Talk:Sleep paralysis

Sleep Paralysis
Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain awakes from a REM state, but the body paralysis persists. This leaves the person fully conscious but unable to move. The paralysis can last from several seconds to several minutes "by which the individual may experience panic symptoms and the realization that the distorted perceptions were false".

Sleep paralysis is often accompanied by vivid hallucinations of dark, ghostly shapes, which, accompanied by the inability to move can distress the victim. This ties in with various folk myths such as succubae and hags which sit on the chest of their victims. Indeed, its Chinese name translates as "Ghost pressing on your body" William Cook has suggested that some of the phenomena mentioned in the Salem Witch Trials can be explained by sleep paralysis.

So, in the middle of the night, you awaken to find a dark shape oppressing you, a dark shape which paralyses you with fear, a dark shape....

Ghost or sleep paralysis. You decide.

Outstanding lecture on sleep paralysis
A must-watch for anyone interested in alien abduction, ghosts, et cetera.

Having sat through the above lecture, I'm totally buying this guy's book. Reverend Black Percy (talk) 12:30, 12 April 2017 (UTC)