Sleep paralysis: from the incubus to the grey alien
Black shadows and alien greys haunt sleep paralysis: the documentary The Nightmare and Psalm 91 are cited to explain the same phenomenon.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The modern incubus dresses up as a grey alien
The scene repeats itself every night in thousands of bedrooms: a paralyzed body, a conscious mind and a presence sitting on the chest. Some people regain control by praying an Our Father; others swear that a St Benedict medal under the pillow changed the frequency of the visits. Sleep paralysis, often confused with night terrors, has been described the same way for centuries; only the intruder's disguise has changed: the incubus or succubus of old today has an alien face.
Shadows, greys and a "dreadful" energy
The documentary The Nightmare (2015), by Rodney Ascher, gathers the testimony of people who suffer these episodes, and the pattern could not be more unsettling: the entities appear as opaque shadows or as alien greys, and sufferers agree on the aggressive energy they give off. The parallel is nothing new: the painting The Nightmare, by John Henry Fuseli, exhibited in 1782, already showed a demon perched on a sleeper. Two centuries later, the incubus has modernized and wears an alien body.
Demon, alien or lack of sleep?
Science is not surprised: during REM sleep the body becomes atonic and the brain can generate hypnagogic hallucinations; the result is the sensation of a real, suffocating and malevolent presence. The spiritual interpretation holds that after a mystical awakening these entities gain strength and that protection comes through Christ; the medical evidence points to a neurological mechanism. The debate tightens when the analysis brushes against ufology: researcher Gary Bates has argued in interviews from December 2023 and July 2025 that abductions are sleep paralysis, and that "abductions halted by the name of Jesus".
The unsettling fact: Psalm 91 already spoke of "the terror by night" long before the greys existed. The question remains open: does science explain the experience, or does it only describe the same demon with the aesthetics of each era?
The scene repeats itself every night in thousands of bedrooms: a paralyzed body, a conscious mind and a presence sitting on the chest. Some people regain control by praying an Our Father; others swear that a St Benedict medal under the pillow changed the frequency of the visits. Sleep paralysis, often confused with night terrors, has been described the same way for centuries; only the intruder's disguise has changed: the incubus or succubus of old today has an alien face.
Shadows, greys and a "dreadful" energy
The documentary The Nightmare (2015), by Rodney Ascher, gathers the testimony of people who suffer these episodes, and the pattern could not be more unsettling: the entities appear as opaque shadows or as alien greys, and sufferers agree on the aggressive energy they give off. The parallel is nothing new: the painting The Nightmare, by John Henry Fuseli, exhibited in 1782, already showed a demon perched on a sleeper. Two centuries later, the incubus has modernized and wears an alien body.
Demon, alien or lack of sleep?
Science is not surprised: during REM sleep the body becomes atonic and the brain can generate hypnagogic hallucinations; the result is the sensation of a real, suffocating and malevolent presence. The spiritual interpretation holds that after a mystical awakening these entities gain strength and that protection comes through Christ; the medical evidence points to a neurological mechanism. The debate tightens when the analysis brushes against ufology: researcher Gary Bates has argued in interviews from December 2023 and July 2025 that abductions are sleep paralysis, and that "abductions halted by the name of Jesus".
The unsettling fact: Psalm 91 already spoke of "the terror by night" long before the greys existed. The question remains open: does science explain the experience, or does it only describe the same demon with the aesthetics of each era?
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (32 replies).
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