Unexplained Sleep Deaths – The real Story of Freddy Krueger | Podcast #265

Writer Adam Bulger detailed a string of unexplained overnight deaths between 1977 and 1981, said to inspire the late Wes Craven to create the iconic Freddy Krueger character of the Nightmare on Elm Street series. He explained that the spate of deaths, around 25 in total, all involved immigrants from the Hmong ethnic group that had left Asia and settled in America in the 1970s. The surprising rash of mysterious deaths within this relatively small community raised concerns among government officials and medical examiners, who attempted to decipher what was causing the outbreak. However, as they began investigating, they realized that sudden and unexplained nocturnal deaths actually had a long history in Asian cultures across the globe and were often attributed to evil entities which claimed the lives of men while they slept.