Question:
Sleep disorders expert Dr. Max Hirshkowitz says that he suspects that alien
abductees are really suffering from hallucinatory sleep paralysis because
the alien descriptions are so similar to what his patients describe.
Answer:
FWIW, Joe Polanik (jpola...@mindspring.com) manages a mailing list
dealing with this perspective. The ASP-L (i.e. Awareness [during]
Sleep Paralysis) list has attracted some fairly scholarly folks over
the past year or so and sports an occasional gem, rendering it worth
the traffic for those who see some merit in keeping their finger on
this particular pulse.
We find this Persinger-esque approach a bit too prosaic for our
tastes, but then we're a rather nutty lot, preferring instead a more
.. ummm ... parapsychologickal/paraphysiologickal view.
I scanned the article and couldn't find anything
that suggested that Dr. Hirshkowitz was going to study any of the
numerous alleged alien abductees. It would be nice if some scientists
and/or mental health professionals would study this abduction
phenomenon and nail it down once and for all, instead of just more
off-the-cuff speculation.
Ohhhhh.... sLeep disorder. For a moment there I feared the greys had
developed a taste for mutton. The New Zealanders would be up in arms at that
possibility - they are very proprietorial over there sheeps botties.
Sleep paralysis in conjunction with lucid dreaming is quite common. In older
days, they were referred to as "night hags", a person awakening in a
hallucinatory state, unable to move. They reported that it was because a witch
was on top of them. Nowadays, of course, it's aliens.
I had one myself. It *is* terrifying, and probably impossible to convince a
person who's gone through such an experience that it was a natural phenomenon,
and not rape by aliens. I had no belief in aliens or scarey witches, so I was
safe from them.. instead my 'abduction' took it's form from a book I had read
earlier involving trench warfare and an electrical plant.. I was stuck helpless
for about 15 minutes while electricity shot up and down through the wires, which
I was composed of.
Really sad that if I describe the above, and said "I was being scanned by
aliens!" I'd be more believed then if I said "I had a terrifying half-awake
dream." Because if you say it's aliens, l that makes you mysterious and special.
But if you say it was all a dream, well... *anyone* can have a nightmare!
