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Fear Of The Dark

EmFlem said:
Breaking my... oooo... twenty-ish year silence on the forum as I finally have something to say! Liza Frank of the Everyday Lore project* is currently researching fear of the dark - if anyone is interested you can learn more and complete her research survey here: https://liza-frank.com/are-you-afraid-of-the-dark/

* where she spent all of 2020 incorporating folklore into her life each day, def worth a look if you're interested
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Is that the Mari Llwyd in your avatar?

The answer is in the Explain Your Avatar thread.
 
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Breakfastologist said:
The thing about being scared of the dark is that by and large it doesn't contain anything so nasty that it will still get you if you hide under the bedclothes. Hooray for the shield of duvets!
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And that is precisely why accounts of bedclothes being suddenly pulled off the bed by something unseen are so utterly, utterly terrifying.
 
A few years ago I kept waking in the night feeling cold and finding the bedclothes pushed up against the wall.

I set a couple of trail cams to cover my bedroom and was disappointed (I suppose) to find it was only me kicking them off in my sleep.
 
Erinaceus said:
A few years ago I kept waking in the night feeling cold and finding the bedclothes pushed up against the wall.

I set a couple of trail cams to cover my bedroom and was disappointed (I suppose) to find it was only me kicking them off in my sleep.
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Easily done.

My ex used to somehow twitch the bedding off my legs and feet in the night. I'd wake up freezing cold and shout at him.

He swore it wasn't on purpose and it probably wasn't, but I told him I didn't care either way and if he didn't stop it I was buying myself a single bed to sleep in! :mad:

Strangely enough, it stopped that very night. :dunno:
 
SimonBurchell said:
And that is precisely why accounts of bedclothes being suddenly pulled off the bed by something unseen are so utterly, utterly terrifying.
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Having been married twice, that holds no fear for me. :evillaugh:
 
darkness.jpg
 
My toes are programmed to seek out obstacles in the dark.
 
charliebrown said:
I have always had a night light since I can remember.

But come on you guys, any man over 50 has prostrate problems and running to the bathroom.

Why should I bump into something in a dark bedroom during the night.
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I never turn on the light when doing that. I know where everything is, so no bumping about.
When it's light, try to fix the scene in your memory.
 
Mythopoeika,

You are amazing if you can find your way to the bathroom in the dark.
 
I have a plug-in nightlight in the socket outside the bathroom door because it's at the top of the stairs where one of the cats likes lying.
Tripping over and falling downstairs would be bad enough without a full bladder!

There are street lights on all night at the front so the bedrooms are never totally dark.
 
So how many people who post here sleep in the dark ?

Besides, I want to make sure it is my wife next to me and not an intruder or Casper the ghost.
 
charliebrown said:
So how many people who post here sleep in the dark ?

Besides, I want to make sure it is my wife next to me and not an intruder or Casper the ghost.
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The lights are off in our respective bedrooms*. We rarely put one on at night.

*Yup, we have separate rooms. It was all that snoring and farting. Poor man couldn't stand it any more.
 
escargot said:
I have a plug-in nightlight in the socket outside the bathroom door because it's at the top of the stairs where one of the cats likes lying.
Tripping over and falling downstairs would be bad enough without a full bladder!

There are street lights on all night at the front so the bedrooms are never totally dark.
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I did exactly that Scargy when I first moved into a new house some years back. We put all our possessions away then retired to the nearest pub to see what the locals were like (disappointingly sane I’m afraid)

Anyway, the entrance to the houses bathroom was literally at the top of the stairs. I woke up needing the loo in the early hours, found my way to the bathroom okay , but upon leaving it carried on walking straight down the stairs.

Bump bump bump to the very bottom. I was lucky not to have broken anything I suppose. :)
 
Dick Turpin said:
I did exactly that Scargy when I first moved into a new house some years back. We put all our possessions away then retired to the nearest pub to see what the locals were like (disappointingly sane I’m afraid)

Anyway, the entrance to the houses bathroom was literally at the top of the stairs. I woke up needing the loo in the early hours, found my way to the bathroom okay , but upon leaving it carried on walking straight down the stairs.

Bump bump bump to the very bottom. I was lucky not to have broken anything I suppose. :)
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Count yourself very lucky indeed DT. Friends mother did exactly this just before Christmas - dead as the proverbial. Apparently several hundred people a year in the UK die falling downstairs in their home. Dangerous stuff these stairs.
 
Didn't David Niven's beloved wife die from accidentally falling down the stairs in the dark? Something horrible like that, anyway.
 
Ban stairs now! or at least license & tax them. Stairs have got away with things for far too long.
 
GNC said:
Didn't David Niven's beloved wife die from accidentally falling down the stairs in the dark? Something horrible like that, anyway.
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Yes. She was newly-arrived in Hollywood, and she and David were attending a party at Tyrone Power's home. They were playing a party game in which Mrs. Niven (Primula; "Primmie") was supposed to find guests who'd hidden themselves - hunting for them with all the lights out. She opened a door, apparently thinking it opened into a closet, stepped forward, and fell down the stairs onto the basement's concrete floor. She died of her head injuries within a couple of days.

For a more detailed account see: https://zestyz.wordpress.com/2020/01/12/the-unusual-and-tragic-death-of-primmie-niven/
 
GNC said:
Didn't David Niven's beloved wife die from accidentally falling down the stairs in the dark? Something horrible like that, anyway.
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Happens a lot, even to famous people. See also Sandy Denny (singer) and Laura Ashley (designer and entrepreneur).
 
Mythopoeika said:
Every stair must have a tax disc.
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Surely time elf n safety got involved to issue a risk assessment.

On a serious note, a good few years ago Age Concern (as it was then) was offering a slipper exchange, because they identified an issue with elderly people falling (some down stairs) due to worn out slippers.
 
When I was about 20 I had had a couple of days in bed suffering from flu. On the third day, feeling slightly better I thought I would venture downstairs for a while. Unfortunately our cat at the time had a habit of sleeping on the tread of the stairs and, in my flue induced state, I didn't see her until I was about to step on her , I tried to tread over her but ended up slipping on my back all the way downstairs. (she was about 3 treads down from the top) Luckily neither I (nor the cat) was injured apart from even more achy bits for me on top of the flu!
 
As an aside why is stubbing a toe on the corner of the bed in the dark so very bloody painful?
 
PeteS said:
Count yourself very lucky indeed DT. Friends mother did exactly this just before Christmas - dead as the proverbial. Apparently several hundred people a year in the UK die falling downstairs in their home. Dangerous stuff these stairs.
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A former boss of mine lost his newborn son in a stairs accident. His mother was carrying Junior downstairs when she slipped and fell, and the baby was killed outright.
No drink taken, just an awful accident. Terrible all round.

Edit: I have just remembered that to make it worse, if that's even possible, this happened on Boxing Day.
 
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Spudrick68 said:
As an aside why is stubbing a toe on the corner of the bed in the dark so very bloody painful?
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l’ve heard it said that the foot is the second most complex part of the human body, after the brain. Although l’m dubious - l’ve met too many people of whom the converse seemed to be true - it would suggest loads of nerve endings.

maximus otter
 
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