Old Hag Syndrome

Old hag syndrome is the folk name — from Newfoundland — for the crushing-visitor form of sleep paralysis: waking unable to move while something climbs onto the bed, settles onto the chest and, in the classic telling, is an old woman with terrible intent. The physiology is well described; the phenomenology refuses to soften. Witnesses here describe the weight, the certainty of malice, and details that outlive waking: hair smell, bedsprings, a cold that stays in the sheets. Whether the hag rides dreams or something older, the accounts agree on one thing — she comes back.

Related on this site: /tag/shadow-people/ /ghost-stories/ /tag/unexplained-events/