Sleepwalking Made Me Do It!

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When you think of a sleepwalker, do you imagine them with their eyes open and arms out stretched. This is often portrayed in films and cartoons, making a person thinks this is how they are, in truth, a sleepwalker, does have their eyes open but they appear glazed and non-blinking, so they can navigate their surroundings, as they are not exactly unconscious during, their episodes of sleepwalking.

Many people believe they should not wake a sleepwalker, but sometimes, it is necessary to do this as, they can put themselves in danger, it is common for sleepwalkers to hurt themselves, by tripping up, or even loosening their balance, it has been known for a sleepwalker to have fallen out of a tall building. When waking a sleepwalker they may appear confused, and disoriented, for a short time but it would not cause them harm, the gentler the better so not to startle them.

A sleepwalker also known as (Somnambulists) has no memory of the actions they perform while having an episode of sleepwalking. The activity’s they carry out, are done as if they are fully awake. Episodes they may carry out may include eating, bathing, talking,dressing and undressing, cleaning, dancing and even driving.

One of the activity’s that sleepwalkers have been known to portray, has been used in a court of law, and used as a defence and is increasingly being used is the act of, murder while sleepwalking, now known as insanity of sleep.

One of the first acquittals, in the history of American law that sleepwalking was used as a defence, was the trial of Albert Tirrell.

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Albert Tirrell was accused of murdering his girlfriend, by slitting her throat from ear to ear, then setting fire to the bedroom witch they shared. Albert had no memory of this action and pleaded not guilty,when placed on trial. His attorney Rufus , set out to find out the truth, as all the evidence was circumstantial, and on one seen Albert commit the murder also, Albert had no reason to kill his girlfriend. Rufus had come up with two explanations the first one being, his girlfriend may have committed suicide, the the way the body was seemed unlikely. The second explanation was that Albert, could have committed the murder while sleepwalking or in a trance like state, while having a nightmare. There was no medical explanation for sleepwalking in the 1840s, and medical experts could not make there minds up on the possibility, so Rufus convinced the jury, after less than two hours of deliberation on March 30th1846 the jury returned it’s verdict of not guilty. Rufus Choate convinced the jury under the name of insanity of sleep and it became a real defence to murder.

Rufus Choat.

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Murder in the driveway.

A businessman, is calming insanity of sleep. After his father was found dead on his driveway. The elderly man was supporting 90 injuries, consisting of a broken nose, ribs, and blood on the surface of the brain, and injuries to the head and neck. The jury on the case have been told that the son of the elderly man, that has been accused of the murder, was in a low state of mind at the time of the attack, and suffers from ellipsoids of sleepwalking. The businessman made UK legal history after being acquitted of murdering his father because he was sleepwalking, he was found not guilty due to insanity of sleep, and sent to a psychiatric hospital for an indefinite period of time.

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What are the causes of sleepwalking?

REM (rapid eye movement) has several cycles that we follow every night. The cycles of non-REM and REM sleep. Most often sleepwalking occurs during deep non-REM sleep (stage 3 or 4 of sleep) if it occurs during REM sleep it is part of REM behaviour disorder, an interruption in the cycle of sleep so to speak. Sleepwalking can be brought on with stress and anxiety, and people with a lot on their minds.

We may never know if these people that have claimed to have been sleepwalking at the time of these murders. A lot of psychological analyse is called for in these types of cases to prove their insanity, before a verdict is made.