Home » Mind & Soul » Paranormal Behaviour » Hag Syndrome, the Horror that Strikes During Sleep

Hag Syndrome, the Horror that Strikes During Sleep

© Jill Stefko

The experiences of Old Hag Syndrome, something that happens during sleep stages, vary. There is a paranormal element to them. These are some that are common to these attacks. Sudden awakening.... Unseen pressure on chest.... They try to struggle, scream or move, but experience paralysis. Some victims report auditory and visual phenomena. They have heard footsteps before the attack, seeing monstrous shapes, hearing rasping breathing and/or smelling repulsive odors. Victims may sense an unnatural presence.

Galen, the Greek physician, believed Old Hag Syndrome was linked with indigestion. He wrote about this in the second century. This is still theorized. Other theoretical causes are circulatory problems or stagnation of blood, caused by lying in one position too long, sleep disorders and repressed sexual conflicts. These cannot explain all attacks. Science has no explanations for the causes of the attacks and why they happen.

Most common are those people who experience attacks once or occasionally with recurrences happening months or years later. Sometimes, people are victimized by these attacks repeatedly for a week or two. The rarest are people who have frequent chronic attacks for long periods of time.

Old Hag attacks can happen at night and during the day.

David Hufford has written the most comprehensive book, The Terror that Comes in the Night, about the Old Hag Syndrome. When he began this work, he thought it would take a few months and the result would be one article. It took him almost ten years of research and the result was his book, which considers beliefs about spiritual evil that are universal from the perspective of scientific research about sleep paralysis.

He is a Professor of Medical Humanities and has joint appointments in Behavioral Science and Family Medicine, at the Penn State College of Medicine. Hufford is Director of the Doctors Kienle Center for Humanistic Medicine. At University of Pennsylvania, he is an adjunct professor of religious studies and a faculty member in the Master in Bioethics Program.

Hufford began his research in the Old Hag Syndrome when he was a member of the faculty in the Folklore Department of Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1971. He discovered that beliefs and reports of the paranormal, such as ghosts, omens, Will-o'-the-Wisp, ghost ships death omens and others were common and found in many cultures.

He discovered many of the islanders were familiar with the Old Hag Syndrome. One person said it was like someone was holding a person down when he was sleeping. There was paralysis and all he could do was scream. People believed that a person would die if not awakened.

The copyright of the article Hag Syndrome, the Horror that Strikes During Sleep in Paranormal Behaviour is owned by . Permission to republish Hag Syndrome, the Horror that Strikes During Sleep in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.