What is the saying a witch riding your back?

Answer 1

It is a common name for sleep paralysis, a type of nightmare that takes place in low level REM sleep. A person's body is asleep, yet their brain is awake enough to perceive their surroundings. This explains why a person's body has the sensation of being heavy or immovable, almost as if something is sitting on their chest. The fact that they are in low level REM sleep explains why they see all sorts of scary creatures like witches or demons. A good illustration of this phenomenon is Heny Fuseli's beautiful painting "The Nightmare" (1781). Such night terrors are typically reported by African Americans from (or at least with ties to) the south, particularly in Louisiana where it is known as "Cauchemare." The earliest references to this phenomenon in the US come from the Salem witch trials of 1692. The oldest source that I know of mentioning the witch is the writing of an early 14th-century French physician who noted that the common folk believed the Incubus was an "old hag" who smothered adults and children in their sleep.

Answer 2

First answer

I heard it's called lumbago or Hexenschuss (a witch's shot) in German. That name fits it perfectly. That is to say, it's strained back, a witch riding on it.

Second answer

It is a common name for sleep paralysis, a type of nightmare that takes place in low level REM sleep. A person's body is asleep, yet their brain is awake enough to perceive their surroundings. This explains why a person's body has the sensation of being heavy or immovable, almost as if something is sitting on their chest. The fact that they are in low level REM sleep explains why they see all sorts of scary creatures like witches or demons. A good illustration of this phenomenon is Heny Fuseli's beautiful painting "The Nightmare" (1781). Such night terrors are typically reported by African Americans from (or at least with ties to) the south, particularly in Louisiana where it is known as "Cauchemare." The earliest references to this phenomenon in the US come from the Salem witch trials of 1692. The oldest source that I know of mentioning the witch is the writing of an early 14th-century French physician who noted that the common folk believed the Incubus was an "old hag" who smothered adults and children in their sleep.