History Main / SleepParalysisCreature

* Creator/HPLovecraft's short story ''Literature/PickmansModel'' centres on a collection of {{spooky painting}}s by a MadArtist. The narrator mentions that some of the paintings depict ghoulish creatures "leaping through open windows at night, or squatting on the chests of sleepers", implying this trope, and suggesting the Fuseli painting mentioned above in particular. Earlier in the story, the narrator directly compares the fictional Pickman to Fuseli, suggesting a deliberate invocation on the author's part.

* ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse'': Throughout her life, [[TheOphelia Eleanor "Nelly" Crain]] suffers terrifying episodes of sleep paralysis in which she's haunted by a shadowy figure she calls "The Bent-Neck Lady", most commonly seen standing over her or on the other end of the bed. These episodes number among the worst moments of Nelly's life, and as her depression worsens, the Bent-Neck Lady begins appearing to her even when she's mobile and fully conscious. [[spoiler: The twist is that the Bent-Neck Lady is actually the ghost of Nelly herself, [[NonLinearCharacter scattered across history]] through the power of [[EldritchLocation Hill House]] - as Nelly discovers when she's tricked into killing herself and [[AndIMustScream is stuck reliving her worst episodes of sleep paralysis]], but ''this'' time as her own sleep paralysis demon.]]

* ''Series/Evil'': Has several:

* ''Series/{{Grimm}}'': The Alpe feed by sitting on top of people as they sleep, chemically paralysing them and draining their melatonin. They're the in-universe explanation for sleep paralysis and the image in the Grimm diaries strongly resembles Henry Fuseli's 1781 painting, The Nightmare, which depicts the condition.

* ''Myth/BrazilianFolklore'': The Pisadeira ("she who steps" in Portuguese) is a frail old hag with dirty nails and [[RedEyesTakeWarning staring red eyes]] who lurks on rooftops at night, waiting to step on those who went to sleep with their stomach full.
* ''Myth/ClassicalMythology'': In Greece and Cyprus, sleep paralysis is caused by a demonic creature called Mora, who sits on its victim's chest, causes breath shortage, and tries to steal their voice.
* ''Myth/JapaneseMythology''

* ''Myth/SlavicMythology'': The Kikimora is a kind of mischievous female [[HouseFey household spirit]] who, depending on the behavior of the homeowner, can be helpful, helping to clean the house and doing chores, or malicious if her or her work were to be disrespected, taking delight in causing nightmares or even kidnapping children (in contrast to Domovoi, who are benevolent unless mistreated). She, among many other mysterious nocturnal activities, was believed to be the cause of sleep paralysis, immobilizing her victims by sitting on their chests and terrorizing them with thoughts of dying.
* ''Myth/SwahiliMythology'': Sleep paralysis is known as jinamizi ("strangled by [[OurGeniesAreDifferent jinn]]"), and is attributed to happen as a result of people sleeping on their backs.
* ''Myth/YorubaMythology'': Ogun Oru is the traditional explanation for many nocturnal disturbances in Southeast Nigeria, including sleep paralysis. It is culturally attributed to [[DemonicPossession demons infiltrating one's body and mind during dreaming]], and it is believed to be treated through rituals and Christian prayers.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-932 SCP-932 ("Night Feeder")]]. Normally invisible, they look like featureless, pale children. When a human is asleep and dreaming, a group of them will pin the victim down, wake them up and terrify them to [[EmotionEater consume their fear]].

* ''Art/{{The Nightmare|Fuseli}}'' by renowned Anglo-Swiss painter Henry Fuseli is an oil painting depicting a woman dressed in all white languishing in bed as a stout demon sits on her stomach, gazing back at the viewer, while a mare stares at the two from behind a curtain. It is one of his most famous pieces that was lauded for its surreal imagery (literally presenting a dream-like image while depicting the contents of one woman's nightmares) and has been interpreted by later art historians as one of the earliest depictions of sleep paralysis as a demon. It has since been the direct and indirect inspiration for subsequent images on the topic.

* Mares or Maras are demons in Scandinavian and Germanic folklore thought to sit on people's chests at night and cause nightmares. The beings are also often associated with [[HornyDemons incubi and succubi]], and entangled the hair of sleeping beasts, resulting in "marelocks".

* ''Art/{{The Nightmare|HenryFuseli}}'' by renowned Anglo-Swiss painter Henry Fuseli is an oil painting depicting a woman dressed in all white languishing in bed as a stout demon sits on her stomach, gazing back at the viewer, while a mare stares at the two from behind a curtain. It is one of his most famous pieces that was lauded for its surreal imagery (literally presenting a dream-like image while depicting the contents of one woman's nightmares) and has been interpreted by later art historians as one of the earliest depictions of sleep paralysis as a demon. It has since been the direct and indirect inspiration for subsequent images on the topic.

With all these characteristics, this phenomenon has been interpreted as being caused by supernatural malevolent spirits -- frequently called Night Hags or Old Hags -- in many different cultures in world folklore [[OlderThanPrint since ancient times]], often with them possessing the person or sitting on their victim's chest or on the foot of the bed and immobilizing them as they give them nightmares. In OralTradition, they can be [[OurWitchesAreDifferent hags]], [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent goblins]], [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]], [[OurImpsAreDifferent imps]], [[OurGhostsAreDifferent ghosts]] and {{revenant|Zombie}}s of dead people, HouseFey and overall other supernatural beings and [[TheFairFolk fae-like entities]]. More recently, they have also been associated with {{Alien Abduction}}s and encounters. Circumstances can range from a form of communication with the material world, a mischievous prank, or a sadistic and even lethal torment, but the experience is almost always quite unpleasant for the person regardless.

In fact, the English word "nightmare" comes from the Old English "mare" -- which in turn comes from the Proto-Germanic "maron" -- folkloric goblins or demons who would plague people by causing this experience at night. This holds especially true for the Danish and Norwegian languages, whose words for "nightmare" are respectively "mareridt" and "mareritt", lit. translation: "to be ridden by a mare", which directly invokes the image of the creature sitting on one's chest. A similar process happened with "pesadelo" (nightmare in Portuguese), which comes from "pesado" (heavy), in reference to the feeling of pressure in the chest during this ocurrance.

* Series/{{Grimm}}: The Alpe feed by sitting on top of people as they sleep, chemically paralysing them and draining their melatonin. They're the in-universe explanation for sleep paralysis and the image in the Grimm diaries strongly resembles Henry Fuseli's 1781 painting, The Nightmare, which depicts the condition.

Compare NightmareWeaver, a common role for this kind of folkloric beings, and ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight, for other sinister nightmarish monsters lurking around the house at night.

*** Sleep paralysis can be one of the symptoms of possession by {{Kitsune}}, {{Tanuki}} and others.

[[caption-width-right:350:Sleep tight.[[note]]Image by [[http://www.carolynarcabascio.com/ Carolyn Arcabascio]][[/note]]]]

Compare NightmareWeaver, a common role for this kind of folkloric beings, and ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight, for other sinister nightmarish monsters lurking around the house at night.\\

-->--'''[[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sleep-paralysis-and-the-monsters-inside-your-mind/ Scientific American]]'''

* ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse'': Throughout her life, [[TheOphelia Eleanor "Nelly" Crain]] suffers terrifying episodes of sleep paralysis in which she's haunted by a shadowy figure she calls "The Bent-Neck Lady", most commonly seen standing over her or on the other end of the bed. These episodes number among the worst moments of Nelly's life, and as her depression worsens, the Bent-Neck Lady begins appearing to her even when she's mobile and fully conscious. [[spoiler: The twist is that the Bent-Neck Lady is actually the ghost of Nelly herself, [[NonLinearCharacter scattered across history]] through the power of [[ElditchLocation Hill House]] - as Nelly discovers when she's tricked into killing herself and [[AndIMustScream is stuck reliving her worst episodes of sleep paralysis]], but ''this'' time as her own sleep paralysis demon.]]

* ''Film/{{Mara}} (2018)'' is a supernatural horror film about a criminal psychologist investigating the death of a man who was seemingly [[SlainInTheirSleep strangled in his sleep]]. When the victim's wife tells her that the man was killed by a sleep demon, she tries to send her to a mental institution. But when the criminal psychologist starts to suffer from sleep paralysis herself and more people keep dying, she wonders if the sleep demon does exist. A doctor later explains the demon is named Mara, creatures from Scandinavian, Slavic, and Germanic folklore.