This experience happened when I was about seven months pregnant, and it remains the most terrifying night of my life.
I live in Bandar Abbas, and until that night, I had never experienced anything remotely like it.
One night, while I was asleep beside my husband, I suddenly woke in the middle of the night with an overwhelming feeling that someone was standing beside the bed, watching me.
I slowly looked toward the foot of the bed.
What I saw made my blood run cold.
Standing there was… me.
The woman looked exactly like me, but she was wearing a colorful traditional Bandari dress—something I didn’t own.
For a few sleepy seconds, I convinced myself I must be looking into a mirror.
Then I realized there was no mirror anywhere near the bed.
The figure didn’t move.
She simply stood there, staring directly at me with an unsettling expression.
The moment I understood what I was looking at, an intense wave of fear swept through my body.
I tried to move.
I couldn’t.
I tried to wake my husband.
I couldn’t do that either.
It felt as though my entire body had become frozen.
The only thing I could move was my eyes.
The figure never looked away.
Her stare felt so overwhelming that all I wanted to do was turn my face, but I couldn’t.
Finally, I squeezed my eyes shut.
The instant I did, I felt something horrifying.
It was as if the figure’s face was suddenly right against mine.
I could feel what seemed like warm breath on my face.
My heart pounded so hard that I thought it would burst from my chest.
I struggled to breathe.
I don’t know where the strength came from, but somehow I managed to scream.
The moment I screamed, I could move again.
Everything happened so fast that I still can’t explain it.
There was a narrow ledge above the head of our bed.
According to my husband, by the time he woke up, I was already curled up on that ledge, clinging to the wall in sheer terror.
He tried to help me back onto the bed, but I wouldn’t let go.
He later told me that I couldn’t speak at all.
Every time he came closer, I screamed even louder.
Eventually, he managed to calm me enough to get me back onto the bed.
For nearly an hour, he sat beside me, asking what had happened.
I couldn’t answer.
I simply stared blankly into the room, still trying to process what I had seen.
Only after my heartbeat finally slowed and I regained my composure was I able to tell him everything.
My husband stayed awake for the rest of the night, sitting beside me until sunrise.
Although nothing like that ever happened again, I remained deeply frightened for the rest of my pregnancy.
After my baby was born, I told our elderly neighbor—who was also a religious scholar—about the experience.
He listened carefully before offering an explanation based on local folklore.
He believed I had encountered Al, a supernatural being from Persian folklore that is traditionally said to target pregnant women and newborn children. According to him, it had not come for me personally but was believed to be seeking my unborn child.
Whether that explanation was true or not, I have no way of knowing.
All I know is that I have never forgotten the night I woke to find someone who looked exactly like me standing silently at the foot of my bed.