Fear of darkness

[meepop]

Ok so I was meditating a few days ago while falling asleep...in the darkness...when it hit me: Why are people afraid of the dark? Sure we can't see but that's the thing--horror films center around darkness to startle and while it works I don't understand. Films that feature Jason Vorhees and all, while he may be an EXTREMELY malevolent spirit, is still human and thus while in darkness should not be able to find them if they cannot find him.

Darkness promotes fear and loneliness, but with light you can see danger coming towards you and while it may be better to see if you can avoid it, it may be unavoidable. So I ask you, members of the Escapist, while the fact in mind that if some guy is murdering others in darkness, why he may have the ability to see/find perfectly SILENT others while they cannot see him. Or in other words, why are we afraid of what we can't see?

 

[DeadlyYellow]

I don't think it's very nice to make fun of the mass glaucoma stars of horror films suffer.

In all seriousness, many people still have good vision in low light situations.

 

[oxiclean]

because what we cant see could be a kitten or osama bin laden with an AK-47.


if they know we are there, and we do not they are there, they have an advantage. they have had time to allow their eyes to adjust, and plenty of time to locate us and find a suitable spot.

 

[Swarley]

"Why are you still afraid of the dark?"

"Because of the inherent absence of light!"

 

[zombiejoe]

It is fear of the unkown. Can't see, don 't know what is coming, shit yourself.

lol

 

[Nickisimo]

I haven't been scared of the dark since I was about 8 or so. The house I grew up in had this big, creepy old basement with one of those lights that you had to tug on a cord to switch on and off. If the light at the top of the stairs was off - which it usually was when I was going to bed - you had to turn that light off at the bottom and run up the stairs in the dark. I remember running as fast as my little legs could carry me up those steps worried that a skeleton or T-1000 was gonna grab my legs from behind.

Now I love the feeling of turning off all the lights and climbing into bed. I've had to work hard to negotiate turning the TV off with the g/f. It just drives me nuts with the way the lights flash between commercials or whatnot.

 

[DarthFennec]

Yeah, most of us don't see zombie monsters coming around to feast on our entrails during the day, but in the dark we can't tell if they're there or not. It leaves it all up to our minds, and if your mind doesn't come up with horrific things that must surely be waiting just inside the shadows to do terrible, painful things to you, you must be a very boring person.

 

[spartan231490]

People fear the unknown, and helplessness. darkness is a symbolic representation of both, and being in darkness promotes limited helplessness and limits vision, our main sensory imput.

It also encourages feelings of isolation, another basic human fear.

 

[Unesh52]

People fear the unknown, and helplessness. darkness is a symbolic representation of both, and being in darkness promotes limited helplessness and limits vision, our main sensory imput.

It also encourages feelings of isolation, another basic human fear.

People are afraid of the dark because they're afraid of the unknown, but why are they afraid of the unknown?

I just kept going, "Because it's scary!" Emotions are weird and I don't really understand them.

 

[spartan231490]

basically. Your prolly afraid of the unknown, because you might need to be afraid, and you can't tell.

 

[arsenicCatnip]

People fear the unknown, and helplessness. darkness is a symbolic representation of both, and being in darkness promotes limited helplessness and limits vision, our main sensory imput.

It also encourages feelings of isolation, another basic human fear.

People are afraid of the dark because they're afraid of the unknown, but why are they afraid of the unknown?

I just kept going, "Because it's scary!" Emotions are weird and I don't really understand them.

People fear the unknown simply because it is unknown. You can't tell me you've never been afraid of something that you didn't know well.

OT: I am TERRIFIED of the dark, and have been since I was small. My eyes don't adjust very well (if at all), and it's hard for me to find my way in the darkness. It amuses people to no end when I take hold of someone's shirtsleeve to follow them because I am essentially blind.

 

[Pariah87]

It's not the darkness that's scary, it's what could be in the darkness which bothers people.

You talk of serial killers but our fear doesn't stem from them, it goes back much further. Most predators have good low light/night vision. In the days where we were still a pretty big part of the food chain the night time was obviously intimidating because we couldn't defend ourselves against potential threats. Over the course of millenia, these fears became part of our instinctual makeup.

Even those who are not afraid of the dark generally, if they were placed in a wooded area at night on their own, they would start to show signs of fear.

 

[lee1287]

im not afraid of the dark. Just what could be IN the dark.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

Because it's evolutionarily advantatious for us to be afraid of the dark. There are a lot of fears which are common to humans, fear of snakes, spiders, dogs, and heights for instance, all served an evolutionary purpose for our ancestors. That is to say that earlier entities who avoided these things, had a better chance of surviving. The same is true for the fear of the darkness.

Humans are extremely dependant on their sight for interacting with the world around them. In the darkness we are weakened in our ability to defend against predators which see better in the dark than we do, or which use other senses (smell for instance) to guide them through the world. We also may not see things that could kill us, for instance the rock which one stumbles upon and then brains themselves when they fall. Humans who avoided the dark in times before we had fire or flashlights with which to see through it, had a better chance of surviving.

 

[Unesh52]

People fear the unknown, and helplessness. darkness is a symbolic representation of both, and being in darkness promotes limited helplessness and limits vision, our main sensory imput.

It also encourages feelings of isolation, another basic human fear.

People are afraid of the dark because they're afraid of the unknown, but why are they afraid of the unknown?

I just kept going, "Because it's scary!" Emotions are weird and I don't really understand them.

People fear the unknown simply because it is unknown. You can't tell me you've never been afraid of something that you didn't know well.

OT: I am TERRIFIED of the dark, and have been since I was small. My eyes don't adjust very well (if at all), and it's hard for me to find my way in the darkness. It amuses people to no end when I take hold of someone's shirtsleeve to follow them because I am essentially blind.

I also fear the unknown (though not really the dark so much), but I can't explain why except to just go "because I am." It's like that game little kids annoy their older siblings with -- the one where they just keep asking "why" over and over. Eventually you're just like... "Because!"

 

[Gralian]

I wrote a short story on a main character who was afraid of the dark for my university submission. It mostly encompassed the fear of claustrophobia, that the darkness was going to 'swallow her up' or engulf her out of existence somehow, and the feeling there was something unseen in the darkness, so yes it's that fear of the unknown. The story also described how the darkness was almost distorting the world around her, so portraits on the wall for example took on a now more sinister appearance, i've always viewed darkness as a manipulator of its environment. Very fascinating. I suppose it's also partially due to an irrational fear, too.

 

[Gigaguy64]

Because YOU cant see what is in the dark.

Humans have a tendency to either Dislike or Fear what they don't know or understand.

In Darkness everything is hidden, you don't know whats in it, you can prepare yourself because you don't know what to prepare for, and because your not prepared you will not feel Secure, and without a sense of Security people can begin to panic easily.

Or at least that's how i see it.

 

[Marter]

If you don't know what is there, it could be anything. Your imagination is a terrible thing when it comes to thinking up the worst possibility. Therefore, you come up with something really scary.

 

[Blemontea]

As humans we like to always know whats around us and whats going on. in the dark a bump can be from many things, and you never know where your stepping. its human trait we all share.

 

[S.R.S.]

Here's one for you;

Genetic memory.

Many classic horror icons, such as Xenomorphs (Alien), Silent Hill's Pyramid Head, and other disturbing creatures, share common characteristics. Pale skin, dark, sunken eyes, elongated faces, sharp teeth, and the like. These images inspire horror and revulsion in many, and with good reason. The characteristics shared by these faces are imprinted in the human mind.

Many things frighten humans instinctively. The fear is natural, and does not need to be reinforced in order to terrify. The fears are species-wide, stemming from dark times in the past when lightning could mean the burning of your tree home, thunder could be the approaching gallops of a stampede, predators could hide in darkness, and heights could make poor footing lethal.

The question you have to ask yourself is this:

What happened, deep in the hidden eras before history began, that could effect the entire human race so evenly as to give the entire species a deep, instinctual, and lasting fear of pale beings with dark, sunken eyes, razor sharp teeth, and elongated faces?

...be careful out there.