‘Transformed into deranged aliens’: the scary world of parasomniacs, 2003

“Perfectly sane during the day, but transformed into deranged aliens at night.” In 2003, the Observer researched, not werewolves, but parasomniacs.

In the ancient world, parasomnia was believed to be a sign of demonic possession or mental illness. Parasomnia causes sufferers to behave in ways they never would while awake: they may wake up covered in bruises and blood, but with little or no memory of their actions or details of the terror. ‘.

Julia Chapman, a technician at the sleep laboratory at Guy’s & St Thomas, had seen it all: patients “jumping out of bed screaming and shouting, looking wildly around them for a way to escape their invisible demons, their bedding or jerking, clawing and punching her through the air.”

Joe McQueen, 25, was an extreme case: he had entered his uncle’s room at night and started to strangle him, claiming afterwards that he remembered nothing. McQueen was charged with attempted murder and said in his defense that he was sleepwalking. Chapman’s lab detected “high levels of jerking and movement and partial awakening,” leading to a diagnosis of mild parasomnia that helped secure his acquittal.

In the most violent REM sleep behavior disorders, “it may seem as if the person is in the grip of a terrible fear.” Sufferers reported terrifying and strangely similar dreams: “A menacing, dangerous presence invades the sleeper’s room and must be fought.” Other parasomnia behaviors – eating, washing, sex – happen only during NREM sleep. They all sound like signs of a deep psychological disorder or paranormal activity, but researchers in the 1970s discovered a “prosaic, physiological cause”: malignant brainstem activity.

Nevertheless, sleep disorders were not simple matters of biochemistry: stress, fatigue and trauma, as well as a cocktail of brain chemicals, could all play a role. Sleep scientists “retain a sense of awe at the shadowy power of the mind.” Many of the mysteries of sleep – including why we sleep in the first place – were still not understood. “We need to address the physical, emotional and spiritual,” explained sleep specialist Dr. Irshaad Ebrahim. “Our sleeping lives span the gamut of what makes us who we are.”