Night Terrors, , and Devil Stricken Demonic Telephone Cords from Hell

PETER HUSTON

hen traveling in foreign countries on a budget, it's ironic that some of my Wmost memorable experiences have been those of just spending time and swapping stories with the people I met. Such people tend to be very interesting in themselves and, due to the transient nature of the relationship of travelers' crossing paths, much more open than they would be under a more conventional social situation. They talk about things they normally would not mention, and since they do not plan to see the person they are talking to again, they rarely regret it. They can be It was under such circumstances that I heard one of the most peculiar stories I have ever had bizarre, vivid, reason to believe. confusing, and I was sitting in the lounge of a low-cost hostel in Asia and found myself talking to another terrifying American, someone of about my age (early experiences, but twenties, at the time), approximately the same social background, and also in Asia for the first they're not time, intending to find work, to experience abnormal. Here's something different from the mundane life of why. growing up in the USA. At some point, and somehow, the conver- sation turned to , spirits, and the . I said that I thought there might be something to it all and hoped to do some research on it someday. My new acquaintance said that he did not think it was a good idea to look for ghosts, that it was his experience that "normally they

64 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 17 look for you." as she lurched over his face. Finally, He then proceeded to tell me the after a period of unimaginable terror, following story. she would leave; and he would find Once, back in his "angry, punk himself able to rise and move, but in rocker" days, in a large American city, a terror-stricken state, confused and he'd gone through a period when he'd shaken up. frequently been bothered by a , The "attacks by the night " specifically a night hag. came frequently, and he said he would The attacks had started, he said, have been convinced that he needed when he found himself waking up and serious psychiatric help, except that being unable to move, completely on at least one occasion when he was paralyzed and with a feeling of great sleeping with his girlfriend, she awoke weight on his chest. Needless to say, during one of his attacks and said that he found this disturbing, and his first she saw the night hag too. It was then thought was that it was a sign of some that he abandoned his fears and seized sort of mental illness. upon a supernatural explanation for In time things got worse. He would his experiences. awake in a paralyzed state and find I was a bit puzzled by this story himself forced to watch as an old hag and didn't know what to make of it. entered the room, floating as she The obvious explanation to me at the came. She would then alight on his time was that he had just made up bed and proceed to sit on his chest. the story to see how I would react, He would feel a palpable wave of but I just didn't think so. It was the terror, her weight bearing down and way in which he'd told the story, pinning him in place, and sometimes embarrassed and unsure of the truth, he would experience her putrid breath beyond the reality that he had experi-

Fall 1992 65 enced, unsure of the way in which I was wrong with me. would react. Hesitant. I was terrified to go to sleep at night As time went on, much to our because of my fear that I would surprise, we found our paths crossing awaken insane or go into cardiac a couple of times more, on one arrest. occasion for a very long period of time, My wife offered the explanation as we proceeded to find work, leave that I was being attacked by the ghost countries, and acquire working visas of my grandmother, who had recently and other such things. I came to know passed away on the other side of the him better and he never told any world. (I live in Asia, my grandmother similar stories or mentioned that one died in New Jersey.) I confess that I again. His stories about various things dismissed that explanation, not on any were all thoroughly grounded in skeptical, scientific grounds but be- conventional reality, although some- cause it would seem unlike my grand- times the stranger versions thereof. mother to travel around the world to Overall, the more time that we torment me for missing her funeral spent together, the more he seemed when many of her nearby grand- like a relatively honest and normal children had missed it as well. person, lacking in the motivations for At this time, my wife and I had to telling an imaginary story about ghost make a decision about whether to get attacks. a telephone installed in our apartment. On one occasion, when I asked him (In Taiwan, a telephone line often does if he'd had any more experiences with not come with an apartment and must spirits since he came to Asia, he looked be installed by each tenant at a fairly very embarrassed, said, no, and quick- high cost.) I'd been opposed to the idea, ly changed the subject. but my wife had really wanted one. In any event, I did not put his story Eventually, I gave in, even knowing in the same category as the church- that it would be expensive in terms camp ghost stories that I'd been ex- of both direct costs and the charges posed to in junior high. I spent a great for local and long distance phone calls. deal of time puzzling over it from time Ultimately, I again awoke unable to to time, questioning the truth of the move and finding that the telephone story itself, and looking for any cord somehow became draped over my possible explanations that might have body and was in the process of been feasible. electrocuting me. For many years I was unable to find In time it was over. I was able to one and even went so far as to have move again, but I was quite confused a similar experience myself. and upset. I was thoroughly agitated I would awake, find myself unable and very angry with my wife for not to move, and feel a great deal of noticing that I'd been shaking and pressure on my chest. I would struggle suffering from this terrible to move and find myself unable to do experience. anything beyond trembling. It was a I was even more confused to terrifying experience and like my discover that the telephone cord was friend my first explanation was that far on the other side of the room, and my mental health was going. The it was physically impossible for it to attacks continued night after night for have become draped over my body, almost a week. I was at a loss to explain even if someone had been inclined to them, fearful, and under a great deal pick it up and put it there. of stress as I tried to understand what I became convinced that I was

66 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 17 suffering the beginnings of some sort extension of a sleep phenomenon into of mental breakdown and phoned my the waking period. Reportedly people parents. My father told me that there can be snapped out of sleep paralysis had been occasions when he had by being touched or hearing their awakened and been unable to move. names spoken. In the absence of He had thought it very strange until outside stimulation normal sleep he mentioned it to his brother, who paralysis is of short duration and self said that he'd had similar experiences. correcting. This conversation was a major A closely related and on occasion relief to me, and it was followed by concurrent phenomenon is hypno- a cessation of such attacks. pompic hallucinations. These occur I filed these experiences away until when one awakes but hallucinates and I stumbled across a scientific explana- sees imagery. At times these images tion for them. can be vivid and bizarre and of a What my friend and I were exper- frightening quality. My friend's ghost iencing is often referred to as "night and my electrifying telephone cord are terror." My friend's were more like both examples of these. Although the classic variety, complete with a both had strange, unbelievable qual- night hag, while mine was more ities, they were both vividly seen, unusual, involving a "demonic tele- vividly experienced, and believed by phone cord from Hell." Such experien- the experiencer at the time, and very ces, disturbing and frightening as they confusing to the victim upon the may be to the unsuspecting partici- cessation of the experience. pants, are relatively benign and fall The ability to question subjective easily within the realm of the reality is another brain function that "explained" when understood is inhibited during dreaming. Hence properly. the bizarre but unquestioned nature Such experiences consist of two of conventional dreams. This inhibi- aspects. The first is sleep paralysis. tion of the reality-checking function This is a relatively normal condition of the brain apparently also extends characterized by awakening to find into the period of hypnopompic hal- oneself unable to move. Although it lucination. In some cases, this can lead is one of many indicators of the mental to intensified emotion, such as terror, illness narcolepsy, normally, in the and this is the conventional explana- absence of other problems, it is a fairly tion for such experiences. Although unimportant, relatively common the experience of finding oneself condition. paralyzed and possibly insane is When one is asleep certain portions frightening in itself, researchers feel of the brain effectively are inhibited that the terror often felt is due to and cease to function at their normal reasons beyond this. level. One of these inhibited functions Hypnopompic hallucinations can is movement. With the obvious excep- involve any or all of the senses, but tion of sleepwalkers (who fall well are most commonly visual or auditory. outside the scope of this article), gross Such hallucinations are normally not muscle movement is inhibited for shared. I assume my friend's girlfriend sleepers as a normal process. In the said that she had also seen the "ghost" case of sleep paralysis, the person to appease him. Or possibly she awakes before his brain can readjust actually thought that she saw some- itself and allow for normal, uninhib- thing. In any event, never having met ited movement. It is seen to be the her, I have no idea how she would

Fall 1992 67 respond when faced with a distraught, children's bedrooms. These are cited confused person who feared for his by adults as memories that convinced mental health. them that there might just be some- Such hallucinations, and the thing to "the mysterious side of life." related phenomenon of hypnogogic These experiences might be more hallucinations (which occur just prior easily explained as hypnogogic hallu- to sleeping), are not uncommon in cinations. children. Thus, when children say In the excellent collection of essays they see monsters at night at a time Phenomenon: Forty Years of Flying they should be sleeping, they just Saucers, Mark Moravec discusses might really think they are seeing hypnopompic/hypnogogic hallucina- them. tions as they may relate to UFO Such experiences have a great deal sightings. The author states that such of relevance to investigators of "unex- hallucinations may explain many plained phenomena," not just to those UFO-related phenomena that involve interested in "ghosts" and their super- tired drivers and people who awake natural entities. They also provide to find strange things, like lights insight into many cases of "UFO outside their windows and little abductions" and similar phenomena. creatures in their rooms. Psychologist Robert A. Baker has The possible images from hypno- suggested hypnopompic hallucina- pompic hallucinations can be of vir- tions as the explanation for the experi- tually anything that a person might ences described by Whitley Strieber in dream about. Obviously culturally Communion. Strieber claimed to have determined UFO phenomena, ghost been abducted and manipulated by sightings that frequently involve little fetuslike-looking men who sneak "night hag"-type terrors, or the less into his bedroom repeatedly, and hostile images of recently deceased ultimately cause him a great deal of acquaintances (who have been known distress—and financial gain—by their to provide information that only actions. (This is one of several expla- "they" would know, hence supposed nations advanced for this book.) proof of their supernatural origin), Budd Hopkins, author of Missing fairies, , weird creatures, Time and one of the foremost pro- bright lights, are all possible, just as ponents of the alien-abduction hy- I experienced the bizarre demonic pothesis, discussed several such telephone cord from Hell. reports in a recent Omni magazine It is important to understand that article. At least three of these involved such phenomena are not a sign of children, or adults remembering child- mental weakness or illness, but are hood experiences, seeing aliens or often experienced by people of un- other weird strangers in their bed- questioned sanity (and me too on one rooms before going to sleep. Hypno- occasion). Anyone seeking to under- gogic hallucination is an obvious stand paranormal phenomena should direction for such an investigation and be aware of this normal human it is one prominently absent from the experience. article. In Traditions of Belief, a study of Bibliography supernatural beliefs among middle- Baker, Robert A. 1987. The aliens among us: class women in today's England, by Hypnotic regressions revisited. SKEP- Gillian Bennett, there are many other TICAL INQUIRER, Winter 1987-88. stories involving strange people in Bennett, Gillian. 1987. Traditions of Belief.

68 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 17 London: Penguin Books. Flying Saucers, ed. by John Spencer and Carlson, Neil R. 1986 [1977]. Physiology of Hilary Evans. New York: Avon. Behavior. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Pachulski, Roman. 1990. Psychiatric Notes. Hobson, J. Allan. 1988. The Dreaming Brain. London: Prentice Hall International. London: Penguin Books. Reed, Graham. 1988. The Psychology of Hufford, David J. 1982. The Terror that Comes Anomalous Experience. Buffalo: Pro- in the Night. Philadelphia: University of metheus Books. Pennsylvania Press. McCarthy, Paul. 1990. True confessions: The unbearable pain, sorrow, and terror Peter Huston is a teacher of English as of . Omni, December. Moravec, Mark. 1988. "Is There a UFO State a second language and writer currently of Mind?" In Phenomenon: Forty Years of living in Taiwan.

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