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]
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dreaming: a conceptual framework for philosophy of mind and empirical research | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming | 2015 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Varieties of Lucid Dreaming Experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Experimental Research on Dreaming: State of the Art and Neuropsychoanalytic Perspectives | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Neurobiology of Consciousness: Lucid Dreaming Wakes Up | 2009 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 15
- A systematic review of variables associated with sleep paralysis Sleep Medicine Reviews June 8, 2017
- Medical Condition, Demon or Undead Corpse? Sleep Paralysis and the Nightmare in Medieval Europe Social History of Medicine March 4, 2015
- The Terrors of the Night: Charms against the Nightmare and the Mythology of Dreams Incantatio An International Journal on Charms Charmers and Charming 2017
- The Sleep Paralysis Nightmare, Wrathful Deities, and the Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious Psychological Perspectives January 2, 2020
- The Polish Nightmare Being (Zmora) and the Problem with Defining the Category of Supernatural Double-Souled Beings Folklore January 2, 2023
and 10 more in the library
Cites 7
- Parasomnias decline during pregnancy. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica March 2002
- Questionnaire relating to sleep paralysis Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences June 1, 2001
- Relations among hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences associated with sleep paralysis Journal of Sleep Research December 1, 1999
- Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations during sleep paralysis: neurological and cultural construction of the night-mare. Consciousness and Cognition September 1, 1999
- Sleep paralysis in the elderly Journal of Sleep Research June 1, 1999
and 2 more in the library