I’ve been thinking about this for a while.
People all over the world describe seeing remarkably similar things during sleep paralysis: shadow figures, demons, the Hat Man, an angry old woman, glowing red or yellow eyes, something sitting on their chest. The term “sleep paralysis” was created to describe and normalize this phenomenon because it happens to a lot of people.
Here’s what I don’t understand.
If the explanation is purely physical, that your body is temporarily paralyzed, you can’t breathe well, your brain senses danger, you panic, and your mind creates frightening hallucinations…. then why do so many people report seeing the same kinds of entities?
If someone has a severe fear of heights, why doesn’t their brain create the experience of hanging from a collapsing bridge? If they’re terrified of drowning, why not flood them with that fear? Or snakes, spiders, being burned alive, dog attacks, or whatever their real-world phobia happens to be?
Instead, people from different cultures, different backgrounds, and even people who don’t believe in anything spiritual often describe the same dark figures, the same shadow people, the same Hat Man, the same demonic-looking presence.
Doctors generally say it’s nothing supernatural, that it’s simply your brain reacting to temporary paralysis, stress, or changes in breathing. There isn’t really a medication that stops sleep paralysis itself. The advice is usually, “Don’t worry. It’s normal.”
Maybe it is. But if it’s just random fear generated by the brain, why is the imagery so consistently similar across so many people instead of reflecting each person’s own unique fears?
That’s the part I’ve never been able to explain.
Posted by happylena85
11 Comments
SS : If sleep paralysis hallucinations are purely the brain’s response to fear, why do people across different cultures and beliefs consistently report seeing the same shadow figures and demonic entities instead of their own unique real-world phobias? I’m curious whether this consistency points to something neurological that we don’t fully understand, or something beyond that.
looks like alucard
I thought this too for awhile but realized it might maybe be just an evolved primal-fear trait that for some reason is becoming increasingly common and studied (I really wonder why… population increase of the world, age of information?). Occam’s razor is usually the best explanation for this stuff.
This can get commonly mixed up with the ideas of [Genetic Memory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_memory_(psychology)), which is completely pseudo science.
Instead, you have hundreds of thousands of years of evolution adapting our brains for the uncanny and the unknown, likely with other species that looked hominin but were not specifically sapiens, maybe even inter-breeds.
Not everyone’s completely sound as to why this happen. Religious leaders from thousands of years ago (long before the first civilizations) drew stuff like this on cave walls, some tribes of mezoamerica and even south america, some even native-american tribes hold these things now as myth that have a chance as starting as sleep paralysis or evolutionary fear-recognition restimulated by certain biological factors.
Again, just opening some doors here. Not everyone has the answers. This is just my take.
It would be very weird though if there are actually aliens or spirits manifesting as bad things.
I was gonna comment that I’ve never seen a “Hatman” but then I read your caption.
Every time I have sleep paralysis it’s always a creepy, naked, old skinny tall woman.
I joke with my wife about “the witch in the woods” because I’ve had too many occurrences of it.
Didn’t realize other people have similar experiences.
I’ve seen him multiple times on DPH before I knew the whole “hatman” joke, hes definitely real just like how they saw witches on datura.
I definitely think its a spiritual matter based on fear.
I’ve had sleep paralysis episodes my whole life and every one was completely different. I’ve had both visual and audible hallucinations. I’ve seen demons, wraiths, and shadows of evil puppets. I’ve heard screams, laughter, and banging on the doors and walls. Its not spiritual, but whatever it is, its fucked up. I’ve had them so much that I developed the ability to pull myself out of it consistently.
I think because the most familiar thing, the shape of a human body, is easier for your half sleeping half awake brain to produce instead of something more complex like a monster under your bed.
When there is no sensory input, the brain will hallucinate its own.
I suffer from pretty severe sleep apnea and didn’t start getting it treated until I was in my late twenties. I experienced sleep paralysis often growing up. Never saw anything but for me it was always the same, like a loud static humming sound that would get stronger if I tried to move.
Since I’ve been on a cpap machine it’s mostly gone away, but I have experienced it maybe a handful of times since. I figure maybe it’s when my mask slips off or something. I was always convinced it was something evil, but maybe it was just my brain losing oxygen.
I don’t think this needs to have hallucinations involved. I’m pretty sure I’ve got this like twice in my life and it was just scary the first time when you have no idea what’s going on
Body is in sleep mode but brain is awake, you can’t move and you do feel the weight but at no time I’ve seen anything. I think its just imagination of people writing rest of this story.
Second time I was already like “oh its this, just gotta wait this out”
I have a character just like this in The Finals..
I used to have it and never seen anything weird, I did feel like someone or something was putting weight on my bed though so definitely felt some kind of presence but never really saw anything.
It just stopped happening to me idk why started nor why stopped but I remember it happened while I was a teenager…