The Occult Section

We’ve done a lot of stories here at The Occult Section regarding sleep paralysis, which can account for most (if not all) paranormal encounters that happen when we are sleeping. Simply put, sleep paralysis occurs when our minds wake up incorrectly, if you will, and while our minds may be conscious, our bodies are still in a state of paralysis, something our brain does to our bodies so we don’t act out our dreams. To further add to the horrifying sound of all this, our brains can still be in a dream state while we are awake, causing us to hallucinate. Most skeptics say this can account for such phenomena as alien abductions, the stories of the incubus or succubus, and many more, even older, legends. I had a few bouts of sleep paralysis years ago, and even while knowing what it was, I was still terrified during the episodes  It’s not fun, let me assure you. Now it appears a filmmaker is making a short film based on this phenomena.

Yeah, this is pretty much how it happens. Just without the alien.

When filmmaker Carla MacKinnon started waking up several times a week unable to move, with the sense that a disturbing presence was in the room with her, she didn’t call up her local ghost hunter. She got researching.

Now, that research is becoming a short film and multiplatform art project exploring the strange and spooky phenomenon of sleep paralysis. The film, supported by the Wellcome Trust and set to screen at the Royal College of Arts in London, will debut in May.

Sleep paralysis happens when people become conscious while their muscles remain in the ultra-relaxed state that prevents them from acting out their dreams. The experience can be quite terrifying, with many people hallucinating a malevolent presence nearby, or even an attacker suffocating them. Surveys put the number of sleep paralysis sufferers between about 5 percent and 60 percent of the population.

“I was getting quite a lot of sleep paralysis over the summer, quite frequently, and I became quite interested in what was happening, what medically or scientifically, it was all about,” MacKinnon said.

Her questions led her to talk with psychologists and scientists, as well as to people who experience the phenomenon. Myths and legends about sleep paralysis persist all over the globe, from the incubus and succubus (male and female demons, respectively) of European tales to a pink dolphin-turned-nighttime seducer in Brazil. Some of the stories MacKinnon uncovered reveal why these myths are so chilling.

Sleep stories

One man told her about his frequent sleep paralysis episodes, during which he’d experience extremely realistic hallucinations of a young child, skipping around the bed and singing nursery rhymes. Sometimes, the child would sit on his pillow and talk to him. One night, the tot asked the man a personal question. When he refused to answer, the child transformed into a “horrendous demon,” MacKinnon said.

For another man, who had the sleep disorder narcolepsy (which can make sleep paralysis more common), his dream world clashed with the real world in a horrifying way. His sleep paralysis episodes typically included hallucinations that someone else was in his house or his room — he’d hear voices or banging around. One night, he awoke in a paralyzed state and saw a figure in his room as usual.

“He suddenly realizes something is different,” MacKinnon said. “He suddenly realizes that he is in sleep paralysis, and his eyes are open, but the person who is in the room is in his room in real life.”

The figure was no dream demon, but an actual burglar.

Myths and science of sleep paralysis

Sleep paralysis experiences are almost certainly behind the myths of the incubus and succubus, demons thought have sex with unsuspecting humans in their sleep. In many cases, MacKinnon said, the science of sleep paralysis explains these myths. The feeling of suffocating or someone pushing down on the chest that often occurs during sleep paralysis may be a result of the automatic breathing pattern people fall into during sleep. When they become conscious while still in this breathing pattern, people may try to bring their breathing under voluntary control, leading to the feeling of suffocating.

Add to that the hallucinations that seem to seep in from the dream world, and it’s no surprise that interpretations lend themselves to demons, ghosts or even alien abduction, MacKinnon said.

What’s more, MacKinnon said, sleep paralysis is more likely when your sleep is disrupted in some way — perhaps because you’ve been traveling, you’re too hot or too cold, or you’re sleeping in an unfamiliar or spooky place. Those tendencies may make it more likely that a person will experience sleep paralysis when already vulnerable to thoughts of ghosts and ghouls.

“It’s interesting seeing how these scientific narratives and the more psychoanalytical or psychological narratives can support each other rather than conflict,” MacKinnon said.

Since working on the project, MacKinnon has been able to bring her own sleep paralysis episodes under control — or at least learned to calm herself during them. The trick, she said, is to use episodes like a form of research, by paying attention to details like how her hands feel and what position she’s in. This sort of mindfulness tends to make scary hallucinations blink away, she said.

“Rationalizing it is incredibly counterintuitive,” she said. “It took me a really long time to stop believing that it was real, because it feels so incredibly real.”

While I don’t think that just because someone has a paranormal encounter that wakes them up automatically means they were dreaming or suffering a form of sleep paralysis, I must say that it does seem to explain most of these instances. During my episodes of sleep paralysis, I was 100 percent convinced that there were small, alien creatures in my living room. Just out of sight. I could sort of hear them shuffling around, and I just knew they were there. At 10:00 in the morning. In broad daylight. It was scary as hell, but once I woke up a bit more, I realized what was happening and was very relieved. It just goes to show that the human mind can be a very effective trickster, and we must explore all rational explanations first before jumping to the paranormal conclusion.

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Aliens, witch hauntings, mythological creatures, whatever the reason for gathering, one thing is for sure, the paranormal give us an excuse to dress up and celebrate the paranormal mysteries in life. There are a many groups and organizations that host gatherings for these creatures or events annually. Whether these creatures exist or not, time has shown their possible presence inspires people to put on their costumes on for occasions other than Halloween. Here are a few of the most popular in the world today.

Alien Landing at Roswell

To thousand, even millions, July of 1947 will forever live in infamy as the day an actual alien landing was covered up. Summertime in sunny New Mexico is enough of a reason to gather and socialize on its own but the historical controversy of the possible alien citing has caused many young people to adopt an alien theme to their summer fun. Every first weekend of July the people of Roswell host UFO festival where people can come dressed in their own imagination of what our possible neighbors form above might look like. There are a couple ways to approach this in your costume. You can go with the classic green, round, extended shape head. You can try themes from famous movies depending on the effect you’re going for. For scary I recommend the original Alien look with and extended head. A professional walker’s helmet is actually a really great way to pull this off naturally if you paint it black. Other ideas include the soldier alien looks from Independence Day, the vicious but comical look from Mars Attacks, or the timeless E.T. It’s important to dress in the alien that fits your personality. Wearing regular human clothes with an alien face seems to be gaining more and more popularity as people like to give the impression they are “in disguise”.

Bigfoot

Everyone who has ever walked into the woods knows somebody who has claimed to see a Sasquatch or the famous “Bigfoot”. This larger-than-life creature has been claimed be spotted most abundantly in the Pacific Northwest started out mostly being cosplayed as a giant, black-furred, mountain man. Since then different versions of Bigfoot have been portrayed, most notably the Sasquatch in Jack’s Links commercials. The good thing about this creature is that our culture has taken to naming events after it such as fitness runs in the mountains, motocross races, and other outdoor fitness competitions. All of these events are appropriate for “Bigfoot” attire; the key with these costumes is to not look too much like Chewbacca and not too much like a basic Gorilla. It definitely helps to be tall but I have personally seen shorter men pull it off. The key is the fur; don’t worry too much about a mask. Some face paint or even mud along with patches of fur on the body can be enough strut your inner mountain woods monster.

Nessie

The famous Loch Ness monster has spawned many toys, T-shirts, a few cartoon characters based on the beast, but most of all it plays a huge role in the spirit of Scotland’s annual Roch Ness Festival. Taking place in late June, every year music fans gather around the famous lake and go nuts for a day. Some people like to penetrate the crowd easier by getting a few friends together and putting on a multi-person costume of Nessie. Given the fact that Nessie is said to have enormous size in addition to a neck longer than a giraffe it can be hard to pull off this costume alone. Still, the music festival is known as “its own monster” by the locals because you never know what’s going to happen.

Marie Sumner never grew out of playing dress-up. She writes to share her passion and offer advice to others regarding kids costumes, anime conventions, renaissance fairs, paranormal citing celebrations and other fun dress-up events.

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Way back in 2011, we blogged about the FBI releasing The Vault, an online repository of FBI documents that were made public due to the Freedom of Information Act. Among those files were UFO reports, and one of those reports is now, unsurprisingly, the most popular in The Vault’s database.

The FBI says its most viewed public record is a memo from 1950 recounting a strange story someone told an agent about three “flying saucers” that were allegedly recovered in New Mexico.

The so-called Hottel memo was first released in the late 1970s under the Freedom of Information Act, but it’s been viewed nearly a million times since 2011, when the FBI launched an online database of public records called the Vault.

Dated March 22, 1950, the memo was addressed to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and written by Guy Hottel, then head of the Bureau’s field office in Washington, D.C. Hottel was reporting what an Air Force investigator said that someone else told him about the crashed saucers.

The following details of the report have perhaps fueled the hopes of those who want to believe: “They [the saucers] were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only three feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed fliers and test pilots.”

For the record, FBI officials said in a statement on Monday (March 25) that the Hottel memo “does not prove the existence of UFOs; it is simply a second- or third-hand claim that we never investigated.”

Bureau officials also say there is no reason to believe that the story has anything to do with the infamous 1947 Roswell crash in New Mexico.

Hoover did actually order his agents to verify any UFO sightings after the Roswell incident and until July 1950. That the Hottel report was never investigated suggests “our Washington Field Office didn’t think enough of that flying saucer story to look into it,” the FBI statement says.

It is an interesting memo, to be sure. But the fact that it came in three years after the Roswell Incident tells me it may land (or crash-land?) in the realm of fiction rather than reality.

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Not sure how I missed this announcement, so I’m glad I’ve been able to watch a bit more TV lately (well, more than the regular none) and was able to catch the commercial and subsequently program my DVR. I’m not a big fan of most of the current paranormal shows, as they basically all feature frustrated actors running around pretending to find evidence of ghosts, Bigfoot, UFOs, or whatever, but I do enjoy the old-school shows, where they simply feature first-hand accounts, reenactments and experts in the field weighing in.  So I am definitely (yet cautiously) optimistic about the new Destination America show, Monsters and Mysteries in America.

Pope Lickmonster? Didn’t he just retire?

Mysterious shadows. Screams in the night. A hair-raising sense that something is watching. Stories of the unknown capture our imagination and curiosity in Destination America’s new series MONSTERS AND MYSTERIES IN AMERICA, premiering Sunday, March 24 at 10 PM E/P. From all across the country emerge tales of close encounters with legendary creatures, from horrific monsters and ancient spirits to alien sightings and unexplained paranormal phenomena. Thirty percent of Americans believe that a beast such as Bigfoot is living in our forests*; in a quaint Montana town, reports of an elusive lake serpent have persisted every year since 1889; last year, UFO sightings were reported in 36 of 50 states in one week alone.** Featuring first-person accounts with everyday people who believe they have come face to face with real-life folktale fiends, MONSTERS AND MYSTERIES IN AMERICA travels our country’s untamed wilderness to tell of its storied past.

Each episode focuses on a different American region and features stories of people who claim to have encountered creatures of local legend. The first two episodes include:

Appalachia premieres Sunday, March 24 at 10 PM E/P

• Sheepsquatch (Breckenridge County, KY) – The border between southwest Virginia and West Virginia is an area shrouded in mystery and folklore, but few mysteries are more unusual and intriguing than that of the Appalachian white beast known to the locals as Sheepsquatch. Dakota Cheeks and his best friend Ricky Joyce become prey to the legendary white beast during a weekend hunting trip.
• UFO/Little Green Men (Kelly and Hopkinsville, KY) – One quiet summer evening in 1955, the Sutton family farm is invaded by unexpected visitors. The family is hardly prepared for what they encounter – a small, green creature with glowing yellow eyes, about 3.5 feet tall with pointed ears and long arms raised high in the air. And he’s not alone. At first, the family is captivated by this transcendental moment… but evil quickly takes over.
• Mothman (Point Pleasant, WV) – An innocent drive down a country road turns into a nightmare for Faye LaPort and her siblings as they come face to face with the legendary Mothman. Sightings of the Mothman began in 1966 and continued for more than a year, electrifying and baffling the entire region of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Although the hype has died down since then, the sightings have not.

Pacific Northwest premieres Sunday, March 31 at 10 PM E/P

• Sasquatch (Sierra Mountains, CA / Olympic Mountains, WA) – Within the region’s dark, tightly packed interior, wildlife is so abundant that it’s become the rumored home of an elusive wild creature known as Sasquatch. Many adventurers are drawn to these mountains in hopes of encountering the famed hairy giant, but some confront the monster purely by chance, like Justin Smeja who encountered a family of Sasquatch during a routine hunting trip.
• Shanghai Tunnels (Portland, OR) – Deep underneath the city of Portland lies a maze of underground tunnels. At one time, they were used for transporting goods between businesses and the Willamette River, but recently the possibility of a far more sinister purpose has come to light. Residents claim these underground chambers remain turbulent from the horrors that took place a hundred years ago and visitors claim to see spirits and phantom wolves.
• Flathead Lake Monster (Flathead Lake, Polson, MT) – Resting on the edge of the Pacific Northwest region, Polson is a quaint lakeside town with a mysterious monster resident. For decades, people from all around the world have flocked to Flathead Lake in the hope of spotting an elusive aquatic creature living below the surface. Sightings occur every year, dating all the way back to 1889. Skeptics have questioned the authenticity of these sightings, but to those who have seen it, this monster is very, very real.

Other episodes will features mysteries in the Ozarks, Badlands, Bayou, and Desert.

MONSTERS AND MYSTERIES IN AMERICA is produced by M2 Pictures for Destination America. For M2 Pictures, Mike Sinclair is executive producer. For Destination America, Fay Yu is executive producer, Sara Kozak is SVP of production, Marc Etkind is SVP of content strategy, and Henry Schleiff is president and general manager.

I’ve got this series all set to record, and will definitely be giving it a chance. Hopefully it’s not over-the-top shlock like pretty much everything else having to do with the paranormal right now. Here’s to hoping…

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We did a story recently regarding James Fox and his offer of $100,000 for proof of the existence of UFOs. I came across this story (which also ties into our story about celebrities who believe in UFOs) about Mr. Fox making a letter he received from Steven Spielberg public. Two things I must address: One, how does he know that Steven Spielberg is “in the know” about aliens? I mean, it’s an urban legend, but directing some movies about aliens doesn’t automatically mean that he knows something about a cover up. Second, why would Spielberg specifically mention Mr. Fox or his documentary in a private correspondence?

It’s good to know that if aliens do invade, we can fight them off with digitally-added walkie-talkies.

Documentary director, James Fox, finally revealed the contents of a letter from Steven Spielberg to Larry King regarding his UFO documentary, I Know What I Saw, at this year’s UFO Congress. In 2009 Fox had appeared on Larry King Live to talk about UFOs and his documentary, which was about to appear on the History Channel. A few days after the show, King told Fox that he had sent a copy of the documentary to Steven Spielberg. King then received a letter from Spielberg in response, and sent Fox a copy. Excited about the endorsement from Spielberg, Fox contacted Spielberg’s publicist to confirm it was OK for Fox to share Spielberg’s remarks to help promote the upcoming airing of his documentary. Unfortunately, Spielberg’s publicist, Marvin Levy, denied the request.

At the time, Fox had let some of us in the UFO community know he had received an endorsement, but respecting Levy’s wishes, he did not reveal the exact content. Fox said now that a few years has passed, he left a message for Levy, informing him that he intended to read the letter at the UFO Congress this year. He had not heard back from Levy, so he assumed that meant it was OK, and he read the letter to an excited IUFOC crowd. Transcribed from Fox’s reading, the letter said:

Dear Larry,

With great curiosity, I watched the documentary you sent over and found it compelling. Personally, I would like to think we are not alone, and even though I have devoted a generous percentage of my movies to extraterrestrial related themes, I for one have never seen a UFO. That is so unfair! (sic)

I hope you will continue to pursue this topic on your program, and that some day our government will offer a total disclosure about what they know about unidentified flying objects and their true and natural origins.

I continue to enjoy watching you and all your guests.

All my best,

Signed: Steven

Fox was disappointed Spielberg did not endorse his film openly. He said:

Here is a guy who knows there is a cover up, who is one of the most influential people in the entertainment industry… He even put in Dr. J. Allen Hynek in Close Encounters for those in the know, realizing that this is a little way of saying that this is based on reality. And yet he wasn’t willing to put in a little effort for an independent guy like me, to help my movie succeed.

I can understand Mr. Fox wanting an official endorsement, but I don’t think Steven Spielberg spends his time wondering about which independent films about UFOs he should promote. But perhaps he should?

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