Aliens, Demons, and Assorted Night Terrors

Some people think alien abductions can be attributed to a condition called sleep paralysis, where a person is conscious but still immobilized by whatever chemical changes happen during sleep to keep people from acting out their dreams. Usually people in the throws of sleep paralysis report feeling a dark presence in the room with them, often described as something sitting on their chest. In folklore, this chest sitter is commonly described as a demon or a crone or some other sinister being. This feeling of dread and the frequently accompanying sense of a dark presence goes by the term night terrors.

Are UFO abduction fantasies really just an elaborate form of night terror? Many of the patterns associated with abduction tales are also associated with night terrors. Dark presence? Check. A feeling of being pulled or pressed downward? Check. Bright lights? Yes, actually...certain sleep disorders are associated with spontaneous perceptions of light flashes (see Exploding Head Syndrome, for example...seriously...it's a thing).

What about the frequent reports of rectal and vaginal probes in UFO abduction tales? Yeah, that part doesn't really fit, as far as I know. I don't think the older folkloric explanations of night terrors included a lot of anal rape.

The mystery lives on!

BTW, Mysterious Universe is the best paranormal podcast ever and will fill you in on all of this and more!