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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be scared of the dark

75 replies

CPNSBH · 14/04/2026 21:20

Last night my husband kept waking me up with his snoring.
No problem I thought I’ll go and sleep in my step daughters bedroom (she’s with her mum this week)
Now this isn’t a horrible room by any stretch of the imagination, it’s dark though, with black out blinds because that’s what she wanted.
The second I put my head on the pillow I started thinking about all things scary.. For some reason last night it was the film The Exorcist, in such detail I got to scared to stay in there and just went back to my own bed and put up with the snoring.
I’ve always been like this, if I’m alone in the dark I will instantly freak myself out with creepy thoughts of possession/poltergeists/ghosts.. Not even sure I believe in such things but in a dark room my mind will question.. But what if?!?
Anyone else? Ali

OP posts:
Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 15/04/2026 10:20

I never read the paranormal threads here late at night in the dark after doing that once and freaking myself out! 🤣

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 15/04/2026 10:21

Zov · 15/04/2026 10:16

Cats are the guardians of the underworld. They'll protect you!

She tries!

OriginalSkang · 15/04/2026 10:21

I will happily feel my way around my own house in the pitch black without worrying, but if I have to sleep in DD's room or in any room that I don't know that well I will get the creeps!

OriginalSkang · 15/04/2026 10:22

Cats are terrible for seeing invisible demons (small insects) in the corner of a room

Zov · 15/04/2026 10:22

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 15/04/2026 10:20

I never read the paranormal threads here late at night in the dark after doing that once and freaking myself out! 🤣

😆I do similar. Watch a creepy horror film or TV show at 11pm when I'm on my own for the night (when DH is on nights,) and then struggle to sleep!

I keep seeing things in the shadows in the bedroom! 😱

Zov · 15/04/2026 10:25

OriginalSkang · 15/04/2026 10:22

Cats are terrible for seeing invisible demons (small insects) in the corner of a room

Mine look up towards the ceiling in the corner sometimes (where the wall meets the ceiling,) and just stare........ Then their eyes widen, and they jump back. DH and I are like 'WTF are they seeing?!'😱 I really believe animals have a sixth sense that we don't have, and they can detect 'the paranormal.'

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 15/04/2026 10:26

My DM stayed at my house once when there was decorating going on with uneven floorboards and paint fumes at her house. Come midnight I heard crashing and banging downstairs. Kitchen is sort of below bedroom. Previous cats caught mice in kitchen, a nest was there. Lots of banging then too. And baby mice dead. 😢 Woke up, mum woke up and we both stood at top of the stairs ready to confront a burglar.

Next thing you know my then cat comes right up the stairs in front of us with a mouse hanging from his fangs. I screamed as it was so sudden and he ran downstairs and hid with mouse. It was pitch black though, didn’t want to put on lights to alert intruders!

Just don’t get cats! 🐈‍⬛

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 15/04/2026 10:27

Zov · 15/04/2026 10:25

Mine look up towards the ceiling in the corner sometimes (where the wall meets the ceiling,) and just stare........ Then their eyes widen, and they jump back. DH and I are like 'WTF are they seeing?!'😱 I really believe animals have a sixth sense that we don't have, and they can detect 'the paranormal.'

Don’t say that!

AnonSugar · 15/04/2026 10:28

I’m scared of the dark! I love a pitch black bedroom at night but ONLY if my partner is there. If he’s out then the hall light stays on.

If I end up in kids beds it’s fine as they have night lights.

Always been scared of the dark. I feel creeped out that something could be inches from my face but I can’t see it. 😬

I slept on my sisters bedroom floor as a kid then in my mums bed when my dad moved out. Into my own bed at about 12 but put the tv on a sleep timer so I could sleep before it got dark.

ThatFairy · 15/04/2026 10:33

My son's been staying with his partner all the time so I've been having to get used to being alone in the house at night. Things are improving, I'm at the stage where I can have the lamp off and now recently I have been having the hall light off. I feel a bit better than I would as I have my cats

Zov · 15/04/2026 10:37

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 15/04/2026 10:19

Said protector. Tilly.

Working hard chasing those demons away! 😆

She's beautiful! 😘

To be scared of the dark
Zov · 15/04/2026 10:37

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 15/04/2026 10:27

Don’t say that!

Sorry! 😬

OriginalSkang · 15/04/2026 10:45

I used to live in an old Victorian cottage that had a picket fence with a little gate in the front garden and a front door that opened into the sitting room

One evening I was at home alone and I heard the latch on the gate go and both my cats jumped up as they did when someone was about to knock at the door and they hid under the sofa... but no one ever knocked at the door 😬

Inmyuggs · 15/04/2026 10:47

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

ThatFairy · 15/04/2026 10:48

I don't even want to write this... I was at home alone one night and heard breathing from my bathroom. It was loud. I was absolutely terrified and after about ten minutes of being frozen in my bedroom I went to look. There was nothing there. I've since read that hedgehogs can make this noise

shelbybears · 15/04/2026 10:54

I’m the same. Can’t watch anything scary as my imagination goes into overdrive at night on the dark. I feel like whatever is in my head do example, pennywise is waiting for me in the hall 😆. My kids wake up every night and I’m usually wandering around somewhere in the dark between bedrooms at least once or twice. So I can’t have these things fresh in my memory.

I want to watch stranger things, but maybe when the kids are older and I don’t need to be wandering about in the dark every night 😆

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 15/04/2026 10:55

CBT is very useful for this sort of thing

anonymoususer9876 · 15/04/2026 11:02

Me too. But I’m sure I’ve read that this is just our ancestors evolutionary response to possible predators when we used to live in caves (and even before then). Humans can’t see that well in the dark to protect ourselves so we developed that ‘hairs on the back of the neck’ response as well as needing some light to see what’s happening. Or sleeping with others for protection.
I don’t sleep soundly when DH is away as I know I’m effectively on duty for protecting my house.
And yes, I love a spooky tale but cannot read those threads on here at night or I’ll imagine all sorts of shit!

Greyblankie · 15/04/2026 11:05

Zov · 15/04/2026 10:16

Your comment wasn't a 'viewpoint,' it was rude, and condescending, and looking down on the OP as if she's a big baby. 'Only CHILDREN are scared of the dark, not GROWN-UPS!!' Hmm

What a patronising and rude thing to say. It was not just a 'viewpoint.' 🙄

Just throwing this out there, but I bet my house that you think ghosts, the paranormal, the afterlife, out of the body experiences, and UFOs, and other unusual things are all nonsense, and 'made-up.' 🙄

.

Edited

No I’m an open minded sceptic actually - still think it’s ridiculous to be scared of the dark

paradisecircus · 15/04/2026 11:06

YANBU. I have to have some form of light in the room; couldn't sleep in a room with blackout blinds.

OriginalSkang · 15/04/2026 11:10

Greyblankie · 15/04/2026 11:05

No I’m an open minded sceptic actually - still think it’s ridiculous to be scared of the dark

Thinking its ridiculous to be scared of the dark is not the same as thinking that only children are scared of the dark.. There are people in this world who are scared of buttons! I know someone who is scared of cats. Lots of people are scared of rodents! But you think its ridiculous to be scared of the dark, which is arguably far more logical?

CPNSBH · 15/04/2026 11:43

Zov · 15/04/2026 10:25

Mine look up towards the ceiling in the corner sometimes (where the wall meets the ceiling,) and just stare........ Then their eyes widen, and they jump back. DH and I are like 'WTF are they seeing?!'😱 I really believe animals have a sixth sense that we don't have, and they can detect 'the paranormal.'

I went away for a couple of nights years ago and my neighbour was feeding my cat, I don’t know if it was that that upset her but when I got home she was fixated at a spot on my bedroom wall, fur up, growling her head off.. Like the scene from poltergeist with the dog.
My son used to talk to his ‘ghost friend’ when he was little. Maybe this is where my fear escalated, surrounded by pets and toddlers that see dead people.. Relaxing stuff.

OP posts:
Sasha07 · 15/04/2026 12:43

TLDR: Whether it's woo or in your head, confront your fear! Get comfortable with it and it'll become less scary.

Meeee! I used to get intrusive thoughts, especially when I'd go for a pee through night and pass the top of the stairs. We went through a patch of really weird, creep stuff happening and eventually it came to a stop when, after a particularly freaky occurrence happened to a family member, I went into the bedroom and said out loud 'this needs to stop! You're scaring us and we don't want you here!'

I felt like an absolute headcase but it worked. Even though the children didn't witness that, they said their bedrooms felt better the next night. Regarding the scary deep, dark, staircase, my dog often gets up through night for a pee. Great, just what I want to do at 3am. I started going up the stairs really slowly, getting braver but still feeling like something was behind me 😬 now I can use my phone light alone and go down, can go back up in the darkness. The feeling is still there but I think we need to face our fears.

I'd try going back in there for a night. Talk to your fear/the demon 👻 in your head and tell it to go away, it's not welcome. Look into the darkness and rationalise the dark corners/shadows. Though, after I confronted mine in my loud voice, my partner slept soundly but I couldn't sleep. 100% expected to see a face directly infront of mine for hours afterwards, thinking it's not going to be happy with me 😂 I was wary to close my eyes for too long 😂 but, face your fears, nothing came seeking revenge against me (thankfully 😅)

On another note, I used to have a recurring nightmare. It was petrifying and I'd wake up scared-stiff, literally. But after the previous time of confronting the thing out loud in real life, I felt empowered and when I next had the nightmare, I shouted back at the creepy voice and squared up to it. Never had it again!

freetospeakup · 15/04/2026 13:11

I'm exactly the same. I always have been. I'm mid 50s now and still scared of the dark haha.

Lurkingandlearning · 15/04/2026 13:15

Gagamama2 · 14/04/2026 21:37

Ugh yes defintaetly. When I think about what I’m actually scared of in the dark though it’s men lurking there…I don’t believe in monsters etc…absolutely hate it when the kids forget to bring the guinea pigs in and I have to do it in the dark when they’re all in bed. Looking down at the end of the garden anyone could be down there…

Yes, it’s an intruder rather than a monster for me too. This thread has reminded of edris Elba’s programme where he played a cop. In one episode a psycho slid out from under a bed. My legs just went cold picturing it

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