly built and he hasn't had this experience there at all, living there for more than a year, but it happened again when he went home to visit.

He has had other paranormal experiences unrelated to sleep. And once a very religious women put hands on him & prayed for the visions to go away - and they did, for almost a year.

I know the human brain is capable of much more than we know. Is it possible he is just creating this in his mind, where he has terrible sleep problems anyway? Or that he is somehow a bit more connected to the spiritual and this is causing his sleep disturbance?

I've searched a bit online & haven't come up with anything.

i have a similar problem not sleep walking but a women follows me

reply to post by Schkeptick


I've got a similar sleep pattern and history of "visions". One of the visions left a red mark on me, so my guess is, that there's a mix of both the biochemical and the paranormal going on. I've long had the theory, which I've voiced many times on ATS, that there are paranormal entities that take advantage of malfunctioning brain chemistry to access our energies to manifest. I think usually, a person with a normal, healthy functioning brain chemistry has some natural autonomous protections over their energy. Those of us with a neurotransmitter or two out of balance lose our natural protections, and this allows non corporeal entities to hijack some of that energy to manifest in our dream or waking states. It's far less easy when we are fully awake. But add to that, the complication of brain chemistry also producing real hallucinations that are totally generated within the brain, and it's going to be confusing discerning which is which. The fact your friend experiences location specific visions leads me to think those are not hallucinations. But any others are up for questioning.

I went on a serotonin adjuster, Zoloft, for a time and that helped me, but it does have side effects so it's vital to work with a reputable trustworthy doctor while taking it.

reply to post by SheeplFlavoredAgain


You bring up some good points. I'll also add that if one skips their zoloft dose then it can cause hallucinations in the right conditions. I had such an experience in July and it creeped me out.

My advice is for your friend to see a doctor first. Then, move on to spiritual solutions. However, a combo of both isn't harmful. You say these visions went away after being prayed over- so there is a real possibility of there being a spiritual component. Instead of relying solely on others- he needs to start being proactive in that department via prayer and whatnot.

Theres an entity in his old home. Its could potentially be dangerous. Best thing for him is to not every sleep there.

reply to post by Schkeptick


sleepwalking, the result of a peaceful mind without first inducing sleep paralysis.

seeing things that are not there, a peaceful mind opens 3rd eye and see other frequencies, functions in the dark so light will cause it to dissipate.

lucid dream, being awake while sleeping.

ur friend has all of these combined.
going to sleep, body is not entering sleep paralysis, mind is calmed and 3rd eye opens inducing the dream state, other mental distraction causes him to awake mid sleep partially, to have a lucid sleepwalking dream.

i would say ur friend is almost or is severely mentally off balance. no pills may help unless maybe a tranquilizer or local anaesthetic until he can rebalance and settle his mind. meditate!