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Malachi White

Professor Erin Rodgers

Writing 1010

20 November 2018

What’s keeping you up at night?

When people think of monsters it’s usually the ones that are popularized in pop culture

like for example Freddy Krueger, Cookie Monster, Dracula, and Frankenstein just to name a few.

There are many monsters that people believe in more than others and one monster that seems to

always come up in arguments are demons. While many think they don’t exist and it’s just a

bunch of bullshit others have dedicated their life to protecting one’s that do believe from the evil

that lies within the shadows. Now imagine waking up from a nightmare just to be apart of

another one but this time you’re fully conscious, laying in bed wide awake, with pressure on

your chest as if someone or something is on top of you making it hard breathing. Yours eyes

wide open scanning your room to see if there anyone present, your body is unable to move, your

is brain telling your mouth to cry out for help but nothing comes out. As you lay there motionless

trying over and over again but no matter how hard you try to move or scream out for help, it’s

already too late, the “incubi” has already got you but he spares your life and lets you have full

control of your body back.

As the monster was introduced the name “incubi” is fairly known when people talk

about this demon, this isn’t the only demon that can take the full credit of the mischief that is

being done as you sleep. In many different cultures and some demons have different desires that

they want with their victims for example in Japan and other Asian countries they’re known as

Nue, Gawi nulim, and Kanashibari just to name a few. The first one mention is characterized as a
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“winged demon” the earliest sighting for this specific demon was in the 76th century around

1139-1155, it was highly known for attacking the emperor. (Kanashibari: A ghost story pg. 194)

as for the other demons they were mainly known for attacking normal people like me or you. The

next chapter into this demonic research we learn that in more of the western side of world the

demon has other plans with it’s victims. These other demons such as the “Incubi” and “Succbus”

are defined as a male or female demon believed to have sexual intercouse with it’s victim

(google search), this is the first time reading about these demons doing such thing, I honestly

don’t think this is what most people believe when they think of them. The last two many people

highly believe are behind this strange phenomenon are aliens and the “old hag”, with aliens I

don’t think I have to do too much explaining other than people think they were abducted tested

on and then placed back in their bed. The more interesting entity is the “old hag” or “hag” the

reason why I say this is the most interesting is because of how relevant she or it is when it come

to sleep paralysis. Her and many more entities are known to be seen by multiple people during

their own experience of sleep paralysis all over the world not just once but many times and even

every time they experience sleep paralysis. How do people from a religious background thinks

about all of this strange cases of sleep paralysis.

In many religions and many religious people believe it’s the work of the Devil and his

demons that is causing all the evil havok that is brought upon the victims that seem to have sleep

paralysis more than an average person has in their lifetime. Just in general many religious people

believe it's some kind of evil entity like a demon but the victims that seem to get it more than

others are seen as if they’re cursed or even possessed. Like I said the experience from the more

religious people believe that it’s some kind of demonic entities that attacks the victim while they

sleep. Between all of the different religions that I looked at they have all tend to put the blame on
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demonic entities, the only thing that I’ve read differently were the names that the religions call

the entities. One thing that I kept finding are other dark entities that all people have commonly

seen such as “the hat man, the hooded figure, and the old hag” all of the people that have

reported theses sighting are very vivid and descriptive of the entities. Most neurologist and other

sleep doctors says these “hallucinations” all happens during REM sleep which is the deepest part

of sleep your body experiences while sleeping.

During my time researching sleep paralysis I had to look at the more realistic and medical

reason behind the health condition. With all of the articles that I read all of them, repeated very

similar explanations behind the condition which was “loss of sleep, depression, anxiety”, and ect.

Doctors know about the condition and tend to use the name “Sleep paralysis (SP) or Isolated

sleep paralysis (ISP)” for short, according to “Dr. Max Hirshkowitz, director of the Sleep

Disorders Center” in Houston, says sleep paralysis occurs when the brain is transitioning

between deep sleep (usually when the person is their dreaming stage of sleep) and waking up

(Wagner). Its more well known as “REM sleep” which stands for “rapid eye movement”

(Wagner) I mention this at the end of my previous paragraph and according to multiple sleep

doctors such as Dr. Michael Breus have said that “During REM, the body goes into a state of

paralysis known as REM atonia. This is a normal part of the sleep stage, when major muscle

groups and most voluntary muscles are paralyzed. One important function of this paralysis may

be to protect the body from injury during sleep. REM is a sleep stage when much active

dreaming occurs. Without the paralyzing effects of REM atonia, we might act out physically in

response to our dreams. In certain sleep disorders, including REM Behavior Disorder, the normal

paralysis of REM sleep doesn’t work as it should, and people act out physically sometimes

aggressively and violently in sleep.” (Breus) In a way sleep paralysis protects us from hurting
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ourselves or others from acting out in an aggressive way or just acting in defensive way from

getting startled from one of the hallucinations that are commonly seen during the phenomenon.

Even though the hallucinations may seem to very normal during the time the victim is

experiencing sleep paralysis, “sleep experts still do not know what causes the brain to screw up

like this, or why some people experience it more than others. But there are some theories” such

as: a strong mad or sad emotions, lack of sleep and possibly a disrupted sleep schedule, and

people that suffer from severe anxiety or bipolar disorder. Researches have also found that those

who are taking anti-anxiety drugs like Xamax or Valium are five times more likely to experience

sleep paralysis.(Breus) At this point it’s obvious that you’re not the only one that has

experienced sleep paralysis, matter of fact it’s totally normal. New research suggests that

possible factors that could contribute to sleep paralysis, indicates that genetics may play a

significant role. (Breus) As they went on their research they found that “data on sleep and the

incidence of sleep paralysis for identical twins to data involving non-identical twins and siblings.

Identical twins carry almost exactly the same DNA, while non-identical twins and siblings have

roughly 50% of DNA in common. Their analysis found that genetics was a factor in 53% of

cases of sleep paralysis among their subjects.” (Breus) I found this very quite interesting to me

and how genes and genetics can affect people's life in so many ways possible like would have

guessed that your genetic can affect your sleep. As we come to an end with the research I found

some good ways that could help people lower the risk of having sleep paralysis such as

“maintaining a regular sleep routine, avoiding stimulants (especially alcohol), exercising

regularly, eating well and avoiding eating late at night.”(Breus) It’s also important to watch over

your stress and mental health. Anxiety and depression are common among people who

experience sleep paralysis so seeking treatment for those conditions can help you sleep better
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overall, and may help lower your risk. (Breus) Remember this these tips DO NOT CURE SLEEP

PARALYSIS it simply lowers the persons risk but if you do end up experiencing sleep paralysis

don’t be scared because it is harmless and will go away.

With the monster that I choose to write this paper about had already showed how it has

“evolved” and I don’t think it did and here’s the reason why it’s because, it totally depends on

the generation. This is also why I think my monster will never be replaced with something else,

it would just tend to evolve with the current generation at the time instead of being replaced, for

example look at the generation right now people seem to blame sleep paralysis on alien

abductions. This is all because we live in a world that highly believe in aliens and that we can’t

be the only living intelligent life form simply because the universe is so big and we have found

other planets that could potentially support life like earth can with humans and other animals. It

totally depends on how you look at it because in a way this monster is changing overtime but at

the sametime its being replaced by the newer generation and I know I’m supposed to pick one

way to take this but I don’t think I can because it’s truly a mixture of both option 1 and 2 in a

way. I honestly tend to lean towards the evolving over time instead of completely being changed

and taken over by a different monster that does similar things.

Welp like they say “goodnight, sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite” because you

never know it could be the incubi that’s slowly nibbles at your toe and starts to move toward

your chest to gain majority of your body and take every single breath that you take making it

hard for you breath, only to wake up to nothing in your view and unable to move because it’s too

late the incubi has total control of your body now.

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Work cited page

● Bakar, Faima. “What Do Different Religions Believe about Sleep Paralysis?”

Metro, Metro.co.uk, 16 Mar. 2018.

● Breus, Michael. “Sleep Paralysis.” Your Guide to Better Sleep, TheSleepDoctor,

12 Oct. 2017.

● Peters, Brandon. “Frozen in Fear! Common Causes and Best Ways to Avoid

Sleep Paralysis.” Verywell Health, Verywellhealth.

● “Sleep Paralysis | National Geographic.” YouTube, YouTube, 5 Aug. 2012.

● Wagner, Stephen. “Learn the Facts About the Phenomenon Known As ‘Old Hag’

Syndrome.” Thoughtco., Dotdash.