Monster under the bed.

[Flowersforyourchocolateprettyplease]

Middle of the night, lying in bed facing down, my arm falls to the side and swings freely for a couple of seconds. Feels lovely and freeing but I quickly lift it back up and back under the duvet. Close call I say to myself, lucky the boogeyman didn't grab it.

I'm late forties, reasonably well adjusted, honestly.

Also won't close eyes for too long when in the shower, I wash my face super quick then look around with a sense of, phew, made it!

What's your U for a grown up fear? Not genuine ones like spiders, and before someone says,
"they're more scared of you than you're of them", unless you've been a spider in a previous life, you can't know for sure.
They probably fake being scared so they can pounce when unawares.

Yes! I completely agree.

Mine is the Shark Lane in darkish hotel or gym swimming pools. There's always a poorly lit bit, where a shark could be lurking if you're swimming alone.

I have also felt the threat of the shark in the unfamiliar swimming pool!

For me it’s the cupboard monsters, have to make sure the door to the big walk in cupboard in my bedroom is firmly shut before bed so they can’t get out

i want an en suite so i dont have to run the gauntlet during the night through the dodgy hallway to get to the main bathroom.

anything could be lurking there. monsters ghosts psychos rats spiders. the list goes on. im risking my life on a daily (well nightly) basis…..

Zombies,
Cannot watch zombie films/tv shows without going to bed thinking that could actually happen.
No other fears like ghosts etc. But zombies for some reason freak me out.

If I go to the bathroom at night, I don't turn the light on (because too bright) so I leave the door ajar. Without fail, when I'm sitting on the toilet, I picture a shadow creature crawling on the floor, past the doorway.
And I can't close the door because it's too dark and what if something won't let me open it again?!

Zombies for me too, I love the films and series but hate to be taking the bins out on a misty early morning and see someone lurching unevenly towards me.... I can't get back in the door quick enough! Unfortunately I live in a area where there are a lot of early morning lurchers, apparently.

Whenever I walk through long grass I’m terrified of being bitten by a snake.

I’m not scared of snakes; there’s one in the room with me now and she’s very sweet.

I’m scared of bitey snakes that wait for me in long grass.

It's the drains for me. Logically I know that I'm not going to be sucked down into the drainage system, but having to swim directly over one still gives me the shivers.

Our landing in the middle of the night, the bogeyman’s lurking, similarly if I need to go downstairs for a drink and the bogeyman is there again in the shadows. Cannot put a light on for fear of waking up my elderly boy dog.
Also lifts, I always fear they will stop or plummet.

Driving over the train tracks at a level crossing. Never fails to make me shudder.

I cannot have limbs hanging over a bed although it does feel nice for a few seconds. No open wardrobe doors at night, the landing light is left on for the dc (& me).

I don’t like swimming alone in a pool, sharks or other things.

I don’t like lights off at night with curtains open, big glass doors looking out to black.

I once woke up suddenly in the middle of the night convinced i was being watched. I slowly sat up in bed whilst my eyes tried to adjust, looking around my room for something i was sure was lurking in the darkness. Everything was completely quiet, nothing was moving. I saw two red stand-by lights on my VCR (it was the 90s) and finally decided that this must have been what my sleep brain thought were eyes. So i settled myself back down to sleep, turned over to my other side facing the window, and there they were. Two shiny yellow eyes staring right at me. Next door's black cat was just sat there in my room with it's eyes wide open, boaring right into me like it was planning something.

Now I never sleep with the big window open, and i keep my blinds and doors closed. Anything that looks like eyes in the dark freaks me out.

They just lurk in the dark en-suite instead!

A hangover from my small and over-imaginative childhood, when my bedroom curtains hung loosely on the rail and left gaps that looked like eyes glaring down at me - I'm now 63 and I still can't settle for the night if there are gaps in the curtains!

Our kitchen doesn't have curtains. If I'm in there when it's dark outside I don't look directly at the windows, so that I won't see the the werewolf/alien/axe murderer appearing out of the darkness for a jump scare 👽

It's entirely unreasonable to sleep with the duvet loose and untucked under your feet. Everyone knows the evil night witch will crawl out from under your bed and nibble on your toes if they poke out.

I'm also partial to a night light when DH is away for work. Can't be too careful with all these shadow people lurking around my dirty washing pile in the corner of the bedroom.

I still run up the stairs because I feel like I'm being chased. When I'm home alone, I close all the windows and check every room/cupboard JUST IN CASE there's a murderer with a knife waiting. I'm in my mid-30s with 2 kids and I'm still a total scaredy cat!

I have a very soft light battery thingy (middle aisle Aldi or Lidl) that comes on in the bathroom at night. I got it to see in case of a rat being in the toilet bowl.

I’m not sacred of the boogeyman @Flowersforyourchocolateprettyplease because our bed has drawers underneath and he wouldn’t fit.

I'm glad I finally have an outlet for this. It sounds horrible, but since I moved into this house I can't get it out of my head that there is a lady hanging in the upstairs hall, but she is basically standing height. I know that sounds awful, I try to push the thought away 🙈 I hate going to the bathroom during the night or if our bedroom door is open and the hall is dark I can feel her watching. Heebie jeebies!

When I'm locking my garage when it's late at night (my end fridge freezer and tumble dryer are in there) I feel a weird sense of fear and think of scary stories of demons and stuff and get back in the house as fast as possible. Funnily enough I'm fine going out there all evening to put washing in the dryer

I also had to sleep with the light on for a week after watching insidious

As a kid we had an old mahogany wardrobe opposite my bed that contained my mum's clothes. We called it the haunted wardrobe

@Katemax82 I can’t watch those films! 😁

My daughter, when much smaller, once started talking to a "man in pajamas who doesn't sing". I don't believe in anything woo, but if I need the loo in the night and let myself think about him, I have to put all the lights on. The problem is, once the thought is in your head, at 3am it's very hard to get the rational part of your brain to engage!

I can’t sleep at night unless my head is covered (with a carefully arranged little fresh air gap), because…things.
I hate getting up at night to go to the loo, going downstairs is fine but I speed back upstairs. Doesn’t help that our staircase is creaky. Can’t wait till we convert the large but awkward bedroom cupboard into an en-suite.
I don't like the dark.
I’m 50.

What I do know is where this stems from, I grew up in a house on an ancient rural crossroads that had a locally well known ghost story attached to it. Being rural it was very dark at night and full of noisy wildlife, as was the house- we often had mice in the roof scratching around.
All this made a strong impression on a young mind. What hasn’t helped is that for many years I had a serious eye condition that’s wrecked my low light vision and caused retinal damage, so I get a lot of shapes and swirling and the dark.

shudder