The Poet's Loft

Arkansas · United States · Haunted site

A woman half asleep on the couch at this Hot Springs venue felt a pair of hands take hold of her and hold her down. Everyone else was in the kitchen.

The account comes from a former worker at the Poet's Loft in Hot Springs, Arkansas, someone who helped run the place rather than a visitor.

It was a Wednesday, before the regular poetry reading. A woman was lying awake on a couch but could not get her eyes to open properly. Through blurred vision she thought she saw a friend of hers walk into the kitchen. She asked a man sitting in a chair nearby whether there was anyone else in the room with them, and he told her that everyone was in the kitchen.

A pair of hands then took hold of her roughly and held her down against the couch. She described them as a woman's hands. She called out.

The experience she is describing has a name and a documented physiology: sleep paralysis, in which a person wakes before the body does, cannot move, and frequently perceives a presence in the room. That does not make the account less real to the person who had it, and the archive records what witnesses say rather than what an explanation would prefer.

FAQ

Where is The Poet's Loft located?

The Poet's Loft is in Arkansas, United States.