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Aximili23 writes:
It's most noticed when the phenomenon results in death: hence, it's proper term is Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS).
Actually, I was describing a sleeping disorder called sleep paralysis. In my own country (Vietnam), we call it
Ma De, roughly translated as ghost sitting on you.
When you go to sleep, a part of your brain goes dormant to prevent you from acting out what dream. In other words, you literally become paralized temporarily. Sometimes, some people become conscious while their bodies are still paralized. Although chances are that the experience only takes a few minutes, the state of the mind at the time would make it seem a lot longer than that. Because the mind is fragile during sleep paralysis, hallucinations often result. Combine the hallucinations with paralysis, which causes people to feel like their chests are being pressed down by something, a dark human-like figure often result.
In old day Europe, the phenomenon undoubtedly contributed to the various witch huntings. People at the time interpreted the experience as supernatural. In Asia, people are more worried about ghosts. Hence, instead of witches sitting on your chest you now have ghosts sitting on your chest.
In fact, the disorder has been found to cause alien abduction experiences. Now that we live in a modern age, the dark figure turned from a witch to an alien.
The point is just because you can't explain an experience or phenomenon doesn't mean you have to label it supernatural. I'm sure the witches and cats that were burned by the inquisition would agree with me.
Coincidently, I tried to explain the disorder to some people I know in Vietnam and none of them believed me. Supernatural explanations seem to be more popular among the ignorants.
By the way, I have the disorder. It is now more of an annoyance than a scary experience. My initial response used to be "Somebody help me!!! Ahhhh!! A ghost!!" Nowadays, my response would be something like "Goddamn it, not again. Let see how long this is going to take."
People, please look at the Style Guide for EvC thread by Sylas. Pay particular attention to step 3.
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