Sleep Paralysis Documentary: ‘Old Hag’ Syndrome
Artist's rendition of an "Old Hag"
In this remarkable documentary, cases from all over the globe are told on victims of sleep paralysis or “Old Hag” syndrome. I’ve been reading a lot about sleep paralysis lately and have sympathized with the sufferers of sleep paralysis; but watching them tell their own personal stories in this documentary you are left with a different perspective of the whole situation.
In the western world, we assume that the “Old Hag” syndrome can be easily explained by science. Neurological defects combined with motor/reflex defects can produce paralysis. Add the fact that an individual is waking from a deep sleep (R.E.M) and you get hallucinations. All those events combined create a fearful cocktail of demons and entities attacking you.
In other cultures, this is explained simply by evil forces acting out on a sleeping person.
I’m more inclined to believe the scientific explanation about this phenomenon, but some experiences are so detailed and so vastly different that one is left wondering.
This is a really well done documentary. I hope you guys enjoy watching it as much as I did.
Written by Javier Ortega - javier@ghosttheory.com
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Very interesting phenomena.
I do have to question how that expert was mentioning the rationale of sleep paralysis. Why is it that people feel entities are in the room, and not some kind of phobic fear (insects, animals for instance). I found that the guy was really stretching for it when he mentions that he can see a connection between terror and sex. I can see rape victims associating this, not otherwise.
i experienced sleep paralysis on a few occasions and during one of them i was crawling to a friends room to try to get help, (i thought i was dying, couldnt breath ext.) amd i met a girl crawling just like i was and she said her name was candace. what could this mean?
Yes it happens to me quite often too, but although the “attacks” bother me, nothing bothers me more than there is no one out there who can give a real reason for these experiences. I’ve read hundreds of articles about sleep paralysis, and its always a different story. Some tell you that it is a dream, some say it is supernatural, some say you are hallucinating, and some even denies that this is really happening to people… the ignorance and the stupid guesses out there to what these visions really are, makes it more frightening than the attacks itself. There have to be some expert, doctor etc. etc out there, who knows what this it
I havent experienced this myself but someone i know has. the wierd thing is someone was in the the room whilst it was happening to that person and he see the shadow himself standing over him whilst he couldnt move, so sleep paraylsis isnt really making snese to the both of them as the other person wasnt asleep.
This is the explanation for 95% of all paranormal bedroom phenomena. I’ve been saying it for years. However, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have an open mind and allow for a process.
I have had sleep paralysis my whole life and seen all sorts of hallucinations from crazy insect monsters to strange vibrating entities floating in the air, a strange white light, people touching and attacking me or just doing there own thing. I have also had audio hallucinations of people wispering, screaming, singing, strange high pitch beeping noises and some noises i cant even explain propperly. I have also had out of body experiances and only ever achieved this during sleep paralysis. I dont understand why or how this happens but one thing im sure of is that sleep paralysis is only a frightening experiance if you make it. Ofcourse to the untrained eye sleep paralysis can be horrific and 95% of the time it is. But thats only cos of its symptoms. You are paralized and cant feel your self breathe while being aware lol these three things combined trigger panic and thus your dream like state becomes a nightmare. So try this: concerntrate hard on not being afraid, open your eyes and let the hallucinations happen and just run with it, focus your mind with an overload of positive thoughts and keep telling your self its ok, let go of trying to escape and try your best to relax. I tried these things and a whole new world opened up before my very eyes. The feeling can only be described as pure bliss, I saw no evil entities or monsters attacking me but vibrations of energy blasting off everything in my room, a white light surrounded me that felt pure and good and the feeling of a higher godlike being close by watching over me. Amazing. I just wish I could meet more people who “suffer” from this so I can open their eyes and show them it doesnt have to be scary!!!
p.s I’m looking for poeple who have regular episodes of SP. I would like to compare experiances and learn as much as I can. Sleep Paralysis is so real,I know its all in your head but the fact that the brain can produce such life like experiances shocks me. Im also looking for anyone out there who has woken up before not in SP but normally and all your furniture and your room it self has changed. Only for a few minutes then fades back to your room, this also happens to me, weird!! PLEASE EVERYONE E-MAIL ME ON ILIKECOLD@LIVE.COM thanks!!
I really think it’s a kind of astral projection in a collective lower plane.
To elaborate, when you dream (Reach REM) DMT is released, and DMT makes you hallucinate. There absolutely are planes of existence, you can find evidence in a shitload of esoteric texts, one in particular being the Tibetan Book of the Dead. I’ve experienced the “Old Hag” before, and there is a correlation between THAT hag and Tolache, (Datura/Jimson Weed. By the way NEVER take) or honestly any shamanic plant spirit.
http://firefly.gydja.com/description.html
Shamans are all about different brain states, and the undertow of said states with different realms. Don’t believe in realms? Look at dreams, they are not three dimensional, they are more than that. That’s a different ‘realm’ than in waking life.
“Look at dreams, they are not three dimensional, they are more than that. That’s a different ‘realm’ than in waking life.”
Maybe so but they are still just dreams when you break it all down. Also the Shaman that go into altered states need some type of plant extract (depending on where they are) to attain this “level of consciousness”. Frankly it’s just another way of saying hallucination. Everything that happens is a product of the brain. I shouldn’t say everything as I don’t know for certain but it’s a pretty good bet.
Not trying to rain on any consciousness parades here, just trying to be realistic and logical.
buy into that scientifec nonsense if u want but ive experienced this 3 times, once while someone was in bed next to me and I KNOW ITS SPIRITUAL. THE LAST TIME IT HAPPENED WAS IN BROAD DAY LIGHT [AFTER] A FULL NIGHTS REST WHILE I THOUGHT I WAS IN MY COMFORT ZONE, but earlier that morning before day light i did wake up in paralysis but was able to shake it off so after my alarm woke me round 6 i felt safe and decided to drift back to sleep, only 2 min later i wake up IN PARALYSIS! I NERVOUSLY START REACHING FOR MY BIBLE WHICH WAS IN MY BED DO TO THE ATTACK THAT CAME THE WEEKEND BEFORE win i noticed a red light outlineing my door which was closed. my door was blessed with oil after my last encounter in which my hole room was filled with a red light accompanied by growling and the strong since of a completely evil presence staring at me [by the way, the feeling of terror is not a natural feeling] but in my last encounter it never came thru my annointed door.
ive experienced [paralysis] several times in my life, the first time was very scary but it was still a [natural fear] of not having control of your body, like i said ive had that several times so i instantly new when somthing was different. what some call a [supernatural assault] is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! After my third time of waking up unable to move i didnt fear it anymore, it was nothing to me, but the night i woke up with the intense feeling that someone was in my room was a hole different league! and the fear was unidentifieable because it didnt really feel like it was coming from me, then a shadow appeared in front of my bad. The following weekend was win it really came in full on with a red light and growling, even the feeling of paralysis was intensified in a way id never felt before, on top of that the terror was thru the roof but it wasnt a natural fear cuz i didnt show any fear, i know GOD so i immediately began speaking to it as if it were beneath me
My personal belief is that this spirit can intensify and even induse the natural paralysis feeling, and i also belieive for its on threatening purposes it has the ability to turn up the volume of your natural fear because the second time this thing visited me, even before it came into the room i already felt this extreme terror, it was a few seconds later when i realized i couldnt move like never before [as if i had been druged] and even a few more seconds win i realized the sensation of not being able to speak, also like never before. and the fact that the last time it came for me and was unsuccesful in whatever it wanted to do that night so it tried again the following morning in broad daylight has me convinced [regardless of who doesnt believe] that this thing can control and intensify this state of mind. and for the record, the mind is not only the spirit but it is the key element of your spirit, thats why the mind is so powerful [it is power]
for those atheist and logical thinkers that dont fully understand what your spirit is allow me to explain. YOU ARE YOUR SPIRIT, YOU ARE NOT YOUR PHYSICAL BODY. your the charge in the battery, not the battery which is simply a shell without you in it. your spirit is anything about you that cant be physically touched or seen, for example, a doctor can cut open your head and do whatever he wants to your brain but he cant touch your thoughts, your mind etc, in the same way he can open your chest and toss around your heart but he cant touch your emotions, these arent physical things yet they exist. so in a nut shell anything you got that a dead man aint got is your spirit, your life, U. SO THE SAYING IS TRUE, ITS WHATS ON THE INSIDE THAT COUNTS BECAUSE [U] ARE ON THE INSIDE. BELIEVE IT OR NOT WE ARE ENERGY, WE ARE CONCIOUSNES, WE ARE LIFE! AINT THAT WAY BETTER THEN SIMPLY BEING ACCIDENTS. and for the record we cant be accidents because everything on our body has purpose [think bout it] anything that serves a purpose has a mind behind it [GOD]
Hi. When I was living at home in my parent’s house, I experienced sleep paralysis frequently. It is exactly as what others who experienced it has described it. I had no control over my body. Usually, it would happen as soon as I drifted off to sleep. I find myself unable to move and unable to speak but my mind was still active because I can still think and talk in my head. As I am in this frozen state, I am also having a dream about a realistic event or I can see myself sleeping and then trying to wake up but I can’t. It’s like an out of body experience. Sometimes I see other people there in the dream. My sister and I used to share a room and we slept on the same bed. In the dream, I can see my sister talking to me as I am trying to wake up from this state. The other wierd thing is, my sister used to mutter in her sleep. She was talking in her sleep and it scared me the whole time growing up together because I always sleep with my sister in the same room. Sometimes she would scream or cry in her sleep and that really frightened me. One night, it felt like something cold was pressing down on my chest and my whole upper body. It must have lasted more than a minute. I wasn’t dreaming this time. I was actually awake but could not move. I was fully awake and aware of what was going on. I could move and I couldn’t scream for help, I needed someone to physically wake me up. I could hear. And I heard a loud, annoying scream or moan which felt like a lot of pressure against my ears. I wanted to open my eyes, and I could. When I opened my eyes I could see anything but I also still couldn’t move and it scared me so I closed my eyes again. I was praying in my head for me to have the strenght to wake up on my own. When I finally woke up, I sat straight up in my bed. My nipples were hard (I’m not trying to be funny, it really was hard and I don’t understand why). I also had cold sweats. I slept in my room with the lights on for about a month and then I slept in the living room for about a week with my parents. Still, I had sleep paralysis, but never had the same chilling incidence again. I am still really paranoid about what happened. Want to know something else? Ever since I moved out of my parents’ house, I don’t get sleep paralysis often. I think I’ve only had sleep paralysis twice in the last two years.