I can honestly tell you that I don't remember whether or not I was afraid of the dark as a child. I don't ever remember sleeping with a light on.

I do remember needing to leave the door open so I could hear Mom and Dad snoring until I fell asleep. I wanted to make sure that if the Rapture had happened, I wasn't left behind. I swear that's true. (When I was a kid, there seemed to be a LOT of sermons about the end of time.)

I was afraid of storms, though. My sister loves the story of a night when one was raging and she was in bed and her bedroom door opened very slightly. She could only the top of it over her shoulder from lying on her side. After a pause, she realized it was me and told me lay on the floor and go to sleep. She was none to happy with me after briefly scaring the crap out of her.

"It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, the door slowly opened."

Yeah, she had a point.

As an adult, I like it pitch black when I'm sleeping. But many adults still struggle with some kind of fear of the dark

E-conolight.com is an online lighting dealer and they've done a nationwide survey to find out why people are afraid of or, at least, uncomfortable in the dark.

For starters, it looks like it's almost split down the middle, with 48.8% of respondents saying they ARE afraid of the dark.

E-conolight categorized its survey with one of those categories being "Feelings About the Dark." More of those surveyed said they the dark made them UNEASY than afraid.

When breaking down each response to the question, "WHY are you afraid of the dark," the majority said it was because of what could be HIDING in the dark. The second most popular answer to that question was crime.

E-conolight also broke it down state by state:

E-conolight.com
E-conolight.com
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Plus, you'll find a fascinating list of habits people have in the dark, with the top one being checking the backseat of the car before getting in.

So, are you afraid of the dark? And, if so, do you think you know why?

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