Did you know that 11% of adults have nyctophobia? For the unfamiliar, Nyctophobia is the fear of the dark, and it often begins at a young age for a variety of reasons. 

For example, nyctophobia can stem from traumas associated with dark places, or it simply could come from environmental factors like family members that also fear the dark. 

Of course there’s the evolutionary aspect as well, as ancient humans had many reasons to fear the dark in their time. What’s really intriguing is that nyctophobia is generally considered an irrational fear, assuming there’s not much to fear. However, in the past, fearing the dark was anything but irrational.

To be more specific, it’s not the darkness itself that scares most people. It’s the possibility of something lurking in it. While this is often an excuse penned by those embarrassed of their nyctophobia, it’s not exactly wrong. Though many fear the darkness because they can’t see and therefore feel vulnerable, others only fear not seeing the danger that might lurk inside.

The question is, what lurks in the dark? In your bedroom or under your bed, probably nothing. However, that chair in the corner with a coat hanging on it looks pretty suspicious, doesn’t it? So does that teddy bear on the floor. In the dark they look quite uncanny. Sound familiar?

Everyone’s felt a sense of uncanniness at least once in their life, the feeling that something looks familiar, yet not quite right. A specific instance of this feeling is known as the Uncanny Valley, which is the strange feeling that something seemingly human-like is also off-putting because it’s human-like, not fully human.

Coined in 1978 by robotics professor Masahiro Mori, the Uncanny Valley is incredibly prevalent in the current age because of the onset of AI. In the more traditional example though, old ceramic dolls and plastic human face masks tend to invoke the Uncanny Valley in most people.

The name of the concept, specifically, derives from the sudden dip in affection for a human-like entity once it reaches a certain visual threshold before the immediate rise in affection once past said threshold. This creates a literal valley on the graph that represents the sudden change in a person’s relationship with a human-like entity.

Relating back to nyctophobia, there’s a certain overlap with the Uncanny Valley. Humans naturally fear the dark at a young age (about 45% of children do), and for some it never goes away. As mentioned previously, this is due to external factors mostly, and occasionally genetic factors.

The same can be said about the Uncanny Valley, up to a point of course, as it’s natural for humans to have an aversion to something that looks somewhat off-putting despite taking on a recognizable form. Perhaps it’s that feeling that makes us see random objects in the night as creepy creatures.

These once familiar objects change their form as our brains try to make sense of their now unfamiliar shapes. While we know what they are, our brains are subconsciously confused by the dark as we literally can’t see properly in it. Our brain doesn’t like being confused, so it tries to find answers, even if they’re not exactly pleasant ones.

For example, our brains often auto-correct grammar mistakes so we can understand messages and conversations better. The more obvious mistakes are unable to be corrected naturally of course, but the subtle ones like someone using the wrong “it” are looked over and ignored unless pointed out by another person.

While the Uncanny Valley isn’t related to nyctophobia on its own, the underlying concept of being afraid of something that looks familiar, but isn’t, plays a big role in why the dark is so eerie and off-putting for many.

The reason why we fear the eerily familiar is still unknown (though there are many theories), but the fact remains that the dark only makes that sudden revulsion so much worse. While rationally there’s nothing to be afraid of when you turn off the lights in your room, deep down we fear the possibility that perhaps, there is something in the dark that lurks.