Dream Visitation

What is dream visitation? Well, it is thought to be when a love one, that has passed away, comes back and visits you.
Wow, what a thought of having loved ones who have past to visit while you are sleeping! To grieve and get that chance to once again talk with them and hold them. To feel that love and know they are there with you. Such a wonderful feeling!

I had not heard of dream visitation until someone had posted an article on a group on Facebook. I read the article and realized wow, so this is what I have experienced most of my life off and on?

I had on occasion looked up sleep paralysis but the description and others experiences were nothing like what I have experienced time and time again. Imagine being a young kid, lying in bed, just dozing off still aware of the sounds and smells in the room when you get this overwhelming feeling that someone is coming... you look and see a figure coming towards you. The best way I could describe the figure is someone wearing a dark cloak. You think you are awake because you see your room as it was when you went to bed. The only difference, at this point, is you have this figure coming towards you from the door. You try to scream for help, but nothing comes out. You try to move, but can't. You then realize that you are not awake. I had this happen from time to time from Jr. high until current. When I did manage to wake myself I would go talk to my grandmother who, has always been there for me during these strange occurrences.

 Fast forward to about 10 years ago.... I had moved in with my now husband and for a while had nothing happen. Then when I started taking naps during the day, weather it was in bed or dozing off on the couch, I would start having these occurrences happening again. I could hear and smell everything, the feeling of fear came over me, and once again I saw this figure come towards me. I would struggle to wake knowing I was in a cat nap type state. I never wanted to really see what it was that would come towards me. I started to think maybe it's my subconscious trying to tell me something? I was researching dream paralysis, just anything I could think of.

  One day I came home from grocery shopping, came in, put my bags on the table, and went back out to get the rest of the groceries. At the time we had an indoor dog that was part Doberman and Rottweiler. I was talking with him when all of a sudden I heard a man's voice come from the bedroom area that said "Get out!" I was so frightened! I mean crap, was there someone in my house? How did he get in? Why is the dog just sitting next to me looking in the direction of the voice but doing nothing? There is no way someone got in with the dog in the house. Could that have happened? Honestly I was frozen with fear! I couldn't move. The layout of the house is simple, it goes in circles of sorts. I was afraid of going towards the front door. I was afraid that a guy would be standing near the first bedroom. Not even within 2 minutes of hearing the voice my husband which, was boyfriend at the time, pulled up and walked in. He opened the door and looked at me. I was so frightened! Tears were filling up in my eyes because I was so scared. He said, "what's wrong"? I asked him to please just go look in both rooms to make sure no one is in the house. He looked at me funny, but did go and there was no one. There were no TV’s on, none of the windows were open, and no fans were on. I know for a fact what I heard. I don't live in a busy city, I live in the mountains, and our neighbors are quiet. We have a lot of elderly neighbors. I couldn't make sense of it, neither could my husband.

A couple of nights later, as we were in bed watching TV, I started dozing off to sleep. I could feel the warmth of his body next to mine and I could hear the program still on the TV. Then I started getting that feeling again and looked towards the door to see this figure once again coming towards me. I knew I was in a sleep like state not fully awake. I thought to myself that I needed to look at it not be frighten, see what it is...
Well, I looked at the foot of my bed and saw a man... yes a man! He had jeans on, no shirt, skinny build, light brown hair, pale blue eyes, and he was so sad. You could see the pain in his eyes. So you know, I do believe in spirits/ghost whatever you might call them. I believe that sometimes they get lost or don't pass on.

I looked at the man and said, "you don't belong here, you need to leave, you are not welcomed here." He looked at me and said, “I can't leave." I asked him why? He looked at me and said, while pointing towards the hallway, "I hung myself out there, I can't leave." I then told him, "all you need to do is forgive yourself and move on." He looked at me like oh, that's it? He walked to the hallway and was gone. After that I woke up and asked my husband if I acted strangely while laying there and how long was I asleep. He had told me no and I wasn't out very long. The reason I wanted to know if I acted strangely is when I get frightened I try and shake my head or a part of my body in hopes to wake up. This only confirmed that even though I thought I was moving, in reality, I had not moved a muscle. I told him what happened. Of course, he didn't know what to say. I still didn't know what to think. Was that my imagination or was it something else? I hadn't watched a movie or program that had something like that so, it couldn't have been brought on by that. So I just considered it to be just my icky dreams. That's what I would call these episodes. Years later I joined a paranormal team. I love the thought of helping people, the living and the dead. Well, the founder of the team had told us how she has, since childhood, dealt with dream paralysis so, once again, I looked into it, but it wasn't what I would experience.

Then one day that article was posted about dream visitation. It talked about recently decease loved ones coming to help you, to help give you messages. The way it was described was high frequency of love. Then it talked about earth bound spirits and how they give off a low frequency which, tends to frighten people. That they come to people for help, to not be afraid, and to know that you are in charge. After reading the article I was like wow so this is what I've been experiencing. Granted, we have moved into a new house and not much has happened here. If in fact this is what my experiences are, the occurrences could also correspond to location. Last residence seemed more active, but the house was old. Really makes one wonder, Doesn't it? So now with a little in-sight of something different, I have been looking more into information on dream visitation. Now I have a new journey for myself to try and find more information. I am not saying that is what I fully experience, but it is a more plausible explanation of my experiences.

There are so many articles out there about dream visitation and really dreams who knows, right? All I know is that I have written down all the individual experiences from the past and present. With each new one I experienced I have been keeping record of weather, stress levels, what I have eaten, had to drink, and the time. Just about everything I can remember just to see if there are any similarities other than my nap time. These visitations are never in a middle of a dream, in some type of magical world, and someone I know pops in and it feels real. I did have one of those which was my dad visiting, but that is the only one that was full of love and reassurance. All the others ones are just in the house, as if I am awake, and witnessing people and feeling frightened. 

I guess I am putting this out there to see if others experience anything similar. All I know is what I experience and it's real for me. You decide.

Nyctophobia: A Paranormal Investigator's Worst Nightmare

 

Nyctophobia is a fear of extreme darkness or extreme fear of the dark. Normally this is a fear that one may find associated with a child. The child grows up and the fear disappears. Not in my case. It followed me into my adulthood. My name is Jennifer Furgerson and I have Nyctophobia.

Symptoms of Nyctophobia

"If you have a phobia of the dark, you are likely to become nervous in any darkened environment. You may sleep with a nightlight. You might be reluctant to go out at night. You will likely experience an increased heart rate, sweat, shake and even feel ill when forced to spend time in the dark. If your nyctophobia is severe, you may attempt to run away from dark rooms and avoid being outside at night. You might become angry or defensive if anyone tries to encourage you to spend time in the dark."

about phobias (Nyctophobia)

I am uncertain of when my fear actually started. Most fears are created from an event or an object. I can only assume that somewhere in my past I had a traumatic experience being in total darkness. I must have been forced into total darkness. I am now 38 and I deal with this every night and any place I go that is completely void of light. So why am I a paranormal investigator? One would think that I would never seek this line of work and stay in the light as much as possible, and yet, I have been doing quiet the opposite. I take cave tours, and I star gaze. I joined a paranormal team. 

Nyctophobia can be mind paralyzing. My mind races, and attempts to make sense of what it cannot see. My mind blanks of any rational thought, my heart starts to beat rapidly, and I begin to panic. I tell myself, "nothing is there which is not there in the light", but my brain plays tricks, and my ears become more sensitive to the sounds they may hear. At times I feel helpless and alone. I kept my fear to myself for many years always afraid to tell anyone why I may freak out, or not be comfortable in a darkened room. 

When I first joined ALPS, I made it quite clear that I had Nyctophobia. I figured it was not the time to be shy about it. Each member since I have joined have been more than understanding with my fear. The first time we were on the USS Hornet and my fear reared its ugly head to my fellow teammates. We were in a part of the ship in which the only light came from the flashlights. We decided that we would go dark (all lights off) and sit in the silence before conducting an EVP session. I stood with my back against the cold metal wall. I thought, "I can handle this, its just the dark, and my team is near by". Instead, my mind began to close down, and the panic began. I felt paralyzed and venerable. No one until that time had any idea how bad my Nyctophobia was. Thankfully teammate Anna was near me and was able to talk my mind into logical sense of thinking. I remember thinking, "someone understands, and I can get through this."

 There were a few other places that I thought my fear would get to me, and I thought I would not be able to do my job as a paranormal investigator. In Tonopah, Nevada I had my teammate Jim next to me while we were sitting on a cold wooden floor. In this case there was more light, but it was dim and inconsistent. At times I had trouble discerning pitch black with the light dimming in and out. I thought for sure my Nyctophobia was about to play tricks on me, until Jim said he saw what I was seeing. Poor Jim, I was gripping his arm so tight I had thought I may have tugged it right off. 

I am not afraid to be in a haunted location. I am certainly not afraid of the ghosts that may reside there. What I am afraid of is not knowing what else could be in a vast amount of darkness. After getting back from Tonopah, I decided that I need to rid myself of this fear and asked the help of my teammates. I no longer wanted this fear to control me. 

Over the two years that I have been with ALPS I have a better grasp on my Nyctophobia. Its slowly getting easier. I even find myself laughing instead of being pinned in fear. I started out making sure I had night vision with me no matter where we went. Yet, as it was recently pointed out, that I have not had it with me on the last few places our team had been. I also used to keep my flash light on, but covered in my hands. This gave me a sense of comfort. This too has changed, the flashlight is still with me, but off and in my pocket. Over time I have had help from all my teammates. I used to have to be right next to one of my teammates, but now if they are within hearing distance, I know they are not far away. They have become my other sense of comfort. 

Nyctophobia is a fear that I plan to conquer, and I know it will take time. Looking back at how far I have come, and how silly I may have seem to those who had no idea I held such a fear in my mind, makes me realize that this fear is just that, a fear to shed from my mind.

So what's my next step? Eventually I would like to be able to be in a dark (void of light) alone and to be able to either be the first in or the last out of a dark place we have been investigating. By forcing myself into this darkness, I have already taken the step in attempting to control my fear.

For those wanting to now more about Nyctophobia please feel free to check out the links below.

 Wikipedia on Nyctophobia

 Nyctophobia and sleep

 Fear of the Dark

 more on Nyctophobia