the Case for the Bogey Man
Okay, for those of you who somehow missed out on me telling you this story 15 years ago, or over and over again in the 16 years since then, back in 1990 the VCR I had at that time illuminated my bedroom with a soft blue glow. It never got truly dark in the room as the clock on my VCR was SO bright. As another bit of back-story, it wasn't, at that time unusual for me to wake up with one of my arms numb and asleep due to poor circulation.
Well one night I wake up in the middle of trying to roll over, my arm not moving. I open my eyes and stare at the black ceiling for a moment or two, and then turn my head to look at the time on the VCR. It was a little after 3am. But wait, I just explained that my room never got completely dark, that it was always illuminated in a soft blue, why was my ceiling black?!
Just as this thought occurred to me a darkness slid down into my view of the VCR. Scared but still thinking it was a trick of my tired eyes I immediately looked straight up again. My ceiling was nicely bathed in a blue glow. Again the dark shape moves into my line of sight and again I'm staring at blackness. All of this is happening in a few quick seconds. I then realize that the reason I was unable to roll over wasn't because my arms were numb, but because there was someone or something sitting on me, and holding my arms down at the wrists. Now I panic. I can't breath, can't yell for help, and no attempt to move could break free of this thing's grasp.
After what seemed like forever I finally give up struggling and calm down. It didn't seem to be attempting to harm me, I really just began getting the feeling that it wanted my attention. Did I mention that it had a third arm coming out of it's chest? Yup, and if I looked away from the creature (trying to formulate an escape) it would use the third arm to tap me on my neck or face until I looked back in it's direction. With nothing further happening other than this thing sitting on me, I began to more calmly assess my situation. The creature seemed quite a bit smaller than me, but much much stronger, and then I noticed that my legs were fully free to move. The instant I realized this I kicked up as hard as I could with both my knees, knocking the creature flying off of me. My hand flashed to the light switch and turned on the lights just in time to see a small formless black blob dart into my closet. Yes, my closet....and yes years later I very much enjoyed Monster's Inc. own it on DVD and it's amongst my favourite movies.
Anyway, as outlandish and trippy as this story seems it turns out that about 1 in 20 people have a similar experience at least once in their lifetime if not regularly. They're commonly referred to as Incubus (and no it's not the strange sensation that there's a rock concert taking place in your bedroom)or Night Hag experience's. The general explanation is that your mind wakes up but your body is still under the influence of the paralyzing chemicals that your brain puts out to keep you from thrashing around while you dream. Your brain can't figure out why the body isn't moving so it starts hallucinating an explanation. The big question though is why does the brain wake up before the body does? And the answer to that, or the theory at least, is the geological activity generates magnetic fields that 1 in 20 people's brains are sensitive to and it not only wakes their brain up but helps generate the hallucinations too. It's thought that this may also be the source of some people's alien abduction experiences, and back in the day, elven abductions, or even experiences of a more religious nature.
Anyway, my point to this excessive bit of rambling is this. Recently my wife and I purchased a new alarm clock whose blue time display illuminates our bedroom at night, much like my VCR did back in college. The other night I was lying in bed staring at my blue ceiling and it occurred to me that if in fact the cause of such experiences was geological activity then I should be expecting another if not several repeat performances by the bogeyman, blocking out my view of the blue ceiling, being that I now live in North America's hotbed for geological activity, and yet nothing. Perhaps my brain has changed in some fashion. It is 16 years older. Or maybe, just maybe, there's really a bogeyman, just trying to make a living by scaring the crap out of people...or maybe he's turned to comedy along with all of the other monsters.
Well one night I wake up in the middle of trying to roll over, my arm not moving. I open my eyes and stare at the black ceiling for a moment or two, and then turn my head to look at the time on the VCR. It was a little after 3am. But wait, I just explained that my room never got completely dark, that it was always illuminated in a soft blue, why was my ceiling black?!
Just as this thought occurred to me a darkness slid down into my view of the VCR. Scared but still thinking it was a trick of my tired eyes I immediately looked straight up again. My ceiling was nicely bathed in a blue glow. Again the dark shape moves into my line of sight and again I'm staring at blackness. All of this is happening in a few quick seconds. I then realize that the reason I was unable to roll over wasn't because my arms were numb, but because there was someone or something sitting on me, and holding my arms down at the wrists. Now I panic. I can't breath, can't yell for help, and no attempt to move could break free of this thing's grasp.
After what seemed like forever I finally give up struggling and calm down. It didn't seem to be attempting to harm me, I really just began getting the feeling that it wanted my attention. Did I mention that it had a third arm coming out of it's chest? Yup, and if I looked away from the creature (trying to formulate an escape) it would use the third arm to tap me on my neck or face until I looked back in it's direction. With nothing further happening other than this thing sitting on me, I began to more calmly assess my situation. The creature seemed quite a bit smaller than me, but much much stronger, and then I noticed that my legs were fully free to move. The instant I realized this I kicked up as hard as I could with both my knees, knocking the creature flying off of me. My hand flashed to the light switch and turned on the lights just in time to see a small formless black blob dart into my closet. Yes, my closet....and yes years later I very much enjoyed Monster's Inc. own it on DVD and it's amongst my favourite movies.
Anyway, as outlandish and trippy as this story seems it turns out that about 1 in 20 people have a similar experience at least once in their lifetime if not regularly. They're commonly referred to as Incubus (and no it's not the strange sensation that there's a rock concert taking place in your bedroom)or Night Hag experience's. The general explanation is that your mind wakes up but your body is still under the influence of the paralyzing chemicals that your brain puts out to keep you from thrashing around while you dream. Your brain can't figure out why the body isn't moving so it starts hallucinating an explanation. The big question though is why does the brain wake up before the body does? And the answer to that, or the theory at least, is the geological activity generates magnetic fields that 1 in 20 people's brains are sensitive to and it not only wakes their brain up but helps generate the hallucinations too. It's thought that this may also be the source of some people's alien abduction experiences, and back in the day, elven abductions, or even experiences of a more religious nature.
Anyway, my point to this excessive bit of rambling is this. Recently my wife and I purchased a new alarm clock whose blue time display illuminates our bedroom at night, much like my VCR did back in college. The other night I was lying in bed staring at my blue ceiling and it occurred to me that if in fact the cause of such experiences was geological activity then I should be expecting another if not several repeat performances by the bogeyman, blocking out my view of the blue ceiling, being that I now live in North America's hotbed for geological activity, and yet nothing. Perhaps my brain has changed in some fashion. It is 16 years older. Or maybe, just maybe, there's really a bogeyman, just trying to make a living by scaring the crap out of people...or maybe he's turned to comedy along with all of the other monsters.
posted by Linton at 3:52 PM
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