I never knew the dark could be so scary
This entry was posted on January 8, 2008
I have a couple of phobias (spiders, mashed potato) but other than that, not a lot of things scare me. I always used to tease people about being afraid of the dark. What’s to be afraid of? It’s not like there are people lurking in the bushes ready to jump out on you. Look at any statistics and they’ll show you - far more people are murdered in the daytime than at night!
However, this all changed when I started locking up at work. It starts getting dark at around half past three in the afternoon (ugh, winter) and by half past four the weather’s dark enough to be considered “night time”. I finish work at five o’clock at which point I have to lock up and make my way back to my car.
I work in a converted barn on a farm, and it’s out in the countryside which means there’s no street lights and no light from the town. That adds to the darkness. Couple that with the fact there are no external lights whatsoever, and I have to turn off the internal lights. At two-minutes past five tonight I was locking up and could not see a thing. It was pitch black and that was rather disconcerting.
I stumbled down the path and made my way across the empty gravel carpark towards my car, which has remote central locking, which means I just press a button to unlock it and I don’t need to faff about trying to fit the key in the lock - God knows how long that would take!
There’s something very disconcerting about the dark. I didn’t feel as if someone were hiding in the bushes waiting to jump me (though if they were, we have great bushes for that), I just felt as if… oh, I don’t know. How do you feel when it’s dark and you’re on your own?
11 lovely people have commented
I get afraid of the dark at times.
Humans have a tendency to dislike darkness because they are so ill adapted to it. Not only can we barely see anything, but our other senses are also lowered. We then feel our defense is quite low, which causes “fear” to different extents. [/smartassness]
I was grabbed by a man in Kelowna last December, and had to run for my life, so yeah, I’m definitely a bit afraid of walking alone. I had to have my guy friends walk me home whenever we went out at night, and I wanted to leave before everyone else. For a while I went through a phase where I would walk defiantly in the dark, and my PL would get mad, because she thought I was deliberately putting myself in a vulnerable position again. But what she didn’t know was that most of the time one of the other guys in my group would walk about a block behind me to make sure I was safe, but let me heal from the trauma.
I love the dark, but I usually won’t go outside in the dark by myself simply because, while I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself if I was ever attacked, I don’t want to run that risk.
I’m such a vampire.
Oh, I used to say I’m not afraid of the dark… until one time I was in the middle of the woods (thankfully not alone), pitch black all around, and a dog starts barking.
When I used to work 6-9 on a weekday I used to hate being in the stock room because it was so dark and I’m not normally afraid of the dark, I think it was because I was letting my imagination run away with me and kept thinking that someone was running up and down between the shelves and I was freaking myself out.
I have to say I love the dark and night as a whole.
I have no problems walking around on my own at night but I do feel better if I have someone else with me too.
I don’t mind the dark since that’s usually when I go out. Even pitch black dark doesn’t bother me much. However I won’t walk alone in the dark because I’m wary of those who use it as cover. If it weren’t for all the psychos out there I wouldn’t have any problems.
As a kid I was scared by it but I’ve always been paranoid so it’s really no surprise.
I used to have to walk to work at half 5 in the morning, across York town center - It was all very scary - then open up the pub on my own and accept a delivery all on my own until other people came at 7am. I look back and think, the delivery drivers were all men, the cleaners were all men, the other staff usually men and I was the only woman! I always carried an attack alarm on me though, especially walking through town!
IT was always dark, though never pitch black, I’d hate it if it was :S
Being out at night in that kind of environment is definitely the freakiest thing ever. But one thing, you’re afraid of mashed potato??
I love the nighttime, especially cities by night. I love walking around the empty streets and just feel like I’m the only person on earth. Civilization always look better in the dark 
But for some reason I can’t sleep when it’s dark in my bedroom. When I turn off the light and the room gets pitch black my mind kickstarts for some reason and I can’t sleep and I just lie awake staring straight into the darkness. It’s a bit weird… I always have to have some light around me when I go to sleep. But I don’t mind being awake in a dark room and walking in the darkness outside :/
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Jenny said:
I feel vulnerable.