Not me! I swear! (And you can’t see whether or not I have my fingers crossed.)
If you’ve been here for a while, you know that I love a good ghost story. But I confess, I do feel a little disconcerted in the dark. I can’t sleep in a totally dark room. I don’t like walking alone at night, despite living in a very safe (and thankfully, relatively well-lit) village. I love night time, when everything’s quiet and it feels like you’ve got the world to yourself. But I’m just not a big fan of the dark.
Unless we’re talking 90s TV.
90s kids – know where I’m going?
One of my favorite shows growing up was called Are You Afraid of the Dark? It featured a cast of kids who came together around a campfire every week to tell spooky stories. And guys, some of the episodes were genuinely, and still are surprisingly, scary. I loved it. And I’ve been revisiting it lately in my downtime. I still love it, and despite the obvious 90s fashions (bright colors! plaid! baggy jeans!), it actually holds up pretty well! (If you want to check it out, it’s streaming on Paramount+.)
On top of that, watching some of the episodes today, I feel like it explains a lot about the adult I’ve become. I love old houses. I love antiques. I love creepy stories. I love telling them around the fire in my back garden.
I can’t walk into a magic shop – or really any curiosity shop – without hearing (in my head) “That’s Sard-O! No mister. Accent on the DO.” Isn’t that funny? These things we love when we’re children, they never really leave us. And to tell you the truth, I don’t think I’ve ever really, completely grown up.
I still love cartoons and kids’ books. I absolutely will look for fairies in the meadow on a foggy morning. I even laugh at fart jokes. (Not always. They have to be good fart jokes, if such a thing exists.) And yes, despite knowing that there’s nothing there that isn’t there in the light, I am still afraid of the dark. It’s okay. Everyone’s afraid of something.
And frankly, I hope I never lose my sense of silliness. I hope I always get a little shiver thinking about what might be lurking behind me in a dark hallway. I hope I continue, all my life, to seek out magic.
So, yeah, I’ve put it out there now: Who’s afraid of the dark? Me. It’s me. Hi. What about you?
A Virginia Writer's Diary 
Interesting story, and that is a beauty of a fire! We always lived out in the country when we were kids, and it was something of a badge of honor to find your way in the moonlight, especially on the nights when there was not much moon and it was pretty dark. Our house was always dark at night, but the only time I recall being scared of the dark was after I read Old Yeller and “saw” a rabid dog in the corner that night by the bed. I prefer to sleep in the dark now, unless I am in a hotel where I don’t know the layout and then a tiny crack in the bathroom door keeps me oriented without being a problem to sleep. I sleep better in darkness, because when it is black as a dark night, I can’t see things that go bump in the night!
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It’s funny, when I go to me parents’ house now, I’m always shocked at just how dark it is. They’re way out in the country. We live in a rural area, but in a village, so it’s relatively well-lit, and I’ve just gotten so used to it. I do love nighttime around here, though. Lots of lightning bugs in the summer and fox noises in spring.
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Fun share, Katie! You’ve piqued my interest with that show. I’ve camped around countless campfires, but I don’t know too many spooky stories.
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It was a good show! And I am kind of surprised at how well it holds up. I’ll definitely come into the summer thinking about it, which is great, because summer around here is campfire season. 🙂
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Looks like an entertaining way to spend an hour, or more! 🔥👻
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Definitely!
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lol..nope..i am a huge fan of the dark and being alone in it. I have been known to go out of my way to walk in cemeteries late at night.Even fell asleep in one once. There’s something very peaceful to me about the air and looking up at the stars alone. I’m not sure it relates to my own past though- my formative years were the 80’s. But i did grow up watching a lot of horror movies. Never saw the show you mentioned but probably not my thing as i rather enjoy the guts and gore/special effects, etc.
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Oh, I love that! Just looking up at the sky in the quiet. 🙂 I was a huge horror movie person when I was younger (like, way younger). Now I like a ghost story more than anything, but I definitely have fond memories of watching all kinds of scary movies at night with one of my friends.
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Even though I’m not a 90s Kid I still love that show. Netflix has something in the similiar vein called The Midnight Club which is pretty good. But I love just about anything scary. I live close to DC (in Alexandria) so it’s never really dark in my hood. (LOL) One of the creepiest places I’ve stayed is in Richmond called the Linden Row Inn. Although the city is bustling it’s just eery. It’s supposed to be where Edgar Allen Poe wrote some of his last stories.
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I’ll have to check out The Midnight Club! I’ve seen it pop up, but I’ve never clicked on it. Also, I’ve been to Richmond so many times and have never even heard of the Linden Row Inn. Road trip time! (Only not, because work and stuff, but I definitely want to see it.)
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Thinking about it now, I hear there are some pretty great ghost tours in Alexandria. So that’s two road trips (though Alexandria’s definitely a lot closer!).
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👍👍
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🙂
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I’m thinking up a really good fart joke for you. Still thinking.
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Lol! I appreciate that!
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If a monkey farts in the jungle and we are not there to smell it does it really make a stink?
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Lol! Well, the monkey’s there to smell it, right?
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Yes.
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