Dream Mythology: Dab Tsuam

Hey Everyone! Welcome back!

So, last few weeks we looked at mythology in dreams where the item or creature mentioned was actually benevolent towards humans. This time, we'll be looking at a mythology which had a lot of influence towards Dreamwalkers, or, more specifically, in the Oneiros themselves. As with many dream myths, there was usually an actual sleep based phenomenon that it was used to explain, similar to how the Mare were thought to have been a cause of Sleep Paralysis. This one goes a step further, not just paralysing the victim temporarily, but rather causing outright death.

In 1977, there was the first noted case of unexpected and, at the time, unexplained, death during sleep, among the Hmong refugees in the US. It was noted again between 1982 and 1990, when 230 otherwise healthy Thai men all died in their sleep of unexpected causes. Pretty scary, to think that someone could just die in their sleep for seemingly no reason at all, right? Indeed, what is now known as 'Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome', or 'Sudden Adult Death Syndrome' (Shortened to SADS), 'Sudden Unexpected/Unexplained Death Syndrome' (SUDS) or 'Sudden Unexpected/Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS), actually inspired several things, such as the film Nightmare on Elm Street and also brought about the belief amongst the Hmong in the supernatural creature Dab Tsuam (Pronounced 'Dab Cho').

Dab Tsuam is the one that we'll be looking at today, however. Unlike Nightmare on Elm Street, this one certainly hits the mythology status.

So, who, or what, is Dab Tsuam?

The mythology states that Dab Tsuam is a hideous, hag like woman, who, similar to the Mare, would sit on the chest of the victims. Unlike the Mare, however, she would stay there on the victims chest until they could not breath and would die as a result.

Its now known that the cause is a genetically irregular heartbeat that is difficult to detect or could have been missed entirely, which lead to the deaths. But it seems the saying of one being 'scared to death' could indeed have some fact. The belief in Dab Tsuam was so strong, that it is thought that it caused people night terrors about the woman, which, in turn, put strain on the heart and exacerbate the underlying heart issue, resulting in the end deaths, seemingly without any explanation, during their sleep.

Its hardly surprising that a Nightmare on Elm Street might have some basis here.

I do suggest reading up about SADS though. It's definitely an interesting read. Not to mention pretty scary to think about since there' only really one effective treatment method, too.

There are other mythologies which have similar beings to Dab Tsuam. These include Bei Gui Ya in China, Dutch mythology's Nachtmerrie and Philippian folklore's Batibat or Bangungot.

Still, it is certainly interesting that there are dream myths that are linked to thinks that have happened in fairly recent history.

Until next time!

Tara