Halloweekend is a state of mind... and with that we bring you EVEN more creepy stories as we delve deep into the dark, mysterious and unnerving world of sleep paralysis. Not unlike doppelgangers and mimics, sleep paralysis has been documented for hundreds of years, with communities across the globe having folklore associated with the strangely similar beings that people encounter in this liminal space. From the origins of the word nightmare to the fashion of the hat man -- in the second part of our Halloween special, we're covering the science, lore and stories behind a common but terrifying phenomenon. 

Happy Halloween from Unpacking the Eerie! 

Sources:

• https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21974-sleep-paralysis
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18691361/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLTGu3Y404M
• https://neurolaunch.com/sleep-paralysis-out-of-body/
• https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/sleep-paralysis-names-around-the-world
• https://yokai.com/kanashibari/
• Documentary: Sleep Paralysis and the Phenomenon of the Shadow People
• Podcast: Monsters Among Us 
• Podcast: Sleep Paralysis News

Reach out to us with thoughts, comments, questions or collab requests!

Theme Song Title: Creepy Mood | Artist Name: Oleg Fedak

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From October to December 2025 we will be re-releasing our favorite series' - A Lethal Location and A Psychedelic Nightmare. They will only be available for a limited time, as starting January our minisodes and 2nd part onwards of our series' will be exclusively available for our wonderful patrons.

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- your grateful hosts

P.S. We're in the process of updating our intro and making edits to our episodes. You may notice inconsistencies as we do that!