CHAPTER 3 | SLEEP PARALYSIS

                                    "nightmares" by Joe Thorn is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

  

 Have you ever woken up, but found yourself unable to move? Maybe it lasted a long time, maybe it was only a few minutes. Maybe you felt like somebody was sitting on your chest, or hovering over your head. Maybe you found yourself afraid you'd never really wake up, or that your soul would be stolen by a demon.

This is an experience known as sleep paralysis. 

There appears to be a perfectly mundane explanation to this phenomenon. It includes losing control of your muscles, and can sometimes include hallucinations. Apparently, 8% of people have experienced sleep paralysis in some form, with some studies estimating that 60% of people have experienced this.

Some people report seeing an entity of sorts, sometimes referred to as a "sleep paralysis demon". Oftentimes this entity is described as a hag: a scary looking old woman, or a monster sitting on your chest, suffocating you. Is this really just a trick of the mind? Or could something really be attacking you in your sleep?

Hags and Demons

                                             "Sleep Paralysis" by kbetart is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

I personally don't think actual demons are going after you when you experience sleep paralysis. But people around the world have different takes on the subject. Because sleep paralysis is experienced by people in a variety of cultures, cultural interpretations of the phenomenon vary and often point to real entities. 

In one study which looked at the experiences of Cambodian refugees, those who had experienced sleep paralysis attributed it to "sorcery assault" and "ghost assault". Yikes. In Brazil, you'll find people blaming Pisadeira, a female entity which sits on you and leaves you out of breath. The Inuit people interpret sleep paralysis as uqumangirniq, attributed to the vulnerability of a person's soul while asleep, which can include out of body experiences and shamans casting spells. 

While I don't think sleep paralysis is caused by any sort of magic or entity, I find it so fascinating that cultures all over the world have come to similar conclusions about sleep paralysis. I can't blame anyone for believing that another person, demon, or ghost is attacking them, because sleep paralysis can be absolutely terrifying!

Aliens

 

                                              "ufo" by LUDOVIC. R is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Could sleep paralysis be caused by....aliens? Or are aliens caused by sleep paralysis?

Some researchers think that alien abduction experiences may not actually include real aliens at all. Maybe people reporting alien abduction have actually just hallucinated an alien being during a sleep paralysis episode. Instead of the witches of old, today's alien boogeyman has taken over the blame for sleep paralysis. 

I think this is a really interesting connection. I never would have considered that alien abduction stories are actually sleep paralysis episodes, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Hallucinations, feelings of fear, and being unable to move? Add in our modern fascination with space and aliens, and the widespread alien abduction narrative, and we have the perfect recipe for our brains to mess with us. 

Experiences

I recently had my first (and - fingers crossed - only) bout of sleep paralysis. I was laying in bed with my partner, and I woke up but I couldn't move. I felt a terrifying presence behind me, but that was not the scariest part. The way that I was laying down, my nose and mouth were up against my partner's back, and I was having trouble breathing due to that. However, I couldn't do anything about it, because I couldn't move! I was less afraid of the alleged hag waiting for a chance to sit on my chest, than I was of suffocating to death because my airways were legitimately restricted. I was very panicked, however I mentally recited some mantras which helped me to "snap out of it", and I was able to move before anything disastrous happened. 

 

I asked some friends if they'd ever had sleep paralysis. A few have. One told me she had the "old hag" experience, that she felt like she was going to die. There was no visual hallucination, but it was absolutely terrifying. 

My boyfriend has had many bouts of sleep paralysis and says that "generally it is a very terrifying experience". He says that when it gets really bad, you cannot move at all, you cannot breathe, and you can't make any noise. He describes the feeling as one of drowning. I asked if he had hallucinations during these experiences, and he mentioned the room looking like it was underwater, or even seeing himself in a totally different room with rune-like symbols on the walls.

Lots of people have shared their experiences online. Some people see silhouettes while others see Disney characters. Some people don't see anything, but hear voices. 

I think this is a strange phenomenon that continues to make me anxious despite knowing that it is (most likely) entirely mundane and harmless. Real or not, feeling like you can't move, and seeing or hearing things that aren't there, is terrifying. 

 

Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis?

 

 

Say hi to your sleep paralysis demon for me, and sleep well. 

 

-Wren