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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Scared of the dark as an adult - anyone else?

104 replies

Mummy2022FT · 30/06/2023 22:46

I'm genuinely interested. And this isn't a joke

If you were to get a glass of water in the middle of the night for example, would you be able to just walk in darkness? (Obviously provided u can just about see where you're going lol) I personally have to turn on every light that comes my way.

I think what made my problem worse was doing night feeds when DS was newborn. (He's 9months now & sleeps through the night luckily) but being up as a single mum at like 2/3am was a bit... eery.

I definitely think some horror films that i watched when I was younger have stayed with me.

If I hear a noise from downstairs in the night I freak. In the day time i wouldn't even think twice about it.

And what reminded me to make this post is it's dark now at 22:45 and you guessed it... I'm freaked out!

OP posts:
user1469032438 · 30/06/2023 22:50

Yep!

Every light all the time. I don't even like turning the light off when I leave the lounge at night or the downstairs light to come upstairs despite the landing light being on.

When I was a single mum I just used to leave most of them on tbh...

My husband thinks it's bonkers but I genuinely hate it.

username98765 · 30/06/2023 22:52

I hate the dark and definitely wouldn't walk downstairs without turning lights on! I'd happily sleep with my lamp on my my dp hates it. I think mine fear definitely comes from my Mother. She hates the dark and growing up we always slept with the landing light on. I was determined not to pass it on to my children but when you have a genuine fear it's really hard!

itsnotmeitsu · 30/06/2023 22:53

Use nightlights op; the ones that react to movement. I have them in my hallways and it means I'm never in complete darkness. If I use the loo at night I don't need to search for a light switch in the dark.

MandyMotherOfBrian · 30/06/2023 22:54

No I’m fine. In fact I prefer it. Because, assuming your eyes adjust, you can actually see more than if you put the lights on. I’m more scared of real humans with nefarious intent than ghost or aliens (or whatever) and if you put the lights on you can’t see what’s happening outside your house….but they could see you 😉

eandz13 · 30/06/2023 22:59

If I'm on my own in the house at night (DP works away now and then) I leave a lamp on in the front room, and should I need to come down for anything... I fucking leg it up and down so no monsters can grab my feet through the spindles, and I won't look at windows incase I see a ghoulie looking back at me!
I'm 30. Does that answer your question? Grin

78Summer · 30/06/2023 23:01

Yes and reminds me of when I was a child I would worry someone would look through the letter box in the middle of the night when going to get a drink of water. I now have a plug in night light in the hallway.

ThatsRoughBuddy · 30/06/2023 23:02

Pennywise and Chucky wait for me in the dark.

I'm a sane rational person by daylight but when night falls I'm an irrational scaredy-cat!

Sometimes I cant even make myself go downstairs even if I put all the lights on. My loo is just a couple of steps across a very narrow hall but I still put my bedside lamp on, then hall light, then bathroom light. It’s truly pathetic but I can’t see me breaking the panic I feel in the dark at this ripe old age (40's!),

Pippa12 · 30/06/2023 23:02

Landing light never goes off in our house!

Original poster
Mummy2022FT · 30/06/2023 23:03

Thank you Im glad most of you can relate!!!

I'm downstairs right now and all I'm thinking is, shit, I've got to turn all the lights off and run upstairs in...the....dark.... 😭😭noooo!!

OP posts:
Original poster
Mummy2022FT · 30/06/2023 23:05

78Summer · 30/06/2023 23:01

Yes and reminds me of when I was a child I would worry someone would look through the letter box in the middle of the night when going to get a drink of water. I now have a plug in night light in the hallway.

@78Summer

I have to be honest I knew by making this thread there was a chance I would end up even more scared.. and I was right... Omg that's scary 🫣🫣🤣🤣

OP posts:
ThatsRoughBuddy · 30/06/2023 23:05

And I have to push a door properly open before I can put the light switch on - no way can I reach in and turn it ion when the door is opened just enough to reach in. Someone/thing could grab my hand! 😱

NameChange245 · 30/06/2023 23:06

I wouldn't say I'm scared of the dark. But, if I have to go to kitchen in the middle of the night I do get a bit anxious, and would prefer the lights on. I do agree in my case it's likely related to horror films I watched from age 11 to 15. I wonder if half my generation (I'm mid 40s now) have been inadvertently scarred from the movies out parents definitely shouldn't have let us watch at sleepovers!!

SamW98 · 30/06/2023 23:07

Not scared but I have a problem where my pupils don’t dilate so I can’t see in the dark. So I always leave the hall light on otherwise I’d wake up for a wee and probably end up breaking my neck 🤣

RoseBucket · 30/06/2023 23:09

I can’t sleep in the dark, my curtains are never closed, the streetlights give a glow. I don’t like to be startled awake and not see where I am. The same in hotels, if it’s dark I leave a side light on.

Although once awake I will happily walk around the house in the dark to go downstairs, toilet etc.

PurpleButterflyWings · 30/06/2023 23:12

Absolutely no problem in the dark at all ...always walk to the landing and even downstairs to the kitchen in the dark. I think it's a bit strange to put the lights on to do stuff while I'm still half asleep actually. But I do understand that all people are different.

My DH always put some lights on in the hall and the bathroom when he gets up in the night. Never been scared of the dark even as a child but I do get some people are...........

JellyBabiesToManual · 30/06/2023 23:13

Mummy2022FT · 30/06/2023 23:03

Thank you Im glad most of you can relate!!!

I'm downstairs right now and all I'm thinking is, shit, I've got to turn all the lights off and run upstairs in...the....dark.... 😭😭noooo!!

You need Philips Hue smart lightbulbs. You can turn them on and off from your phone. So you could have them all on while you go upstairs, then switch them off from your phone whilst in bed. They're not cheap, but perhaps you could just get a couple for your downstairs hallway/upstairs landing?

PenCreed · 30/06/2023 23:14

Generally it doesn’t bother me but I’ve just remembered the time I woke up in the middle of the night in a holiday cottage out in the countryside. Totally dark and I was convinced there was something in the room, I nearly woke up DH to check. After a few minutes I managed to stop freaking out and get up to go to the loo. It wouldn’t have been so creepy at home (city, never totally dark).

There was nothing there, just shadows and short-sightedness!

PonyPatter44 · 30/06/2023 23:16

I try and channel my inner Granny Weatherwax - there is nothing in the dark that is more scary than I am.

RampantIvy · 30/06/2023 23:17

Mummy2022FT · 30/06/2023 23:03

Thank you Im glad most of you can relate!!!

I'm downstairs right now and all I'm thinking is, shit, I've got to turn all the lights off and run upstairs in...the....dark.... 😭😭noooo!!

Can't you leave the light on in the stairwell and switch it off on the landing when you get upstairs?

I can't sleep with the lights on. It has to be pitch black.

boydoggies · 30/06/2023 23:17

I've always been a scaredy cat in the dark. Even at 430pm in winter time. My dog has made me braver though. Would never have the tv on after 9pm for fear of scary music. Even Harry Potter is too much!

Slowandwobbly · 30/06/2023 23:18

Pippa12 · 30/06/2023 23:02

Landing light never goes off in our house!

I can't sleep if I can see the landing light is on. To me that is more scary.

IkeaMeatballGravy · 30/06/2023 23:20

I'm also scared of the dark. If one of the cats is about I'll pick them up and take them with me to the loo or kitchen so I have some company, I have also heard that cats repel ghosts 😂

XenoBitch · 30/06/2023 23:20

I am generally ok in the dark, but night windows scare me and always have.
You know... the window with no curtain or net that is just black at night.

Original poster
Mummy2022FT · 30/06/2023 23:22

XenoBitch · 30/06/2023 23:20

I am generally ok in the dark, but night windows scare me and always have.
You know... the window with no curtain or net that is just black at night.

@XenoBitch yep totally get this! Could never ever sleep with blinds or curtains open. Way too creepy

OP posts:
foxlover47 · 30/06/2023 23:22

I'm not scared of the house in the dark at night , but that's because I have the dogs and they follow me everywhere
If I didn't have them I think I would absolutely be scared to come home to the whole house in darkness etc