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.

Hi Alisa!

I also have a son who is autistic and verbally challenged. He just turned 13 a couple months ago. Although, he is the only one in my house who is not afraid of the dark lol. I'm a single mom, so it's just me and 3 kids. The oldest is overcoming her fear of the dark, and the youngest is basically just starting his fear. Actually, his fear started when I put him in the bedroom his sister (the oldest) used to occupy. The oldest was put in a bedroom we built in the basement of our home and she feels completly comfortable there. When she had her previous room, she ended up sleeping with me more often because of being afraid in her own room. That bedroom light has been on all night for many years now lol. I have slept in that room a few times by myself and have felt like someone was "rushing" up to me, or kind of like I was discovered there and they came into the room quickly to investigate. I didn't see anything, but had the sensation and it left me a bit disoriented. The kids don't say anything specific about the room, but I think it might be difficult for them to explain that sensation. I just let them keep the light on in there and don't make a big deal out of it, but they know that if they need to talk about their experiences I do listen well and try to help with stories of my own and always let them know that they are protected. My autistic son however, has recently begun saying the word "Angel"! lol, I could go on and on!

Another point to add about spirits or ghosts, when they are here visiting they change the atmosphere in the room. The change will make us wake up if we are asleep, and it also causes the hairs on the back of the neck to stand up and get a prickly feeling in the skin. I don't doubt that these are the feelings that make it feel "evil" because for the most part it is the unknown - especially for a child it would be very frightening. As for us older folk, I'm sure much of it is from the "programming" we receive while growing up.

I had a "feeling" it was likely you had an autistic child. These intuitions happens to me more frequently all the time as I embrace that this kind of knowledge is readily available. And since your son is older than mine, with your experience I'll have tons of questions to ask you.

It is pretty telling that your youngest boy's fear of the dark started with the room swap into the more active room. Added is the fact that the basement feels more comfortable to your daughter (I was quite afraid of our basement growing up ). And then what you felt, with something rushing up to check you out. Wow. So do you think it is an entity attached to the room, or abundant energy in that one room? Or something else?

Your post triggered so many thoughts on the subject of my son's bedroom. I have never slept in there, but two weekends ago, we were having a stressful day, so to provide a bit of comfort, that night I lay down with him in his bed, which I have not often done. I was very tired and my eyes were at half-mast. There was a poster hanging at my eye level and in the reflected light I could see the image of a couple of little beings that looked like they were engaged in a battle. It was not scary, but not happy either.

So I closed my eyes and started to drift off when I heard my name spoken loudly in my head which brought me fully awake. And though my name has been spoken a few times softly to me before, this was a unique experience. Over all, in just those few minutes of laying there, I thought, this room really does seem more active.

Add to that the fact that I photographically capture entity images sometimes in the reflection of his window and in other reflective surfaces of the room. AND, the electricity runs into the house above the corner of his room. I have a feeling this amplifies the scenario, as does the fact that the sun sets in line with his west-facing room, and that energy adds to it as well.

I guess I do think my son's room is active. Highly charged perhaps.



Informative and well put!

Do you experienced the presence of spirits often?

Sometimes I feel that Autistic kids see alot more than what we can understand. For the most part, my son has no fears at all, so the only way I can tell is by the things he does manage to come up with, like suddenly seeming to take an interest in Angels! He will answer yes and no questions and sometimes will finish a sentance when I prompt him with the beginning of one, but if the subject is too abstract he won't know how to answer.
The upstairs of my house has activity from time to time, plenty of creaks and banging sounds, but there was one time when I was reading in my bedroom - at the time I only had the first child (who was asleep in her crib) and I was still married - my husband was in the living room on the main floor, I heard what I thought was my husband come up the stairs and stop at the doorway to the bedroom, so I turned to look and noone was there. I went downstairs to question him, only to find him fast asleep on the sofa. Another time I was in the bathroom looking in the mirror (which is right beside the door) and it felt like a cat had jumped into the room or was thrown into the room. It went past my head and there was enough force that it caused me to jump out of the way. When I looked to where it should have landed, there was nothing, but there was nothing else out of the ordinary either. The only thing I could think that it may have been was the cat that we had that was killed by a couple dogs. She and I had a very strong bond, and she even came to me in a couple of dreams that were very emotional and even thinking about them today makes me teary eyed. My daughter many years later, tells me she had the same experience of someone coming upstairs too. Another time I woke during the night to hear some really loud electric guitar music, it sounded very etheral and I was the only one waken by it, I have no doubt it was only meant for me, but I'm not sure why. lol Those are just some of the "upstairs" experiences, so I think it's the entire upstairs and I'm just more used to the experiences but, I still keep a light on. However, my worst fear is for someone to break into my house while we are asleep, so I think those type of safety reasons concern me most, and the fact that there's usually such a mess in the hall that I need to see where I'm going if I'm suddenly needed through the night, so I don't break my neck getting there lol.

Another addendum lol: *applauds your intuition* I would be only to happy to answer any questions about our experience with autism - just wait for puberty! That has been pretty tough on my son. Not to mention everyone else concerned. But we are working through it, there are many programs and people that can help with the difficult behaviours. I have him on meds, but those are being changed right now too, and I've used some biomedical treatments with him too. There's so much to find on the biomedical end, and it gives me lots of hope! I think these kids are definately teaching us lots of lessons, and they are really good ones too!

I am probably more excited to hear about your experiences with autism than I am about spirits (and I love hearing about spirits!) . Simply because autism is a subject most dear to my heart and affects me constantly, and I'm passionate about its positive aspects. I think I'll start a new forum topic on autism because I can always use more discussion and sharing about it. There is definitely a spiritual link with autism. I think you are right that they probably see a lot more than what we can understand. And it is intriguing that your son has a new interest in angels (we must discuss this further).

Your upstairs experiences reminded me so much of paranormal experiences others have shared with me. Music of different sorts (like your guitar music) seems to happen a lot to people. I have not had many experiences where things happen in the house like you have. My experiences tend to happen when I am in an altered state of consciousness, during the night, or just before sleep when my mind is really relaxed. I have had little things like pebbles dropped, and noises like that to get my attention. And one time while I was outside, my little hairs stood on end and I heard a loud whump as if something pounded the ground nearby.

It looks like we are going to learn alot from each other!! When I came across this site and found all the beautiful pictures of the fairys and littlies I was so excited!! I've always believed in all the forms of spiritual beings and there are so many wonderous things posted here it feels like home already! My daughter could always see the "faces in the trees" as she called them, and I feel that now I can finally learn to see them too!

That state of relaxation is the very best place to start with spirit communication, it opens you up to being able to notice more signs and signals! I've heard of pebbles being tossed at or around people, as a matter of fact, I just watched a program (about hauntings)where you could see the people getting hit with the pebbles. Even Angel communication, they really love to let us know they are there! All we have to do is ask. Of course we need to be reasonable. I love to ask the Angels to play certain songs on the radio, and when I hear the song I get the warmest feeling across my chest and the "knowing" that it was just what I asked for. They really do love to prove they are there!
Once I used to work as a telephone phychic (I know, I know lol, I thought that if they got me for a reading, at least it would be real and here in Canada, they were only allowed 10 minutes), anyway, that was where I learned about Angel communication. One night I went into work and said "Ok Angels - let me get 10 calls tonight!" I indeed did get 10 calls. Another time I asked them to have someone call with a specific name. I got that too! My youngest child called me down to the basement (when it used to be a playroom), when I got there he was looking at the wall in amazement (he was about 3 at the time) and he asked me "how does she do that?" I said "how does she do what?" he said "How does she dance like that?" He couldn't even describe her, but from the amazed look on his face I bet he was watching an Angel! I have even taken a photo of my boys playing downstairs and there was tons of orbs in the photo too. It was the only time I got a picture with orbs in the basement, and unfortunately the photo was lost or I'd post it. Most of the orbs were around my autistic son. And I have read that orbs are actually angels. I believe that orbs are all kinds of spirts though.

That was wonderful to read! Very uplifting. I am so glad you connected with the stuff here you definitely belong!

And I think it is fantastic you worked a psychic line! When you got it, you got it! I'm sure plenty of people benefited from connecting with you like that.

Thanks for the info about the pebble throwing. I knew about rock throwing.

And I must say it is nice and refreshing to be chatting with someone who also acknowledges and utilizes the many signs and signals from the spirit world. I open up to more of it each day and allow myself to receive the help that is abundant and there just waiting for the asking and the accepting of it. I have not tried asking for certain songs, but I love that idea and know it would work because I ask for other things and receive, too. It is an amazing truth to find.

Interesting thoughts about orbs, too. I enjoy learning what other people make of these thing.

Wow, talk about the Angels listening... I just had to tell you this. Yesterday my daughter (who has just started to take photography in highschool) told me she'd like to set up a darkroom in the basement. I thought that was a cool idea. Today, I delivered a package to someone and someone else who I haven't seen or spoke to in a while came outside to chat and catch up a bit. She mentioned that she was getting rid of all her dark room equipment because she just didn't have time for it anymore! She ended up giving it all to my daughter! Must be a sign for my daughter, boy was she impressed! I bet she starts to try capturing spirit in the photos... interesting...

Synchronicity, too! As well as the belief in abundance and all that. That is truly amazing and cool.

I hope she does try to capture spirit (and then I get to see her captures)...

Thanks for sharing your happy synchronicity.