Women share the creepiest thing that woke them up in the middle of the night.

Considering we spend approximately one third of our lives sleeping, it’s no surprise that some weird things happen during that time. And every now and then, we wake up to see them.

Personally, I’m terrified of cockroaches and am still traumatised from the time I woke up to a cockroach climbing up my leg. That cockroach invaded my space when I couldn’t do anything about it, which still seems very rude and unnecessary.

But compared to my colleagues, I’ve had a very peaceful 26 years of sleep. Earlier this week, we started sharing stories of the creepiest ways we’ve ever been woken up, and I want to preface these stories by saying I don’t know how these people continue to sleep.

Listen to Mamamia Out Loud: Why you need more sleep and how to get it. Post continues after audio. 

They’re simply terrifying.

“We’d been robbed.” Sarah, 31.

“My mum shaking me in my partner’s holiday house asking for the address. While we’d all been sleeping, someone had cut open the fly screen near her bed and snatched her handbag. She needed to call the police. It took me a few minutes to work out what was going on.”

Spiders making a home. Meg, 23.

“One night I went to sleep only to wake a couple of hours later to a strange sensation. In the short time I’d been out, I realised a big spider had been weaving a web over my face and chest, I screamed like I was being murdered causing my dad to run in worried I was being attacked. I think the spider was more scared than I was.”

A man in the room. Natalie, 36.

“When I was in my dorm at uni, I woke up to noises coming from my desk. I looked over and saw a man with my laptop in his hand. I yelled and he quickly escaped out the window. It didn’t hit me until afterwards that someone had been in my room while I slept.”

A really creepy message. Karen, 28.

"My first room at college, someone had written 'I am under the bed' in permanent marker on the roof directly above where you head lies."

Mating cockroaches. Eliza, 32.

"I had a dream that I was on the beach and the wind was playing with my hair. I woke up and realised that pleasant feeling was actually two cockroaches getting it on on my head."

Absolute terror. Sophia, 26.

"Sleep paralysis. I saw a huge figure walking towards me and couldn't move or yell. It was terrifying and I started having a panic attack."

Unwelcome visitors. Claire, 31.

"I was living in New York and had been hearing weird scratching noises for a while. One night, I woke up to some weird sounds and turned my phone light on straight away. There was a mouse running across the floor next to my bed. When I investigated later, I realised the scratching noises had been the mice getting their way into the apartment from the gap between the floor boards and the wall."

WHY?! Mary, 38.

"My child just... staring at me. She'd come in from the other room and was just standing in the doorway looking at me. Really freaked me out."