Farmhouses of Euskal Herria
Where Inguma stalks those who sleep.
Night Terrors
When Inguma sits upon the sleeper's chest
Quick facts
- • Place:Dormitorios de Euskal Herria
- • Nombre en euskera:Gaueko izuak
- • Seres implicados:Inguma
- • Motivos:parálisis, terror, sueño, protección
- • Cronología:Tradición oral ancestral
The legend
Long before modern medicine explained sleep paralysis, Basques already had their own interpretation for that terror which assails sleepers: it was Inguma seated upon the victim?s chest, feeding on fear.
The experience is unmistakable: you wake unable to move, feeling a terrible weight on your chest, unable to cry out even while fear chokes you from within. You see shadows in the corners of the room and sense a malign presence watching from the deepest darkness.
For the old Basques, that presence was Inguma. He slipped into houses at night, passing through walls as though they were smoke, sat upon sleepers and fed upon their terror until dawn.
The only protection was to recite the magic formula before sleep: ?Inguma, stepson of Satan, I conjure you in the name of God. Do not harm me, nor my house.? Those who recited it slept in peace through the night. Those who forgot awoke with the echo of cruel laughter in their ears.
Associated places
Traditional bedrooms
The setting of night terrors.
Related creatures
Sources and documentation
- J.M. Barandiaran (1972): Mitología Vasca
- R.M. de Azkue: Euskalerriaren Yakintza
- Tradición oral de Euskal Herria
The presences Basque children learned to name without fear
The experience of sleep paralysis.
The origin of protective prayers before sleep.
Informed fear is manageable; blind fear is not
Visions of presences in the room.
In the informal education of children in Basque farmhouses, learning to live with nocturnal fear was as important as learning to milk or to distinguish edible mushrooms from poisonous ones. Adults did not pretend that the terrors of the night were unreal; they gave them names and explained how one should relate to them.
