The Nightmare Experience, Sleep Paralysis, and Witchcraft Accusations
Folklore 2003 DOI: 10.1080/0015587032000104211 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Citations | 45 |
| Key points | Argues that historical accounts of nocturnal oppression by witches correspond to the modern condition of sleep paralysis, and that integrating medical and historical evidence improves understanding of both. |
Abstract
Witch-trial records, and other early-modern writings on witchcraft, reveal that in various European societies people complained of being physically oppressed at night by witches and other supernatural beings, the victims of these nocturnal assaults describing a similar set of symptoms. Contemporary English authors termed the experience the "mare" or "nightmare." In the twentieth century, it has been identified as a manifestation of "sleep paralysis." Medical studies and surveys of the condition help us make better sense of the historical accounts, while an awareness of the historical evidence illuminates modern reports of sleep paralysis experiences. [1]