The Old Hag and Sleep Hallucinations

Have you ever been half-awake, alone in the house, and been certain that you heard a noise, or felt like someone was in the room with you that you couldn't see? You may have felt so afraid that you were paralyzed with fear, and couldn't move. You just knew there was someone there, and that they meant you harm. When you finally came into full wakefulness, and realized that there was no one there, you may have chocked it up to being a bad dream. It's possible though that it wasn't just a nightmare. It may have been a hallucination.

Hypnogogic and Hypnopompic hallucinations are hallucinations that occur as a person is either falling asleep (hypnogogic) or waking up (hypnopompic). Often an effect of sleep paralysis, the feeling of being temporarily paralyzed while falling asleep, hypnogogic and hypnopompic hallucinations can be incredibly disturbing, frightening, and hard to explain. If you have ever experienced something that seemed like a hallucination while falling asleep or waking up, you are not alone.

The most common forms of hypnogogic sensations have been experienced by a majority of people. General fear when falling asleep and that "falling sensation" that snaps you awake on occasion, are both considered forms of hypnogogic hallucinations.

Less common are the more hallucinatory experiences. Some of these sensations include the feeling of a "presence" in the room. This presence almost always feels malevolent, as if it means you harm, and is merely sensed, but not seen. Some people may feel a weight pressing down on their chest or back, depending on how they are lying in bed, which may lead to difficulty in breathing. Many people have a feeling of imminent danger due to the presence. Though rarely seen full on, some sufferers of hypnogogic hallucinations do hear sounds, such as footsteps or voices, or see shadows or outlines of people in the room.

The presence, though only sensed by most sufferers, is sometimes seen by others. Due to this, the condition of sleep hallucinations is sometimes referred to as "The Old Hag," because when people do see a person, it is generally in the form of an ugly old lady, often sitting on their chest. It's thought by some sleep specialists that this is where the idea of the succubus came into urban legend.

Hypnopompic hallucinations, occurring upon waking, are less common, but often carry the same types of phenomenon as those that are hypnogogic. Such hallucinations may be a relatively common explanation for uncommon experiences people have happen to them, such as believing they have been abducted by aliens.