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J. A. Cheyne
Department of Psychology
University of Waterloo
Nightmares and nocturnal
attacks have been closely connected to myths and monsters across time and
cultures. It has even been even suggested that the night-mare is the origin
of all mythology (see Kirby, 1901). Although few modern scholars would be
quite so bold or sweeping in their claims the pervasiveness of the nocturnal
attack in mythology, religion, and legend is quite striking. Ardat lili or
Lilitu, an evil Sumerian spirit, is one of the earliest Hag-demons. She was
capable of flying, which she preferred to do at night, at which time she
frequently attacked men in their sleep. She is thought to constitute the
prototype for the Hebrew Lilith and the Roman Lamia (Russell, 1995). All
these female spirits or demons have in common an association with nocturnal
attacks. Moreover there are a number of related spirits described in Middle
Eastern and European lore with connotations of leaping upon, oppressing, or
crushing, supine individuals as they attempt to sleep at night. Some of the
better-known spirits of this sort are; Greek ephialtes (one who leaps upon)
and mora (the night "mare" or monster, ogre, spirit, etc.), Roman incubus
(one who presses or crushes), German mar/mare, nachtmahr, Hexendrücken
(witch pressing), and Alpdruck (elf pressure); Czech muera, Polish zmora,
Russian Kikimora, French cauchmar (trampling ogre), Old English maere (mab,
mair, mare-hag), hagge, (evil spirit or the night-mare--also hegge,
haegtesse, haehtisse, haegte); Old Norse mara, Old Irish mar/more,
Newfoundland Ag Rog (Old Hag), and the Spanish pesadilla ( Keissling, 1977;
Hufford, 1982; OED, Roscher, 1900/1979; Sebald, 1978; Thompson, 1957; Ward,
1981). In addition, the Greeks also had the pnigalion (the choker) and the
barychnas (the heavy breather)troubling would-be sleepers (Keissling, 1977).
In addition to attacking helpless humans at night these creatures were
shape-shifters, able to take on various forms during these attacks (Keissling,
1977).
Among the writers of European
antiquity, Herodotus provides an early account of an ephialtes who appeared
to the wife of King Ariston of Sparta in the form of the King himself,
although it was itself the spirit of the deceased hero Astrobacus. Horace
makes a reference to a threat whereby a boy claims that if he is killed he
"will attend you as a nocturnal fury; and, a ghost, I will attack your faces
with my hooked talons (for such is the power of those divines, the Manes),
and brooding upon your restless breasts, I will deprive you of repose by
terror." In Greece and Rome, the ephialtes and the incubus were identified
with gods and demons of the forest and woodland, such as, the god Pan (Roman
= Faunus), as well as Satyrs, Sirens, and Silvani (Kiessling, 1977), and
even with the goddess Diana (Russell, 1995). Many of these creatures were
depicted as resembling humans in the upper portions of their bodies and
beasts, usually goats or fauns, in the lower extremities. This association
was evidently still quite strong by the time of Augustine who explicitly
associated Pan with the incubus. Pan was particularly associated with
shepherds and goatherds and one may well imagine that the isolated and
rigorous life of such individuals predisposed them to many nocturnal
visitations. Similarly, the succubus Lilith was to be typically to be found
in the remote regions of the desert (Isaiah, 34:12). Pan's attacks were of
course associated with panic. Pan was also more generally seen as the
instigator of "dreams and visions, especially those that produced sudden,
violent terror" (Kiessling, 1977, p. 5).
There is also certain classes
of angels, "watchers" and "fallen angels," referred to in the
Judeo-Christian traditions, associated with the incubus. Some were sent to
watch over humans, and sometimes became enamoured of human women. The
progeny of such encounters were, however, monsters and demons who further
molested and assaulted helpless sleepers (Kiessling, 1977). Augustine
doubted that angels were the source of incubi, though he had no doubt that
the latter existed. "There is, too, a very general rumor, which many have
verified by their own experience, or which trustworthy persons who have
heard the experience of others corroborate, that sylvans and fauns, who are
commonly called "incubi," had often made wicked assaults upon women, and
satisfied their lust upon them; and that certain devils, called Duses by the
Gauls, are constantly attempting and effecting this impurity is so generally
affirmed, that it were impudent to deny it" (ch. 23). Martin Luther was
unequivocal in asserting that, "sunt incubi et succubi daemonis . . ."
In some traditions these
monsters are the descendents of Adam and his first wife, none other than
Lilith herself (Kiesling, 1977). Certain midrashic stories allege that Cain
is an offspring of such a union, in this case between Eve and the ultimate
fallen angel, the devil himself. It is not surprising, therefore, that
Beowulf's foe, the monster Grendel (referred to at least once n that famous
poem by the term maere--Kiessling, 1977) is described in the poem as a
descendent of Cain. Grendel, a cannibalistic devourer of men invariably
carries out his attacks in the dead of night on sleeping men. Prior to
Beowulf's confrontation with Grendel, Hrothgar tells him how previous heroes
have been defeated, apparently because they were unable to remain awake. It
is also worth noting that Beowulf eschews arming himself for the
confrontation with Grendal on the grounds that Grendel does not bear arms.
He destroys Grendal as Grendal destroyed men, by ripping a limb from its
socket.
These experiences and their
ensuing personification and elaboration are by no means limited to western
culture. In St. Lucia, West Indies, an attack of kokma comes at a time that
the individual is just falling asleep or just waking up. The sensations
include pressure on the chest, inability to move, and anxiety. The kokma is
the spirit of a dead baby that haunts an area, attacking people in their
beds. In a familiar pattern, they jump on the victim’s chest and clutch at
the throat. The victim attempts to cry out, or in some other way to get
another’s attention, someone that might scare off the kokma. Informants
described the babies clutching at their throats. The notion that the attacks
are thought to be initiated by dead, unbaptized babies is also found in
Ireland. "The kokma cannot be controlled, they grab people just for the hell
of it" (Dressler, 1977, cited in Ness, 1978). In Thailand experiences
referred to as Phi um (ghost covered) and phi kau (ghost possessed) involve
pressure, immobility, and something black covering the body. In Japan
kanashibara ("to tie with an iron rope") is a common and widely known
experience (Fukuda, 1993). In Korea, people are afflicted by ka wi nulita
("scissors pressed"), an experience felt to be brought on by fear. In the
Far North one speaks of agumangia (Inupik) or ukomiarik (Yupik) in which "a
soul" tries to take possession of the paralyzed victim. In Laos, (Lemoine &
Mounge, 1983) da chor is described as follows: "You want to listen, you
can’t hear; you want to speak, you are dumb; you want to call out, you
cannot; you feel you are dying, dying; you want to run away. You piss with
fear in your sleep" (cited in Firestone, 1985, p. 61). In the Philippines
people are afflicted with urum, ngarat (Simons & Hughes, 1985). Among the
Hmong of Laos the nightmare spirit is referred to as dab (nightmare) tsog
(evil spirit) or tsog tsuam (evil spirit who crushes, smothers, or presses
upon) (Adler, 1994).
As Hufford (1976) noted
almost a quarter-century ago, of the SP night-mare, " (1) the experience is
wide-spread, at least in Western culture; (2) it has been regularly reported
for more than two thousand years; (3) it has been attached to a variety of
narrative frameworks . . . , but regardless of the framework, the
experiential features have remained basically the same; (4) this consistency
of detail, apparently rather independent of tradition, is the most
surprising and difficult to account for" (p. 78). These experiences appear
to be widely known in traditional cultures, in marked contrast to
industrialized society. Hufford (1976) found that, among his Newfoundland
participants who had been hagged, half did not know the Old Hag tradition.
This is the same proportion of the entire sample who had not heard of the
tradition. This, of course, quite inconsistent with the cultural source
hypothesis that such experiences are induced by knowledge of cultural
traditions. Subsequent research has made clear that these experiences are by
no means limited to Western cultures. Also striking in this connection is
the similarity of the descriptions of the SP experiences across all
cultures, including industrialized culture which appears to have no commonly
accepted popular myths to offer cognitive support to the experiences.
Hufford (1976) makes a fairly convincing connection between sleep paralysis
and "bedroom" alien abductions as described by Keel (1970). Many others have
made this connection since (Baker, 1994, Blackmore, 1998; Spanos, 1994).
Taken from:
http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/night_mare.html
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