Sleep Paralysis: Spooky Art Images
Sleep Paralysis Still
A still from an upcoming short film on sleep paralysis by filmmaker Carla MacKinnon about sleep paralysis, a phenomenon where people wake up with frozen muscles and, often, scary hallucinations.
Sleep Paralysis Still
MacKinnon's film, set to screen in May, is funded in part by the Wellcome Trust.
Frozen in Sleep
Actress Anne-Sophie Marie plays a sleeper beset by paralysis in Carla MacKinnon's upcoming short film on the spooky sleep disorder.
Sleep Demon
As part of her sleep paralysis film project, MacKinnon researched cultural myths about demons and ghouls often blamed for the condition.
Hallucination
Sleep paralysis is often accompanied by the sensation of suffocation or an attack by a malevolent force.
Sleep Paralysis Event
The Sleep Paralysis Project event at the London Short Film Festival in January, 2013.
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Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.