"We owe more to our illusions than to our knowledge”
― Lafcadio Hearn
There are many articles on psychic/intuitive/gifted/hsp and even autistic kids having a fear of the dark (monsters, ghosts etc.) and how to help them. Regardless of what the child is labeled it is usually very similar in experience. I have had friends call me to ask how to deal with their kid's fears of the dark because they didn't know how to handle them and they knew my story. I don't accuse kids of making things up, out of frustration, which is about where the parents were when they called me. I know it is real to most of them.
The most imaginative often have the greatest fear of the dark due to not feeling as grounded in the physical body, or world, so things like a blanket brushing against their foot, in the night, can be frightening because their little minds are not comfortable with sensations yet and the world is still new. Most grow out of it. Adults I have talked to over the years who claim to have never feared the dark have also said they have poor intuition, and lacked imagination as children, but this is more anecdotal than anything.
My fears were due to several factors. One being, dead people (spirits) would bother me in the dark and my ESI aunt didn't believe me (until she was dying and saw them for herself). She tried to make me face the fears by forcing me go down to the dark basement and locking the door behind me. She also did not allow me to have a night light, even when I was very young. She allowed her own children to have night lights for some reason. Guess she didn't want to go through the screaming in the night again with her own kids.
I had nightmares, vivid dreams and feelings of being touched or held down in the dark. I have had a tendency to pareidolia which means I saw faces emerge out of patterns on walls, wood, blankets, curtains... just about anything with a pattern or ripples. I heard people talk to me and call my name a lot as a child. These are some of the issues I dealt with, pretty much alone, due to lack of understanding. I did have intuitive friends (still do) who related much more than my friends who were sensors and firmly rooted in the bodies. Some logical types just wanted to analyze me, and the experiences, like little Freuds. lol These were mostly the kids, not the adults (I kept a lot to myself) but I had similar issues when I attempted to talk to the adults. IEE and IEI adults were the easiest to talk about this stuff with. IEE because of open mindedness I'm sure. They were the ones to help think up solutions and made it more silly than scary.
I do not fear the dark, like I did when I was a child, so fear is the wrong word but there is something about total darkness that is disconcerting when a "spirit" decides to get your attention.
I prefer having some light so I can see what I am dealing with when I tell it to go away. I feel more in control when I can see what is saying my name, or trying to touch me, to get my attention. This talking to the dead thing runs in my family. My mom (LSI) and my great grandmother also had this thing with the dead.
People are skeptical but if you never experienced it I can't blame you. I am still a bit skeptical of other people's experiences because I only have my own to compare them to. If anyone is game, I can try to send them to you whenever they bother me. They haven't in awhile. It is more of an irritation than a fear. I have been told I had PTSD due to the Christianity stuff enforced by a zealot, which I acknowledge made things worse. I am also skeptical of that diagnosis but yeah I had some crazy things happen in my childhood.
Anyway I started doing seances at a young age which freaked out some of my friends and made some of their parents (Christians) upset. They weren't allowed to hang out with me anymore. I started seriously studying the occult when I was about 11 or 12. I jumped right in with demonology since I was terrorized by above mentioned aunt with threats of hell and demons. I wanted to know for myself what was going on with me and what I was dealing with. I have also been haunted for most of my life. I used to think it was the homes I lived in but it was most likely me. Some of you might remember I was reading Shakespeare very young too so it was probably an influence too. Once I faced the fear of demons and hell I was no longer tortured by it.
I see I got a lot of votes for most spiritual on the forum but I am not sure that is the fitting term for what I am. I feel others here would be more deserving of that title but maybe they are more religious than spiritual. I have more of symbiotic relationship with the supernatural. I am not a spiritual seeker looking to attain inner peace through a doctrine, guru or deity to follow. I believe in an inner authority. I would rather express myself in the middle of chaos than be at peace with a superficial sense of spirituality. I find most New Age stuff fluffy since it is the darkness that gives depth. What I find "spiritual" others probably would not, like sex.
That is why I cannot find solace in any god or religion. Only in my own power to discern information that I perceive from multiple dimensions of reality, both seen and unseen. It is generated within my consciousness and sometimes experienced as a physical manifestation. IOW, I don't need any ghostbusters. Just some sense of control.
When you are prone to vivid dreams (lots), and nightmares (fewer now), waking to a dark room, alone, can really be disconcerting. Especially if that line between the dream and waking state is already thin.