Episode 82: Sleep Paralysis and the Hat Man

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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SPEAKER_2 (1:54)

Soundsington Media, Soundsington Media, Soundsington Media.

Elise Parisian (2:00)

You find yourself at the top of the stairs in a dimly lit basement. In front of you is a door. You pound on it with your fist, bang, bang, bang. And you yell, somebody let me out of here. But you hear nothing from the other side. When you reach down to try the door handle, there's nothing there. This door has no handle.

A chill sinks in. Your breath speeds up. Because now you know for certain that you're trapped. And then you wake up.

It was only a nightmare. What a relief to be back in your room, in your house. You can hear your sister breathing softly in the bunk below you. You can see the moon through the open curtains on your window.

In fact, the moon is so bright, you wouldn't even have to turn on any lights to sneak downstairs and play some early morning video games. All you have to do is get up.

Get up. Why can't you get up? You think at your body again. Get up. Get up. But your arms don't move. Your legs don't move. You try to say your sister's name and get her attention, but you can't make a sound. And that's when you notice something you've never seen in your room before. Or maybe someone.

Next to the doorway stands a lean figure, so cast in shadow that you might think he's made of shadow. He wears a large, wide-brimmed hat. And he's tall, so tall that he can look down on you, even where you are in your top bunk. Again, your breath starts to race. In and out, in and out. Again, you know you're trapped. But this time, it sure doesn't feel like a dream. Just then, thwack, a big kick bumps your butt through the mattress. And you hear your sister's voice from the bunk below. Why are you breathing so weird? It's annoying. And just like that, you can move again.

You sit up and whip around to look at the spot where the Man in the Hat had been.

But already, he's gone. I'm Elise Parisian, and in honor of spooky season, we are keeping things extra creepy with the walking nightmare phenomenon called sleep paralysis. What is sleep paralysis? Are the creatures people see like this man in a hat real? Or just a trick of the imagination? We'll do our best to find out on this episode of Unspookable.

SPEAKER_4 (5:09)

I have heard of sleep paralysis, and it is when your brain wakes up before your body does and you can't move.

SPEAKER_2 (5:19)

Sleep paralysis is when you wake up, whether that be when you're supposed to, or in the middle of the night, and you can't move, but you can still see and have consciousness.