Do you get scared by bumps in the night?

[EGarrett]

How has skepticism effected your reaction to creepy sounds in the dark?

I can still be freaked out, but only if I'm watching some type of particularly scary ghost story right before bed, AND it's an extremely uncommon sound. It's obviously not "there's a ghost in the house!" but some kind of deep-seated instinctive reaction I guess. Fortunately, it doesn't last long at all.

[Apology]

It just turned the ghosts into homicidal burglars :o I suppose that I see the world as slightly less evil now that I don't have to worry about ghosts, demons, and ufos getting me. There are still all the ordinary non-paranormal dangers to freak out about though. I just remind myself that most nights, my neighbors and I don't get burgled and the homicide rate is really low in my town.

[GT/CS]

Naw, I've got a psychotic ax murderer alarm system made up of 2 killer attack dogs that will run to me for protection if any of the noises are really something to worry about.

[LTC8K6]

No, I sleep like a petrified log.

[Apology]

Naw, I've got a psychotic ax murderer alarm system made up of 2 killer attack dogs that will run to me for protection if any of the noises are really something to worry about.

My cat has already betrayed me; she didn't even hint that there was a possum in the bathroom :mad: I can't trust her to warn me of anything.

[EGarrett]

My cat has already betrayed me; she didn't even hint that there was a possum in the bathroom :mad: I can't trust her to warn me of anything.I think Dogs are the natural alarms. If there's an animal in the house and the cat can't eat it or **** it, it'll probably just run away from it.

[TX50]

How has skepticism effected your reaction to creepy sounds in the dark?

I can still be freaked out,


You say that as if "skepticism" is a disease that has sequelae!

[Big Les]

It just turned the ghosts into homicidal burglars :o I suppose that I see the world as slightly less evil now that I don't have to worry about ghosts, demons, and ufos getting me. There are still all the ordinary non-paranormal dangers to freak out about though. I just remind myself that most nights, my neighbors and I don't get burgled and the homicide rate is really low in my town.

Same here! I can quite easily dismiss any woo thoughts, but far-fetched ideas about murderous but entirely corporeal invaders are harder to dispel! Especially after you've just watched three horror films back-to-back, on your own, at night, in the middle of the Scottish countryside... :covereyes

[madurobob]

I used to be worried about things that go bump in the night until I learned that they are all made my benevolent invisible dimension-shifting bigfoot. There's really nothing to worry about anymore... except for the NSA anti-bigfoot programs.

[NeilC]

I get scared at horror flicks but not because of the supernatural element. I get scared because of the way the film is put together and I don't like dischordent music followed by sudden surprises accompanied by horrible images. This is why I don't tend to watch them at all.

However the feeling of unease can accompany me afterwards if I'm on my own. When my wife is there I automatically act brave which dispells the feelings and I feel safer when she's there - which is stupid since she is an 8 stone weakling.

I think that, like others, I can be made scared of real people hurting me and my family and will take up a carving knife. I think I can honestly say I don't have any supernatural fear at all.

I would like to be more philosophical about it but then a friend of mine was attacked in their bed at knifepoint. So I know it can happen.

[politas]

The only thing that wakes me up screaming in the middle of the night is the sound of my cats fighting next to my pillow

[tsg]

The only noises I hear are my wife saying "did you hear that?"

[Cuddles]

I'm usually the one making the creepy sounds. Mwahahahaha.

Edit: Actually, there is one sound that I find really creepy when it's dark. Mosquitoes. When you're lying in bed and here that horrible, high pitched eeeeeeeee, you just know that either you have to get up, turn the lights on and spend the next half hour trying to find the little bugger or you'll wake up covered in bites. I think all mosquitoes are actually student nurses, they never seem able to find blood on the first bite. Also, never hit them with your bare hand. They splat. Mosquitoes that is, not nurses.

[Showmeproof]

Nope, don't get scared by noises in the middle of the night. I figure its either the house, since houses seem to make noises or my cat!

[Soapy Sam]

Not at all in the very short term . Being "spooked" is a reflex.

Once the goose pimples go down and the heart rate returns to normal , I go and investigate what fell off where.

[Tirdun]

Here's a spooky story (all true)

Years ago when my youngest was born, my wife stayed home for several months so I was working 2 jobs to keep things going. So I would usually be in bed very early (4/5PM). One evening I was half asleep and could hear my wife/kids in the living room watching TV. I could also hear my dog breathing, she slept in a basket next to the bed on my side. I didn't think to much of it until my wife told my oldest to "let the dog out" and I heard the dog go into the kitchen and out the back door.

Breathing noises still there? Check.
Dog sleeping next to me? Nope.

There are only 3 other people in the house, and none of them are next to me in the bedroom.

So, I roll out of bed (other side) and hit the lights. Nobody there. Also no noises. OK, dreaming? Back to bed, a bit jittery now and a few minutes later it all starts up again.

I did finally figure it out. My oldest (then 4) had put up one of his art projects on the wall. Small paper thing with fingerpaint or someesuch on it. One thumbtack, directly over the heater vent. Heat turns on = paper gets rotated on the tack and pushed up the wall (inhale noise) gravity overcomes air, it falls down the wall (exhale). Repeat.

I have to say that my curiosity overwhelmed any spooky jitters. I was a little spooked, I admit, but mostly I wanted to know what the heck it was.

[LibraryLady]

I do now. (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=97967)

:(

[tsg]

I do now. (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=97967)

:(

My house was broken into when I was younger. It unnerved (as well as angered) me for quite some time afterwards. I can't give you any useful advice except to say the feelings will eventually pass. I know it's not much help right now.

[Creekfreak]

When your real life is like a horror film where the monsters are real it can be very hard to fall asleep sometimes .
I could have gone the rest of my life not knowing what I know but Noooo God had to throw monsters into the mix thanks alot God I really needed that in my life !

[bluess]

I used to be incapable of watching horror movies. Then, Blue2 arrived, along with the watching of every cartoon flick, Disney show, Toon Disney, JETIX, Nickoldeon and Noggin show.

I now act/am much braver because I have small fry to reassure and protect. I'm doing my best to raise a skeptical kid, so that means I have to pretend that I am not totally freaked out.

I've also started watching horror movies, as an antidote to the ongoing input of saccharin. I still get a bit of the creepy crawlies now and then, but generally, meh.

I am more worried about actual harm, especially after two nights ago when Mr.Blue had to wake me up to stop the alarm from beeping because a station's battery is low. Hopefully, the real alarm going off would wake me up....

[DrewD]

Not really.

Every now and again my wife will whisper "Someone is over there staring at us". I will immediately go into panic mode and start looking for some way to end this horrible event that is about to occur. I then realize that she is talking in her sleep. I then proceed to lay there until I calm down enough to go back to sleep.

[Ysidro]

I usually don't, though I was very afraid of the dark as a child. However, the other night I watched the original House on Haunted Hill and found myself jumping at sounds and having nightmares.

[bluess]

I usually don't, though I was very afraid of the dark as a child. However, the other night I watched the original House on Haunted Hill and found myself jumping at sounds and having nightmares.

The original is SOOO much better than the remakes. That one kept me up, too.

[Apology]

The original is SOOO much better than the remakes. That one kept me up, too.
That one scared the hell out of me too. I think it's because, in the end, it turned out that the "ghost" was an ordinary killer.

Also the acid bath with the stripped skeleton floating to the surface (shudder)

[Lensman]

I don't get scared, but I do get startled by the unexpected - (contrary to my avatar) I'm only human.

[bruto]

If I believed in ghosts, I think it would be less scary. After all, they don't really do anything except annoy you. Skepticism just removes one from the list of benign noisemakers, and weights it toward burglars in the kitchen or skunks in the cellar.

[RayG]

No, I don't get scared by bumps in the night, but I did get creeped out by a wolf one night.

It happened while I was serving in Alert, Nunavut (http://www.uphere.ca/node/36) in 1982. We had two husky dogs that were camp mascots, and as I left the Junior Ranks Club, I noticed the two dogs curled up sleeping near the entrance. As I walked back to my barracks I glanced between two other barrack buildings and was startled to see what I thought was one of the huskies loping past the open space at the ends of the two buildings. I say startled because I had literally just watched the movie Wolfen, and the sight of a large critter that resembled a wolf was a bit unnerving. My heart really skipped a beat as I turned to look back at the JRC and saw both dogs were still lying there sleeping. I lived in Alert for a year (two six-month tours) and that was the only time I ever saw a wolf. Creepy.

RayG

[Apology]

I'm actually kind of afraid that the aforementioned possum will come back and I imagine I hear it rattling the locked cat door from time to time. That possum scared the crap out of me :blush: but he can't get in if the cat door is locked after dark.

Yeah, I know it's a just a cat, or even just the wind rattling it. It still creeps me out from time to time.

[slingblade]

I've always been more scared by the possible than the impossible, even when I was a hopeless woo.

For instance, in the original Exorcist, the demon possession wasn't scary; mostly just gross.

It was the very real medical tests, and that damned needle they stuck in her throat that terrified me.

[Diagoras]

It's hard for me to get scared of that kind of thing, having always lived with several cats. They're always knocking crap over and scrambling about during the night.