The first time that I ever got sleep paralysis was when I was about 8 years old. I remember everything. Except at the time I had no idea what sleep paralysis, I just thought it was a really scary dream. Me and my sister shared a room and had a bunk bed. I slept on the top bed. I was laying there and I couldn't move at all. All I could do was look at my window and I kept seeing a dark shadow go past my window, and of course I got really freaked out and more freaked out because I couldn't get up and move or call for my dad to tell him that someone was out my window. A curtain was up so all you could see was a shadow, just standing there and staring at me. After 30 seconds past by I was finally able to move and I immediately start crying to the point my sister woke up and had to get my dad. I kept telling him that someone was outside and he just kept telling me it was a dream. It just seemed so real to me but I just agreed that it was only a nightmare. Fast forward about a few years later, I had sleep paralysis again. All I remember was that I was dreaming about being in my childhood house and old room (where the first time I ever had sleep paralysis) and I was laying in my bed. This really buzzy sound started to become louder and I opened my eyes and saw I was in my own bed (I lived in a different house at this time) but I could not move again. I couldn't talk to my sister and ask for help. I just laid there. Scared. I started to look at my window and I saw the same shadow man I've seen before. Just standing in my window and staring at me. I was so freaked out, I tried screaming but I couldn't. I finally got out of the paralysis and I shot straight up, trying to catch my breath and my sister woke up asking if I was okay. I didn't tell her what I saw because I didn't want to freak out because I just thought from the first time, that it was just a nightmare. I didn't start getting sleep paralysis regularly till I was about 17. It would happen at least 2-3 times a week. It always happened if I laid on my stomach. Sometimes it felt like I was getting dragged out of my bed. I remember one time I kept trying to cling on to my mattress to avoid being dragged but it still happened and I kept pulling myself up and the shadow kept tugging at me. That's when I had sleep paralysis really bad. I finally decided to look up what this was because I knew this wasn't just a nightmare, it was something worse and scarier. I finally found out what sleep paralysis was and that it was something that happened to a lot of people. And that many people see and feel the same things I do. I was glad that I wasn't crazy or fucked up. Eventually my sleep paralysis stopped for awhile when I was about 18 and a half. I'm 20 now. I often get episodes. When I do get sleep paralysis though, it's still the scariest thing ever. I still see the same shadow stalker I have seen when I was 8. He always lingers in my window. Or in some cases intrudes my house and drags me out of bed. The one thing that I notice that leads to my sleep paralysis, besides sleeping on my stomach, is if I ever dream about being in my childhood house. At some point in my dream I go to my old room and get in my bed and boom, sleep paralysis happens and my stalker comes to haunt me.