THE CHOKING GHOST by Samuel Singh

After years of reading of different things and hearing about things and even a few personal encounters. I had even had enough of grim satisfaction reading juvenile works on yourghoststories.com just for the fun of pointing out to others which were fake and not. It seems as though my prayers to keep my life interesting had been answered when I had a friend walk up to me and said that they think they are being choked at night by a ghost. After speaking to him and trying the usual explanations to come up with something rational. I could find no answers so I decided once again to look further.


For reasons of privacy and fear of ostracism he does not want his name mentioned, so we’ll call him John. He, explained his situation to me once again a few days later as I was in the car with him and he was driving us over to his place. After arriving at his house I took one look around to see if anything visual would catch my eye for future reference and the only thing I saw was a graveyard at the end of the block.

As I waked in the neatly kept apartment I looked in the bedroom and felt nothing strange or unusual. John walked up behind me and tapped me on my shoulder to hand me a beer knowing me well enough to realize I would say it is thirsty work. I spoke to him of medical conditions and things that happen with people at times when they are awake but the body is still asleep and they experience a kind of paralysis.

John was looking at me as if I didn’t believe his supernatural encounter. But I continued explaining anyway that it was almost common and had to do with sleep patters of the brain.

In sleep you have decreased levels of consciousness and also of motor control. Usually these are suppressed simultaneously but not always since there is always the exception to the rule. Many people sometimes know of that particular state where you're almost asleep, slowly drifting, in this state your level of consciousness is severely suppressed yet not fully and you still have some conscious thought processes and state of awareness of your surroundings still present. However, you would be awake but your muscle function is still completely suppressed. These states are usually while falling asleep or waking up, could be either time. It is also known to happen if you come awake sometimes in the middle of sleeping and all of a sudden you simply cannot move. It can induce panic as you try multiple things to wake yourself up and figure out why you can‘t move. It is not dangerous and as far as I can tell, there is no treatment other that adequate and proper sleep patterns. It is just a matter of where the brain secretes a chemical that keeps your body from moving as you sleep. Upon awaking and conscious, you get sleep paralysis if the brain is still secreting that chemical.


I know that one of the most popular places for such things is in Hawaii where they happen to have a kind of urban legend. It also happens to be called the ‘choking ghost‘. It is said that in the middle of the night the ghost will come and sit on your chest or wrap a hand around your throat and strangle you. You can't move and you can't breathe. Supposedly it then releases you when you begin to think you're about to die.

Hawaii is not the only place known to have them. In Chinese culture the have what is known as the Fox Spirit, which is sleep paralysis, also widely known as gui ya shen or gui ya chuang, which literally translate into "ghost pressing on body" or "ghost pressing on bed." A more modern term is meng yan.

There is also a name for it in Japanese culture, where sleep paralysis is referred to as kanashibari, literally "bound or fastened in metal," from kane "metal" and shibaru, "to bind, to tie, to fasten". And I can continue with stories and names from numerous other cultures and countries. Such situations are not isolated to one place but happens to be worldwide.

While many of theses cases may have to do with sleep paralysis and the conscious awaking before the body does, it is not always the case. There are numerous cases where people awake and see images and figures around them. Many times some people who are troubled by spirits wake up with marks, and scratches. I even know of one occasion where I saw finger marks around someone’s neck.

While I told all of this to John, he rolled down his turtleneck sweater and showed me four perfectly formed finger bruises on his neck. After seeing that, I took the matter more seriously and started to do my research to help him cease having such encounters and I am happy to say that we were successful.

I am not saying all cases out there are credible, rather, that all causes are to be questioned. John’s case was a paranormal one and not one that had to do with sleep paralysis and I did test it before coming to that conclusion.

What makes these stories so great to hear about, is that they are as old as many cultures. They speak a lot about history, culture and in many cases, legends of the area. It is indeed an incredible learning experience to hear about these stories from various sources. Just be assured that many have a foundation in truth. Some may be discredited and all may be doubted. I just happen to come from a little country in South America named Guyana, that has known a lot of supernatural activity, and in some places they are quite common, it is a place where a common type of ghostly encounter is one with a choking ghost. Does that mean that all the people who have had those experiences and spoke of ghostly choking encounters are of sleep paralysis? Or, is it possible that it could be something else ?

(Picture used from http://www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org)