Night time fear

[LukeSkywatcher]

I find a Vixen's scream the scariest thing at night. Sometimes it sounds like someone being brutally stabbed! But once you know what it is, that's okay.

Agree 100%. Very frightening,but once you know the calls of foxes............they are ok.

Two nights ago i was coming home from the shop in my wheelchair and encountered 2 adults. Further up the road i met 4 cubs. The adults back tracked towards me to make sure i was no danger to the cubs.

[clunsey73]

No foxes here but screech owls - screetch! very loudly. Tiny birds too from what little I managed to glimpse. You must have nice flat land and lots of sky in the fens though.

[m37]

badgers make a sound like a murder is taking place and the woods behind my house are riddled with the hairy little devils. Not to mention baby Barn Owls. If you want something to make you jump, I stood up a bit sharpish once to check my primary for dew and a barn owl flew really close to my head. I actually felt its wings beat next to my ear. I could see its face and everything.

the feeling that someone behind you is thought by some neuroscientists to be caused by a small electrical event in the temporal lobe. If you think someone is behind you and to the right, the event is in your left temporal lobe and vice versa. Also when you can't see so well your other senses ramp up a bit, hearing particularly.

Seriously though, it can get pretty spooky at night. I find the world service or radio 4 helps take your mind of things. If it doesn't send you to sleep! If you find it really spooky try having a picture of a day at the beach or a happy, safe, secure daytime memory on your phone/ipad/laptop etc if you have one. It can help you snap back to reality and remind you that it just seems scary because it is dark and looks different to how it does in the daytime, and that it's the same world where your happy memory took place. Or maybe if you get very scared put something very down to earth on the laptop/phone etc like Countryfile or Antiques roadshow.

You could also try building up length of time in the garden, so when you start to feel scared go indoors then build up the length of time you leave it before taking refuge. A CBT/Gradual exposure technique is often used to beat phobias. Just getting through the whole experience right away is not always the best plan.

Perhaps you could start to learn what the sounds are via the internet and develop a wildlife noises spotting pass time so rather than being freaked out by the sounds you might actually look forward to hearing them so you can cross them off the list. Get some sheets typed up and make a hobby of it, it will transform scary noises into something familiar and even predictable.

I swear I am starting to recognise the individual badgers and owls by the sounds they make. If you wrote down what you heard and looked it up on line.

Sorry, I'm rambling a bit but the clouds are not going away and I'm reluctant to pack up for the night!

Hope you feel less scared soon.

[Daddystu]

I'd enjoy it. Being scared is great fun. It's unfortunate that we all too soon become desensitised to such things. I want to be 5 again! I got lost in a forest when I was 5 or 6 and didn't find my way back out until midnight. That was scary.

[rowan46]

I'm a city boy myself even so, much as wildlife was a little disconcerting you soon get used to it. The only thing that still makes me nervous is humans its why I don't tend to go out till late. School holidays are the worse as kids seem to be up later. However the fear is worse than the actuality and any time I do meet up with our 2 legged friends usually results in a chat and a look through the scope.

[Meissa]

Cheers M37, these are really great advices. It makes sense to see or hear something down to earth, I will definitely try to do that next time. I'm all packed up and fear free with the help of tv [removed word] clouds did not roll out, hope tomorrow will get better skies.

[Meissa]

Just to let you know it was only 'b.u.g.g.e.r', not something nasty

[Carl Reade]

Hi guys!

The title probably speaks for itself :-) How do you go about overcoming the night fear? I'm not that big of a baby bawl pants, bit time to time, even in my back yard, I get scarred. Like right now, have scope ready, waiting for clouds to roll out and I just don't feel comfortable - I must have a hearing of a dog, all them strange sounds... I understand that not a lot of people have this fear, but the ones that do - what helps to overcome it?

Hi guys!

The title probably speaks for itself :-) How do you go about overcoming the night fear? I'm not that big of a baby bawl pants, bit time to time, even in my back yard, I get scarred. Like right now, have scope ready, waiting for clouds to roll out and I just don't feel comfortable - I must have a hearing of a dog, all them strange sounds... I understand that not a lot of people have this fear, but the ones that do - what helps to overcome it?

Its perfectly normal its a human reaction to the dark. Its built in. Have a good walk around your yard before you start while the scope is cooling then focus on what you went out for, plan your targets and consider any interuption as annoying.

Carl

[Meissa]

No foxes here but screech owls - screetch! very loudly. Tiny birds too from what little I managed to glimpse. You must have nice flat land and lots of sky in the fens though.

It's really flat here, but I have not yet observed anywhere else apart my back yard which is far away from perfect - the one and only street light is right in front of my garden and it's very bright one, all night long! Tried shielding, but I will need something much higher to be able to hide from that light. Speaking of that, couple weeks ago I was visiting family Lithuania and had binos with me, my oh my was it dark there! I could not see my feet! Skies were crystal clear, no LP, no dust, Milky Way as bright as moon...

[Cons]

Not sure if the Fisher Cat is in the UK but in northern Massachusetts their all over the place, their call sounds like a crying baby in the woods. So weird the first few times hearing them in the middle of the woods!!

[wxsatuser]

Nyctophobia.

Not uncommon in adults, you are not alone, it goes way back to when we were cave dwellers.

Most people grow out of it but for some it's a nightmare.

At least in this country there is not much to worry about, animal wise, they can be noisy but none of

them should be a problem.......most will be more scared of you.

In my garden we get foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, cats, frogs etc and it's basically an urban garden.

When you hear a badger scaling a wooden fence, you wonder what the hell is happening but from then on

you know it's just trying to get away from you.

[planet15]

I must admit, I had a few spooky feeling moments at times alone in the dark.

Corner of my back garden where I set up scopes is well blocked area by hedges, small trees and shed. It is quite cozy and quiet during the day in that area, so I sometimes go there with a chair and read or listen to music from iPad and headphone.

But at night, when it gets dark, and I am busy scanning the sky with scopes, I sometimes gets chill at my back as if someone is standing in the corner of the shed behind me. It is strange because I never think about these things, but it is just sudden feeling hitting me while I am looking into the scope, and I feel quite spooky. It was worse on the night when I watched a TV program about hunting ghosts in American civil war town earlier that evening.

When I put up a tent for temporary obsy soon there, hope it will improve situation.

[Paul M]

Also have the feeling that something or someone is behind my back. I keep turning around to check every couple minutes. It just does my head in, want to get rid of that and enjoy observing.

Thanks Dick_dangerous, I have also noticed that when I find and start observing my first object, the whole bad feeling goes away.

There was a similar thread to this recently about going into the wood to observe.

I'm like you though, my imagination is rampant and no amount of rational thoughts about not believing in monsters and ghosts overcomes my imagination.

I put it down to loss of what is my most important sense, sight. When my brain doesn't supply an image of what's making that noise or moving in the shadows my imagination does and it's real enough to have me going back indoors on occasions!

Imagination isn't just about thinking weird stuff, it's much deeper than that.

My imagination is why I am weird!!

After a lifetime of star gazing in all kinds of locations I can say that it never completely goes away. Just sometimes it's better than others....

[Superdavo]

Try doing astromy in the back yard, if it's private. It is often quite good as you know nobody can get in

[chiltonstar]

Round here, the worst sounds are the horses in the field in front of my house who seem to suffer from perpetual flatulance - is it normal, nagophiles or is it something in the diet? Add to that foxes, muntjacs and the perpetual squeaking of bats.....

Always easier with a friend though, you can laugh about phobias and enjoy the beauty of the Universe together!

Chris

[foundaplanet]

I'd enjoy it. Being scared is great fun. It's unfortunate that we all too soon become desensitised to such things. I want to be 5 again! I got lost in a forest when I was 5 or 6 and didn't find my way back out until midnight. That was scary.

I agree with this. It is quite normal to feel how you feel you are just not used to it and are probably more scared by that than anything else. Your awareness just goes up that is all...animal instinct and all that. It is no more scary than it is for country folk visiting tesco on a busy afternoon.

[Watchman]

My garden is too small for there to be anything to fear

[AlexB67]

I grew up in the country for large chunks of my life. Also lived in cities, neither bother me much at night after spending time in them, unless I know something is up or there is a genuine thread, so I guess it is familiarity as much as anything, getting used to environments and conditions that may be new to you. After some time you will feel more comfortable no doubt

I live in the suburbs of a city, with a fairly sizable garden ( by city standards ) It has lots of shrubs and a trees on two sides, and it is full of living things, there is constant rustling, scratching against garden fences etc. Cats fighting. I even found a what I believe to be fox hole in my garden one day. In any case, it was a big hole whatever it was, so I guess there are bigger things not far away either.

FWIW, I'd like to think of it this way, all the wildlife is there to keep me company while I am gazing. My cat comes out with me a lot of the time, she is very attached to people and always follows me around and often just sits there, looks at me when I am playgin with the scope and always put's on that expression as if to say, "What is that crazy person doing again peeping through a tube"

At least, unlike some people in the middle of a city when they are drunk coming out of a nightclub, animals (in my part of the world anyway ) are no thread, they have no interest in attacking humans. If anything I'd rather be out in the sticks instead of the centre of a city at 3 AM, I'd probably feel more nervous in that case.

[planet15]

In the pitch darkness, I have seen a few hedge hogs crawling out in the back garden. When I put the torch to them, they go hunch back, and then pretend death. I was OK with that.

But when I saw foxes hanging around on the grass, it was a bit intimidating. Still I am all right with wild animals, but not too keen on idea of the ghosts in the dark night garden.

[Paul M]

When we arrived at our caravan in Cumbrishire Friday afternoon I walked up on the deck to the door and was immediately surprised by what I thought was a strange bird call. A chattery warble that sounded very exotic.

Most of the trees have been chopped down behind our pitch so it could only be coming from one of two remaining trees.

It was calling constantly but I couldn't see it.

On closer inspection I realised that it was actually coming from the HT power cables strung between the pylons a couple of hundred meters away. The National Grid people have been replacing cables and insulators along this length of grid. All the new cables are in but some of the pairs don't yet have spacers to keep them separated. The wind was playing on the cables and making them oscillate strangely.

Turns out the weird noise was being heard for miles along the cable route. Some birds...

Anyway, we knew what it was and that was that.

When I got up very early on Sunday morning to let the dog out I was greeted by a beautiful clear sky and the chance of some Perseid spotting.

I could have got a better view from open ground behind the van. It's pitch black round there. But as I thought about it the cable noise started again. I already knew what it was but it still took my attention from the sky a few times. I was sufficiently disturbed by it to stay on the decking.

See, it's not a rational fear of real things. I don't have any fear of animals or such like.

It's an irrational fear of things that I already know aren't there.

There is something very irrational about the irrational!

[LukeSkywatcher]

I'd enjoy it. Being scared is great fun. It's unfortunate that we all too soon become desensitised to such things. I want to be 5 again! I got lost in a forest when I was 5 or 6 and didn't find my way back out until midnight. That was scary.

I find that hard to believe. Where were your parents,the police etc?

[JamesF]

Being scared is only fun if you're aware that you'll probably be ok afterwards. That's why people ride rollercoasters and suchlike. Or it's only fun afterwards when you find out that there was actually nothing to worry about.

Last week I had the misfortune to have to have a lift from my father-in-law after dropping our car off for its MOT. It's about a five mile trip home, perhaps a little more, and there was almost no point during the trip when I didn't feel like there was a better than average chance of us having a serious accident. Now I'm not a nervous person in cars (or motorbikes). I've indulged in my fair share of foolishness (mostly off-road, fortunately), ridden motorbikes on the track an so on, but this was the first time ever that I have been really, genuinely scared and feared for my life in a vehicle. It wasn't fun then; it hasn't been fun since and I will never willingly be a passenger in a vehicle that he is driving ever again. I'm not at all looking forward to having the "I will not allow my children in your car because you're a danger to yourself and all those around you" conversation, but it's going to have to come That's properly scared, and it's never going to be funny

James

[clunsey73]

Oh boy - he must be bad!

[JamesF]

He doesn't even get close to merely bad I have to be honest been a bit concerned about his driving for some time though I'd not realised quite how bad it has become. Two days ago he even managed to roll the ride-on lawnmower. Fortunately he wasn't hurt more than a few cuts and grazes, but afterwards he told me, with a completely straight face (and he's not given to making jokes anyhow) that (I swear this is true) "a tree got in the way". I did have to make excuses and find something else to do at that point because I had no idea how to respond.

James

[wxsatuser]

Don't worry about the animals, it's the Zombies you have to watchout for.