Fact:
- The Terror That Comes in the Night: An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions by David Hufford - looks at sleep paralysis folklore and the wide range of people’s experiences, with a New Foundland focus but generally applicable too.
- Abducted: How People Come to Believe They Were Kidnapped by Aliens by Susan Clancy - examines at sleep paralysis’ role in alien abduction cases (as well as other explanations)
I used to laugh at superstitious beliefs. While I understand that sleep paralysis is a natural phenomenon, it is SO REAL in a way that is horrible to confront while it’s happening, and certainly after it you don’t have an explanation for it. An uneducated sufferer might rationally come to the conclusion that evil spirits do exist.