Night Terrors: A disorder or a paranormal experience?

My brother has night terrors and has had them for several years now. He has had some pretty intense incidents, some of which I remember personally.

He is currently living with my parents in the back of the house where he is all alone. Between him and my parents bedroom is my niece's bedroom, a bathroom followed by the living room, kitchen and mud room (as my grandmother calls it) and then my parents bedroom. First I should mention that the house is considered haunted by every member of the family, aside from my father who doesn't believe in anything paranormal (aside from the belief of alien life, but he doesn't believe they visit out planet).

My mother has heard her name being called out from some unknown person when no one else is home. Doors open on their own and many times when I visit my parents as I am now I hear walking up and down the hallway when no one is there. The house is old so some of the banging and knocking we all hear may account for the house's age and it just settling, however some incidents are beyond that.

My brother has had experiences where there was a constant loud banging at his bedroom door (this took place in the previous place they lived at). Recently he has had an incident where a picture he has hanging in his bedroom fell down at an angle knocking out the wires that were connected in his TV. My brother is very skeptical but he does believe in ghosts and haunting's if the condition is right and yet he cannot explain how the picture fell in that kind of angle without some help.

He recently told me of his night terrors. I asked him if he had seen the woman in black that a lot of people talk about when it comes to night terrors and he told me no he hasn't seen her but he did tell me of something even creepier that he see's. He says that a figure wearing a black robe and hood walks around his bedroom and then walks over to him and stares down at him for several minutes. My brother, who doesn't get scared easily says when it happens it terrifies him to no end. It's gotten so bad that my brother can go two or three days without sleep because he's afraid of it happening again.

My brother and I have always been night owls ever since we were kids. I prefer the night to be honest with you. I also have insomnia, it's always hard for me to sleep but I don't have night terrors like my brother. Since I have been here on my vacation, the past 10 days I have noticed my brother staying up late trying to keep himself awake. It reminds me of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies and it also has me worried.

I've looked up night terrors on google and it brings up medical conditions, but I have a hard time believing this for some reason. When all these people across the world are having almost the exact same condition, seeing some sort of creepy figure in their bedroom it makes me wonder. From what I have found out this seems to happen between stage 3 or 4 of non-rapied eye movement. Perhaps it's during this time that our minds can open up to something, a doorway perhaps that allows us to see certain things, but even then that doesn't fully explain why people are seeing the same thing world wide.

I am very heavily involved in anything paranormal, these subjects fascinate me. I have heard of these night terrors for years and I knew my brother had them but I had no idea what it was he was actually seeing. He is convinced that it is just a disorder, but I can't help but shake the feeling that something else is going on. Perhaps I am just overreacting and looking too much into it, I don't know.

My 3 year old son has night terrors occasionally. I know that for him they are quite terrifying experiences! When he has one it takes a good half hour to an hour to settle him down, its like he's in a waking dream state sometimes. His eyes are open but he's not seeing the room we're in.

I also had episodes like this when I was about the same age, I never saw any shadowy figures though? Eventually I grew out of it as I got older, hopefully my son will do the same.

To be honest in mine and my sons cases I would put it down to overactive imaginations. But if it's stayed with your brother into adulthood who knows?

This topic comes up every week it seems. Bad dreams are simply a survival mechanism, so in the event of danger while sleeping, people are better able to deal with it as it gets the adrenalin and flight or fight going. Of course, everyone is different, so the intensity of bad dreams will vary between people, some will be worse than others.

There is absolutely nothing paranormal about them, and they are also not necessarily a disorder.

I can not say for sure that it will work, but I would suggest trying to meditate before going to sleep, and focus on controlling the dreams.
Sooner or later he will be able to realize in the dream, that it is a dream. At that point, he will probably get an awesome feeling of power, and whop some robed a**.

I can manage to control my dreams, and when going well, it is just nuts!
Flying around like Superman and smashing things like the Hulk
I would for sure open up a can of Chuck Norris on that robed perp

I am a Christian and I respect each person and their beliefs. I tell you this because I am allowed to see the spiritual world. The good and the bad. For me I am fully awake or I am woke up to see what has appeared. Some things I have seen or very evil. I each time will say "In Jesus name I command you to leave, you have no authority over me. And they leave and I am able to rest. I don't know if this will help but I am here if you have any questions.

From your description, those dreams your brother is having are NOT night terrors. Just bad dreams or nightmares. Night terrors are a completely different beast. If you want some good descriptions of night terrors, check out this thread:
www.dreamviews.com...

True night terrors are cognitive dissonance focused on spatial relation archetypes. Congnitive dissonance is when to concepts are closely linked like Hot and Cold. The mind is only used to seeing one side of the coin at a time, so when the mind tries to see the whole coin, you get two opposing ideas occupying the same space.

Most night terrors are triggered by cognitive dissonance of spacial relations. This can be anything from geometric shapes, sensations of movement or time, contradicting perspectives, sound. All having to do with spatial relations. When you mess up your spatial relations, that leave you very disoriented, which can cause the most awful terrifying sensations.

Now if you have knocking and banging around your house, my theory is that's some sort of entity trying to manipulate you. The noises are done to draw your attention, which is what it needs to act in this world. The more attention you give it, the more things will escalate. My advice is to cut it off at the source, pay it no attention at all. It may be difficult for your brother to disengage himself this late in the game, but that's what needs to be done. He's more responsible for what's happening than that entity is. They tend to trick people into hurting themselves but focusing their attention and using it against them.

Originally posted by Xandyr101
From what I have found out this seems to happen between stage 3 or 4 of non-rapied eye movement. Perhaps it's during this time that our minds can open up to something, a doorway perhaps that allows us to see certain things, but even then that doesn't fully explain why people are seeing the same thing world wide.

I agree, the stages in between sleep an awake do seem to allow us to glimpse another unseen world of sorts.
The similarities in accounts do not make sense as personal creations of the mind. There would a lot more variation if that were the case.

I get the same way as your brother, too afraid to sleep.
I'm 21 Years old and have been seeing this man in my room at night since i was really young, he is always in black and stares at me or stands over my bed, I've even Talked to my ex bf in my sleep about the man in the room. I honestly don't know if i'm just cursed with bad nightmares or if there is something spiritual or otherworldly going on here.
But I have always had bad nightmares,Almost every night actually. The only advantage i have is waking myself up, i don't even know how i do it, but when i do, i have to hold my eyes open for a bit because if i close them too soon then i'm right back in the nightmare, It's Strange and Frightening.

Originally posted by Firefly_
This topic comes up every week it seems. Bad dreams are simply a survival mechanism, so in the event of danger while sleeping, people are better able to deal with it as it gets the adrenalin and flight or fight going. Of course, everyone is different, so the intensity of bad dreams will vary between people, some will be worse than others.

There is absolutely nothing paranormal about them, and they are also not necessarily a disorder.

Night terrors are more than a set of "bad dreams." They are the equivalent of a major panic attack. I suffered from them (almost weekly) for 30 years.

I don't believe they're demonic. I do believe they're psychological and that they can be affected by physiological things (hormonal changes, blood chemistry changes, etc.)

I don't believe they are changes in the mind or blood changes, that doesn't sound right to me. Especially when my brother has been going through this for so long. If you have read my other thread I do believe it is a demon that is haunting the family. I believe that it is a curse on this family brought upon a horrible person that thinks that what my family did was wrong even though it wasn't.

There are people in this world who are so full of hate they will do anything to make sure that anybody's life suffer aside from there's. I don't know what to do in this situation. Prayer hasn't worked in 20 years and I am willing to do ANYTHING to make sure my family is taking care of.

I think they are from a combination of things. Emotional or physical stress, malfunction in the brain or nervous system. I've always suffered from migraines and I have a few rare disorders too, hormonal imbalance and such...so yes, sleep disorders (night terrors, nightmares) can be caused by illness. I speak from my own personal experiences. Only had two really bad ones. This topic has been discussed to death on here, read through some of the other threads. However, I also believe dreams can be spiritual as I've had some dreams that have been pretty remarkable.

My partner is former military. He suffers from PTSD and is on medication / pain killers from it. His nightmares and night terrors come and go in phases. He hides when the nightmares come about because it brings up all the feelings from what he saw in the military.

If the night terrors are causing health or severe emotional issues, see a doctor or therapist.

The last apartment I lived in I had a few of these along with sleep paralysis and looking in bind sight I feel it was deffo something more than a nightmare. At the same location I had woke up several times feeling freaked out and/or something there. The worst of it all was an overwhelming feeling that something or someone was standing over me. Multiple time I totally avoided using the bathroom cause I felt something had was out there. It was F'ed up. One night I felt like I had a physical attack. Sometimes I felt it was to protect me. Like I had to wake up, for my own good or someone else's in the house. A few times I had "sleep paralysis" I felt like something was attacking me. Your most vulnerable in the early morning.

Have a rock you can turn to.

Prayer, friends, etc

I don't know it's all uncomfortable to deal with. Don't give them to much energy!

Double post please delete. Ty

he last apartment I lived in I had a few of these along with sleep paralysis and looking in bind sight I feel it was deffo something more than a nightmare. At the same location I had woke up several times feeling freaked out and/or something there. The worst of it all was an overwhelming feeling that something or someone was standing over me. Multiple time I totally avoided using the bathroom cause I felt something had was out there. It was F'ed up. One night I felt like I had a physical attack. Sometimes I felt it was to protect me. Like I had to wake up, for my own good or someone else's in the house. A few times I had "sleep paralysis" I felt like something was attacking me. Your most vulnerable in the early morning.

Have a rock you can turn to.

Prayer, friends, etc

I don't know it's all uncomfortable to deal with. Don't give them to much energy!