Sleep Paralysis ~ "They" come in the night

 

Sleep paralysis, definition: 

During the process of waking up or falling asleep, you're suddenly unable to move. Your body becomes paralyzed as if an unseen weight is upon you. You may be unable to move your arms or legs, body, and head. You can breathe and think, but you may be unable to speak.

My mother, myself, and one of my daughters have experienced this strange phenomena.  As I was researching for this blog post, I realized that the mundane medical field has a pat explanation for the experience, which of course is centered in the science of their fields.  However, when you have experienced sleep paralysis yourself, and when you hear other people's experiences, it opens the door for explanations that are far from mundane.  For those of us who believe in the paranromal and have had other experiences of this nature, besides sleep paralysis, it is very clear that this is a supernatural experience, not a medical event.  And who is right?  You tell me.

First, our experiences:

My mother

She was laying in bed beside my sleeping step-father, tucked in cozy beneath the quilts and comforter, stretched out full length, with her feet near the end of the bed.  She said that suddenly something grabbed ahold of both of her feet and began to pull her slowly down to the end of the bed.  She said she could feel the sheets and blankets as she was sliding through them.  She was aware of my step-father as she was sliding past him, but she could not move to free herself and she could not call out for help.  She told me that before she began to physcially be pulled off the end of the bed, she used monumental concentation and physcial strength to kick off whatever was holding her feet.  This experience terrified my mother.  It's an experience that was always as sharp and unforgettable to her as if it just happened.  After this event, she was afraid to sleep stretched out, with her feet near the end of the bed.

My daughter

My daughter was also in bed, tucked in with her husband in the middle of the night, when she heard something that sounded like a noise at their front door.  She thought for a brief panicky moment that they had forgotten to lock the front door and there was an intruder in their house.  When she went to turn and wake her husband, she discovered that she could neither move nor speak.  She lay frozen as she watched a black shadow figure of a man wearing a hat wander through the house, passing their bedroom door several times.  She said that it took monumental effort of both concentration and physical strength to break the paralysis, and once she did, the figure was gone.  She adamantly states that she was not asleep, that there was no "waking up" period when the experience ended, that she was completely totally awake and conscious throughout the entire event, beginning, middle, and end.

My experience

I was tucked into my large cozy bed all by myself in the upstairs bedroom of my grandmother's house, laying on my right side, the blankets pulled up around my chin.  Suddenly, I felt a hot breath on my left ear and heard a whispered voice saying, "Call me if you need me."  This was repeated several times, and each time it was spoken I felt the hot air on my ear.  The voice was familiar, it was the voice of the man that I was dating at the time, but I knew that this was not really him.  I felt the negative evil energy, and I was scared to death.  I started reciting every childhood prayer I could think of, over and over.  Then I felt the bed raise up off the floor, shaking and unsteady, when it was dropped back in place.  This happened several times, over and over.   I couldn't move, but I could close my eyes, and so I did, very tightly, refusing to look at whatever was in my room, and refusing to answer the voice.  I continued reciting the prayers that I knew at the time, concentraing hard on doing this, until I don't remember anything anymore.  When I got up the next morning, I actually walked around the large bed to look at the bed posts and see if they had moved from their original positions.

• Is sleep paralysis related to evil?

Rarely is sleep paralysis linked to deep underlying psychiatric problems. Over the centuries, symptoms of sleep paralysis have been described in many ways and were often attributed to an "evil" presence: unseen night demons in ancient times, the old hag in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and alien abductors.

• The night hag

The night hag, or old hag, is the name given to a supernatural creature, commonly associated with the phenomenon of sleep paralysis. It is a phenomenon in which a person feels the presence of a supernatural malevolent being which immobilizes the person, as if sitting on their chest or the foot of their bed. The word "night-mare" or "nightmare" was used to describe this phenomenon before the word received its modern more general meaning.  Various cultures have various names for this phenomenon and supernatural character.

• Folklore

During the Salem witch trials several people reported night-attacks by various alleged witches, including Bridget Bishop, that may have been caused by sleep paralysis.

In Mexico, it is believed that this is caused by the spirit of a dead person. This ghost lies down upon the body of the sleeper, rendering them unable to move. People refer to this as "subirse el muerto" (dead person on you).

In many parts of the Southern United States, the phenomenon is known as a hag, and the event is said to portend an approaching tragedy or accident.

In Newfoundland, it is known as the "Old Hag". In island folklore, the Hag can be summoned to attack a third party, like a curse. In his 1982 book, The Terror that Comes in the Night, David J. Hufford writes that in local culture the way to call the Hag is to recite the Lord's Prayer backwards.

In contemporary western culture the phenomenon of supernatural assault are thought to be the work of what are known as shadow people. Victims report primarily three different entities:  1. a man with a hat, 2. the old hag, 3. a hooded figure. 

Sleep paralysis, in combination with hallucinations, has long been suggested as a possible explanation for reported alien abduction.

In Brazil, there is a legend about a mythological being called the pisadeira ("she who steps"). She is described as a tall, skinny old woman with long dirty nails in dried toes, white tangled hair, a long nose, staring red eyes, greenish teeth, and an evil laugh. She lives on the roof tops, waiting to step on the chest of those who sleep with a full stomach.

• The scientific explanation of sleep paralysis

Evidence suggests that sleep paralysis is caused by an overlap of REM sleep and wakefulness. The hallucinations accompanying the sleep paralysis are “identical to hypnagogic hallucinations and are probably a consequence of dream imagery occurring during wakefulness”