I can explain the choking ghost, actually. Were you in your room when it happened? You might have been experiencing sleep paralysis. It's harmless, and a lot of people have it.
Basically, when you're asleep, most of the muscles in your body shut down to keep you from thrashing around too much and hurting yourself. This also includes your breathing muscles. You're still breathing, of course, but not in the manner that you do when you're awake.
Sleep paralysis occurs when your brain starts to wake up before your body does. It feels like you can't breathe because you can't control your breathing like you normally do, and you feel like you can't move because your body is still shut down for sleep. And there are often vivid hallucinations, because you're still dreaming even though you're partially awake.
It's pretty scary but ultimately harmless. It used to happen to me quite often. I found it was much more likely to happen if I got up and did something (like go to an 8:30 class) and then returned to bed for an hour or two more of sleep. And I rarely have the luxury of doing that anymore.
Updated On: 2/4/08 at 01:52 PM