Sleep Paralysis

When I was around eight, I think I had this type of thing, though my memory is so cloudy that I cannot remembe whether or not it was an actual dream. I was certainly paralysed, whether it was purely psychological or not.

Basically, I was in my bed, and everything in my room was completely normal — nothing surreal at all. Then, this blow-up skeleton in the corner of my room which I had a general mild fear of (as you do when a child) came to life, and slowly moved towards me; it was the slowness which truly traumatized me. I mean, we're talking some seriously intense fear here: how would you react if you saw a skeleton moving towards you at an incredibly slow pace while unable to move?

I recall being aware of my mother in the bathroom next door, and trying to scream for her but couldn't; I was just unable to produce a sound. I think at some point I either woke up or snapped out of it, and never mentioned it to anybody as I always assumed it was just a nightmare. Not happened since though, as far as I'm aware!

Jam it back in, in the dark.