Nightmares and nocturnal attacks have been closely connected
to myths and monsters across time and cultures. It has even been
even suggested that the night-mare is the origin of all mythology
(see Kirby, 1901). Although few modern scholars would be quite
so bold or sweeping in their claims the pervasiveness of the
nocturnal attack in mythology, religion, and legend is quite
striking. Ardat lili or Lilitu, an evil Sumerian spirit, is one
of the earliest Hag-demons. She was capable of flying, which
she preferred to do at night, at which time she frequently attacked
men in their sleep. She is thought to constitute the prototype
for the Hebrew Lilith and the Roman Lamia (Russell, 1995). All
these female spirits or demons have in common an association
with nocturnal attacks. Moreover there are a number of related
spirits described in Middle Eastern and European lore with connotations
of leaping upon, oppressing, or crushing, supine individuals
as they attempt to sleep at night. Some of the better-known spirits
of this sort are; Greek ephialtes (one who leaps upon) and mora
(the night "mare" or monster, ogre, spirit, etc.), Roman incubus
(one who presses or crushes), German mar/mare, nachtmahr, Hexendrücken
(witch pressing), and Alpdruck (elf pressure); Czech muera, Polish
zmora, Russian Kikimora, French cauchmar (trampling ogre), Old
English maere (mab, mair, mare-hag), hagge, (evil spirit or the
night-mare--also hegge, haegtesse, haehtisse, haegte); Old Norse
mara, Old Irish mar/more, Newfoundland Ag Rog (Old Hag), and the
Spanish pesadilla ( Keissling, 1977; Hufford, 1982; OED, Roscher,
1900/1979; Sebald, 1978; Thompson, 1957; Ward, 1981). In addition,
the Greeks also had the pnigalion (the choker) and the barychnas
(the heavy breather)troubling would-be sleepers (Keissling, 1977).
In addition to attacking helpless humans at night these creatures
were shape-shifters, able to take on various forms during these
attacks (Keissling, 1977).
Among the writers of European antiquity, Herodotus provides an
early account of an ephialtes who appeared to the wife of King
Ariston of Sparta in the form of the King himself, although it
was itself the spirit of the deceased hero Astrobacus. Horace makes
a reference to a threat whereby a boy claims that if he is killed
he "will attend you as a nocturnal fury; and, a ghost, I will attack your faces
with my hooked talons (for such is the power of those divines, the Manes), and
brooding upon your restless breasts, I will deprive you of repose by terror." In
Greece and Rome, the ephialtes and the incubus were identified with gods and
demons of the forest and woodland, such as, the god Pan (Roman = Faunus), as
well as Satyrs, Sirens, and Silvani (Kiessling, 1977), and even with the goddess
Diana (Russell, 1995). Many of these creatures were depicted as resembling humans
in the upper portions of their bodies and beasts, usually goats or fauns, in
the lower extremities. This association was evidently still quite strong by the
time of Augustine who explicitly associated Pan with the incubus. Pan was particularly
associated with shepherds and goatherds and one may well imagine that the isolated
and rigorous life of such individuals predisposed them to many nocturnal visitations.
Similarly, the succubus Lilith was to be typically to be found in the remote
regions of the desert (Isaiah, 34:12). Pan's attacks were of course associated
with panic. Pan was also more generally seen as the instigator of "dreams and
visions, especially those that produced sudden, violent terror" (Kiessling,
1977, p. 5).
There is also certain classes of angels, "watchers" and "fallen angels," referred
to in the Judeo-Christian traditions, associated with the incubus. Some were
sent to watch over humans, and sometimes became enamoured of human women. The
progeny of such encounters were, however, monsters and demons who further molested
and assaulted helpless sleepers (Kiessling, 1977). Augustine doubted that angels
were the source of incubi, though he had no doubt that the latter existed. "There
is, too, a very general rumor, which many have verified by their own experience,
or which trustworthy persons who have heard the experience of others corroborate,
that sylvans and fauns, who are commonly called "incubi," had often made wicked
assaults upon women, and satisfied their lust upon them; and that certain devils,
called Duses by the Gauls, are constantly attempting and effecting this impurity
is so generally affirmed, that it were impudent to deny it" (ch. 23). Martin
Luther was unequivocal in asserting that, "sunt incubi et succubi daemonis .
. ."
In some traditions these monsters are the descendents of Adam and his first
wife, none other than Lilith herself (Kiesling, 1977). Certain midrashic stories
allege that Cain is an offspring of such a union, in this case between Eve
and the ultimate fallen angel, the devil himself. It is not surprising, therefore,
that Beowulf's foe, the monster Grendel (referred to at least once n that famous
poem by the term maere--Kiessling, 1977) is described in the poem as a descendent
of Cain. Grendel, a cannibalistic devourer of men invariably carries out his
attacks in the dead of night on sleeping men. Prior to Beowulf's confrontation
with Grendel, Hrothgar tells him how previous heroes have been defeated, apparently
because they were unable to remain awake. It is also worth noting that Beowulf
eschews arming himself for the confrontation with Grendal on the grounds that
Grendel does not bear arms. He destroys Grendal as Grendal destroyed men, by
ripping a limb from its socket.
These experiences and their ensuing personification and elaboration are by
no means limited to western culture. In St. Lucia, West Indies, an attack of
kokma comes at a time that the individual is just falling asleep or just waking
up. The sensations include pressure on the chest, inability to move, and anxiety.
The kokma is the spirit of a dead baby that haunts an area, attacking people
in their beds. In a familiar pattern, they jump on the victim's chest and clutch
at the throat. The victim attempts to cry out, or in some other way to get
another's attention, someone that might scare off the kokma. Informants described
the babies clutching at their throats. The notion that the attacks are thought
to be initiated by dead, unbaptized babies is also found in Ireland. "The kokma cannot be controlled,
they grab people just for the hell of it" (Dressler, 1977, cited in Ness, 1978).
In Thailand experiences referred to as Phi um (ghost covered) and phi kau (ghost
possessed) involve pressure, immobility, and something black covering the body.
In Japan kanashibara ("to tie with an iron rope") is a common and widely known
experience (Fukuda, 1993). In Korea, people are afflicted by ka wi nulita ("scissors
pressed"), an experience felt to be brought on by fear. In the Far North one
speaks of agumangia (Inupik) or ukomiarik (Yupik) in which "a soul" tries to
take possession of the paralyzed victim. In Laos, (Lemoine & Mounge, 1983)
da chor is described as follows: "You want to listen, you can't hear; you want
to speak, you are dumb; you want to call out, you cannot; you feel you are dying,
dying; you want to run away. You piss with fear in your sleep" (cited in Firestone,
1985, p. 61). In the Philippines people are afflicted with urum, ngarat (Simons & Hughes,
1985). Among the Hmong of Laos the nightmare spirit is referred to as dab (nightmare)
tsog (evil spirit) or tsog tsuam (evil spirit who crushes, smothers, or presses
upon) (Adler, 1994).
As Hufford (1976) noted almost a quarter-century ago, of the SP night-mare, " (1)
the experience is wide-spread, at least in Western culture; (2) it has been regularly
reported for more than two thousand years; (3) it has been attached to a variety
of narrative frameworks . . . , but regardless of the framework, the experiential
features have remained basically the same; (4) this consistency of detail, apparently
rather independent of tradition, is the most surprising and difficult to account
for" (p. 78). These experiences appear to be widely known in traditional cultures,
in marked contrast to industrialized society. Hufford (1976) found that, among
his Newfoundland participants who had been hagged, half did not know the Old
Hag tradition. This is the same proportion of the entire sample who had not heard
of the tradition. This, of course, quite inconsistent with the cultural source
hypothesis that such experiences are induced by knowledge of cultural traditions.
Subsequent research has made clear that these experiences are by no means limited
to Western cultures. Also striking in this connection is the similarity of the
descriptions of the SP experiences across all cultures, including industrialized
culture which appears to have no commonly accepted popular myths to offer cognitive
support to the experiences. Hufford (1976) makes a fairly convincing connection
between sleep paralysis and "bedroom" alien abductions as described by Keel
(1970). Many others have made this connection since (Baker, 1994, Blackmore,
1998; Spanos, 1994).