“I’m interested in the dream and subconscious mind, the peculiar dream-like quality of our lives, sometime nightmare quality of our lives.”~ Anthony Hopkins
Fans of Halloween who are still hanging on to the night: Have I got a story for you that just blew my mind!!!
After reading article upon article about horror films and reading TOP LISTS of horror films. I came across one that talked about films that were based on REAL events.
Films such as The Exorcist were on the list. Not all that surprising. Most of us already KNOW the story behind that 1970’s horror film. And a few other exorcism films that came out, also true or based on real life events. As well as ghostly films like The Conjuring.
But in the list was something that I NEVER thought I’d see:
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.
Whoa, wait a minute!! Hold on!!! How in the world is this horror film gem REAL?!?!?? There’s no dream killer. There’s been no reports of a man with blades on his fingers murdering teenagers. So what in the world is going on?
Turns out that back in 1977, there were a group of Asian refugees (the origin or country is unknown and often numerous to this one particular story) were plagued by their nightmares.
Often, they would refuse to sleep because they were too traumatized by their dreams. And exhaustion would ultimately end their lives. Others who would actually fall asleep, would die in their sleep without any signs of physical trauma to their bodies. 
The theory was that while sleeping, they would suffer trauma from their nightmares so much that their body would go into cardiac arrest and then they would die.
Singapore and other Asian countries of perfectly healthy people dying whilst they slept.
This appears to be the link and the beginning influence to the very popular horror film by Wes Craven.
And yet this goes on as a REAL disease called Sudden Unexpected Death Syndrome (SUNDS).
You just never really know what else is in this crazy world of ours that is going to stun us with their brand of odd reality.
Here is an article in the New York Times back in 1981 about the strange case:
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/10/us/nightmares-suspected-in-bed-deaths-of-18-laotians.html
Dambreaker 