A Nightmare on Elm Street

Before there was a Freddy Krueger, there was the night terror. The horror icon wasn't born in a boiler room, but he did originate in troubling dreams. A string of real-world deaths inspired the A "Nightmare on Elm Street" films. Witnesses and survivors didn't report a burn-scarred face or a striped sweater. Death came without warning or explanation, while its victims slept. In the late 1970s to the mid 80s, more than 110 men died in their sleep. Until their quiet final moments, they were young and healthy. Their families were stunned. Investigators were bewildered. With the victims all being Asian, medical authorities named the sleep scourge "Asian Death Syndrome." Witnesses and families called it the night terror. The first case was reported in California's Orange County in 1977. By the summer of 1981, 20 people had fallen victim to the night terror. Authorities and medical responders were powerless as men across the country went to sleep and never woke up.