In my earlier adult years, I used to be plagued by something called sleep paralysis.
If you haven’t got the foggiest clue what I’m yapping about, here’s the best visual explanation I’ve found that describes this phenomenon:
Yep, it’s every bit as horrifying as it looks.
I’ve had so many at this point that I tend to spot the signs early when they occur. In my last “encounter” a year or so ago, I was asleep (obviously), and in this dream of mine, I flicked on the lights in my kitchen before setting down my evening haul of groceries.
Weird, given I don’t do my weekly shop at night.
(That was the first red flag.)
As I stood upright, I then had this chilling sensation fall over me like I was being watched, which struck me as odd given this took place at home — in the kitchen.
(Second red flag.)
At this point, I was semi-aware that this wasn’t going to be a run-of-the-mill nightmare, but a sleep paralysis episode.
And sure enough, it was.
What usually happens is my eyes go off in search of the demon in hiding. Sometimes these creepers are hiding in the corner of the room, on the ceiling, or standing deathly still on the stairs.
Other times they are not in my vicinity at all.
Maybe it will start with slow, lurching footsteps…
A creaking pipe…
Or a door that opens and shuts as if a window was left open on a stormy night.
And then…
Before you know it…
…
…
IT’S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!
In the case of my last episode, this demon wasn’t so theatrical about it. It wanted to be found, and found it was!
At the far end of our kitchen, into the conservatory, I saw a scrawny shape reflected in the glass panes. It was crouched into a squat on our kitchen worktop. Think of the most insidious, ungodly, and gaunt demonic visage your mind can conjure, then multiply it by ten.
That’s exactly what stared back in that reflection.
Immediately, my dream-state self went limp. My feet turned into concrete blocks that wouldn’t allow me to move an inch. Meanwhile, this netherworlder had climbed down the worktop and began moving towards me, its slender fingers outstretched.
All I felt was this primal instinct to fight or take flight — unable to do either.
The reason this phenomenon has “paralysis” in its name is that my actual body was also unable to react either. So there I was, aware of everything, and utterly incapable of snapping myself out of this hellish dreamscape.
Truly terrifying stuff.
But not nearly as terrifying as the growls I usually emit to rouse Lady Laura from her sleep, as she’s well-versed in digging me out of these situations. Masculine stuff, I know. Alas, in this particular encounter, she didn’t hear me, so I remained on the bed, limp and hapless, while my dream-state self fought on.
In times gone by, I’d simply panic and continue making bestial noises until I rediscovered enough feeling in my hands and arms to heave myself onto my side.
That could take HOURS to achieve.
But since this wasn’t my first rodeo, I’ve found the best thing to do in this situation is to calm myself down. Sometimes deep breaths work, or, in this most recent case, I murmured three words over and over again in my head:
God is good. God is good. God is good.
(Fret not, this isn’t about to become a sermon.)
I’m sure you can imagine my uninvited guest didn’t like that one bit. The demon responded by becoming more animated and agitated, snapping its jowls as only a monster of the netherworld would.
Still, I kept calm. Still, I mumbled those words.
Soon enough, feeling restored in my fingertips… then my arms… then my legs and neck. After what felt like an eternity, I managed to fling my head from side to side to snap myself out of the hellish nightmare and…
IT WORKED.
Gasping, I opened my eyes and was greeted not by a snarling demon, but by the stillness of the night and the gentle exhales of Laura and a very small Nathan at the time.
Blissfully unaware of the oblivion I found myself in.
Now, I’m sure a number of Legionnaires have rolled their eyes reading this email. Looks like woo-woo Watson has struck again! 🤓
Such is the curse of being a fiction author — especially one who cuts his teeth in fantasy — but I can assure the sceptics who walk amongst us that this experience, and the ones shared over the past two days, are 100% true.
And even if that did little to allay your doubts, here’s the interesting part I haven’t told you:
Remember at the beginning of this email when I said that I used to get sleep paralysis a lot more in my earlier adult years?
Well, guess what I was doing a lot of when they occurred?
WRITING HORROR AND SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS.
Seriously, not a word of a lie.
Another fun fact:
These nighttime adventures are actually one of the main (and slightly embarrassing) reasons I left the genre altogether and pursued fantasy.
A decision that probably saved my life, given just how dark these encounters got.
Hell, this got so bad that I even abandoned editing my last-ever horror novel after a particularly rough visitation.
(As I write this, what an AMAZING marketing hook that would make!)
And you’d never believe what the working title was:
The Uninvited Guest
Apt indeed.
Anyway, it’s clear the divine doesn’t want me to pursue these darker curiosities, and you know what? I’m A-OK with that. It doesn’t mean I won’t pen a short horror story in the future or perhaps even edit that draft one day.
And neither will it stop me from shamelessly promoting — as I’ve been doing all week — my supernatural duology…
The Curse of Abbey Ruins.
(C’mon, it’s spooky season, after all.)
Unlike The Uninvited Guest and several other unpublished works of mine, there are no demons in this duology, but there are plenty of supernatural spirits that haunt a notorious woodland where the story is set.
The first book, Sticks and Stones, follows the father of a missing girl.
The second and final instalment switches POV to the detective investigating her disappearance, which slowly unravels into a supernatural mystery.
It’s fast, lean, but above all…
CHILLING
As this is some of my formative work, some of the prose is a little rough around the edges. If that’s no issue to you, and you just want a fun, quick, and creepy read, then you can get your copy here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/COAR
DJJW