nearly shit my heart out despite not being a believer in the paranormal.
Funny thing happened a few months ago, in the dead of winter. We were in the countryside, at my relative's land. I couldn't sleep so I went out in the middle of the night to his pond. It was cold, entirely silent, dark except for the stars, and utterly beautiful. Well, as I walked around of course I couldn't see a thing in the dark. A strange thing happened - I got that old-fashioned fear of the dark like you used to get when you were a kid. I was seriously afraid something was going to jump out of the dark and rip me up. It was kind of cool, having this kind of feeling. Even though my logical mind knew exactly what was happening, that didn't make it any less real. I was genuinely irrationally afraid of the dark. The most primal fear that children have.
Of course, this being in the country and in Texas, I had a loaded pistol on my hip. It was great to walk around without fear in the dark despite all my feelings screaming otherwise. ;)
That's actually really interesting! I get that feeling pretty consistently and kind of assumed it was a universal paranoia, but apparently not.
I'm glad you got to have such a novel experience though. That sounds like a genuinely fascinating headspace to be able to inhabit, simultaneously feeling your basest human instincts begging you to run for your life but knowing there's literally nothing to be frightened of.
Thinking on it, that's probably what people get out of horror movies too.
Funny thing happened a few months ago, in the dead of winter. We were in the countryside, at my relative's land. I couldn't sleep so I went out in the middle of the night to his pond. It was cold, entirely silent, dark except for the stars, and utterly beautiful. Well, as I walked around of course I couldn't see a thing in the dark. A strange thing happened - I got that old-fashioned fear of the dark like you used to get when you were a kid. I was seriously afraid something was going to jump out of the dark and rip me up. It was kind of cool, having this kind of feeling. Even though my logical mind knew exactly what was happening, that didn't make it any less real. I was genuinely irrationally afraid of the dark. The most primal fear that children have.
Of course, this being in the country and in Texas, I had a loaded pistol on my hip. It was great to walk around without fear in the dark despite all my feelings screaming otherwise. ;)
That's actually really interesting! I get that feeling pretty consistently and kind of assumed it was a universal paranoia, but apparently not.
I'm glad you got to have such a novel experience though. That sounds like a genuinely fascinating headspace to be able to inhabit, simultaneously feeling your basest human instincts begging you to run for your life but knowing there's literally nothing to be frightened of.
Thinking on it, that's probably what people get out of horror movies too.