Smith, a researcher and author, offered sleep paralysis as an example of how the body can play tricks on us. Sleep paralysis typically occurs during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep where your body is temporarily paralyzed so you don’t act out your dreams. “[Sleep paralysis] is a really common phenomenon where someone wakes up in the middle of the night and finds that they can’t move and it feels like something is holding them down” Smith told FoxNews.com. “It can be really, really frightening and it’s completely compelling that you’ve been haunted, that maybe there’s some ghostly entity attacking you.”While sleep paralysis can affect anyone, there are some physiological causes of sightings that might be symptoms of a more serious condition. Additionally, “if a pain management medication is mixed with alcohol or other drugs, hallucinations can result, such as mixing Percocet and NyQuil,” Stollznow told FoxNews.com.

Source: Fox News October 23, 2016 09:56 UTC