When ghosts attack!

One news story I spotted the other day made me sigh: Jessica Alba admits to ghost attack. And no, not just because it's another mindless piece about some celebrity.

She says, when she was 17: "I felt this pressure and I couldn't get up, I couldn't scream, I couldn't talk, I couldn't do anything."

Guess what. I can explain this. Also known as the "Old Hag" syndrome (because some believe an old hag is sitting on them) and also to blame for several alien abduction experiences, the words we are looking for is sleep paralysis.

From the page: "The condition is characterized by being unable to move or speak. It is often associated with a feeling that there is some sort of presence, a feeling which often arouses fear but is also accompanied by an inability to cry out. The paralysis may last only a few seconds. The experience may involve visual, auditory, or tactile hallucinations."

Sounds like it to me. This is fairly well known to most skeptical researchers because it is such a common phenomena. Perhaps if the reporter had decided to do a "balanced" piece and called their local neighbourhood skeptical group, they could have explained a terrifying experience in Jessica's childhood (and don't doubt that the experience was terribly real for her). But, eh, why let facts get in the way of a story, eh?

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