Night hag

Lore & Background

In Scandinavian folklore, the mare is a damned woman whose body is carried mysteriously during sleep; she visits villagers to sit on their rib cages, causing nightmares. Folk belief in Newfoundland, Canada, and South Carolina and Georgia in the United States describes the hag as leaving her physical body at night to sit on the chest of her victim, who wakes with terror, difficulty breathing, and inability to move—a state called 'hag-ridden' in Gullah lore. The 'Old Hag' was a nightmare spirit in British and Anglophone North American folklore.

Reader's Guide

The night hag is significant as a cross-cultural explanation for sleep paralysis, a phenomenon that was originally defined as 'nightmare' in Samuel Johnson's dictionary and widely considered the work of demons, particularly incubi. The term 'mare' derives from Old English and proto-Germanic roots, linking it to similar figures in Greek and Sanskrit mythology. The hag's role in folklore reflects a universal human experience of paralysis during sleep, interpreted through local supernatural beliefs—from the Scandinavian mare to the Gullah hag and the Turkish Karabasan. Its legacy persists in modern discussions of sleep paralysis, where the figure remains a symbol of the terror and helplessness associated with the condition. The night hag matters because it bridges ancient demonology, folk medicine, and contemporary sleep science, illustrating how cultures mythologize a common neurological event.

Did You Know?

• The word 'nightmare' originally referred to sleep paralysis, not a bad dream.
• In Gullah lore, being visited by the hag is called 'hag-ridden'.
• The Scandinavian mare is a damned woman who unknowingly leaves her body at night.
• In Turkish folklore, the entity is called Karabasan and is associated with jinn.