[APG Public List] Cause of death question

[Janey Joyce]

Hope one of you can solve this mystery.

I have found an ancestor's "sudden death"  notice published in a Wisconsin 
newspaper in 1853 that says: "It is supposed he died of a night-mare." I know 
nightmares can be terrifying, but I am not aware of anyone actually perishing as 
the result of one. 


Does anyone know if nightmares could have really been considered a cause of 
death back in the 1850s?

Janey E. Joyce in San Antonio, Texas