WHY THE THINGS THAT FRIGHTEN US, HAPPEN WHILE WE SLEEP: By Shane Jeffery

One of my greatest fears was always falling asleep and never waking up. It wasn’t just the idea that something could happen to my physical body whilst I lay unguarded. That my bedroom would come alive with monsters once my eyes were completely closed. But I always worried about being trapped there. In a dream, unconscious, with no way to get back. From a young age I associated dying with falling asleep forever, so every time I went to bed it was as though I was temporarily crossing over to the abyss.

Life and death. The supernatural and paranormal. Do I believe that anything is possible? I guess that depends who is asking. Because it does seem to be the common element to dismiss the idea. To at least reason, I won’t worry about whether or not it’s real until I know that it is. I think everyone is afraid of dying. That is something that we all know will happen. After that, it’s anyone’s guess.

But being of curious nature as I was as a teen, I happened along the concept of astral projection. I had a friend whose mother claimed to channel the dead through writing, and that she had astral traveled and seen what life after death was like. Because I was interested, I convinced my friend to lend me her massive, hard cover bound book about astral traveling, written by a man who claimed to be a frequent astral traveler. The thing looked as though it was about sixty or seventy years old, but all the pages were still intact, and the writing was easy to understand. The traveler talked about the processes one must undertake in order to leave the body. I recall that he said the best time was to do it was in the last thirty seconds you fall asleep, or the first five minutes of waking up. There were plenty of diagrams drawn out of what the astral body looked like, the cord that connected it to your physical body, and other dimensions. Then the author went about retelling of his experiences in the astral plane in a curt and precise manner.

Looked real enough to me. I was afraid to astral travel myself, but it was still too Goddamn make believe that I couldn't help but want to debunk the myth. Whilst reading the book, I probably spent a month trying before anything happened. There was one night after waking that I had the strange sensation that my body evaporated and I became the bed I was sleeping in. Bizarre to say the least. The next day at school, I couldn’t stop talking about it, then a few weeks later it was a fading memory. I can barely remember it at all now.

But there is still one thing that I do remember.

In my second month of trying and not succeeding, one morning I woke in what I believe was the astrally projected state. I remember feeling an immense lightness as I hovered over my body. The body in retrospect seemed to be nothing more than a shell, and the reality I was experiencing was not only more real than a dream, but more real than the reality we’re all in now.

I paused in my bedroom and turned to the window outside. Instead of a garden out there was a savaged wasteland with gargoyle statues staring up at me. Terrified, I rushed back into my body.  

I recall the transition was not instantaneous. It lasted maybe half an hour. I was paralyzed in the body for some time before I was able to get up and move again. It was by far the most supernatural experience I’ve encountered.

I always wanted to know though – what were those gargoyles? Why were they sitting outside my bedroom? Could they have been there all along, when I was just a child and afraid to go to sleep? Could these monsters have been there the entire time, influencing my fears and thoughts?

I gave the book back to my friend, and swore I would never return to that place of the dead until it was my time. It was too dangerous. I didn’t know who was out there.

About five years later, in my early twenties, I began wondering about the astral projection again. Had it really happened? Or did I just dream it? I began experimenting before bed again, trying to get myself to project. After only a few days of this I had a dream where I became lucid in, and I started floating up towards the clouds in the dream. As I did so, there was a white golden light all around me, and I felt myself detaching again from my actual body.

I tried to stop it.

You had me convinced again.

As I focused my body to start falling, back to earth in the dream, and back into my body in reality – I felt the hands of spirits all around me, trying to pull me out of the body. I fought and wrestled with them, until I finally won – but I can tell you it was a terrifying experience to say the least.

Later on, reading stories about astral traveling online, I see that I am not alone in seeing the gargoyles. They don’t just appear as statues for some people, but take the shape of moving, talking, flying monsters, that treat the astral traveling human, like a mischievous boy would treat a dangling worm.

I don’t really know if God or the Devil are real.  I don’t know about higher souls, or spirits. But one thing I can say is that this has proven to me that there is life after death.

And between then and now…

We are being closely watched.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shane Jeffery is an Australian writer in his late twenties. The horrifying, the controversial, the dark - Shane's writing delves into the psychological and mysticism of human nature.

UPCOMING TITLES

THE PARK III (December 13, 2013)
VICIOUS PARKS (2014)

http://shaneajeffery.blogspot.com.au/

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OCTOBER 22nd GIVEAWAY:

UPDATE: GIVEAWAY OFFICIALLY CLOSED! WE HAVE OUR THREE WINNERS! 

Today's giveaway is a thrilling mixture of mystery, cabals and predators. True horror is always the kind that could be real and this prize package fits that description. 

THREE ECOPIES of PARK I and PARK II are up for grabs! Three winners will receive VOLUME 1 and VOLUME of this series. 

Due to its graphic nature, winners must be 18 and above please. 

To win, simply go to HALLOWEENPALOOZA'S OFFICIAL EVENT PAGE and comment "I WANT TO WIN" in today's post announcing the blog and giveaway. If you're one of the first three to do so, you win this awesome prize package! 

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Book One of the electrifying horror series "The Park Chronicles"

Gnashie is a young boy with problems. His father is a twisted alcoholic and things haven't been the same at home since his mother walked out on them. At school he only has one friend, a girl named Julie. When the pair get caught up on a school excursion to a theme park, it seems like the perfect escape for Gnashie and his problems.

BUT THIS PARK IS NOT A SAFE AND NURTURING PLACE

Evil lurks within. Years later after Gnashie has moved beyond his experiences at The Park, a criminal mastermind returns to announce his plans of destruction and world domination. As easy as it would be to ignore the impending doom, the only hope for Gnashie is to go back to where this all started.

BRUTAL. MINDBENDING. INSANE.

No matter how far you travel into The Park, there are still so many horrible truths to uncover.

Watch as Gnashie grows up and becomes pushed to the very core of his limits.

Watch as The Park's words bleed from the page and burn into your heart.

THIS IS A PARK, YOU WILL NEVER FORGET...

Book Two of the electrifying horror series "The Park Chronicles"

Enter the world of Frederick Terra. Seventeen years after his abduction, Freddy receives a night time telephone call that plunges him back into the world of The Park and all its monstrous evils. In between the police threatening to frame him unless he finds The Park's former leader, Freddy must find a way to get his family to safety before anyone figures out what he is doing.

BUT THE PARK ALREADY HAS

Although The Park has been seemingly shut down for almost a decade, their organization has expanded under the cover of darkness, and what they have in store for Melbourne and all its citizens is inconceivably cruel. After only a few hours into Freddy's quest he realizes that not only the fate of his family is at stake - but the very fabric of civilization as they know it.

TERRIFYING. HOPELESS. DISTRAUGHT.

If you thought The Park was disturbing, then you haven't read The Park II. As horrifying as Gnashie's experience in The Park was, it's no match for the violence that awaits Freddy. Because beyond closed doors. Beneath floors, and behind walls. There is a frightening truth that will devour all.

In the words of Frederick Terra, for those about to undertake this pitch black tale...

"DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU..."