# Why do I sometimes get a strange sense of terror that a "monster" is close?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 4, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127 "2017-06-04T20:58:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/21 "2017-06-05T20:29:14Z")
I don’t think “monsters” are near by, but I do sometimes get a sense of impending doom. Generally just shake it off.
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### Author:  [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/22 "2017-06-05T20:58:36Z")
No Dude, you are the monsters.
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### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/23 "2017-06-05T21:08:48Z")
> [@Riemann](#):
>
> Well, all except Mothra.
Great Now what. A ring of lights outside the tent and darkness inside? How do we stop them all?!?!?!:eek:
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/24 "2017-06-05T21:17:11Z")
> [@Daylate](#):
>
> OhMyGod, what if it turned out to be an evil blimp?? I’d run screaming from the house!
[Then you might not want to read this.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=160851)
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/25 "2017-06-05T21:18:35Z")
> [@Lemur866](#):
>
> No Dude, you are the monsters.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5oGJTUpbpA&t=2m26s)
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/26 "2017-06-05T21:18:58Z")
> [@Riemann](#):
>
> Well, all except Mothra.
You totally win the thread. Bravo!
As to our dear lil’ buddy **dude** : you really need to binge read the entire output of Stephen King. Once you’re scared of cars, dogs, and little girls, the dark will hold no special monsters for you.
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### Author:  [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/27 "2017-06-05T21:25:12Z")
Nah. [Couldn’t be…](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1KEl9M67Ek)
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/28 "2017-06-05T22:04:08Z")
**dude robert** –post-concussion, I had that issue, for several months.
It went away.
Were you knocked out, or maybe take a strong smack to the head?
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2017, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/29 "2017-06-06T01:34:10Z")
> [@Trinopus](#):
>
> I’m a full-grown adult, and I still get “haunts” in the darkness. I think it may be how our brains are hard-wired to be wary of threats.
Yep. I know that the horror novel I’m reading way too late at night is **really** scary if I start to worry about looking in the mirror because it might not be me in the reflection. When we get scared we think of silly stuff.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2017, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/30 "2017-06-06T01:54:03Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#):
>
> **dude robert** –post-concussion, I had that issue, for several months.
> It went away.
>
> Were you knocked out, or maybe take a strong smack to the head?
Naah. Just too much strong smack. 😃
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### Author:  [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2017, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/31 "2017-06-06T03:06:03Z")
I think I once had some anxiety like the OP, but having lived alone for many years it’s a distant memory.
So…you’ll get over it, I guess.
Nowadays I regularly watch horror movies with the lights out last thing before going to bed.
If I then hear a loud bang…“Meh, probably a photo frame fell off the wall”.
If I hear a voice whispering…“Jeez, I must have left my MP3 player on again”
Only thing that affects me is the buzz of a mosquito that I subsequently can’t find…hard to get to sleep after that…
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2017, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/32 "2017-06-06T03:30:05Z")
There’s a monster at the end of this thread.
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### Author:  [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2017, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/33 "2017-06-06T03:42:41Z")
That’s Godwin’s law in action.
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### Author:  [@dude\_robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dude_robert)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2017, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/34 "2017-06-06T07:50:16Z")
> [@Mijin](#):
>
> I think I once had some anxiety like the OP, but having lived alone for many years it’s a distant memory.
> So…you’ll get over it, I guess.
>
> Nowadays I regularly watch horror movies with the lights out last thing before going to bed.
> If I then hear a loud bang…“Meh, probably a photo frame fell off the wall”.
> If I hear a voice whispering…“Jeez, I must have left my MP3 player on again”
>
> Only thing that affects me is the buzz of a mosquito that I subsequently can’t find…hard to get to sleep after that…
Huh, I hear the mosquito buzzes all the time, usually after I turn the lights off and are about to fall asleep, I can hear them doing fly-bys. But then when I turn the lights back on, they’re still flying around so I chase them around the room and kill them, because there are no fly swatters, so I have to just crush them with my hand.
But a few times there have been constant loops of this. I hear them buzzing, I get up and kill 3 or 4 of them (this takes about 10-20 minutes), I go back to bed, then I hear the buzzing again! Once it just kept going and going and going so I eventually just covered myself completely and ignored them.
I think they sometimes come in through the ceiling air vents or something.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2017, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/35 "2017-06-06T10:23:18Z")
> [@dude\_robert](#):
>
> I think they sometimes come in through the ceiling air vents or something.
That’s where the pinhole cameras are.
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### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2017, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/36 "2017-06-06T12:26:01Z")
Because it’s IN THE HOUSE!!!
Also you might not be getting enough sleep and drinking too much caffeine.
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### Author:  [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2017, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/37 "2017-06-06T14:26:24Z")
> [@dude\_robert](#):
>
> Huh, I hear the mosquito buzzes all the time, usually after I turn the lights off and are about to fall asleep, I can hear them doing fly-bys. But then when I turn the lights back on, they’re still flying around so I chase them around the room and kill them, because there are no fly swatters, so I have to just crush them with my hand.
>
> But a few times there have been constant loops of this. I hear them buzzing, I get up and kill 3 or 4 of them (this takes about 10-20 minutes), I go back to bed, then I hear the buzzing again! Once it just kept going and going and going so I eventually just covered myself completely and ignored them.
>
> I think they sometimes come in through the ceiling air vents or something.
You know they sell flyswatters, right?
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### Author:  [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/38 "2017-06-06T21:43:41Z")
> [@dude\_robert](#):
>
> Huh, I hear the mosquito buzzes all the time, usually after I turn the lights off and are about to fall asleep, I can hear them doing fly-bys. But then when I turn the lights back on, they’re still flying around so I chase them around the room and kill them, because there are no fly swatters, so I have to just crush them with my hand.
>
> But a few times there have been constant loops of this. I hear them buzzing, I get up and kill 3 or 4 of them (this takes about 10-20 minutes), I go back to bed, then I hear the buzzing again! Once it just kept going and going and going so I eventually just covered myself completely and ignored them.
>
> I think they sometimes come in through the ceiling air vents or something.
The meth can also make you think bugs are on or around you.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2017, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-sometimes-get-a-strange-sense-of-terror-that-a-monster-is-close/788127/39 "2017-06-07T01:42:09Z")
Whatever you do, don’t read up on [Delusional parasitosis - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusional_parasitosis) late in the evening. The wee beasties are everywhere. Most are nocturnal. And you can’t defend yourself while sleeping.
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