A Treatise on the Incubus, or Night-Mare, Disturbed Sleep, Terrific Dreams and Nocturnal Visions

This, I am convinced, was a genuine case of Night-Mare, as I have very frequently experienced something very similar to it, as I shall explain by and by.

The next case I shall notice is that of a student in medicine, whom I have often heard seriously relating the circumstance, and who could never be persuaded that there was a possibility of his being deceived, till some years afterwards, when another hallucination, equally strong, but inconsistent as to time and place, pointed out to him the fallacy of such visions. At the age of fifteen or sixteen, he described himself as lying awake in the night, when he heard distinctly some one coming up the stairs, and immediately afterwards saw a female figure enter his bed-room, which he supposed to be his mother, who had died while he was in his infancy, but whose person had been frequently described to him. The figure before him answered precisely to the idea he had formed of her person, and excited in him considerable alarm. She beckoned to him to get up and follow her, which, after many ineffectual attempts, he at length accomplished, and followed her to the bottom of the stairs, where he lost sight of her, and returned to bed. This vision was repeated, either the next night, or shortly after, but with this difference, that he found himself unable to get out of bed, and the spectre quitted the room with threatening gestures, and an indignant aspect. This vision made a deep impression on the mind of the young gentleman, and no reasoning upon the subject could convince him of the hallucination of the vision, till a repetition of it several years afterwards, under circumstances equally strong, but impossible in themselves, produced that conviction which reasoning could not effect.

I know a gentleman, who is living at this moment, a slave to a needless terror, arising from a circumstance which admits easily of explanation from this cause. He was lying in bed with his wife, and, as he supposed, quite awake; when he felt distinctly the impression of some person’s hand upon his right shoulder, which created such a degree of alarm that he dared not to move himself in bed, and indeed could not if he had possessed the courage. It was some time before he had it in his power to awake his wife, and to communicate to her the subject of his terror. The shoulder which had felt the impression of the hand, continued to feel benumbed and uncomfortable for some time; it had been uncovered, and most probably the cold to which it was exposed, was the sole cause of the phenomenon. This gentleman, I know, was, when at school, very subject to the Night-Mare: this circumstance, however, was productive of the greatest terror, as he never assigned to it any other cause than that of supernatural agency, and considered it as a warning of some impending calamity. More than ten years have elapsed since it occurred, and though the terror it occasioned has been greatly diminished by time, it has not yet subsided entirely.

The case which I am now about to relate, is a remarkable instance of the forcible impression which these visions are capable of making on the mind, and is worthy of the utmost consideration of those persons who may feel the strongest conviction in their own breasts that they have received some supernatural visitation. Mr. B * * *, the young gentleman who is the subject of it, is at this moment a student of medicine in one of the London hospitals, and the fact I am going to relate is very well known to all his friends and acquaintances. His first attendance at the hospitals was about six years ago, and he was then of an age considerably less than gentlemen usually are, who enter on the public courses of medicine. He had never before been in town, and his mind, naturally timid and irritable, was at that moment disposed in an extraordinary manner to reflections of a terrific and alarming nature. He had no small dread on his mind, of the robbers and house-breakers of the metropolis, of whose daring exploits he had heard many terrible stories; added to this, he had conceived a fresh stock of ideas of horror from his first introduction to the dissecting rooms, so that it may readily be imagined, when alone and in the dark, he could never be perfectly at his ease. Indeed I have often known some of the bravest men, who would face death in the time of action, or of imminent danger, with undaunted courage, who nevertheless were as timid as children, where they have any idea of supernatural appearances: and I have even observed this timidity in officers of rank, who have been distinguished and rewarded by the country for their gallant exploits. Mr. B * * *, however, thus relates the incident: he was living in lodgings in the vicinity of St. Thomas’s Hospital, and happening to wake in the middle of the night, as he imagined, he heard the sound of footsteps approach his door, which was quickly opened, and he saw distinctly a man enter the room, whom he described as having on a blue coat with white buttons; the moon was shining into the room, and he could see every object distinctly: the man approached the side of the bed, when Mr. B * * * drew himself under the bed-clothes; in this situation he heard distinctly, the ticking of his watch under the pillow, where he had always taken the precaution to secure it: in a short time he felt the hand of the man rummaging the pillow, as if with the design of seizing the watch; upon which Mr. B * * * drew the watch gently into the bed, and concealed it there: he still, however, felt distinctly the man’s hand under the pillow, and was now in the greatest alarm imaginable, not only for his watch, but for his personal safety, and began to complain aloud of pain in the bowels, accusing the supper he had eaten as being the cause of the disturbance, with the idea, that by this stratagem he might succeed in getting up and going out of the room, without exciting any suspicion in the man, who was still (as he supposed) standing by the bed-side, as to the true cause of his getting up. He at length ventured to get out on the opposite side of the bed, and hastened towards the door: the man followed him, and he says he felt distinctly the impression of his hand upon one shoulder, just as he was escaping out of the door. He ran instantly into the bed-room of the man who kept the house, and gave an alarm. This person immediately arose and called in the watchman; the house was searched from top to bottom very strictly, but no person of any description could be found: the doors and windows were all secure, nor was there a possibility of any one getting in or out of the house unobserved. Mr. B * * *, however, could not be satisfied on this score; the evidence of his own senses, which had never before deceived him, appeared to him to be superior to all other evidence whatsoever. He quitted his lodgings the next day, and retained pertinaciously the opinion, that what he had seen was real, until more than a year afterwards, when being at sea, he was again visited by this extraordinary affection, and was equally certain of the reality of his vision. But in this case, he had the opportunity of proving, in the most satisfactory manner, that it was a delusion. He thought that one of his comrades had come to the side of his hammock, and lifting it up, pressed his breast against the beams, so that he could scarcely breathe. On recovering from this seemingly dangerous predicament, he jumped out of bed and made no less outcry about this affair, than he had done about the former. The proof, however, in this case, was much easier to procure. A sentry, whose post was close to his hammock, could vouch for no person having approached the spot; and the gentleman, whom he thought he had seen lifting up his hammock, was abed and asleep. Mr. B * * * has since this time been frequently affected by Night-Mare, and being now under no alarm about the visions, can always contemplate them calmly, and satisfy himself thoroughly of their delusion.

I could recapitulate a number of instances of the same kind, but shall only take notice of one or two more, which occurred to myself; such as tend to throw a light upon the subject, and which, from their consistency, left me in great doubt whether they were real or visionary occurrences.

In the month of February, 1814, I was living in the same house with a young gentleman, the son of a peer of the United Kingdom, who was at that time under my care in a very alarming state of health; and who had been, for several days, in a state of violent delirium. The close attention which his case required from me, together with a degree of personal attachment to him, had rendered me extremely anxious about him; and as my usual hours of sleep suffered a great degree of interruption from the attendance given to him, I was from that cause alone rendered more than usually liable to the attacks of Night-Mare, which consequently intruded itself every night upon my slumbers. The young gentleman in question, from the violence of his delirium, was with great difficulty kept in bed; and had once or twice eluded the vigilance of his attendants, and jumped out of bed: an accident, of which I was every moment dreading a repetition. I awoke from my sleep one morning about four o’clock, at least it appeared to me that I awoke, and heard distinctly the voice of this young gentleman, who seemed to be coming hastily up the stairs leading to my apartment, calling me by name, in the manner he was accustomed to do in his delirium; and immediately after I saw him standing by my bed-side holding the curtains open, expressing all that wildness in his looks, which accompanies violent delirium. At the same moment, I heard the voices of his two attendants coming up the stairs in search of him, who likewise came into the room, and took him away. During all this scene I was attempting to speak, but could not articulate; I thought, however, that I succeeded in attempting to get out of bed, and assisting his attendants in removing him out of the room, after which I returned to bed, and instantly fell asleep. When I waited upon my patient in the morning, I was not a little surprised to find that he was asleep; and was utterly confounded on being told that he had been so all night; and as this was the first sleep he had enjoyed for three or four days, the attendants were very minute in detailing the whole particulars of it. Although this account appeared inconsistent with what I conceived I had seen, and with what I concluded they knew as well as myself, I did not for some time perceive the error into which I had been led, till I observed, that some of my questions and remarks were not intelligible; then I began to suspect the true source of the error, which I should never have discovered, had not experience rendered these hallucinations familiar to me. But the whole of this transaction had so much consistency and probability in it, that I might, under different circumstances, have remained for ever ignorant of having been imposed upon, in this instance, by my senses. The idea which I myself entertained on the subject was this; that when the person came to my bed-side, I was actually labouring under a paroxysm of Night-Mare, which prevented my speaking to him, (a circumstance which has often happened to me in the morning, when my servant has come to announce to me that it was time to rise;) but that the arrival of the attendants, and the noise and confusion created by the transaction, had dispelled the Night-Mare, and I was then able to get up and render the necessary assistance. The whole of this was probable enough, but no part of it true; for the whole was a dream: the first part of which occurred during the state of Night-Mare, which is a species of somnium; a state neither of sleeping or waking, but essentially different from both; a state in which I possessed a degree of consciousness which never accompanies sleep; so much, indeed, that I was aware I was in bed, and was labouring under a paroxysm of Night-Mare. This paroxysm continued but a short time, and went off again before I awoke thoroughly. In short, having now no disturbance I continued to sleep for some time, till a second paroxysm of Incubus awoke me. Had I awoke in the first paroxysm, I should have instantly perceived the fallacy of the vision; but not having had that conviction, and the dream being continued after the paroxysm of Incubus had ceased, without any great deviation from probability, I had no means of conviction left but the evidence of the persons themselves, the former part of the transaction having made precisely the same impression on the mind, as if such a thing had really occurred; and although the recollection of the latter part of it was not so very distinct, but on the contrary, rather confused, yet the degree of certainty which attached itself to the principal part of the transaction, was such as would have prevented all suspicion. In fact, the extreme probability of the whole, would have left in my mind a thorough conviction that such a transaction had really occurred, and the idea would have been so associated with the rest of the train of ideas which related to the person in question, that in all probability I should never have thought of his illness without calling to mind, at the same time, his appearance at my bed-side in the middle of the night, in a state of violent delirium, and the scene of confusion to which it gave rise.

One more instance I will mention, merely to shew how complete the conviction of the mind frequently is, where the bounds of probability or even of possibility have not been exceeded by the vision or hallucination, which takes place in Night-Mare.

This affection has always attacked me at sea with greater severity than on shore. I have already hinted, that during the paroxysms, I have frequently possessed that degree of consciousness, that I have been aware that my servant was knocking at my door, announcing to me the hour of the morning. Experience has repeatedly proved to me that I was correct in my perceptions; often too have I found by experience, that I was widely mistaken. The instance I am going to relate happened on board one of his Majesty’s ships at Spithead: I was lying in my cot, labouring under a paroxysm of Night-Mare; it was broad day-light, and I could perceive distinctly all the objects in my cabin, which came within the range of vision; I was likewise conscious of labouring at the moment under this disagreeable malady, when I heard distinctly a person approach the cabin door, and immediately after knock at it, and a well known voice of a Quarter-master, who was often in the habit of calling me, after repeating my name, informed me that the Captain wished to see me immediately. I was unable to make any answer to this, although I attempted it, and both the knocking and the message were repeated, I do not now remember whether twice or thrice; I heard, however, the person retire from the cabin door. As soon as I recovered, I rose and hastened to obey the summons which I had received, but was soon informed that the Captain was not on board, and that no messenger of any kind had been near my cabin.

These instances I have adduced, to shew how very strong a sense of conviction they impress on the mind of their reality, when there is any degree of probability in the transaction, and the evidence afforded by the senses is no less striking when the vision itself is ever so extravagant. When, however, the patient awakes immediately out of the Night-Mare, he is generally at once convinced of the hallucination; unless in cases of extreme probability like the last mentioned instance. But when the paroxysm of Night-Mare goes off, and the patient continues asleep for some time after, the confusion of ideas which succeed on waking is very perplexing. If he has had any vision during the Night-Mare, the impression of it remains on the mind like any transaction which has really occurred, and he has no method of ascertaining the true nature of the case, but by considering the degree of probability, and comparing it with his past experience of similar hallucinations; if he has no such experience, it is ten to one whether he will ever arrive at a true understanding of the affair.

Hence it is easy to conceive, how many well-meaning persons may frequently deceive themselves and others with the belief of having seen spectres, heard voices, &c. in the dead of the night; and it is not very improbable that a well-grounded conviction in the mind of any person, of having received a supernatural warning of their approaching fate, should, under certain circumstances, be productive of the very event which was thus foreboded and dreaded. I could relate a number of instances where the visions accompanying paroxysms of Incubus, have been of the most terrific kind.3 I think enough has been said on that subject to shew how easily a person may be deceived where he thinks he has the evidence of his own senses; and I have selected such histories in my own case to illustrate this truth by, as were least likely to be suspected of arising from fright or terror, or any cause that could be much aided by the imagination.

I wish it, however, to be understood, that I by no means intend to explain by this hypothesis, all the extraordinary accounts of supernatural operations which are given us on indubitable authority, and supported by unquestionable evidence. I am aware that there are a great many cases to which it will not apply, neither can any one principle possibly explain them all. I have been very much surprised to see a late medical writer on the subject of apparitions, attempt to explain all the cases he has adduced, by supposing the disease to exist, so ably described by Nicolai, and of which several cases have been given by Dr. Alderson of Hull.

He has himself recorded several instances of spectres, which appear to be closely connected with the death of persons at a distance, and with some of the most important circumstances in the lives of the persons who saw these appearances: he even admits the truth of these instances, yet ascribes the most important circumstances attending them to chance.

Of all the modes of solving difficulties, which mankind have ever had recourse to, this is certainly the least philosophical. In the present age however it appears to be considered still more unphilosophical to acknowledge that any phenomenon, however extraordinary, is above our comprehension.

I have been rather prolix on this subject, because I do not remember to have seen any correct account of it in any writer, although the circumstance of seeing spectres during the paroxysm of Incubus is noticed by the most ancient medical writers and others, both Greek and Roman; many of whom attributed the whole phenomenon of Ephialtes, or Incubus, to the agency of Dæmons. This affection has likewise been noticed by St. Augustine as well as other Fathers of the Church, who considered it to be the work of Dæmons, and speaks of it as a thing common in those days.—St. Augustin. De Civitate Dei, lib. 15. c. 23.—“Dæmones, scilicet, qui mulieribus se commiscent, et ab incubando Incubi dicuntur, sicuti, qui viris, et patiuntur muliebria, Succubi.” “Sunt nonnulli, qui hoc malum Incubi nomen accepisse putant, ex eo, quod Ephialte laborantes, opinantur, hominem qui illos opprimit, turpis libidinis usum ab iis exigere, seu una cum illis concumbere.”—Sennertus, Tom. ii. Liber i. part. 2. Cap. xxix. de Incubo.

Vide quæ supra de Priapismo memoravimus; necnon de Cordis palpitatione quæ revera Priapismi etiam somnorumque supradictorum causa mihi esse videtur; impulsum est nimirum in arterias pudicas plus sanguinis quam per venas revehi potest, unde partes genitales vellicantur et stimulantur, somniisque venereis, non tamen sine horrore quodam, ansa præbetur.

There is a symptom, said by Etmuller, and some others of the ancient medical writers, to occur frequently in this disease, but which I have never met with; that is, the appearance of red, or livid, or purple spots upon the limbs and body, but especially on the thighs.—These are said to remain till morning, and then disappear.

The following case is related by that celebrated Physician:

“Historiam Incubi magis ad epilepticos, quam paralyticos affectus referendi, subjungam: Puella xviii. annorum cachectica, et cui nondum menses fluxerant, indeque nonnihil asthmatica, ex narrationibus, crebrioribus servæ seu famulæ, primum imaginationem Incubi concipit, cum ab illa sæpius audivisset, se quavis nocte Incubo corripi, et istud mali ab alio concitari. Jam utut hæc ipsa dimissa fuerit, illa tamen mox ab hujus discessu Incubo corripi cepit; nempe omni nocte præcise horâ secundâ incipit quiritare, hinc mox sensu et motu privata jacet, donec successivè ad se redeat, quo tempore sudore madet, et hinc inde in corpore, maculas magnas rubras, præsertim in femoris parte carnosa observat. Hæc quavis nocte eodem præcisè tempore redeunt. Ergo suspicabar Incubum esse revera convulsivum in subjecto hypochondriaco cachectico. Dedi Tartari Emetici, g. iij. qui parum operabatur, et hinc quovis mane de Pulvere Cachectico seu Croco Martis Aperitivo largam dosin prohibendo acida. Successus fuit, ut post aliquot dies noctesque, Incubus tardiùs affligeret, hora tertia, hinc quarta, tandem quinta matutina, tandem per biduum, penitus deficeret, quo transacto hora quinta matutina malum redit, sed absque maculis. Propino Vomitorium liquidum, cujus usu cum copiosa mucosa rejecisset, non rediit Incubus. Suasi ut Elixyr Proprietatis imposterum continuaret, certus, modò primæ viæ a cruditatibus acido pituitosis essent liberæ, et hinc menses comparerent, eam pancraticè valituram.”

To those to whom the disease is habitual, there remains after the paroxysm a sense of lassitude, heaviness, drowsiness, and a continued predisposition to the affection; so that if they indulge in sleep, they are almost certain of a return of the symptoms. It is not easy to describe this state, but the patient is very sensible of it, and every one who is subject to this affection, can easily tell when the predisposition to it exists.

This state of predisposition I have often experienced during the day, but this only happens when the disease has arrived at a very great height. It is attended with a sensation of something like a weight and great uneasiness about the heart, requiring often a sudden and full inspiration of the lungs, and obliging me to rise up and walk about a little, in order to be clear of it. If in this state, I sit down to read or write, the propensity to sleep is so great that in the space of a few seconds, after having directed the whole attention of the mind to the object on which I chance to be employed, I find my thoughts involuntarily carried away to distant scenes, and that I am in reality dreaming, from which state I am only roused by a sense of something like suffocation, and the unpleasant sensation before mentioned about the heart. This is relieved for the moment by a sudden and strong inspiration; but if the sedentary employment be continued, it quickly returns. If in this state I yield to the strong inclination to sleep, a severe paroxysm of Incubus is the inevitable consequence, and that in the course of a very few minutes. When this peculiar sensation about the heart occurs in bed, there is no recourse left but rising instantly, and walking it off, or having recourse to such medicines, if they are at hand, as experience has taught me are efficacious in the removal of it.

These are I believe the most common phenomena attending Night-Mare. I must beg leave, however, to remind the reader, that there are various degrees of this affection, as well as of the predisposition to it; all of which more or less disturb the rest, and derange the system. All unpleasant dreams may be considered as certain modifications of this peculiar affection; such as falling down precipices, or standing on their brink, or being in the midst of a torrent, or in imminent danger of our lives. If these ideas continue long, they generally produce a degree of consciousness that we are asleep, which is succeeded by an attempt to evade the danger by waking ourselves, which constitutes real Night-Mare.

There is, however, another kind, which differs a little from this I have been describing, but is nevertheless to be considered as a modification of Night-Mare, arising from the same cause, and requiring the same remedies; for which reason I shall include it in my History of that disease. I mean that undescribable terror which some persons feel in their sleep, and which frequently obliges them to vociferate loudly, and generally to start with violence, or sometimes even to jump out of bed. This terror is often, perhaps mostly, accompanied by some really terrific dream. This is not always the case, however, and when it does happen, the dream is rather to be considered as the effect of the terror, than the cause of it. I have frequently found this terror to be connected with some object, not at all in itself terrific; as for instance, a cat or a dog, or sometimes a little child which I had been contemplating in my dream for some time without any dread or terror, has all at once become an object of the utmost horror and alarm, and that without at all changing its appearance or attitude. A sudden panic has struck me with a degree of terror, which I am convinced nothing on earth could produce in me when awake; and which obliges me to vociferate with uncommon vehemence, and to start with so much violence as generally to wake myself immediately, and frequently great part of the family beside. It would be impossible by any words, to convey an adequate idea of the terror felt during this affection: the patient continues to feel it for several minutes after he is awake; at least it requires some little time for even a strong mind to recover its tranquillity. I have always observed in my own case, as well as in all those I have had the opportunity of investigating, that this kind of affection is universally accompanied with a sensation called shivering; not precisely of that kind which accompanies the paroxysm of ague, but that momentary sensation of shivering which people are apt to feel on hearing any tale of horror related, or frequently indeed, without any evident cause whatever. It is a vulgar opinion, that this shivering takes place whenever any one is walking over the future grave of the person who feels it. This kind of shivering is, at all times, accompanied with some degree of horror, and that has probably been the reason of the superstitious opinion above mentioned. Hence also the common expression, on hearing a tale of horror, that it makes the blood run cold; which is precisely the sensation of the person, both in the dreams themselves which we are speaking of, and for some little time after waking out of them. This sensation is always referred to the spine, and appears to descend from the neck to the loins. The cause of it is not very easy to explain; it evidently belongs to that class of sensations and affections which we call nervous, and appears in this case to be the immediate cause of that terror which invades us in sleep, by inducing some idea of great horror.