Sweet Dreams: The Night Hag, the Mare, and the Succubus

Paranormal Pajama Party

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12.2.24
Paranormal Pajama Party
The Night Hag, the Mare, and the Succubus | 4

Chances are good, I'm sorry to say, you've already had a run-in with the old hag, also known as the Night Hag. She's haunted the dreams of many across cultures for thousands of years.
She's strongly connected to the mare, a spirit known for riding sleepers, horses, and even trees. To understand the cultural origins of the mare, we also have to understand the outlook of some rural farming communities, where misfortune was attributed to external forces, often targeting vulnerable individuals like older, unmarried women.
There's one more famous lady of the night to cover in tonight's episode – the succubus, who's plagued dreams since at least the Middle Ages.
Tonight's entities are also the first we've dealt with with a real-world body count: The story of the dab tsog, and the tale of Bridget Bishop and the Salem Witch Trials show how cultural beliefs can impact lives.
Key moments

• 0:50 My paranormal run-in
• 10:29 What is sleep paralysis?
• 12:08 The night hag
• 13:46 The mare
• 19:31 The succubus
• 24:56 The Hmong and the Dab Tsog
• 28:06 Bridget Bishop at Salem

(Some) Sources

• "Contemporary Cauchemar: Experience, Belief, Prevention"
• "Narratives and Rituals of the Nightmare Hag in Scandinavian Folk Belief", Catharina Raudvere
• Mare (Wikipedia)
• Night Hag (Wikipedia)
• "Sleep Paralysis and Folklore", Ann M Cox
• "The Nightmare Experience, Sleep Paralysis, and Witchcraft Accusations", Owen Davies
• "The Dark Side of the Placebo Effect: When Intense Belief Kills"
• "The Nightmare – A Riding Ghost with Sexual Connotations", Eivind Haga
• "Why the Nightmare Hag? Points of Departure", Catharina Raudvere

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View all my sources for each episode and read the episode transcipt here.
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Chapters

1. Content warning; rate and review (00:00:00)

2. My paranormal run-in (00:00:50)

3. Welcome to tonight's guest (00:09:26)

4. What is sleep paralysis? (00:10:29)

5. The night hag (00:12:08)

6. The mare (00:13:46)

7. Limited good models (00:16:29)

8. The succubus (00:19:31)

9. Lillith (00:21:33)

10. PTSD and sleep paralysis (00:23:28)

11. The Hmong and the Dab Tsog (00:24:56)

12. Bridget Bishop at Salem (00:28:06)

13. Outro (00:30:33)