I have been pondering for the last couple of years, why people are afraid of the dark. In conjunction, why is it that when we do experience a spirit, ghost, etc., is it so scary? And added to that, from my experience, why are some of the images I see and capture in photos frightening?

I remember most of my life being very afraid of the dark for no specific reason other than what might "be there". And when did the idea that something might "be there" become a concern for me? And was there anything ever "there" to validate such a pervasive paranoia? I finally was able to reconcile some of this fear of the dark in my 20's (embarrassingly), by rationalizing with myself that nothing had ever happened to me (at that point in my life that I knew of anyway) so it was silly to fear something so baseless.

Then, when I had a child, I was interested in how he would react to the dark. And he has developed quite a fear of the dark and yet, I can think of nothing that I know of that gave him the idea that darkness is scary or any episodes of bad things happening in the night to elicit fear. But he has wanted to keep the light on a lot more now at bed time, and insists I keep a bright night-light on for him as well. However, because he is autistic and language-challenged, I have not been able to get him to explain to my why he is afraid of the dark.

But he's just turned 8 and his language has progressed a lot, so last night when I was helping him into bed I asked him if he was afraid of the dark, and he said, "Yes". I asked him why, but that was too complicated for him to answer. So I asked him what he sees. He said, "the moon." I asked him where he sees the moon, and rather than pointing toward the curtains, he pointed to the corner of his room. (I recorded in my journal almost a year ago that he had a rough night one night and indicated his fear of this corner of the room). I tried to question him futher last night, but he let me know he didn't want to talk about it.

A year ago, a friend of mine with a three-and-a-half-year-old little boy said he had told her he was afraid to be in his bed at night because of the “white people”. She allowed me to ask him some questions to see what we could find out (she helped interpret his answers). So I asked him about the white people:

Do they have eyes? No.
Do they have faces? No.
Do they have bodies? No.
Do they wear clothes? No. They are naked.
Do they say anything to you? No. They don’t talk. They pretend to talk.
Where do they live? He reaches his arm all the way up and points upward.
Do they live in the sky? Yes (hesitant).
Do they live in the (air conditioning) ceiling vents (his mother says this is what he indicated to her)? Yes.
Are they nice? No. They are bad. (His mother says he told her they are evil and was surprised he even knew this word).
What makes you think they are bad? They want to steal me.
How big are they? He puts his hand above his head to indicate they are taller than him.
What do they look like? Wiggles. (We couldn't determine whether he meant the children's singing group, or the shape.)
What do they want? They want me to come with them.
Have you been up where they live? Yes. (Although when asked again he said, No).
Was it happy or scary? Scary.
Did they touch you? No.

Apparently he was reasonably consistent in his answers about the white people throughout that year whenever they discussed it. He was fine talking about it when I was there and quite good at answering for a three+ year old. I could see he felt a disdain for the "white people" though and I got the impression they had tried to interact with him often, but other times just ignored him and went about their business of passing through his room.