Yeah I feel for ya scared people, I’m exactly the same way. After reading about the Old Hag for the first time, I’ve NEVER been able to get it out of my head. Everyone keeps saying “conquer your fears” and “realize they’re not real”, and I know that as long as you don’t fear those things, they have nothing to “feed on”, but I just can’t help feeling scared lol. They say “if you have demons in your mind, you will see demons” but what if you just can’t get rid of the demons?? I think of squirrels on a field, they turn into demons, I think of fish in a tank, they turn to demons, I think of fairies with golden locks, they turn into demons… lol.
Only 2 ways to solve this problem, in my opinion anyway. 1) Don’t do WILD, and 2) Just don’t care.
I’ve found the second one works the best. So what if you get scared? It won’t kill you, eventually you’ll get over it.
maybe we shouldnt talk about the “old hag” with people if they dont know what it is already…this might just make them get scared of WILD for no reason.
My advice is just to do WILD anyway. You will soon start to expect the weirdness, and often times it’s not even scary.
I have to admit it’s quite exciting, not only because you can launch yourself into a lucid dream, but because you can experience some funky weird stuff.
I agree with bzteam. It’s not true that if you expect LD’ing to be scary, it will automatically turn into a nightmare. Most of the time, it’s very cool, even if you’re not very reassured.
But I think some people like horror movies and they like to be frightened…
Hmm I got this idea; you could listen to music while trying to have a WILD. I tried it yesterday, I put some really calm, relaxing music that I knew was going to keep my mind away from scary thoughts. Then of course I couldn’t fall asleep lol, I gave up after 2 hours, but just the fact that I didn’t get scared and cancelled the WILD is a good sign for me.
I think I’ll try it again tonight. Yesterday I really felt like there was nothing to be scared of, and I even enjoyed it!
i am, but to a lesser degree. LD i find actually more fun then scary, and you can get scared in a lucid dream for no reason. my first proper one scared me halfway through, but i stove it off and turned it comical. search my posts for more info.
I definitely agree Basilus! Some of my favourite dreams have been scary dreams, as they’ve been quite movie-like and cinematic. I also find that scary dreams have more emotional flavour and action. Maybe I’m one of a twisted minority
I’m safe from old hag or at least from the scary effects
i’ve had it a few times before without even knowing about LD’s and all that. Here’s what I do now.
Leave the TV on in your room at night, or on put a dvd of seinfeld or any other non-scary TV show and let the episodes run all night, on low volume it consumes electricity but I always fall asleep to TV-shows anyway. If you get an old hag, the TV is sure to distract your attention, especially if you also leave a dim light on and get a cat to sleep on you and purr. Try it.
80% of what makes OH bad is because it’s dark and you’re alone in the room. The TV always makes fear of the dark or loneliness be less powerfull. When I’m alone at night, having the tv on is always a fear nullifier.
It shouldn’t be like this.
I’m an old hand, I’ve had literally hundreds of lucid dreams, and been through what some would call “old hag” countless times.
Any disturbing state like this is a dream manifestation - do a reality check, (pinch your nose shut and see if you can breathe) it will prove you’re dreaming. Sleep paralysis is a dream state - prove it to yourself.
snape and basilus, having a scary LD could be fun, but if you are in SP and you dont know what is going on and it gets scary it will not be fun. You cant really compare a scary LD to someone having SP and not knowing what it is, believing it is real.
The worst experience like this that has ever happend to me and ive had alot was when I was lying in my bed for about 5 minutes then i started to wild mind you i have never succesfully wild in fact ive never had a REAL Ld before cause the sensatiosn bring me back to real life. Anyways the scariest one for me is when i could see kids running around me that looked like imps then one jumped on the bed and starting eating me then he riped my body off and i couldnt see it i truly beleived it wasnt there then when I woke up I was still in sleep paralysis and thought I was dead… Scariest thing ive ever had happen to me
Hello im sorta new and still cant get answers to theses questions:
can “old hag” occur when your just trying to lucid dream but dont have sleeping problems?
Generally speaking, “old hag” occurs only in some severe cases of the sleep paralysis trouble. Just 1% of the population have SP with strong hallucinations. This trouble generally begins during adolescence.
There is no real relation between this trouble and LD’ing, but a lot of people who are subject to this trouble become interested in LD’ing, cause they wonder what happen and are often told is because of the “astral body”, or something like that.
Most of the WILD’ers have never experienced such a thing (unless they are subject to this trouble). Some of them have soft hypnagogic hallucinations when they are in the hypnagogic state (the state between wake and sleep). If you practice DILD methods, you don’t have to cross this state.
For sum reason i am afraid to lucid dream… I want to sooo bad but i am afraid . I have no idea why. I have tryed it before but everything sounds so strange. No Lucid dreaming but like old hag , and sleep paralysis. How can i get over my fright. I always try . I am always toldd that it cant hurt me bla bla but im still frightened.!!
Well, the old hag doesn’t happen to everyone, SP only tells you that you’re about to lucid dream, and if the old hag does happen, you’ll be able to turn it into your SG and go into a lucid dream.
To sum up, they sound bad, but they are actually good things to happen to you.
It’s ok to be affraid of the unknown, but trust me, LDing is completely safe. You only have the risk of experiencing Sleep Paralysis or the Old Hag if you try that technique called WILD. The other ones, MILD, VILD, WBTB, autosuggestion and many more, won’t EVER give you an SP.
So that’s what you should try—something other than WILD.
or at least from the scary effects
Then I was annoyed couse I was distracted too easily 
and couldnt succeed