To wake, perchance to dream

This piece from the American Scene discusses the idea that human sleep patterns before the industrial revolution involved two stretches of sleep at night with an interval of waking around midnight. This is a fascinating theory, although I can't find the the New Yorker article referred to, the link seems to be broken.

The theory that this was connected to a stronger belief in the supernatural is also fascinating and surely does call for further research. The extent to which 'supernatural' experiences can be simulated (or indeed 'created') is something else possibly connected - I recall hearing of a young girl who was plagued in her haunted bedroom. After much investigation it was found that a clock radio was generating some kind of electrical field to which she was sensitive and it was triggering the sensation of a presence in the room. Once they switched off the radio the problem went away. But of course now thinking of ghosts has given me the chills...