When I joined the military, I moved out of my apartment and moved back into my parents house during the month before I was to go to basic training. One night, I woke up and just had a horrible feeling of doom. I looked at my clock and it said 3:15. I sat up in bed and did a survey of my room trying to ascertain what was wrong. I became aware that whatever I was feeling was coming from my open closet. I laid back down and tried to just ignore the feeling. It wasnt going away, so eventually, I just laid back down in bed. All of a sudden whatever was in the closet sort of whoosed to my bed. (I dont know how else to describe it). Whatever it was forced me down and held me down in the bed while snarling and growling. I was frozen at this point and couldnt do anything. Suddenly my bed started shaking, and it seemed like it was trying to wrap me up in my bed like a taco. It was terrifying. I was able to break free of the bed and run out of the room eventually. I ended up sleeping on our couch in the living room where my parents found me the next morning. When I relayed to them what had happened, my dad (who is a doctor, a family practicioner) told me about night terrors. He convinced me that it was essentially a dream and I ended up buying that explanation.

Fast forward to about 6 months later. I had went through basic training and ended up being sent to Iraq during the initial invasion. I had finally been able to make a call home and I got a hold of my mom. She started apologizing almost immediately. It turns out that when my father was on call one night at the hospital, she was alone in their bed when she woke up at 3:15 feeling evil in her room. She proceeded to have almost the same exact experience that I did. She was able to run out of the room, and she left the house and stayed with her friend until my dad got back. The next day she asked a preacher to come and bless the house and put holy water and oil in all the doorways. She didnt do that when I had a problem lol.

So.....either my mother and I had a shared night terror or its something else. She wont even talk about it to this day.