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The Strand Institute received a letter from a Block Tapes podcast listener. This is from KW.

Dear Dr. Strand, when I was 11 years old, my parents and I moved into an old farmhouse in

Fairfield, Iowa. Despite being over 60 years old, the house was very well built. My parents were planning to slowly renovate the house,

room by room, while we lived there.

We had been there for about a month when it happened. I awoke in the middle of the night and couldn't breathe.

It felt like something heavy was pressing down on my chest that prevented me from sitting up.

My voice choked up as I tried to call for my mother.

I remember trying to move my arms and legs, but I couldn't. They were frozen in place.

And then I heard the sounds. It began as a quiet moaning, as if a bunch of people were trapped in a cave.

It sounded like it was coming from the bottom of a well, echoing off my bedroom walls. But then the sounds escalated to howls.

I expected my parents to come running through the doors any moment to rescue me, but they never came.

And that's when I saw it. A procession of shadows. They marched slowly across the wall opposite my bed, as if the moonlight through my window were casting them.

I closed my eyes, trying to convince myself I was dreaming, but when I opened them again, the shadows were still there.

And I couldn't scream. It was so vivid and frightening that I've never forgotten it.

Can you explain what happened that evening? Is there something wrong with me? Will it happen again?

Thank you. Kate W.

I forwarded your message to Dr. Strand. He wanted to reply personally.

You're Kate. What you experienced is quite common. It's called sleep paralysis.

It's a condition caused by a momentary disconnect between your brain and your muscles, going into or coming out of REM sleep.

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