If we were to ask people, which movies they knew/thought had been inspired by real events, one title that nobody would pick would be "A Nightmare on Elm Street". But the truth is that Wes Craven, writer and director of the film, found the inspiration from a series of news stories that he had read some years earlier.
In the early 1960s, the Special Activities Division of the CIA began to recruit, train and lead the indigenous Hmong people in Laos to fight against North Vietnamese Army divisions invading Laos during the Vietnam War. This secret argmy had arround 30.000 men, under the command of General Vang Pao. This army fought Ho Chi Minh and rescued downed American pilots among other activies. Some estimations say that they had 1:10 higher fatality ratio than U.S. soldiers. After the fall of the US-backed South Vietnamese and Laos governments, many Hmong resettled in western countries, fearing the retaliation from the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao. Many former Hmong veterans and their family members who served in the U.S. Secret Army in Laos during the Vietnam War resettled in the US after the war. [Wikipedia]
"On a winter morning in early January 1981, Xiong Tou Xiong, a twenty-nineyear- old man, was found dead in the bed of his Portland, Oregon home. He had not been ill; his death was sudden and unexpected. Two days later, Yong Leng Thao, a forty-seven-year-old man, died on the way to a Portland hospital after his wife found him lying in his bed, unresponsive. He had been up late watching television with an uncle and had gone to bed after midnight, briefly waking his wife. Both were soon asleep. “Then came his labored breathing, so loud that it awakened her. She shook him. [In the] next moments of horror, she realized that she could do nothing more.
Both of the men who died were Laotian Hmong refugees who had recently immigrated to the United States. Their deaths were brought to the attention of Larry Lewman, the medical examiner of Multnomah County. In reviewing recent reports, Lewman soon found two additional cases of sudden, unexpected death. Searching for further clues, he telephoned the coroner’s office in St. Paul, Minnesota, a city in which, like Portland, many Southeast Asian refugees had settled. As forensic scientist Michael McGee recalls, he was told: “We have a large Southeast Asian population here, and we can’t figure out what’s happening. We have no idea why these people are dying. Would there be any chance you guys are experiencing the same thing?” [Sleep Paralysis: Night-mares, Nocebos, and the Mind-Body Connection]
"In February 1981, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) received reports from California, Minnesota, and Oregon that a total of 12 apparently healthy young Southeast Asian refugees had died in their sleep, and the cause of death could not be determined by postmortem examination. The deaths had occurred between July 1977 and February 1981. This syndrome is now known as sudden unexplained death syndrome (SUDS)" [Sudden Unexplained Death Syndrome in Southeast Asian Refugees: A Review of CDC Surveillance]
"In the period July 15, 1977, through March 30, 1982, there were at least 51 sudden, unexplained deaths in the United States among refugees from Southeast Asia [unusually high incidence among Laotian and Kampuchean refugees]. These deaths involved relatively young (median age, 33 years), previously healthy persons. All except one were male, and all died at night. [T]his specific phenomenon (...) has not previously been observed in the United States." [Sudden Death Among Southeast Asian Refugees]
"The CDC in Atlanta is conducting an intensive inquiry into the manner in which 18 apparently healthy Laotian refugees died mysteriously in their sleep in this country within the last four years. One possibility being explored is that they were frightened to death by nightmares. [O]ne possibility being explored is an obscure pattern described in medical literature as ''Oriental nightmare death syndrome,'' in which death results from terror induced by a nightmare." [The New York Times]
"When the Hmong don't worship properly, do not perform the religious ritual properly or forget to sacrifice or whatever, then the ancestor spirits or the village spirits do not want to guard them." "That's why the evil spirit is able to come and get them."" [The Atlantic]
In the early 1960s, the Special Activities Division of the CIA began to recruit, train and lead the indigenous Hmong people in Laos to fight against North Vietnamese Army divisions invading Laos during the Vietnam War. This secret argmy had arround 30.000 men, under the command of General Vang Pao. This army fought Ho Chi Minh and rescued downed American pilots among other activies. Some estimations say that they had 1:10 higher fatality ratio than U.S. soldiers. After the fall of the US-backed South Vietnamese and Laos governments, many Hmong resettled in western countries, fearing the retaliation from the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao. Many former Hmong veterans and their family members who served in the U.S. Secret Army in Laos during the Vietnam War resettled in the US after the war. [Wikipedia]
"On a winter morning in early January 1981, Xiong Tou Xiong, a twenty-nineyear- old man, was found dead in the bed of his Portland, Oregon home. He had not been ill; his death was sudden and unexpected. Two days later, Yong Leng Thao, a forty-seven-year-old man, died on the way to a Portland hospital after his wife found him lying in his bed, unresponsive. He had been up late watching television with an uncle and had gone to bed after midnight, briefly waking his wife. Both were soon asleep. “Then came his labored breathing, so loud that it awakened her. She shook him. [In the] next moments of horror, she realized that she could do nothing more.
Both of the men who died were Laotian Hmong refugees who had recently immigrated to the United States. Their deaths were brought to the attention of Larry Lewman, the medical examiner of Multnomah County. In reviewing recent reports, Lewman soon found two additional cases of sudden, unexpected death. Searching for further clues, he telephoned the coroner’s office in St. Paul, Minnesota, a city in which, like Portland, many Southeast Asian refugees had settled. As forensic scientist Michael McGee recalls, he was told: “We have a large Southeast Asian population here, and we can’t figure out what’s happening. We have no idea why these people are dying. Would there be any chance you guys are experiencing the same thing?” [Sleep Paralysis: Night-mares, Nocebos, and the Mind-Body Connection]
"In February 1981, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) received reports from California, Minnesota, and Oregon that a total of 12 apparently healthy young Southeast Asian refugees had died in their sleep, and the cause of death could not be determined by postmortem examination. The deaths had occurred between July 1977 and February 1981. This syndrome is now known as sudden unexplained death syndrome (SUDS)" [Sudden Unexplained Death Syndrome in Southeast Asian Refugees: A Review of CDC Surveillance]
'The Nightmare', John Henry Fuseli
"In the period July 15, 1977, through March 30, 1982, there were at least 51 sudden, unexplained deaths in the United States among refugees from Southeast Asia [unusually high incidence among Laotian and Kampuchean refugees]. These deaths involved relatively young (median age, 33 years), previously healthy persons. All except one were male, and all died at night. [T]his specific phenomenon (...) has not previously been observed in the United States." [Sudden Death Among Southeast Asian Refugees]
"The CDC in Atlanta is conducting an intensive inquiry into the manner in which 18 apparently healthy Laotian refugees died mysteriously in their sleep in this country within the last four years. One possibility being explored is that they were frightened to death by nightmares. [O]ne possibility being explored is an obscure pattern described in medical literature as ''Oriental nightmare death syndrome,'' in which death results from terror induced by a nightmare." [The New York Times]
"When the Hmong don't worship properly, do not perform the religious ritual properly or forget to sacrifice or whatever, then the ancestor spirits or the village spirits do not want to guard them." "That's why the evil spirit is able to come and get them."" [The Atlantic]
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