Who Is Afraid of the Dark

Do you ever get the feeling that you are being watched? You look around and don't really see anyone, or hear anyone but still feel like something is there. Is it a ghost? Is it a weird feeling that builds up inside of you. You think your imagination is playing tricks on you.

Nah, something is there and you know it but you can't explain it. Oh that sweet sweet paranoia kicking in. Isn’t this how every Friday the 13th movie starts. Is Michael Myers going to pop out any minute and test your sprinting ability?

Why are we so afraid of the dark? Do the freaks really come out at night? I would say yes because have you ever seen a possum at night? Those things are scary at any given hour but especially at night. Keep your distance.

As kids we were told stories of Boogeyman or in my case Baba Yaga because I was born in Ukraine. Those guys were scary. I still fear the monsters under my bed at 35 years old because darkness is a mystery. Plus, freaks really do come out at night: bed bugs, nocturnal animals and bats.

Monsters were very real to people, maybe not the boogey man or baba yaga real but they were real. When Europeans landed in America over 400 years ago, there was such a thing as simply being afraid of the dark. Okay, people are still afraid of what they can’t see, But, can you imagine going outside at night to chop more wood to keep your cabin warm only to find a giant hungry wolf waiting to attack you?

Can you imagine walking through an untouched wooded area during the Paleolithic period when saber tooth tigers existed to maul you or your buddy? Now, imagine living in fear knowing that it could happen at any minute. I most certainly try not to, but back then it was the norm: Be afraid of the dark.

A lot of the scary stories told back in the day were inspired by real creatures. Real blood thirsty animals that roamed the woods and picked us off like late night cheese stick snacks. Living in fear protected us and gave us our 6th sense. The freaks come out at night so don’t go roaming at night.

We all love camping, well most us at least love camping. The smell of the woods, the silence of the forest, the beauty of the trees draws us to experience the outdoors. Even setting up the tent brings a level of comfort and peace that you don’t find in the city. The preceding was a joke because only a real psychopath likes setting up the tents. The campfire at night makes you forget your stress and worries.

All is wonderful when camping at night until….You have to wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom(WAKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT TO ANSWER THE CALL OF NATURE) and everything is pitch black. Those beautiful trees don’t look so majestic at night. Oh no they look like giant scary monsters casting massive dark shadows.

But then you look up and you see the stars and suddenly the world is alright with you. Aghh you feel beautiful. But then, something moves up in the branches and your heart jumps up and you don’t know if a Saber tooth tiger is about to jump out at you. Luckily logic kicks in and you remember that those things thankfully went extinct 10,000 years ago.

However, something is still out there and you don’t know what it could be. Fear causes a blood pressure spike and you start going into a fight or flight zone. Is this how it's going to end, is this how life flashes before your eyes? Something is watching you and you turn to face it.

When you finally have the courage to look, you see two giant eyes looking back at you and a wave of relief washes over you as you realize it’s just a bird. You proceed to scramble for your phone right as the beautiful Owl does it’s signature, “Whooo, Whoooo, Whoooo” sound and flies away.

Feeling one with nature, you are grateful that you needed to pee in the middle of the night and proceed to go back to your tent. But then, the owl reemerges with a mouse in his beak. Oh. you are camera ready now. Look at you, all of a sudden the night is not so scary anymore. If you stick around maybe you will see a shooting star and make a wish.

The night is not so scary after all. And maybe the freaks that do come out at night aren’t really freaks, besides the possums of course. For so long we have been conditioned to fear the night. Man has been scared of the unknown that exists in the dark. Fear of the night is in our DNA. But maybe, just maybe we have nothing to fear. Maybe, darkness is a place we can go to defeat our fears. If we are lucky an owl will reveal to us “Who” we are.