I periodically experience sleep paralysis. To those who have never encountered the "old hag sitting on your chest", it is the creepiest and scariest thing I have ever faced. When it happens, you are perfectly aware of where you are and that you're in bed asleep - not so much as an out of body experience, but you kind of see your surroundings through the cracks of your eyelids.
One time I felt like I was being drug off of my bed and clearly remembered hoping that I wouldn't wake my college roomate when I hit the floor - I woke up in the middle of the bed. Another time, I could feel the shadows closing in on me like a something was creeping up behind me. I struggled to wake myself and turn to the face the intruder, but finally there came a piercing pain in my neck. I gasped awake with my heart pounding, but the room was empty. During a third session, I actually dreamed I was back in my room at home when I was in fact in a hotel room with my family. I tried to fight some shadowy figure, but it threw me out into the hallway. I tried to bolt down the stairs, but the presence wrapped itself behind me and bit down on my neck. I woke my entire family up in that hotel room when I started trying to mumble and shake myself awake.
I can't say I have ever come across anything paranormal while awake, but sometimes sleeping is another story - shear terror!
