Creepy!

[cyrano]

Ever since I re-watched House on Haunted Hill, I've had a far more ambivalent relationship with our living room in the darkness. It's a little disorienting--I haven't had this sort of reptile brain terror since living in Oregon. You know the kind--where you can't just walk down the stairs into the basement, you have to dash down them as quickly as possible. And maybe you even vault over those last four stairs with the storage area underneath because you can't convince yourself that the only thing being stored down there is old Christmas decorations.

So, sometimes if I get up in the night it's not a problem. Some times my throat closes up and I find myself suddenly lunging for a light switch. Because monsters hate the light, and are powerless within it. This is a problem if I went to get a drink of water and I've just slammed the glass into the wall.

So I just opened the bedroom door to go out and get a drink. And in the dim light from the skylight and from the back courtyard I could see a dark shape moving around my feet. At first I assumed that it was the cat, waiting for me to open the door so it could lie on my bed. But the cat was in the other bedroom with the door closed. And about the time that hit me, the shape swirled forward, across my bare feet (I did not jump back on my tiptoes and squeal like a school girl, although it crossed my mind that this might be the wisest course of action) and wraithed into my room.

And so I figured that tonight was one of those nights when I turned on the lights.

Comments

[cerulean-me.livejournal.com]

I am soooo glad that I'm not the only who has this issue... *hugs*

[schquee.livejournal.com]

Oh no, call Ghosthunters!

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Only so I could point and laugh. (:
The power of suggestion is an overwhelming thing sometimes, but it does not reveal itself to a geiger counter.

[schquee.livejournal.com]

I know, they are so full of shit! Sometimes we watch episodes just to make fun of them and point out all the things they didn't even consider.

[miss-electra.livejournal.com]

I am always a light user, hence the nightlights.

I used to do this sprint-leap-into-bed thing so I could avoid the monsters that were surely lurking underneath it once the lights went out.

[jeckcrow.livejournal.com]

This happens to me occasionally too. Shortly after watching Ringu (not the American remake), I spent several weeks being terrified of my television set. During the day it was perfectly fine, but much like yourself, if I needed to get a drink in the middle of the night, I would have to go downstairs. The television would be squatting there, in the dark, waiting to disgorge some terrifying apparition.

Personally I wish these moments had horror movie soundtracks, so when the spooky music started to build to a crescendo, I could just say, "Nope, spooky music. I'm not that thirsty after all..."

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

This was one of the main reasons I wanted a personal soundtrack, aside from getting Danny Elfman or the guy who scored the Matrix to write my personal theme.

[carabosse.livejournal.com]

Ever since I read this one list of Top 10 Bizarre Modern Paranormal Phenomena, I am now unreasonably concerned about shadow people and dog-headed men that like to lurk outside kitchen windows. My downstairs neighbor has two giant dogs that spend time in the back yard. Said dogs are big enough that they can peer into one of the kitchen windows. I keep those blinds closed, day and night.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I can totally understand that.

[my-aerie.livejournal.com]

Some times my throat closes up and I find myself suddenly lunging for a light switch. Because monsters hate the light, and are powerless within it.

Ditto, except to me it's because monsters are like rainbows from prisms, but in the dark...a prism needs light to do anything. A monster needs dark to exist.



I've been getting over my fear of the dark recently though...mostly by reminding myself that none of the awesome fantasies and imaginings I've had have come true, so why the hell do I expect reality from the scary things I dream up?

[wilson-lizard.livejournal.com]

It's that time of year... the veil is thin. I've been seeing ghosties lately, too.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

One day, years ago, I was in my bedroom making my bed and thinking about when I was a small child and was afraid of the goblins under the bed. (The goblins were very small and thin, but had very long thin arms with long thin fingers. And they were green.) At that point my cat chose to reach out from under the bed and wrap her furry little arms around my ankle. For the rest of the week I jumped into my bed from a distance to avoid the goblins.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Because the power of suggestion isn't enough, evil cats need to help. (:
I saw Kubrick's "The Shining" when I was eight. I didn't take a bath for a very long time, and it was even longer before I felt comfortable using the bathroom at all.

[reluctantgenius.livejournal.com]

Top Ten Reasons Not To Keep Cats....

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

They shed.
Hairballs.
Howling for no particular reason
Howling because they want to be fed.
Freaking out for no particular reason when you're holding them.
Kitty sleep rays.
Stiletto paws.
Climbing on top of the mantle/table and knocking stuff off.
Getting underfoot so as to knock you over.
Peeing on your down comforter.

[miss-friday.livejournal.com]

Thus, I don't watch horror movies. My only problem is the small orange cat who's been feed and refuses to settle down for the night.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Most 'horror' movies don't have this effect on me. I jump when the soundtrack gets really loud. But I don't watch modern horror movies because they bore me. But this was a classic! Vincent Price, fifty years ago and in his prime. And I'm hoping that the effects fade in time, like the others did.