Are you afraid of the dark

[Gem 1,430]

I am afraid of the dark have been since i was old enough to remember, when i went to bed mum used to look in my wardrobe and under the bed. As i got older i did this myself, even now as i go into the house alone i switch the lights on as i go and never turn them off until someone else is in. It may seem silly but tonight i am sleeping downstairs on the settee with Ben for company, hubby has gone to visit a friend who is rather poorly. He asks every time if i be ok on my own always answer yes, if he knew he wouldn't go. My house is very old and can make odd noises to someone with a vivid imagination it could be a reincarnation of Jack the Ripper coming up the stairs silly  i know but thats the way i am, got coffee and going to watch Gone with the Wind.

[Jill Sparrow 10,323]

My older sister was just like you as a child, Gem. Wouldn't go to bed until she'd looked under it and in every corner of the room. When I came along, we had to share a bedroom as my grandfather lived with us. We had twin beds which meant she had to look under both of them! She couldn't sleep without a light burning either which drove me potty because I need darkness to sleep.

 

Even when she was in her early teens and I was 8 years younger, she would not visit the bathroom after dark unless I went with her! Even with the electric light on! I know she used to sleepwalk and talked constantly in her sleep, which also drove me potty! There was a recurring nightmare about 'machines' coming to get her. She now thinks this was caused by a visit to a lace factory in Humber Road, Beeston, where my paternal grandfather worked when sis was tiny. The racket made by the lace machines terrified her.

 

In contrast, I have always loved the dark and often used to stand outside in the garden at night when I was a child, watching the stars. Even now, I'll prefer candlelight over electric light in the evenings and being alone in the dark doesn't bother me at all.

[MargieH 7,613]

I remember as a child, getting myself ready to rush over and leap into my bed after I'd switched of the light, before something reached out from under the bed to grab my ankles.   I know it's illogical but I STILL  sort of think there may be something under the bed waiting to grab my ankle!  I don't run and leap into bed anymore, though.  Not sure if that's because I have better mind control or because it's getting harder to run and leap!!

[FLY2 10,109]

In the mid 50's, when I was a member of the Life Boys / Boys Brigade, I lived on Bridlington St, Radford, and had to run the gauntlet through Hyson Green along Gregory Blvd in order to get to the church at the bottom of Sherwood Rise. The populated bit wasn't so bad, but it was the stretch adjacent to The Forest that used to unnerve me somewhat. 

It'd certainly unnerve me nowadays I can tell you. It kept me fit though !

[Commo 1,292]

Best way to eradicate the fear of nasties under the bed is to gerra divan then there's nowt can gerrunder it other than dust!

[Cliff Ton 10,487]

I wasn’t bothered about the dark in the bed room; for me the problem was standing at the bottom of the stairs and looking up a dark stairwell to the dark landing area - especially if the light at the top of the stairs wasn’t switched on, even though it could be switched on from downstairs. Looking up the stairs to a combination of dark and silence was what worried me.

 

And my grandmas’s house in Lenton went one better; it was a three storey building, so I’d begin by standing in the ground floor hallway looking up the stairs to a dark and silent first floor; then once I’d braved it to that point there was still another even darker, spookier staircase up to the next floor.

 

I might still be a bit hesitant about that even today.

[MargieH 7,613]

I know I've written about this somewhere else on here, but I remember feeling I had to get downstairs before the upstairs toilet had finished flushing!  Just like the bedroom light switch I mentioned earlier, I used to get in position for a quick getaway as I held the chain, then, after pulling it, raced off across the landing and down the stairs, jumping the last 3 or 4 at the bottom.  I felt something was reaching after me as I left the bathroom..

I can't find out if I'd still feel the same now as

a) we now live in a bungalow

b) the toilet doesn't have a chain, only a press button (which btw isn't very reliable)

c) ..... jumping down 3 or 4 steps at speed would be very unwise I think

 

sorry this post isn't exactly about being afraid of the dark, but it is similar as monsters both had a part to play in  these experiences

[Jill Sparrow 10,323]

I'm not sure where my sister's fear of the dark and general nervousness came from. I do recall my mum saying that when she was a child, she was also very nervous and if her mother nipped out to the shops locally and left her alone, mum would lie on the sofa and hide her head under a cushion! In broad daylight! 

 

Mum, as a child, was terrified of the Bogey Man! So much so that on one occasion the doctor asked her what she was afraid of and told her if she ever saw the Bogey Man she should tell him that the doctor was going to give him a good hiding! This was a Dr Neuth, or Neweth who later on became a prominent figure within Nottingham's health authority. He assured mum that the Bogey Man didn't exist!

 

We often laughed about that.

 

http://www.nottinghamhospitalshistory.co.uk/page101.html

 

Interesting article about the very man...Dr Newth.

[loppylugs 8,429]

I was never afraid of the dark as such.  I liked a dark bedroom.  It was just the thought of what critters might be hiding in the dark.  Eg big spiders in the outdoor bog.  Now there was summat to be afraid of.  

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

Fly, Mansfield Rd Baptist church 14 brigade captain Roy Watt, Ray White and his brothers, camps at Towyn, Weston Super Mare and somewhere near Yarmouth I too was a member in the mid to late 50s so we must have passed.

 

I am not afraid of the dark luckily never have been, but it is hard to find unless your a miner or caver then that is really dark. I once had to monitor a telephone on an underground rescue, to preserve my battery I turned off my light that was absolutely black, no sense of sight at all but I found your hearing steps up a level.

[Gem 1,430]

I was facing another 2 nights on my own as my husbands friend is very ill, they served together in NI are have been good friends for a long time. My daugter is coming to stay with her dogs a spoilt poodle and mini pomeranium, this is one time maybe the dark is better, love my daughter but her dogs are a nightmare.