A Malaysian explanation

My chest hurts, like a lot. I hate it. It feels like someone stacked a pile of heavy books on my chest. Hurts.

Which brings me to my next thought... about the hantu hempap. In English, it would be translated as "the crushing ghost". It's more like the "smothering" ghost. It's supposedly a ghost, or spirit, that sits on you, thus crushing your body and smothering your face, while you are sleeping, so that you will suffocate. I'm not sure if it's this ghost's intention to kill you or what, but that's what it supposedly likes to do. This hantu hempap that is.

In actuality, the suffocation-like sensation that a person feels during sleep takes place at a time when the brain is on the border of being conscious and unconscious. There's like a relapse or something, and the brain is neither asleep or awake... and a person will lose control of their limbs, and perhaps even of their breathing. And if you don't stay calm, you can suffocate because you feel yourself gasping for air. I'm sure you've experienced this thing before during sleep... you suddenly feel like your chest is being crushed, and you're telling yourself, "roll over, roll over so I can breathe" but your body isn't doing what your brain is telling it to... Well, the Malays have explained this phenomenon as being crushed by the hantu hempap, when in fact it's entirely scientific.

Sometimes, when your mind and body are going through this excruciating experience, you may find yourself screaming out loud for help, but find that no voice is coming out. And later on, when you've woken up and recovered and ask people around you if they heard you scream, they'll say no. And then you'll shudder and say, "it was the hantu hempap."

Before I heard about the hantu hempap, I always thought that those occurrences were caused by my asthma or sinus problems. I never thought it was caused by a ghost that liked to sit on you... and I still don't. Whatever everyone else things...