Storytelling and Fears
Storytelling and Fears
Did you know that an estimated 11 percent of the U.S. population is afraid of the dark? And according to the Mirror, 22 percent of the British population has confessed they don’t like to poke their foot out from underneath the covers in case something grabs it?
nyctophobia – a fear of the dark
Here's what Wikipedia wrote about it: “Nyctophobia produces symptoms beyond the normal instinctive parameters, such as breathlessness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, feeling sick, shaking, heart palpitations, inability to speak or think clearly or sensation of detachment from reality and death.”
My earliest memory of being afraid of the dark was when I was about four years old. For some reason, I had it in my head that, at night, there were snakes covering my bedroom floor (likely a suggestion I picked up somewhere - I'm pretty sure I hadn't seen Indiana Jones yet by that age though).
Within a few years, I had picked up the intense...
