[Jennifer] May 15, 1981.
Press reports document a
healthy young men
in their sleep.
Those who best knew the dead men
claim they were victims
Tales of malevolent spirits
date back centuries.
Some claim they are deadly.
[Brian] Cardiologists
to be scared to death.
[Jennifer] Could a demon
[Woman] It feels like
And suffocate me.
As she got closer,
I had to get up
[Jennifer]
After serving in the US Navy,
I began a career
Now I'm exploring
to find out if dreams can kill.
[music]
[Jennifer]
to make sense of our nightmares.
Are they simply dreams
or dark omens foretelling death
Some myths even suggest these
but visitations
And after it happens
But if you think this sounds
then you'd be wrong.
Although these nightmares
dating back centuries,
there's a real case in the 1980s
Hmong refugees died of unknown
There's a time and a place
around the campfire maybe,
but then again there are plenty
they might be real.
Ali Houmani is a paranormal
He's reached out to me with a
I have a YouTube channel.
I speak to spirits.
Something I've noticed
in people experiencing
I'm familiar
What is a sleep demon?
An entity that will try
your mind, your consciousness
It will attack you
And in some cases,
kill you.
-That's horrific.
To my knowledge this was
or some movie plot.
[Ali] This was the basis of
with Freddy Kruger.
But it is very real.
So the movie wasn't promoted
but the events which inspired
are almost as terrifying.
In 1981 reports began surfacing
some even teenagers who died
Can I share something with you?
-Sure.
Of course.
I've been experiencing a
for the past 10 years.
That's a long time.
It all started uh,
One night I woke up
I didn't think anything
that I couldn't move.
As I scan around room,
what's going on,
I see her.
And then, she got on top of me.
And squeezed the air
while screaming at
That sounds terrifying.
There's a lot here.
There's a lot of history and
It's unsettling hearing
which Ali believes
And while I'm open to the idea,
I want to get to the bottom of
what's happening to you and
and medical side of it
sort of explanation,
I really feel for what
Thank you.
I was able to connect with some
sleep paralysis experiences.
[Jennifer] Each of the subjects
own terrifying nightmares.
And I'm bringing in an artist,
what these witnesses experienced
I was 16 years old,
I had just moved bedrooms
and I look up in the doorframe
giant, shadowy figure.
It's like, almost just
At the beginning it took more
and then the closer it came,
more slender and less human
And just kind of felt like a
I looked up and it was like
kinda staring down at me.
And I couldn't move.
I became aware that I was
And there was an old hag
Mostly it was like a shadow.
I could make out
It had green eyes.
And it was carrying something.
Its shoulder was dropped
over me with an axe.
There was a streetlight
shined into my bedroom.
And you could see
but you couldn't see her legs.
Every time I closed my eyes,
I was trying
I couldn't move.
I couldn't move my hand
She was on my chest.
I was essentially
You're screaming inside.
It feels like it's trying
Pressing down on my chest,
I could feel blood running
I shut my eyes
I had to get up
This is how I'm going to die.
Die.
Does this look like
Yeah.
It's dark and menacing.
and even the lighting
That's pretty close.
It's definitely not a nice thing
Yes. I would agree that
That is it.
[Jennifer] So what feelings
I feel like crying right now
to have an anxiety attack.
Yeah. That's what came
Those were unique and compelling
by the consistency of them.
That feeling of dread,
that their life was in danger,
Are these the same experiences
My research has led me
First reported in the
And now widely used in the
with sudden death caused by a
Could this be the tip
Those who believe in the
point to the death
after arriving in the US
If we can figure out why these
in their sleep, it could give us
We're going to meet with
who teaches ethnic studies.
He is an expert on Hmong
So this is a story cloth
making during the refugee camps.
You see a depiction of conflict
that pushed the Hmong out of
Here we come to
You see the bombings,
You also see the MeKong River,
which separated the country of
And many Hmong had
and get into the refugee camps
by the United Nations.
What was that like for them when
[Seng] They had to start all
in America.
Many of them were
so they were child soldiers
45 years later,
for many of the elderly that
it's still really difficult
Over 100 men have died
Some of whom were quite young.
How did the community
During that time,
this episode really created a
because we don't really have
It's just, part of the culture
they call it the Dab tsog.
This spirit is sitting
Again, it's probably the
where this evil spirit
My parents were refugees too.
It's easy for me to imagine
through because my family
similar experiences.
I feel like I really do need to
in a situation right now
You know I find it remarkable
Hmong people were dealing with,
and relocating that it ended up
sort of state.
Well, yeah and being away from
to seek spiritual help
[Jennifer] Hmong traditional
so we're going back to these
something that might
As part of the investigation,
who might be able
from a different perspective
battle his sleep demons.
[Ali] It's really hard explain
what you're going through
-Hi, guys.
Hello, you guys.
Tassie Yang,
She can tell us more
and Hmong shamanism.
Come on in.
I'm interested to hear her
a sleep demon could
Tassie, what exactly is a
A shaman is a spiritual healer,
so anybody that can go
and tries to heal
I was raised on the southside
so there were no other
And because of that,
I didn't know anything
I was five years old.
I literally woke up
Like, I couldn't move them.
My mom took me to the hospital
They thought I was possibly
so you know, they asked me
Now my dad eventually took me
had actually came over from you
And they did something.
And then my wrists, they started
So fast forward
I actually met a demon who
To actually get rid of him
I had to accept
and actually raising my shrine.
In the Hmong community,
and new age shamans,
a lot of them were taught
the chants because they mix
And now you have the new age
And who are psychic.
Now what does it look like
What do you do there?
The first thing they always
they always call all of their
They would tell you,
we're going to take you to this
and then when we get there we'll
And then you have to complete
whether it's finding another
what is hurting an individual
a dark entity,
The 100-plus men
do you think it was a sleep
stress?
I definitely believe that
to their early demise.
So you believe that sleep demons
quite literally scaring
Yes, I do.
I believe that you could die
Have you ever had
or sleep paralysis?
I have had
Have you had anything?
I've experienced sleep paralysis
and I believe that I
I would really love your help.
I think that we can do a
to help you just as some
Please.
I'm hoping that
with this sleep demon.
And I'm hoping she'll be able
what I can do to stop it
So what I would ask is for you
Thank you.
Now I'm going to take the string
All right, so my spirit guides,
tie this string onto
I'm just going
which are protection
Okay.
Now this string, you don't wanna
That will represent
so it's better and you know,
become looser and it will
And then that's what you're
How do I say thank you in Hmong?
-Ua tsaug.
Tassie was fascinating.
She knows so much
I think she helped me
[Jennifer] I'm curious to see
will have an impact on Ali.
When an unexplained phenomenon
you know there's
On a primal level, we know we're
That fear of something taking
is very real
[Jennifer] Clive Tonge directed
which features a hag-like
I wanted to hear about the
The entire movie was based
that people had, had,
so I discovered
My sister described somebody at
She said there's this old lady,
this old lady runs towards her,
and just kind of whispered
So I have been experiencing
and they match the image
Where did you get
Really old paintings and
this thing throughout the ages,
who slowly creeps
gets onto their chest
The research guy based
collecting people's experiences.
And something he said
which was if somebody in Canada
up the bed, somebody in the UK
somebody in Japan sees that,
which there's documented
Then who am I to say
There's no natural
Some form of this appears
You mentioned the name, Mara.
Where did you get that name?
It's not just a made-up word.
It's actually
and the ancient meaning
so the mare at the end
While doing your research did
that were displaced as refugees
Yeah. They were a big part of
they pointed to the fact that
When a hundred people die
then there has to be
[Jennifer] Our investigation
keeps returning to the
who mysteriously died
Eye-witness accounts will help
the Hmong experience.
We're about to meet
He is Hmong and his family
communist oppression.
He lost two of his brothers
and he's about to share his
Every day people would go
tend to their animals
When the communists took over,
reeducation center, which is a
Eighty percent
And you lost several
I have lost um, many of my
So sorry.
No. Don't be sorry.
I have lost many family members
brothers, cousins, uncles...
Even some... up to this date,
where their body lies.
You know, I understand that
passed away in their sleep.
Yes. Correct.
Uh, I do believe that there
but there has not been a very
to what is the cause.
And how old were each of them
Um, my oldest brother,
And my second brother, I think
Were they both relatively
Yes, there were no problem,
How stressful was it to be away
and not have access to a shaman
that stress and anxiety?
The shaman make sure that your
by evil spirit,
It's really hard for you to
very important to have a shaman.
[Jennifer] Alex,
for sharing your story with us.
We really appreciate it.
Alex's experience and everything
it's overwhelming
Being uprooted had to be
and on top of that,
I can't even imagine how
that amount of trauma.
[Ali] Hearing what Alex went
for my own parents
And being displaced
Men aren't often allowed
because we have
What I think happened is stress
and weakened their body and
to them in their sleep took
[Jennifer] Shrouded in dread,
deaths straddle between the
To really understand the root
young adults were dying in their
are meeting with
to learn new and alternative
behind this phenomenon.
Dr. Breus, thank you so much
I'm excited to be here.
So the first thing that
what is the importance
Physical restoration.
So this is where kind of the car
and gets the dents and the dinks
We also see a
which occurs during REM sleep
we move information
to our long-term memory.
Sleep's right up there
what our body needs to function.
It really is fundamental
Everything we do, we do better
Could anxiety and stress cause
Yes. Sleep paralysis is a
almost everybody's experienced
in their lives where you wake up
Your eyes are working
but it feels like your body
into gear yet.
During REM sleep,
The main reason for that is
our dreams.
So our body goes into a
REM atonia paralysis.
When we wake up very quickly
and if we were
that atonia seems to hang on.
Our eyes move
but the rest of us doesn't move.
Is there a typical amount
in a sleep paralysis episode?
It feels like it takes forever,
in somewhere between
There are cultural differences
this and to be clear,
a true hallucination
If you're in it,
and very disconcerting.
Have you heard
that were displaced as refugees?
Could being away from their
cause them to fear
and quite possibly kill them?
People become phobic to sleep.
Your mind can play some pretty
So what do you think happened
These young men who died in
You know, I don't know
I mean, if I had to guess,
maybe there could've been
that could have happened.
I mean, we do see people
very high when they're
and that could certainly
I'd have to really understand
of the people who died.
Meeting with Dr. Breus was great
because he confirmed that
to a lot of people.
And it's totally normal
[Jennifer] For me, I think
there are scientific medical
to identify what's
It's time to get Ali
with an in-depth sleep
So this can hopefully
Yeah.
[Jennifer] Maybe then he will
the night terrors,
since he was a teenager.
This is it.
What if she shows up
You know, I have to
I don't want to use the word
but do you feel like you are
Yeah. Honestly, because we've
and Tassie mentioned that the
the more you give them energy
Hi. How are you doing?
[Jennifer] We've come to the
in Alhambra California.
They evaluate patients for
from apnea to narcolepsy,
They've agreed
one of their sleep evaluations,
for our investigation,
that can record Ali's vitals
Basically, what we're gonna
with a bunch of sensors.
We're gonna monitor you
How you're breathing,
certain muscle activity.
Usually the test takes
and then you'll be done.
All you have to do is
-We'll take care of the rest.
-Thank you.
[Jennifer] Good luck.
So what we're gonna do, sir,
is we're gonna connect you
Okay, I'm just gonna put a
I've gotta put a sticker.
Okay.
These are gonna measure
so if you go into REM sleep.
So all these that we're gonna
monitor your brain waves.
Well, pretty much that's how
and when you're awake.
How long does it take
all this information?
It takes about
If I wake up screaming,
Yeah, no problem.
Stick your leg out
Okay, this is gonna be the
It's just to check your O2
Once we do that, we'll plug you
put your information
and make sure
Then we'll turn off the lights
Just have a seat over there.
I'm gonna plug you
And then we'll turn off the
How's everything going?
Oh, it's going pretty good.
Um, so far the patient's
He's been asleep
Okay.
Um, kinda in the beginning,
it looked like he had
Uh, it looked centrals
which are a little more serious
It could just be the space
Sometimes it's the tonsils.
Oh, that's interesting.
And so what are all
you're measuring with this?
Like, how many leads
He has about 21 leads on him.
Most of them on the head
monitoring his brain waves.
That's these ones up here.
The blue lines are going to be
The other black lines are going
and his face.
Um, the red line is going
And then the last thing
what position he's sleeping in.
Are you able to tell if
in a sleep study?
No. The only thing that's
if they're in REM sleep,
that's a pretty good guess
Okay.
Okay, so this is interesting.
And it looks like
But as he's waking up,
you see these little fishtails
It looks like he's having REM
So he could be experiencing um,
[Jennifer] As we speak?
Yeah.
Now how are you able
what that looks like?
Well, you'll see the eyes move
they're experiencing sleep
the only thing they can really
Sometimes they even
time breathing.
I need to do some
but will you call me
-Yeah. Sure.
Thank you.
Jennifer] So for Ali the battle
is not yet over.
I'm headed home to follow-up
and get some sleep myself,
the rest of the test tracks
Okay, sir.
I'm just going
If you need a couple of minutes
I'm going to have you
I'm going to take
I had four nightmares.
Two of them were very stressful
and then the other two
Almost like a dream
I woke up from there
Emma came in, my wife and she
And I didn't think much of it
And I realized
I was trying my hardest
and I ended up moving too hard,
She helped me back onto the bed
so I went to grab it and
and it started chewing on like
And I was like, fighting with it
I thought I was awake, awake
so I had opened my eyes
completely paralyzed
Yeah.
[Jennifer] We're meeting with
to go over the results from the
And I'm curious to see
if he'll spot anything alarming
I had about four nightmares.
I am glad that we get to visit
and kind of get his perspective
Yeah. I really want to see him
and at least try to help me make
because I'm really tired
So the good news is,
Um, you're lean, so I wasn't
The fishtails are something
sometimes is there's
I actually have the
So you see this red line?
This red line represents
in REM sleep.
What happens is when
this is when the sleep paralysis
And so what I discovered was is
you were awake and your muscle
So you were paralyzed.
So we can confirm that you
So I'm not giving
but at the end of the day
and you had that
and that kind of a story,
you would probably be diagnosed
Does that factor into what
A few things that we would
be working with a neurologist.
And they might look
How often are you going to bed?
Like, keeping a consistent sleep
the best thing that you could
with something like
Other things that
trying to slow down things
sleep quality worse,
so maybe removing caffeine
alcohol is probably
especially later on
because if you do fall asleep
there's a far greater
like this happening.
You also described some
associated with it.
And so there are some
be helpful in removing
that you seem to be having.
I don't want you to think
per se, it's more of an
[Jennifer] Ali is convinced he's
On the other hand,
by the power of our brain
with it while we sleep.
The question still remaining
connected to this phenomenon?
Can something from nightmares
in their sleep?
[Jenninfer] My research has led
in Tagalog called Bangungot,
to rise and to moan.
The phenomenon was known
young Phillipino and Hawaiian
in an eerily similar manner
Also in their sleep,
but often after a heavy meal
It's an uncanny coincidence, but
because the Hmong men
But I may have found
on this cultural anomaly and
After finding some of
I reached out to
clinical psychologist
he's done on sleep paralysis.
And specifically what happened
in the 70s and 80s.
So the usual chain of events
is the first thing we do is we
and we realize we're paralyzed.
And then we sense something's
Is there an explanation
seeing this old hag?
[Dr. Breus] Yeah.
It seems pretty
So if you go to Newfoundland
research on sleep paralysis
That's actually where we get the
It means hag rid
because they would report
after these events.
But if you go down to um,
by the Popo Bawa
which was a giant black bat
If you're in China,
you might experience ghost
where a ghost is on top of you.
And if you're
you might think you're being
There's a number of different
sort of culture specific.
Now we've all heard the urban
from fright in their sleep
scared to death.
Is it possible that someone
from what they perceive
Some very serious cardiologists
to be scared to death.
Just tell me I'm not gonna die.
Some very serious cardiologists
to be scared to death.
And the way it happens
much more than normal
which causes an arrythmia
incompatible with human life.
So it is exceedingly rare,
but it's a
You're familiar with the Hmong
later died in their sleep
either when they were in the
or once they came
One of the things that's really
the Hmong is they were animists,
so they believed that there were
in people, not just in animals,
in certain
And if your soul left you,
you could be in danger
They also had beliefs
that could kill you as well.
And if you did the right things,
you could pray
if you visited shaman,
so if you were visited
they wouldn't kill you
They usually give you a chance
and make offerings.
And so here you have a
emigrated to America and where
So they started believing
by a particular demonic spirit
which means pressing spirit.
And the Hmong believed
but they weren't able to
When scientists got
started figuring out,
There's a very rare condition,
in Asian men
and it's called
So this is a cardiac condition
electrical conduction problem
and you can die
And they're very hard
So when we're looking at the
were scientists able to say,
with what happened to them,
of elimination?
From my understanding it started
It was only later that
from what I understand,
at least two genes that are
You'd hear reports in the weeks
In sleep they'd report really
They'd report feeling paralyzed.
So most scholars today believe
what led to the people dying.
You know, when I look at the
I truly believe that
something that happens.
I think it's underreported.
When you first contacted me,
we had talked about the
who died in their sleep.
And you thought that it was
as a result of sleep demons.
Do you still believe that,
I think there may be more to it.
The wars, the displacement, the
the genetic condition,
created the perfect storm for
For me, it's paranormal.
It's something that
It's beyond us.
I saw her come up to me
just like Ken did.
I saw her get on my chest,
It is real to me.
But something Dr. Sharpless
and he explained that this
in different cultures,
but it's not always a
But...
In Zanzabar it's a giant bat.
But it's still the
It's still the air
It's still the suffocation.
Yes. And I think that when you
there was something scientific
at and it said, you know, this
This was a period
And that is absolute proof
When Dr. Sharpless did say when
of adrenaline that is how
incompatible with life,
that to me was always something
So to hear a PhD talk about it
that's very scary.
The things that we harbor are
So someone in your position who
and have seen something
and say this is an actual demon.
It's something that's
so we are really talking
It's just a different way
[music]