Why are we so afraid of the dark? Fear of the dark; also known as Nyctophobia is triggered by the brain’s disfigured perception of what could be in or happen in a dark environment. But is it right that we are afraid of the dark? Is there anything to be feared in the dark?
Technically, we shouldn’t fear the darkness. It is what we sleep in and what we could not live without. The night‘s darkness is what makes plants grow, what makes us have a restful sleep, and what is written in the Bible as night and day. To take away that cycle of night and day would deeply harm us. Yet people still are afraid of the dark. Is it just an ingrained fear or is there a real reason why we fear it? And why would such a seemingly ridiculous fear become ingrained in so many people?
In my belief, it is the fact that we can‘t see what could be watching us in the dark, which probably evolved from the cavemen. I do, however, doubt that any so-called monsters could be watching us when we walk through the woods at night, but I believe that humans could be. After all, the worst kinds of monsters are the kind that walks among us and looks like us. As Hannah Arendt coined the phrase in Adolf Eichmann’s trial “the banality of evil”. So, there are monsters that lurk unseen in the dark, but they are human. However, you can’t see them and immediately perceive them as monsters.
My theory is proven through friends of mine who have this fear telling me that they don’t fear darkness; they fear what could be in that darkness. Our eyes cannot see in the dark so our minds and imaginations run rampant about it. To prove this I will give you a scenario. You are sitting, tied to a chair in a pitch-black room. There is a scraping noise from across it and you immediately start to panic. Is it something coming to kill you? What if something is there? A deep gravelly voice than tells you in graphic detail what it plans to do. What would your reaction be? Then the lights go on and you see your friend, using an app on his phone and laughing his head off at you.
Things that go bump in the night scare us far more than noises in the day. In daylight, you wouldn’t have panicked because you would know it was your friend being a jackass and trying to scare you. Something I’ve also noticed is that tiny noises sound magnified in the night. There is a rational explanation for this, however, that being that our other senses are making up for our lack of sight. If you are blind than your hearing, sense of smell and taste become far more sensitive than a regular person. But if you think about it, we are all blind at night and our other senses kick in more strongly. It also could be because we are afraid of what might be in the dark and having a fight or flight reaction.
Although most of our fear of the dark can be explained away by common sense, some questions remain. Is there a reason why we can’t see in the dark, but animals can? Now that I have tried to be rational about a very common fear, I’ll go into an idea that I find rather terrifying. Animals are far more sensitive to the spirit side, as demonstrated in many cases of hauntings. They can also see clearly in the dark. However, they cannot explain or tell others what they have seen. Could it be that the darkness is a veil between our world and a more sinister one that humans can’t see? Animal brains aren’t as intelligent as humans, so they would be unable to comprehend what they have seen as wrong. However, humans would immediately pick up on what they have just seen as being extremely wrong and spirits don’t like that. Maybe that is why the dark was put there to stop us from seeing such things.
I suppose it all depends on how you look at the dark. There are rational reasons for why we fear it and rational explanations for some parts of it. For others, who knows? Frankly, I’m glad for the darkness. I do believe in the spirit world and I’d rather not see through the veil that the dark creates. And you, dear reader, what is your opinion on the dark? Are you afraid of it or did my theories make you rethink not being afraid? Sweet dreams......
This is for the Creepypasta contest. I’m not sure it qualifies, but I’m having fun writing it.
And to all people who are actually afraid of the dark, I’m really sorry and I hope you don’t get nightmares about the creepier part of why the darkness exists. After all, most of this is my theorizing, and hopefully, I am wrong. In this case, I wouldn’t want to be right.