char *(null)="
old.hag
old.hag
From: bwallace@epix.net (Penny)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: Old Hag experience (& delurk)
Date: Mon, 09 Jan 1995 23:44:11 -0500
I'm finally de-lurking. A few weeks or so ago, there was a flurry of
postings regarding the Old Hag experience, which I read with great
interest. Years ago, when I was a freshman in college, I had a classic
Old Hag experience.
I had just moved into a large apartment in a rehabbed Victorian building
that had been vacant for about twenty years following a fire. The
apartment, in a large city on the east coast, had fireplaces, stained
glass windows and a front parlor with a circular turret and a carved
marble fireplace. My roommates and I drew lots for room assignments and I
got the parlor. I thought myself quite fortunate to end up with the
choicest room.
This was in the late sixties. All four of us females were art majors and
looked the part--thrift shop clothing, waist-length hair, the whole
sixties thing.. The sound of the Beatles' Abbey Road album or the Moody
Blues could be heard wafting out of our windows day and night.
One night during my first week there I went to bed in a fine mood. I
should mention that I hadn't been drinking and despite the times, I didn't
do drugs. I turned out the light and settled down to go to sleep. As I
was lying in bed thinking, I became aware of a rustling sound emanating
from the turret . I focused on the sound, trying to determine its
origins. A breeze over papers? A mouse? As soon as I dismissed these
possibilities the rustling sound stopped and was replaced by the sound of
stealthy, shuffling footsteps that were headed in my direction. The sense
of a presence was suddenly so strong that it filled the room. I was
terrified. The critical detail here is that I clearly remember pulling
the blanket over my head (I was lying on my back.) The next thing I knew
I was paralyzed--I couldn't move a finger. The footsteps continued their
approach and the next thing I knew, a tremendous weight settled on my
chest, forcing me into the mattress. I felt that there was a menacing
presence, a personality at work that wanted to meddle with me in
particular. It was nasty! The intense, dreadful weight continued to
press down on me, almost like a large animal settling itself on my body.
I thought I would go through the mattress. I knew that I was awake, I was
not dreaming, and that something evil was in the room with me. Somehow,
my childhood years of Sunday School paid off and I prayed to be released.
In that instant, it was over.
The following morning, I tried to tell myself that it had been just a
dream. To this day, twenty-odd years later, I don't believe I was
dreaming..
After that, I slept with the light on and my bedroom door open. Months
later, one of my roommates was sick with the flu. Her room was cold so I
offered to switch with her until she felt better. That night, she stayed
in my room and closed the pocket doors. The rest of us were watching T.V.
elsewhere in the apartment. A number of friends were there. Sometime
after midnight, we heard the doors of my room screech open on their
runners and slam into their recesses in the wall. My roommate came
screaming down the hall, saying that something had sat on the bed. She
felt the bed sag beneath the weight, though in her case, it wasn't on top
of her. She also felt and heard something clawing and scraping at the
bedspread.
After my roommate's experience, we two scaredy-cats decided to share a
room and kept the hall light on. Though nothing like that ever happened
again, we did have some exciting times with a Ouija board in that
apartment.
We left that place at the end of the school year and found another old
apartment that proved to be just fine. The students who moved into our
former place reportedly had problems there, too. Unfortunately, we never
compared stories.
I should mention that my fascination with the subject of ghosts led to my
getting a Masters degree in Folklore at the University of Pennsylvania.
While there I studied with Dr. David Hufford, who wrote The Terror That
Comes In The Night. I wrote a thesis entitled "The Old Hag Experience
Within A Haunted House Tradition."
I found people who claimed that more than one member of their family
experienced variations of the Old Hag within the same house. They only
discovered much later that they had shared similar experiences while
living there. I also interviewed two people whose Old Hag attacks
precipitated out-of-body experiences.
IMHO Old Hag attacks occur, or at least are reported more frequently in
settings that are considered "haunted." This may be a case of "Which
comes first, the chicken or the egg?" Does a house with a reputation of
being haunted encourage someone to interpret the experience as
supernatural or does the experience itself promote the house to be called
haunted? In poring over collections of both contemporary and past ghost
folklore from around the world, I noticed that Old Hag attacks accompany
other manifestations with startling frequency. I also found that elements
of a typical "Old Hag," like the rustling sound, the sound of footsteps or
the percipient suffering temporary paralysis, are elements commonly
mentioned by people who report seeing an apparition, even in broad
daylight.
Hufford's book should be read by anyone interested in the Old Hag.
Although riveting to read, it is scholarly and gives medical science its
due. No conclusions are drawn. If you do read it, however, you may
choose never to sleep on your back again.
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