This episode contains discussions of sleep and mental disorders, terrifying nightmares, hallucinations, and sexual assault.

If these topics aren't things you want to hear about, this may be a good episode to skip. Humans are fascinated by gore and violence, but even more so the mysterious and unsolved.

Interest in these disturbing and unpleasant subjects is called morbid curiosity, and it has gripped hundreds of people throughout the ages.

I am one of those people.

My name is Hallie, and this is the Morbid Curiosity podcast.

Thank you. The

The Have you ever had the experience, just as you fall asleep or wake up, of being unable to move?

Your eyes dart around the room, but your body is paralyzed.

You may have sensed something, a presence that sparks fear in your heart.

You might even see the being out of the corner of your eye or directly on top of you,

pressing down on your chest. It might look like a human, an animal, or some type of creature,

but no matter what, it's terrifying and it's crushing the breath out of you.

This moment seems to go on forever, and then suddenly it's over. You're alone in your sleeping area.

The creature is gone, and you're left wondering if the whole experience was real or dreamed.

This type of experience has been recorded throughout history

and has been known by many names,

but today it's referred to as sleep paralysis.

According to modern clinical definitions,

sleep paralysis is a conscious awareness

accompanied by temporary muscle paralysis that occurs during

the beginning of sleep, also known as hypnogogogic sleep paralysis, or at the end of sleep,

hypnopompic sleep paralysis. This paralysis can also be accompanied by feelings of suffocation,

...