The Terror That Comes in the Night

An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions

David J. Hufford
eISBN-13: 9780812292596

eBook Features

Already purchased in store?
or
Rent or Buy from $ 32.62 USD
Note: We do not guarantee supplemental material with textbooks (e.g. CD's, Music, DVD's, Access Code, or Lab Manuals)

Additional Book Details

David Hufford's work exploring the experiential basis for belief in the supernatural, focusing here on the so-called Old Hag experience, a psychologically disturbing event in which a victim claims to have encountered some form of malign entity while dreaming (or awake). Sufferers report feeling suffocated, held down by some "force," paralyzed, and extremely afraid.

The experience is surprisingly common: the author estimates that approximately 15 percent of people undergo this event at some point in their lives. Various cultures have their own name for the phenomenon and have constructed their own mythology around it; the supernatural tenor of many Old Hag stories is unavoidable. Hufford, as a folklorist, is well-placed to investigate this puzzling occurrence.

Sold By University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
ISBNs 0812292596, 9780812292596, 9780812213058
Language eng
Number of Pages 304