This week: Darkness Edited by: Annette  
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| “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ~ Plato |
Darkness
In the Northern Hemisphere, late September and October are marked by the end of the harvest season. September brought the equinox and now the nights are longer than the days.
Darkness hold dangers real and imagined. Anyone who walks into their child's bedroom after dark has that secret fear of stepping onto a LEGO brick and squealing out in reflex. Before manufactured toys hunted us down at night, we had tree roots just sitting there ready to trip us. Owls staring us down with their shiny eyes. Scurrying night hunters bringing the underbrush to life.
All the above are real. Some can hurt us. Most wouldn't.
Arguably the scariest things in the night are the ones our imagination puts there. Werewolves come out at night once a month. Ghosts haunt houses, forests, or any place where their earthly existence ended - but mostly at night unless they died in a cave or mine. In that case, the darkness of the place gives them around the clock power. Mr. Hyde came out after nightfall. Vampires are only out at night. The only true day walker is Blade. Fight me.
As scary as we have made darkness, we have come up with ways to fight it. Since humans were able to harness and use fire, they have kept small flames going to chase off the darkness. Candles, oil lamps, hearth fires all provide some respite from pitch black nights.
All around the world, there are festivals of light. In Northern European countries, children make lanterns out of see-through paper and put candles inside. They walk through the streets in groups and sign songs together. In some rural areas, there are fires after the harvests. The whole Halloween culture is centered around spooks after dark and bonfires to dance around.
As a writer, make good use of the darkness and the horrors that can come from it. It's up to you whether you go the Scooby Doo route and it was all just make believe. Or you can go realistic and create a new urban myth.
Have you taken part in a celebration with a bonfire? |
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Replies to my last Horror/Scary newsletter "Old Houses"
A.D. Writes  wrote: There just aren't many hauntings that are done within a new build. Could make for an interesting story but finding the link because usually something bad has to happen there or someone die for it to be haunted. Rose Red is one of my favorite movies, which has the self building old mansion that technically was evil from the beginning during building phases but continued afterwards.
Quick-Quill  wrote: All the things you mentioned have been used by crafty writers to scare readers. In ages past, Satan has given his minions the ability to trick people into thinking sounds and activity are from the ghosts of the dead. Houses are dark and noisy anyway. fear of the unknown hightens the senses
Killer Quokka of County K🤦  wrote: Old houses are great. I grew up in suburbia, but until the 1920s it was farmland. One of the original farmhouses was still standing. It was deserted and broken, all but two of the windows boarded up by wood, the front door nailed shut, holes in the roof. It was right on Nelson Rd and across from it was a walkway that led between two houses into a cul de sac where a friend lived. So, one night five of us broke in. It was so disappointing - graffiti, holes in the wooden floor, smelling like animal urine - but we had done it (I was 11, the rest 12). It became a part of our personal folklore. And, 15 years later, I wrote a novella about the place. it has been demolished but still lives on, rent-frtee, inside my head. |
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Horror/Scary: October 01, 2025 Issue [#13377]
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