Info On The Old Hag Or Sleep Paralysis Experience

[hodge]

I hope I'm posting this in the right place. Some of us have been talking about our sleep paralysis experiences, so I thought I'd post this for everyone's benefit. Sometimes called the Old Hag experience, this is when you wake up paralyzed with the strong sense that something is on top of you. It's quite disturbing. My husband's written a bit about it, but had no advice for avoiding it or dealing with it. However, a colleague of his has written a book all about this : http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/918.html

Hmm, okay, maybe I can't post the link. It's called The Terror That Comes in the Night
An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions and it's by folklorist David Hufford.

Caution, however, it is disturbing reading.

 

[Lionheart]

Based on my personal experiences; what I have read over the years by a third degree priestess of the black forest clan; Silver RavenWolf, and being a member of a solitary tradition known as the mist tradition,...there is something called the "Ocular voice" in which one screams or moans out at the offending hallucination (entity) and it will cut it to pieces, awaking the sleeper, and ending the night terror.

Of course science may explain it as indigestion or hypnogogic hallucination, but that doesn't really matter, what matters is what works. I have had the OHS / SP several times in the past and the Ocular voice worked for me until the Old Hag Syndrome / Sleep paralysis stopped completely....I bet the book you mentioned would be an interesting read for me and I will have to have a look around for it!

Thanks for the thread and for allowing me to share my rather unorthodox point of view.

 

[hodge]

That's really interesting, Lionheart. I believe whatever works is good. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[Cerulean Synapse]

I have had the Old hag experience. But I was able to defend myself and call it off and scream from my third eye. It seemed to go away after that and I was able to move again.

 

[hodge]

Awesome, Cerulean!

 

[Deleted member 28403]

I just see all those people talking about sleep paralysis and concious dreaming, and also vivid dreams, and I never had any. Never been in control of my dreams either, would like to try some though.

 

[Neverthesame]

I have had this happen a few times over the years. But not for quite some time now.

I figured out that it was (at least for me) caused by taking an opiate painkiller right before bed. When I stopped doing that it stopped happening.

It scared the shit out of me the first couple of times. Once I had figured out what was happening, and that it wasn't dangerous. (It was still frightening during the episode, but once I was awake and orientated it was easy to let go).

I totally understand why someone would think it was aliens abducting them or something. I could have sworn someone was holding me down. It didn't feel like just a paraesthesia.

I am no stranger to waking up with random things going numb during the night. For example, I often fall asleep with one or both of my arms resting above my head. When I wake up an hour or so later, the whole thing is numb from the shoulder to the fingers. Nerve entrapment I think, no pins and needles feeling after. And I'm rambling... whoops.

Anyways, the question I have is how long does it last for other people? My experiences lasted for max 5 seconds. About the time it takes for the adrenaline to make it to the brain and wake me up fully. Then the big black weight would lift.