The 7 Most Insane Things People Have Done While Sleepwalking
We've all done embarrassing things while sleeping. Maybe you drank too much Tang and wet the bed. Maybe you had to share a sleeping bag with grandma and she woke you up because you had a boner--we've all been there.
But trust us, it can get way, way worse than that. There are records of people who, in their sleep...
#7.
Climb a 13-Story Crane
One night, London police were called about a possible suicide attempt on the counterweight of a crane at a construction project, where a young girl was perched precariously 130 feet in the air. So while helpful passersby probably shouted words of encouragement or took bets on how big the splat would be, a fireman climbed the crane to try to talk her down, only to find her sleeping.
That's right, the 15-year-old girl was sleepwalking so hard she climbed a fucking crane. Anyone who's ever had a flying dream knows that your unconscious mind sometimes gets sick of being trapped on this shithole your waking mind calls the ground. Her mind just decided to do something about it. Unfortunately, when the firefighter found her, she'd sleepwalked out onto a narrow beam and was in danger of having history's most realistic "falling dream" followed immediately by the much less common "having your body collected with a huge cartoon spatula dream."
Not wanting to alarm her and make her fall, the fireman did what any responsible public servant would and went through her personal belongings. He found her cell phone and gave her folks a call. Together, they hatched a plan to get the girl to safety. The fire fighter hung up and the parents called back, waking her up.
The only recorded instance of positive parental nagging.
Apparently the girl was unlike most teenagers, and did not have an indignation-seizure at the sight of a call from her parents. Two and a half hours later, she'd safely ridden a hydraulic lift back to the ground. Her parents noted to the press that she had a long history of sleepwalking and in their dry British wit wondered aloud what she'd climb up next. At which point some crude public servant nearby probably quipped, "Probably up some strange gentleman's dick, old chap!"
He of course would be referring to actual cases where sleepwalkers...
#6.
Have Sex With Strangers
In Australia, a middle-aged woman had a quirky habit. She would wake up in the middle of the night, leave her house and fuck various strangers. This proved once again that a woman doesn't even have to be conscious to pick up dudes.
After months of her husband waking up to find their home littered with used condoms (and once finding his snoring spouse being actively nailed by a stranger) the wife and the world's most trusting spouse decided to get medical help.
Doctors were no doubt reluctant to believe the story, most likely thinking instead that the husband was suffering from one of the world's worst cases of gullible retardation. But the couple's anxiety over the incidents paired with a detailed examination proved that, sure enough, her actions were completely involuntary and a strange mixture of hot and creepy.
Hot and creepy, just like Fairuza Balk.
The condition, called Sleep Sex because doctors aren't the most creative people in the world, is caused by an REM behavioral disorder. The part of your mind that is supposed to stop you from moving when you're dreaming doesn't kick in, thus allowing you to actually act out your dreams.
Why that seems to only manifest itself in the form of porking strangers is anyone's guess. Though it presumably is easier to act out that kind of dream as opposed to the one where you and Urkel team up for a kung fu battle with Satan.
#5.
Get a DUI, Pee on the Road and Assault a Cop
On a frigid Denver night in 2003, a quiet and unassuming nurse took an Ambien and went to bed. And then, shit got real.
While still asleep, she got up, slugged down half a bottle of wine and got into her car only wearing a nightshirt in 20 degree weather. Drunken, sleep driving nurses are hardcore.
Because traffic rules are different when you're both drunk and asleep, she wrecked her car at an intersection, figured this was now the bathroom and popped a squat on the road. Two fully awake police officers, unaware of the finer points of drunken sleep pissing, came to arrest her, so she assaulted them because fuck those guys.
Prosecutors let her plead to just a reckless driving charge, though even that seems unfair if she was unconscious the whole time. It's almost like they were unclear as to exactly what parts of the ordeal the woman was asleep for, versus the parts where she was awake and just decided to go with the flow.
Less pissy but equally angry at the waking world was British house painter Sean Joyce, who, by the way, also took an Ambien before snoozing on a flight from Charlotte, NC to London.
Drowning his sorrows for being British, Joyce then drank two glasses of wine before falling asleep. This is the point in the story where you can assume things turned out poorly. Joyce jumped out of his seat, tore off his shirt like The Hulk and stormed around the plane cabin threatening to kill himself and other passengers. Joyce claimed he remembered none of it, and got off with five days time served.
#4.
Gorge Oneself
When Anna Ryan inexplicably gained 60 pounds, she sought medical help. Her doctor presumably checked to make sure she hadn't taken up competitive eating--or had maybe been substituting bacon for water in most of her recipes--before finally getting the idea to set up a sleep study.
A disorder presumably responsible for Kevin Federline's current condition.
Ryan was surprised to learn she was eating while asleep, but not in the midnight snack sort of way. She actually got up in the middle of the night, grabbed a box of Little Debbies and, one by one, ate every single chocolaty, cream-filled snack cake right there in her bed, all while still asleep. If her dreams involved hot dogs on a conveyor belt we'll never know.
The condition is cleverly called "sleep eating" and it's more common in women than men--presumably because if a guy subconsciously wants to eat a whole box of Little Debbies during the day, he doesn't repress it. He just shrugs and starts unwrapping that shit.
Luckily for those who unknowingly whip up a fondue at 3am and then promptly consume it while muttering about how they're at work without pants, medication is available to sleep eaters. There are also nutritional exercises which, without looking into it any further, we figure involve squat thrusts while making sandwiches.
Though it seems like all of that is a lot of trouble when a simple refrigerator alarm would do the trick.
I'm told that I rear naked choke people in my sleep and curse incessantly.
ReplyMy girlfriend has accused me of kissing her while I'm asleep.
ReplyI however am not convinced.
My mom's side of the family is full of sleep talkers and sleep walkers. My grandma once woke up to my aunt constantly sliding the glass door. When asked what she was doing, my aunt would reply, "I'm just giving the lady her food, mom!" She worked at a McDonald's at the time.
ReplyMy mom is a sleep talker. My dad will have entire conversations with her before he realizes she's asleep, and then he keeps going just to see what she will say.
I once built an entire stuffed animal fort on my bed while I was asleep. Imagine waking up to a bunch of furry faces with beady black eyes staring down at you.
i once dreamed of shoving a ticking grenade up someones ass and yes im talking to you mike
ReplyI appear to be the only normal person in the comments...does EVERYBODY sleepwalk ?
ReplyHow is 60lbs of weight gain inexplicable if you keep waking up in a bed littered with Little Debbie wrappers?
Replymy dad knew somebody (a woman) who had a history of sleeping walking, one night she was at a hotel, got up in her p.js walked 5 miles down the road into another hotel booked herself a room then feel asleep in the lobby...she was so traumatized but the experience she had to see a shrink the rest of her life.
Replytrue story
sorry forgot to say, theres a history of sleepwalking in my family, my thing is to smash eggs in the kitchen, my bro talks in his sleep every night, one time when at a hotel we woke the hotel cause my bro started screaming" ARGHHH MY HEAD" he said somebody attacked him with an axe lol
What is with your family and hotels? ;)
I talk in my sleep pretty regularly. Once my fiance asked me, "What?" when I was muttering in my sleep. My response: "Nothin', I'm dreamin'."
ReplyI'm very constructive in my sleep activities. I've been known to clean and attempt to fix computer printers (in the dark without tools). Once I disconnected the cable tv box and wrapped it up neatly in the cord and placed it on the other side of the room. I've gotten stuck in the closet a few times. After opening the second story window I figured it was a good idea when I built my house that it should be a one story Ranch style so if I ever went out it my fall would be small.
ReplyMy little brother used to be able to hold actual conversations with people while asleep. Once he started talking about hoagies but turned the conversation towards an assassination plot against Justin Bieber. If only he had acted on those dreams...
Replythe best part for me at least was the fact the ad after the Gorge Oneself was a gastric bypass ad
ReplyOnce my dad fell asleep while driving a car with my then 3 year old brother.
ReplyHe later woke up unharmed parked at a local grocery store.
I suffer from sleep walking. The time that scared me the most was when I woke up with my shirt missing and half-eaten twizzlers all over the floor and in my bed (I don't drink). For all I know I could have walked out into the apartment complex parking lot in my bra and not know it. Public humiliation: I once fell asleep in one of my college classes and woke up to pouring coffee on my face and the girl behind me laughing hysterically. It's scary because the only way I know I've done something is if I wake up while doing it, to evidence, or someone tells me. So I have no idea of most of the stuff I may or may not have done.
ReplyI died at "...will probably be fine until he dreams he's being eaten by a giant slug."
ReplySeriously though, sleepwalking sucks. I used to (and occasionally still do) sleepwalk to the bathroom (or whatever sleeping me deems the bathroom) under extreme stress. The fact that moving frequently and finals cause extreme stress has not helped.
I don't but the sleep-eating-60-pounds-gain-without-noticing-anything. Someone had to buy all that food and figure out something was wrong. She was not just sleep-eating, she was deep in denial, possibly lying.
ReplyI am a law student in Scotland. A case I once read regarding committing crimes whilst sleepwalking involved a man, in the 19th Century, who was sleeping with his wife and child. He then had a dream which involved him being attacked by a dragon, so he grabbed it and smashed it repeatedly against the wall. When he woke up, it turned out it was not a dragon he had smashed against a wall, but his baby child. He was however not convicted of murder or culpable homicide (i.e. manslaughter) on the basis that he was not aware of his actions and as such was not criminally responsible. However he was ordered by the court to never sleep in the same room as anyone ever again!
ReplyAfter moving into my new home with my roommates, I sleptwalked into their room, and just stood their all night. At five in the morning they woke up, and realized I was just standing there. They finally woke me up, and it was probably the creepiest thing in the f*****g world to happen to me. And them.
ReplyI once woke up, walked over to my roommate's bed, and started spouting s**t about how he was the spanish devil. They probably were fine.
When i was young my dad slept walked occasionally. One time he came out into my living room in his undies. My mom asked him what he was doing and he just shouts "God damnit! Im looking for the potty machine." He then pissed himself.
ReplyI LOL'd at your comment, and then again when I read your username.
Speaking as someone wider than he is tall. Kevin Federline is a big fat pig these days.
ReplyI have quite a bit of trouble sleeping and have taken Ambien for extended periods of time. It is a very strange medication, at least for me. Its side effects are comparable to some narcotics, in my opinion. Its almost like the hour or two before you fall asleep from it are completely wiped from memory. If you did anything during the night, I can definitely see how someone wouldn't remember it. It's even worse than not remembering things from a night of heavy drinking. It lowers or removes any anxiety that you may have, just in general, and lets your mind convince itself that your thoughts about anything are more reasonable than they actually are. It also seems to greatly increase your appetite momentarily. Interesting drug, I will be surprised if it remains legal considering what is illegal now.
Reply