Sleep Paralysis vs Old Hag Syndrome
 

Hello,

What are the differences between these two? I've read these two are similar, but I feel they're not. I recall having sleep paralysis with my stomach facing down. I was aware of my surroundings, but wasn't able to move. There was no presence when this happened, nor felt strangled. Now, the Old Hag Syndrome seems similar to sleep paralysis in a way that your body can't move and in a state where you can apprehend your surroundings, but this is when things are different when an old hag, a shadow figure, or even a demon is in the room. There were no entities in my room when I had sleep paralysis. Thus, I feel Sleep Paralysis and Old Hag Syndrome are dissimilar. What are your thoughts?

This syndrome dates back 2000 years ago with depictions of entities sitting on top of their victims.


Here's another.


Last one.


Here's a documentary on this Old Hag Syndrome: Most terrifying documentary on the ENTITY : Shadow men Old hag

Has anyone experienced this Old Hag Syndrome that would like to share?

Edit: I was thinking this topic goes under Mysteries, Myths & Legends.

Blessed be,
Lepus

After watching the video, I was somewhat appalled in how they described the phenomena of what happened to the people. To simply call it sleep paralysis and that you're dreaming seems to be a dismissal of what they experience.

I do think there's a difference between sleep paralysis and being attacked by an outside force. I scrolled down to read the comments and there is one I agree with. The comment was to the effect as to why so many people who experienced it claim to see and feel the entity. If it was a dream, scientists aren't taking into consideration that everybody has different dreams. Another thing that was overlooked is that the phenomena spans time, culture and distances.

An outside force like a demon, or call it what you will, does use sleep paralysis to prevent one from fighting or running away. I've experienced a type of sleep paralysis many times before though the details are different.

After all is said, I truly think there's a difference between sleep paralysis and the shadow man/old hag phenomena.

I have experienced the 'old hag' syndrome twice. Once when I was about 17 and then again about 42. I learned afterwards, in the public library, that this experience is called 'being attacked by a succubus' - a female seducer. The male form is called an inkubus.

In both cases I awoke and was unable to move because an enormous and 'evil' weight was pressing me into the bed. I recall the struggle I had to get rid of this horrible thing when I was 17. The second time, when I was about 42, I recognized what was happening from the first time and quickly threw it off.

Now of course I tend to think of this as simply something caused by my own mind - I can't really believe that evil 'forms' move about independently and cause such ructions. Or maybe they are a sort of poltergeist - but these are 'entities' we don't understand either.

However in recent years I have experienced 'the exploding head syndrome'. This is something you can google for information and it's accepted by psychologists as a mind projection. However I have to say that it was very frightening the first time. It's a very loud noise or noises, similar in fact to cymbals clashing very near at hand which take place just above the head. The amazing thing is that the brain projects these mind-made noises outwards into the room so you think you are hearing the noises with your ears. This happens in a state of half-sleep.

The three times this happened was more than enough to convince me of the power of the human mind and show me just how little we do know about ourselves.

Hello Chrysalis,


I assume these two are synonymous to an extend with both having the same effects. The differences between these two involves with an entity and the other doesn't. The conjunction of sleep paralysis while dreaming didn't make sense. This phenomena isn't a dream given the fact that the circumstances appear real. I would conclude the same thing with this mysterious 'Old Hag' syndrome from watching this documentary. And like you said, everyone experience different dreams. To simply label it as a dream is oblivious to the fact that these entities strangle their victims. It can't be a mere coincidence to have the same experience. However, this can be a sign of hallucination, but I'm not too sure. This still remains a mystery in the science field, unless they have a legitimate explanation for this phenomenon than just a dream.

Blessed be,
Lepus

Hello Busby,


I thought both succubus and inkubus live off of sexual energy without strangling their victims? If you would call being paralysed strangled by an entity, then I could attest this to be untrue from my experience, since I never had any contact with entities.

I never heard of this EHS. I did a quick search. I honestly had similar experiences regarding imagined noises when falling asleep, but they were subtle. It might be a sign of clairaudience? Who knows. I don't know much about this EHS to give you feedback.

The mind is a powerful tool. :smile:

Blessed be,
Lepus

I'm still watching the doc, but for me stuff happens when I start sleeping(Hypnagogia). Instead of getting a normal dream, it just feels as being in bed, eyes closed(completely darkness), unable to open them or see but feeling someone around, in chest, sit, beating me, etc. (a regular dream would have landscape, scenario, characters, etc)
I even started to mark my calendar lately to see how frequent these things actually are(though there may be months in between). What could these things be, dreams that failed to develop? It is as if instead of dreaming(or not dreaming but nothing happening, after all sometimes I don't dream of anything but don't experience nothing unusual, just sleep) or projecting, my spiritual body stays inside my physical body.
I'm not opposed to science so I'd say that given a chance I'd want to have my sleep monitored, do EEG, etc.

(Though I don't think some stuff science can explain, for instance once I went to check how the ship of my great grandfather sank, I only read about his ship. I went to sleep, when I was about to fall asleep I heard a name being said 3 times. So I got up and wrote it down to check the next day and it was another ship that sank in the same year, same war, but from another country.)

But back to what could be similar to sleep paralysis, the thing is that for me, usually I'm seeing nothing. So I know I'm in the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep but somehow I feel goosebumps as if there is energy crawling in my skin and as many of the experience turned out to be violent I force myself to wake up as quickly as I can.

Recently I had two different experiences that weren't violent, also during hypnagogia. One I felt the goosebumps coming in my chest and got alarmed, because 80% of time this sensation leads to violence.
(One could say, "oh you got goosebumps out of fear", but nope, it's the other way around, the goosebumps start out of nowhere and just after, I feel fear because I already know what happens. )
So I was alarmed but the energy spoke thru me, making a request, "help me do a painting". I was forcing myself to wake up, and it spoke again and I finally made out. After this I felt foolish because there was no harm, it was just that I acted out of bad previous experiences. (I'm still trying to figure out if really there is someone wanting me to do a specific painting)

And the most recent different one, was that suddenly I started listening a song in my ear, as if I had headphones on. And it was becoming louder, the louder it got the stronger the energy so I finally felt a head on my right hand. It felt really solid(I never felt nobody as solid like this in hypnagogia), as if there was someone in fetal position, head in my belly. So I just caressed his head and very short hair as comforting him. Mind you, that in these experiences I can't see, but somehow I knew the person had dark hair and a skinny/slim body.(as if I was being told details mentally) But I did try to wake up, and every time I tried the song decreased in volume and so I would rest my body and it would become louder again. It was as if saying, "if you move, the song end, the visit ends, I'll have to go". Still, I was wondering who this might be and insisted in getting up, because it feels so real and you see nothing and still are in bed that you start to think that maybe there's someone really there.

These latest experiences were not scary at all. It makes me wonder if these are spirits of somebody that died, you know? Plenty of mediums believe some spirits may reach out while you sleep(or about to) because finally you aren't distracted/busy with the many things you do while awake.


I never experienced the old hag.

I just want to add a quick note.

Sleep paralysis is necessary while we dream as it prevents us from acting out, in our sleep, what we dream. If this were not so, there'd be a lot of sleep walking and who knows what else.

I agree sleep paralysis and succubi/incubi/old hag syndrome are very different. I had an experience with a succubus once, I think they are actual entities that attach to a person, and feed off their sexual energy. I think they can leave their host and feed off other people in their vicinity, and if one does I believe it's important to not respond to their sexual intentions, or you might well end up with your own entity.

Hello Chrysalis,


I thought sleep paralysis is a transitional state between wakefulness and sleep, while the body remains immobilized your conscious is awake. Also, from what I read, when one is in a stage of sleep paralysis hallucinations often start to occur. This explains the entity attacks. My question is why does everyone hallucinate on the same entities?.

Blessed be,
Lepus

Your question is based on the assumption that it's a hallucination, so here goes.

As far as the entities are concerned, I think it's neither a dream or hallucination plus there's an account of a wide awake person who saw it. If it were a hallucination, then it'd be a mass hallucination experienced on the individual level one at a time which I think wouldn't qualify it as a mass hallucination.

If it were generated from our mind then it begs the question of why would anyone strangle themself? Seems to go against the instinct for survival. Also, why the same entity? Why not different like dreams are different? I can't even begin with that as there's no common denominator that can be found in all the cultures and beliefs that span time. They're still looking for answers on that.

This line of thinking raises more questions. If one considers that the entities truly exist in another dimension or plane then it seems to me that the questions get answered. Either way, the thinking is based on assumptions. One assumption wants a scientific explanation and the other is based on a spiritual basis. If you like, you can replace the word assumption with belief.

As for being paralyzed while awake one could still be paralyzed even though the dream just finished and you're still in the process of fully waking up. Or in other words, the body hasn't fully disconnected from the dreaming state.

If you get attacked by an entity, and I hope no one does, it brings on the paralysis and that experience is different as it is very violent. It's the level of violence against you that I think is the difference between normal paralysis and the attack.

It's the level of violence which leads me to believe that the two are different.

If you want, you can research sleep walking as studies have been done on it. One documentary I saw on tv years ago explained how the body is paralyzed while dreaming.

So the mystery continues.