So what's with this "Old Hag" I'm reading about?

[Scarhand]

The main (only, really) reason that I am kind of afraid of inducing lucid dreams are these hallucinations I am hearing about that people can get caught in when experiencing sleep paralysis. When it comes to the night I am little more than a coward, so I want to know the rate of this happening and just how traumatic the event is.

[Sain]

I think that (hallucinations) happen every time you go to sleep, but sometimes you are already too sleepy to even know whats going on. I have had those SP sometimes and they are not scary, they are more like weird, and funny when you get sucked into your bed XD But if I think i'm going to be scared I try to think where am I, and that I will LD. It helps alot.

[Scarhand]

I think that (hallucinations) happen every time you go to sleep, but sometimes you are already too sleepy to even know whats going on. I have had those SP sometimes and they are not scary, they are more like weird, and funny when you get sucked into your bed XD But if I think i'm going to be scared I try to think where am I, and that I will LD. It helps alot. Yeah I get what you're saying now. It's kind of like a "The only thing to fear is fear itself" moment when you think about it since it can't really hurt you.

[Snowy Egypt]

It's nothing, really. I've only experienced it once, and it spooked me while it was happening, but when I woke up I was like, ".......AWESOME!!!"

[Scarhand]

It's nothing, really. I've only experienced it once, and it spooked me while it was happening, but when I woke up I was like, ".......AWESOME!!!" Haha, I guess as long as you remember that it's all in your head and it can't hurt you, you're perfectly fine, right?

[DuB]

Exactly. Another thing to consider is that while these experiences are not uncommon, they certainly aren't the norm either. And they aren't necessarily related to lucid dreaming. For example, I've been inducing lucid dreams for almost three years now and I've never experienced it myself, whereas my friend who doesn't even know what a lucid dream is has gotten this a number of times. Sometimes it just happens. Now that you know what to expect, it should be a lot less scary if you do happen to experience this (which you likely will not). I think half of the freaky aspect of it all is just the "what the hell is going on" factor.

[Dash]

The main (only, really) reason that I am kind of afraid of inducing lucid dreams are these hallucinations I am hearing about that people can get caught in when experiencing sleep paralysis. When it comes to the night I am little more than a coward, so I want to know the rate of this happening and just how traumatic the event is. I had the "old hag." It was nowhere near as scary as I thought it would be. It was kind of funny, actually.

[Scarhand]

All in all, Shift, I think just what happens during Sleep Paralysis depends on the mind and the fears of the one experiencing it. I really want to meet this "Old Hag" just to laugh at it, even if it will be a bit scary at first.

[Shift]

All in all, Shift, I think just what happens during Sleep Paralysis depends on the mind and the fears of the one experiencing it. I really want to meet this "Old Hag" just to laugh at it, even if it will be a bit scary at first. Well my point is that it is about your expectations of the experience and how you react to them, not your mind or your fears, unless you don't have control of them. If you expect it to be the gateway into lucid dreaming, and spend the whole thing excited, well-informed, and thinking that it's going to be cool, it will be! If all you hear is that you'll be paralyzed, feel painful vibrations, or fall miles and miles through your bed, while some bitch hag gets into your face and scares the crap out of you, well you are going to focus on that and your mind and fears will run wild. In all my years of SP I've never actually seen a hag. I guess because only recently I heard of the hag, versus just SP. I don't plan on expecting to meet her, though

[mel_noah]

I had tons of Old Hag experiences when I was much younger. Unfortunately at the time I had no idea what SP was or why I was dreaming about such a figure. So it was extremely frightening to me. Now that I am older, and wiser, I no longer experience the Hag. I suppose knowing is half the battle. Good Luck.

[Scarhand]

Well my point is that it is about your expectations of the experience and how you react to them, not your mind or your fears, unless you don't have control of them. If you expect it to be the gateway into lucid dreaming, and spend the whole thing excited, well-informed, and thinking that it's going to be cool, it will be! If all you hear is that you'll be paralyzed, feel painful vibrations, or fall miles and miles through your bed, while some bitch hag gets into your face and scares the crap out of you, well you are going to focus on that and your mind and fears will run wild. In all my years of SP I've never actually seen a hag. I guess because only recently I heard of the hag, versus just SP. I don't plan on expecting to meet her, though So as long as I stay positive and remember that it's all just the gateway to my LD it should all be fine?

[Shift]

So as long as I stay positive and remember that it's all just the gateway to my LD it should all be fine? Absolutely.

[ObsidianWraith]

Not to be negative, but I've known at least two people who've experienced SP and both experienced a presence or "old hag" type of situation even though, as far as I know, they didn't even know about SP and the old hag. And one of them didn't even realize he was having a paralytic situation until after he saw the figure. So, it wasn't like they were expecting something like that. They both also said they felt they were smothering and one of them even told me she thought she was dieing. I'd say part of the reason she thought this, was because she didn't understand what was happening or why she was paralyzed. Had she known, she may not have suspected anything of the sort- BUT the smothering prob. had something to do with her feeling like she was dieing, as well. At least I think she said she was smothering. I know the man had trouble breathing or at least felt that way. Also, I believe they both said they felt a heavy pressure on their chests. The man wasn't afraid at first. He wasn't afraid of the figure. His was about the size of a cat and black. He said he thought it was one of their cats that had sneaked inside. When it got on the bed and crawled upon his chest, it caused a great heaviness in his chest and a smothering feeling. He couldn't move or speak, so he felt powerless until it left. He said after it crawled off, he still felt the same way until it left the room. So, to him the figure itself hadn't been scary, but rather the paralysis (which if you expect may not scare you as much) and the suffocation and pressure on his chest was frightening to him. The woman said she felt a presence in the room and a heaviness in her chest. I think she might have smothered some. She couldn't move or speak, but said she was trying to do so with much effort. Again, her fear may have been from lack of knowing what to expect. But I'll just tell you- even if there's no scary figure and I know the paralysis is going to pass, I imagine smothering would be scary and uncomfortable, anyway. I think people talk about old hag a lot because it is common for it to co-occur with SP (at least I think so- correct?) AND because it is one of the SP experiences that is the scariest, and therefore the one people talk about the most- Not because it happens every time. I must say, I fear SP and didn't realize there was an LD connection until the last month or so. Now that I know there is, it worries me. People say to sleep on your back to increase LD chances, but I'm afraid because I hear it also makes SP more likely and I hate the idea of smothering. Plus, I have a feeling an old hag might scare me even if I said, "It's just my imagination" 100 times, if I was lucid enough. However, on the plus side, experiencing something like this isn't necessary for LD's and anyways, Ive heard some people have positive sleep paralysis experiences and some even see entities (whether real or imagined) they believe to be positive.