Evil Things

Evil Things, a series that started up last year, with episode three apparently; The Eye & The Attic. It's as the name suggests, supposed to be tales of people encountering objects with spiritual attachments and curses. Did I ever give this series a try? I can't remember, that's why I'm watching the confusingly listed, episode three, series premiere, right now.

The first half starts with a story about a woman who was in a motorcycle accident and had a cornea transplant, then started seeing things. Either this is not an uncommon claim or they're just blatantly ripping off the movie The Eye (2008), on their first, or third, episode.

It's a distraction making it hard to focus on the second half, in which the husband finds a bunch of cursed video tapes taken by a Peeping Tom. Pretty sure that was a movie too. . .

Blatantly fake paranormal shows seems to be a growing trend. My Haunted House is notorious for this. There's a whole episode about a Sad Sam Clown killing, but if this had happen, there would be a trail. Google it, there is not (mind you, you will find real cases like John Wayne Gacy). But Sad Sam is as real as Pennyland Amusement Park. But to be fair these show both open with 'inspired by' messages to let you know, nothing in them is an actual claim. Still, does this mean there are claims of haunted eye transplants? I rather hear an actual claim.

So many more questions; Are false stories just better TV? Are there just not enough undebunked paranormal claims to go around? Do producers just figure no one will care?
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Something on Your Back?

A weary nighttime traveler heading home hears a mysterious request, “obariyon,” that is, “give me a piggyback ride,” followed by a weight on his shoulders and back. As he continues the weight slowly grows, until he is crushed to death. He has been killed by a mysterious child-sized Yokai (a Japanese paranormal creature), known as Obariyon. In other versions of the legend, the traveler makes it home safely, finding he's been carrying a bag of gold, and it now very rich. Conventional wisdom suggests these tales relate both the overwhelming weight of child rearing and the great rewards of it.

However Obariyon's behavior reminds me of another paranormal creature, a demon from Jewish mythology, called a Dybbuk. Dybbuk are either straight-up demons, or the angry souls of the dead, which ride on people's back, slowly draining the life from them.

(Illustration: “Book of Job” Die Bucher Der Bibel, by Ephraim Moses Lilien - obtained via Wikipedia)

Is it possible Obariyon and Dybbuk are the same paranormal effect with different background mythology attached to them? And what other paranormal creatures are said to ride on people's backs?

Digging deeper revealed a lot of references to Sleep Paralysis and Lucid Nightmares, such as, “witch/hag riding your back” (American/European), “hag ridden” (European), “Night/Old Hag” (Eurpoean), and “the Devil on your back” (African). The idea that witches, hags, ghosts, demons, and/or aliens can cause the effects sleep paralysis and lucid nightmares is global, but the phrasing of “on your back” makes little sense when you consider it rarely happens to anyone not sleeping on their back, and is least likely to happen to those that sleep on their stomachs. Among the folk cures for Sleep Paralysis, such as s tucking silverware under your pillow, getting into bed backwards, praying and reading religious scripture, there is included, sleeping on your side.

This however does not directly relate to Obariyon or Dybbuk as these phenomenon happen during daily activity, as opposed to during a waking dream. In Japan Sleep Paralysis phenomenon is called “Kanashibari” or “to tie with iron rope” and is also believed to be caused by ghosts or evil spirits.

The other results of my initial search came up with very brief Christian commentary about seeing demons riding people's backs in an attempt to turn them from the true way, and signaling the end of days (as a lot of things in Christianity are wont to do). This certainly fits the Dybbuk interpretation, but the accounts I encountered are not very detailed and do not go back very far, suggesting a modern origin (which if it's the end times, make sense). So, once again, this is something I'll be on the lookout for more information on.

Sources/Further Reading:

“Dybbuk” Wikipedia
(Last modified 2017-12-15)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dybbuk

“Night Hag” Wikipedia
(Last modified 2018-01-10)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_hag

“Obariyon” Yokai.com
(Last modified 2015)
http://yokai.com/obariyon/

Rosen, Brenda. The Mythical Creatures Bible. New York: Sterling, 2008.

“Symptoms” The Sleep Paralysis Project
(Last modified 2018)
http://www.thesleepparalysisproject.org/about-sleep-paralysis/symptoms/

The Diagram Group. Understanding Dreams. Philadephia: Running Press GEM, 1993.
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