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8 Consistencies Cross-cultural Patterns I lay me down to sleep; No night-mare shall plague me Until they swim all the waters that flow upon the earth And count all the stars that shine in the sky. —German charm against night-mares (Kuhn 1859) Imagine feeling very tired, going to bed, and quickly falling asleep. Your rest is soon disturbed, though, by some sort of rustling noise. You open your eyes and recognize the normal features of your bedroom in the shadowy darkness, but, when you try to sit up, you realize that you are paralyzed; you are unable to move your arms or legs, or even turn your head. With sudden, sickening dread and overwhelming terror, you sense an evil presence approaching. You struggle and try to scream for help, but you still cannot move or make a sound. The sinister being looms over you for a moment, then climbs onto your bed and settles heavily on your chest, crushing the breath out of you. This experience is the night-mare1 and its key features are the same the world over: knowing that you are awake, perceiving your surroundings realistically , being unable to move, feeling overwhelmed by intense terror and anxiety, sensing an evil presence, feeling crushing pressure on your chest, trying desperately to breathe, and lying helplessly on your back. These elements are easy to identify in the following account: I am 52 years old. My [night-mares] started in my mid 20s. I remember the first time it happened. I had a new baby and was napping in the afternoon because I also worked in the evenings. Suddenly, I was wide awake except for the fact that my eyes were still closed and I was completely paralyzed. I have never been so terrified in my life. I KNEW someone else was in the room. I could hear them moving around. I felt like I was in grave danger. Then I KNOW I felt someone sit down on the bed right next to me! I tried to scream. . . . I was struggling and struggling but I couldn’t even move a 1 VVVVVVVVVVV CONSISTENCIES: CROSS-CULTURAL PATTERNS 9 finger. Finally, the episode passed and I woke up perfectly fine. I thought I was going crazy and never mentioned it to anyone. I still don’t bring it up much because I get THAT LOOK from people who don’t know what you’re talking about. I have had several episodes since then. . . . I have never opened my eyes . . . and that is a blessing because if I ever did and saw something looking back at me I would probably die in my sleep. (Internet posting, Awareness during Sleep Paralysis Listserv [ASP-L])2 The Consistent Features of the Night-mare The underlying structure of night-mares is strikingly similar around the globe, even in societies with no commonly accepted beliefs or traditions to offer cultural models for the experience. This similarity of night-mare accounts in vastly different contexts suggests that there is a uniform, core experience: the classic elements of the night-mare encounter are present regardless of cultural setting. I will describe these key characteristics individually, but they typically occur in clusters: (1) a sense of an evil presence accompanied by various sounds (footsteps , whispering); (2) breathing difficulties, feelings of suffocation, bodily pressure , sense of doom; and (3) sensations of floating, flying, and falling (including out-of-body experiences and viewing one’s body from an external perspective). The first two clusters, which often co-occur, are characterized by intense terror and the third, although sometimes associated with fear, tends to be correlated with feelings of bliss (Cheyne 2005). Being “Awake” In recounting a night-mare experience, individuals go out of their way to emphasize that they were not sleeping during the attack: “I have suffered from sleep paralysis and it was the most scary thing in my life. The first time it happened I thought it was a dream but I know I was awake” (Internet posting, www.videojug.com). The terror of the event is heightened because it cannot be explained away as merely a frightening dream—it is experienced as a part of waking consciousness. Even after repeated episodes, the conviction of wakefulness cannot be shaken: “Each time is terrifying. I suddenly am awake and aware of the bed and my situation, but realize I cannot move. It is not a dream” (Internet posting, www.lakesidepress.com); “I am ‘awake’ during these attacks and...

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