They try to struggle, scream or move, but experience paralysis. Some victims report auditory and visual phenomena. They have heard footsteps before the attack, seeing monstrous shapes, hearing rasping breathing and/or smelling repulsive odors. Victims may sense an unnatural presence.
Galen, the Greek physician, believed Old Hag Syndrome was linked with indigestion. He wrote about this in the second century. This is still theorized. Other theoretical causes are circulatory problems or stagnation of blood, caused by lying in one position too long, sleep disorders and repressed sexual conflicts. These cannot explain all attacks. Science has no explanations for the causes of the attacks and why they happen.
Most common are those people who experience attacks once or occasionally with recurrences happening months or years later. Sometimes, people are victimized by these attacks repeatedly for a week or two. The rarest are people who have frequent chronic attacks for long periods of time.
Old Hag attacks can happen at night and during the day....<<<Read More>>>...