Fantastische claims

'Supernatural Sexy Time'*

Ke$ha (source: Wikimedia Commons)

A spiritual search for inspiration   

Singer Ke$ha has released a new album called "Warrior". Not that big of a deal, you would say, were it not for the bizarre content of the album. Kesha tells Ryan Seacrest in an interview that she has had 'sexy time' with a ghost or an entity. The song 'Supernatural' is based on this erotic experience with the paranormal. Besides this erotic encounter with a ghost, the album has more occult content, Kesha explains. 

During a spiritual quest around the world, Kesha has saved little lion cubs, she has dived with great white sharks, and has transgressed into past lives through hypnosis. In the media a few 'paranormal investigators' explain Kesha's experiences, but they fail to give any natural explanations. One 'researchers' claims that it is unlikely that Kesha has had a hot experience with a ghost, because whenever there is a ghost around it is usually very cold. Another doesn't want to exclude the possibility but says that sexual 'encounters' with ghost are very rare. A third tells us that it is very difficult to distinguish a 'real' apparition from a lucid dream. None of them comes up with the following natural explanation of Kesha's supernatural experience.

'The Nightmare' by John Henry Fuseli (1781) is thought
of as the classical depiction of the relationship between
sleep paralysis and demonic nightly visits (source: Wikipedia)

Sleep paralysis

Has Kesha really been visited by a ghost or entity in her sleep? And did she actually have a sexual encounter of the third kind? In my honest opinion it is more probable that Kesha suffered what is known as 'sleep paralysis'. In The Skeptic's Dictionary we find that this affliction is most prevalent during falling asleep (hypnagogic state) and waking up (hypnopompic state). Sleep paralysis is characterised by an inability to move and a sensed-presence who is thought to push down on the body. The famous painting 'The Nightmare' by John Henry Fuseli is a beautiful visualisation of the condition. Sexual arousal is not uncommon with sleep paralysis and this might be due to residue brain activity from REM-sleep. 

Treatment

Sleep paralysis is a natural explanation for Kesha's supernatural experience. The specific information she reveals in the interview agrees with symptoms associated with sleep paralysis. Clete Kushida of Stanford University has a few recommendations to prevent sleep paralysis: do not take naps, get enough sleep and do not sleep on your back. Maybe these recommendations will relieve Kesha of her sleep paralysis (but of course it is up to her if she would like to miss out on these 'supernatural sexy times'). 

*translation from earlier post in Dutch