Winding down See all topics Facebook Tweet Email Link Link Copied! Follow

Sign up for CNN’s Sleep, But Better newsletter series. Our seven-part guide has helpful hints to achieve better sleep .

Baland Jalal lay in bed terrified , experiencing his own real-life horror film.

Newly awake, the 19-year-old could see his surroundings but couldn’t move or speak, and he didn’t know why.

He thought, “‘My God, what do I do?’” Jalal, now 39, said of that moment in 2005. “I tried to call my mom (and) dad, but no words would emerge from my throat. … I had this ominous presence of a monster, and it lifted my legs up and down.

“It strangled me, trying to kill me. And I was 100% sure that I was going to die,” Jalal added. “It literally feels like all the evil of the uni

See Full Page