It all started out with checking under your bed for monsters after tiring yourself with a grisly ghost story at bedtime. That sloshy bit of creeping fear had you believing in the paranormal universe of demons and ghosts until you consoled yourself with logic and science.
Frequenting these supernatural thoughts makes for sleepless nights and the absolute terror often keeps the lights on at night.
There are two kinds of people when it comes to demons haunting our nights. The first kind is people who find an inexplicable thrill in the mystery of ghosts. Lurking shadows and rustling leaves fail to get the better of them. However, these exact scenes do torment the second lot; the bunch who have given in to the fear of the dark.
Blind superstitions have followed us over decades. A black cat crossing our paths, especially at night, howling dogs and disturbing tunes of a bamboo flute are all believed to be bad omens; although silly enough to be dismissible.
While fear is common, the feeling is somewhat amplified in the darkness of nights. Staring into your unnerving reflection in the mirror at midnight when you hear feet tapping the floor in an empty, silent room will have most of us overtaken by fear.
Exchanging paranormal stories about ghostly shadows and alleged experiences is a textbook activity at sleepovers. It is amusing; until it isn't.
Thinking about a supposed experience of a black mass with red, demonic eyes and low-pitched voice in the flickering glow of torches in a dark room is not too scary anyway. But put yourself in your friend's shoes when he saw a glowing blur of a man in white performing a night time prayer and the sight disappears in the blink of an eye.
Or believe in the possibility of being entrapped in a haze created by an evil presence. Not being able to move a fibre in your body and being held down to be smothered, or at least being tormented to feel so. If you think about these experiences long enough, they get to you. However, in modern times this can also be classified as a medical condition caused by insufficient R.E.M. sleep. If that is so, steps can be taken to improve sleeping habits.
Horror folklore has us believing a lot of strange things in the name of ancient legend. No matter how brave your soul may be, the faded sound of a crying baby, a chilled breath down your shoulders, a sudden thud in the distance or a pounding door in the dead of the night; all strike fear like no other.
But what if you share a horrific story of witnessing a black figure with a vague face with your sister at midnight and she recognises your story to be her own experience? In that case, neither of you will want to sleep alone.
Do ghosts really walk the face of the earth?
The eternal debate for a definitive answer continues. Demons hiding in the darkness of the night may all be nothing but a disappointing heap of over exaggerated conjecture at the end of the day. Or maybe they are, indeed, lurking behind the shadows, quietly waiting for their chance.
By Ramisa Haque
Jump to the Centrefold to read on our after nightfall trepidations and see P12 for interpretations of dreams.