The Collaborative International Dictionary
hag-ridden \hag"-rid`den\, hagridden
\hag"rid`den\(h[a^]g"r[i^]d`d'n), a.
Ridden by a hag or witch; hence, afflicted with nightmares;
tormented or harassed by nightmares or unreasonable fears.
--Beattie.
--Cheyne.
Syn: tormented.
hagridden . . . by visions of an imminent heaven
or hell upon earth
--C. S. Lewis
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1680s, "afflicted by nightmares," from hag (n.) + ridden. An old term for sleep paralysis, the sensation of being held immobile in bed, often by a heavy weight, and accompanied by a sense of alien presence. A holed stone hung over the bed was said to prevent it. Hag-ride as a verb is attested from 1660s.
WordNet
Usage examples of "hag-ridden".
You can be sure of this: the courthouse clerk and whatever agent was sent to see him, both are hag-ridden by filthy parasites this very moment.
Only those who have been hag-ridden can know how tricky the slugs are, how constantly one must be on guard—or how deeply one must hate.
Only those who have been hag-ridden can know how tricky the slugs are, how constantly one must be on guard-or how deeply one must hate.
And I could often feel her eyes upon me, those wide, hag-ridden eyes, as if she were fearful of finding some strange taint or sprawling cancer in me.
And he couldn't help but notice that they, too, were looking apprehensive - no, they were looking hag-ridden -where they worked with frantic speed yet much too quietly.
Now, too, Nathan was much less reluctant as first he outlined, then filled in a history of the life he'd lived on Sunside, and in Turgosheim's dark and hag-ridden Starside.
If the latter, then the Three People had spent the last thirty millennia hag-ridden by a nightmare of their own making.