Sleep Apoplexy
Ghosts Sitting on Ladies’ Chests or sleep apoplexy?
When you “pop your clogs” (as they say in the UK) you are unlikely to bump into most of the ghosts that are reported in folklore. Sadly, you will not be able to mix with headless queens, highwaymen, gray ladies, cavaliers or Reggie Toothless. Often these supernatural characters are seen as a person awakens from dream sleep. For example a lady wrote to me at one of my newspaper columns to say:
“I went to bed with a good book and eventually drifted off to sleep. Some hours later I awoke unable to breathe. I could see that a ghostly figure was sitting on my chest! There was an immense weight pinning me to the bed. I thought I was dying by having the breath squeezed out of my body. Somehow I managed to throw myself out of bed and staggered downstairs gulping in air as I went. I never slept there again. My unwelcome nocturnal visitor obviously objected to my presence. And I can take a hint!”
Sleep Apoplexy
 If you are planning to sit on the chests of old ladies when you enter the spirit world, think again; for this is not the result of spirits but a common complaint called sleep apoplexy. There's a part of the brain at the back of the head that inhibits body movement when we sleep. If it didn't, we'd act out our dreams and thrash wildly around in bed. Many people experience “sleep paralysis” when the conscious mind wakes up before this restraining function does. The result is a feeling of immobility and suffocation.
I have written for many years for a number of national papers answering people’s letters about the paranormal. This phenomena, of being pinned to the bed by a ghost, is one of the most common ones I receive. Occasionally the “ghost” does all sorts of terrible things to the person concerned. Sleep paralysis may account for many of the frightening stories we hear about ghosts and demons, which are, in effect, waking nightmares.
Fortunately, science has now identified the condition. It has been found to be very common and extreme cases can be treated with drugs. If it happens to you, don’t panic. Just relax and know that in a few moments you will wake up.
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