--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I felt an absolutely indescribable sense…" description: "\"I felt an absolutely indescribable sense of menace. It was hell on earth to be there [in the presence of the entities], and yet I couldn't move, couldn..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/095/whitley-strieber-23318_agony_i-felt-an-absolutely-indescribable-sense_2249816.jpg" --- # I felt an absolutely indescribable sense of menace. It was… ![“I felt an absolutely indescribable sense of menace. It was hell on earth to be there [in the presence of the entities], and yet I couldn't move, couldn't cry out, couldn't get away. I'd lay as still as death, suffering inner agonies. Whatever was there seemed so monstrously ugly, so filthy and…” quote by Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/095/whitley-strieber-23318_agony_i-felt-an-absolutely-indescribable-sense_2249816.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/095/whitley-strieber-23318_agony_i-felt-an-absolutely-indescribable-sense_2249816.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/095/whitley-strieber-23318_agony_i-felt-an-absolutely-indescribable-sense_2249816.jpg) > “I felt an absolutely indescribable sense of menace. It was hell on earth to be there \[in the presence of the entities\], and yet I couldn't move, couldn't cry out, couldn't get away. I'd lay as still as death, suffering inner agonies. Whatever was there seemed so monstrously ugly, so filthy and dark and sinister. Of course they were demons. They had to be. And they were here and I couldn't get away.” [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A terrifying encounter with malevolent forces leaves the narrator paralyzed and overwhelmed by dread. **In simple terms:** Extreme fear and helplessness in a nightmarish situation. Key Takeaway Recognize and confront overwhelming fear. Themes fear paralysis supernatural terror Mood anxious intense foreboding Type narrative personal horror When to use this quote - haunted house - nightmare - psychic attack - spiritual crisis Key Concepts psychology existential dread survival Questions to Reflect On - How do you respond when fear freezes you? - What can break the paralysis of terror? A Different Perspective The description may exaggerate supernatural elements, limiting practical coping strategies. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Agony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/agony/) [Cry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cry/) [Dark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark/) [Demon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/demon/) [Demons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/demons/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Hell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hell/) [Hell on earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hell-on-earth/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) [Ufo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ufo/) ## Related quotes > [I cannot help thinking that the menace of Hell makes as many devils as the severe penal codes of inhuman humanity make villains.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/i-cannot-help-thinking-that-the-menace-of-hell-makes-as-many-devils/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [“We had a secret knowledge that demons couldn't fathom. They saw love as a weakness, but they were wrong. Love would keep us going,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-higgins/we-had-a-secret-knowledge-that-demons-couldn-t-fathom-they-saw-love/) [Wendy Higgins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-higgins/) > [“They Served ...reliving memories that will not die giving their all for you and I - friends taken lives shaken...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muse/they-served-reliving-memories-that-will-not-die-giving-their-all-for/) [Muse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muse/) > [“Terrorism was like heroin – once a lonely, desperate soul was hooked on it, he or she became a fanatic – radicalized they call…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-eade/terrorism-was-like-heroin-once-a-lonely-desperate-soul-was-hooked-on/) [Kenneth Eade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-eade/) > [“If there's a Hell on Earth, it's high school.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-desrochers/if-there-s-a-hell-on-earth-it-s-high-school/) [Lisa Desrochers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-desrochers/) > [“...but what makes earth feel like Hell is our expectation that it should feel like Heaven. Earth is Earth. Dead is dead. You'll find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/but-what-makes-earth-feel-like-hell-is-our-expectation-that-it-should/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [“Drive. He’s already dead.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-ramirez/drive-he-s-already-dead/) [Steven Ramirez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-ramirez/) > [“He will take this hell on earth and someday show us how hell was building heaven.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennie-allen/he-will-take-this-hell-on-earth-and-someday-show-us-how-hell-was/) [Jennie Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennie-allen/) > [When people use the word hell, what do they mean? They mean a place, an event, a situation absent of how God desires things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-bell/when-people-use-the-word-hell-what-do-they-mean-they-mean-a-place-an/) [Rob Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-bell/) > [“Remember. Observe, assess and act. No hesitation. No remorse.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-ramirez/remember-observe-assess-and-act-no-hesitation-no-remorse/) [Steven Ramirez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-ramirez/) > [What has always made a Hell on earth has been that man has tried to make it his Heaven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-h-lderlin/what-has-always-made-a-hell-on-earth-has-been-that-man-has-tried-to/) [Friedrich Holderlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-h-lderlin/) > [ The report \[by a UN commission on Darfur\] demonstrates beyond all doubt that the last two years have been little short of hell on… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kofi-annan/the-report-by-a-un-commission-on-darfur-demonstrates-beyond-all-doubt/) [Kofi Annan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kofi-annan/) > [“I don’t know how these things died without benefit of a bullet to the brain pan. They seemed to exist in an eternal twilight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-ramirez/i-don-t-know-how-these-things-died-without-benefit-of-a-bullet-to-the/) [Steven Ramirez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-ramirez/) > [“I thought if I loved you enough I could change you. I was so stupid.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-ramirez/i-thought-if-i-loved-you-enough-i-could-change-you-i-was-so-stupid/) [Steven Ramirez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-ramirez/) > [Where you have no religion, you are sure to have no government, for as religion disappears, anarchy takes place and fixes a compleat Hell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-morgan/where-you-have-no-religion-you-are-sure-to-have-no-government-for-as/) [Daniel Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-morgan/) ## More by Whitley Strieber > [“Whomever or whatever the visitors are, their activities go far beyond a mere study of mankind. They are involved with us on very deep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/whomever-or-whatever-the-visitors-are-their-activities-go-far-beyond/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [A real stunner. Want to get swept up on a journey you will never forget and never quite escape? Open THE RITUAL OF ILLUSION…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/a-real-stunner-want-to-get-swept-up-on-a-journey-you-will-never/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [“I think he's wonderful and strange and kind of like a poem.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/i-think-he-s-wonderful-and-strange-and-kind-of-like-a-poem/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [In them was not the savage blankness of the reptile species. Instead there was something far worse - burning, unquenchable rage mixed with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/in-them-was-not-the-savage-blankness-of-the-reptile-species-instead/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [Everytime someone ends a prayer in the Western world they say Amen - that is the name of an Egyptian god associated with completion.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/everytime-someone-ends-a-prayer-in-the-western-world-they-say-amen/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [I became entirely given over to extreme dread. The fear was so powerful that it seemed to make my personality completely evaporate... 'Whitley' ceased…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/i-became-entirely-given-over-to-extreme-dread-the-fear-was-so/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [I put the copy of 'A Christmas Carol' that my grandfather had first read to me 60 years ago on my desk, and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/i-put-the-copy-of-a-christmas-carol-that-my-grandfather-had-first/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [In a reality made of energy, thoughts may literally be things. What if it was intended that we create our own realities after death?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/in-a-reality-made-of-energy-thoughts-may-literally-be-things-what-if/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [I wondered if I might not be in the grip of demons, if they were not making me suffer for their own purposes, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/i-wondered-if-i-might-not-be-in-the-grip-of-demons-if-they-were-not/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [Why were my visitors so secretive, hiding themselves behind my consciousness. I could only conclude that they were using me and did not want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/why-were-my-visitors-so-secretive-hiding-themselves-behind-my/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [The upheavals of adolescence silenced 'A Christmas Carol' for a few years. I became a firebrand atheist. Christmas - humbug! Too commercial! Then I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/the-upheavals-of-adolescence-silenced-a-christmas-carol-for-a-few/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [No doubt, I wont be believed, and thats all right, because, in a sense, it leaves me free in ways that belief would not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/no-doubt-i-wont-be-believed-and-thats-all-right-because-in-a-sense-it/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [“This time, there was the ghost of a reptile in Szatson's smile. 'I don't handle little problems.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/this-time-there-was-the-ghost-of-a-reptile-in-szatson-s-smile-i-don-t/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [“If I look into the wings, I can see Mom standing like a statue, Medea or Lady Macbeth, one of those tragic horrors, her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/if-i-look-into-the-wings-i-can-see-mom-standing-like-a-statue-medea/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [I'm not so sure that horror should be dismissed as something less than literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/i-m-not-so-sure-that-horror-should-be-dismissed-as-something-less/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) [Explore all 26 Whitley Strieber quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) ## More Agony quotes > [Many Republicans have always reminded me of professional WWF wrestlers. They come into the ring all pumped up and acting like they're invincible and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-feig/many-republicans-have-always-reminded-me-of-professional-wwf/) [Paul Feig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-feig/) > [“aaron would not come out aaron entered into agony.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-goldman/aaron-would-not-come-out-aaron-entered-into-agony/) [William Goldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-goldman/) > [ “\[W\]e must learn to accommodate ourselves to the discovery that some of those cunningly-fashioned instruments called human souls have only a very limited range… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/w-e-must-learn-to-accommodate-ourselves-to-the-discovery-that-some-of/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [As we look upon that agony and those tearful prayers, let us not only look with thankfulness; but let that kneeling Saviour teach us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-maclaren/as-we-look-upon-that-agony-and-those-tearful-prayers-let-us-not-only/) [Alexander MacLaren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-maclaren/) > [Love masters agony; the soul that seemed Forsaken feels her present God again And in her Father's arms Contented dies away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keble/love-masters-agony-the-soul-that-seemed-forsaken-feels-her-present/) [John Keble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keble/) > [I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franklin-d-roosevelt/i-have-seen-war-i-have-seen-war-on-land-and-sea-i-have-seen-blood/) [Franklin D. Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franklin-d-roosevelt/) > [“Anger was a reliable defense, but one that allowed no chance of final victory. Anger was a medicine but never a cure, briefly numbing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-koontz/anger-was-a-reliable-defense-but-one-that-allowed-no-chance-of-final/) [Dean Koontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-koontz/) > [The cure is in the house, not brought by other hands from distant places, but by its own, in agony and blood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/the-cure-is-in-the-house-not-brought-by-other-hands-from-distant/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [Sometimes, a lie is told in kindness. I don't believe it ever works kindly. The quick pain of truth can pass away, but the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/sometimes-a-lie-is-told-in-kindness-i-don-t-believe-it-ever-works/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [The young man shivered. He rolled the stock themes of fantasy over in his mind: cars and stockbrokers and commuters, housewives and police, agony…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/the-young-man-shivered-he-rolled-the-stock-themes-of-fantasy-over-in/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [Being ill like this combines shock - this time I will die - with a pain and agony that are unfamiliar, that wrench me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-brodkey/being-ill-like-this-combines-shock-this-time-i-will-die-with-a-pain/) [Harold Brodkey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-brodkey/) > [One often learns more from ten days of agony than ten years of contentment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/merle-shain/one-often-learns-more-from-ten-days-of-agony-than-ten-years-of/) [Merle Shain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/merle-shain/) > [There’s been a problem, a problem eating away at me from the inside out. I’ve become weak, I’ve shown human compassion, and it has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kane/there-s-been-a-problem-a-problem-eating-away-at-me-from-the-inside/) [Kane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kane/) > [Pay special attention to their agony so I might take some pleasure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/euripides/pay-special-attention-to-their-agony-so-i-might-take-some-pleasure/) [Euripides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/euripides/) > [Die, enemies of Ra!" Sekhemet yelled. "Perish in agony!" "She's almost as annoying as you," I told Horus. "Impossible," Horus said. "No one bests…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-riordan/die-enemies-of-ra-sekhemet-yelled-perish-in-agony-she-s-almost-as/) [Rick Riordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-riordan/) [Browse all 813 Agony quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/agony/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I felt an absolutely indescribable sense of menace. 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