I've always been the type that's had trouble falling asleep at night. When I was about her age... probably 4 or 5, I remember lying awake at night and the shadows in my closet started looking like different things. One night, I decided that one looked like Dracula. Not only that, but in the dark, my eyes would kind of play tricks on me and I would see those little patterns moving around and I thought it looked like "Dracula" was shooting lasers at me.
Like your daughter, I remember knowing that this was only a shadow and my imagination. I knew that Dracula was not in my closet and there were no laser beams, but I still didn't like it. I think I've had a thing about closing my closet door since then. Somehow it seemed better to think about other things than Dracula, even if I knew he wasn't there.
Maybe it's the same sort of thing. Who knows... interesting what kids come up with :).
That reminds me of an experience I had when I was about 25. I was lying in bed (by myself) in the dark, looking at the shadows on the ceiling. I gradually formed the impression that there was a dark shape floating a couple of feet above me. It was about six feet long, 2-3 feet wide, and irregular in profile. The word "shroud" came to mind.
Rationally, I knew that this was just a trick of the light and, in order to dispel the illusion, I reached my hand up, through where the object appeared to be. To my surprise, instead of empty space, my hand encountered rough sackcloth.
With some alacrity, I turned on the light. There was nothing there. After a while, I turned the light out again. There were no shadows that I could relate to this illusion.
No, I was not under the influence of drugs or more than a moderate amount of alcohol.
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Time to feed the unicorns ...
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Like your daughter, I remember knowing that this was only a shadow and my imagination. I knew that Dracula was not in my closet and there were no laser beams, but I still didn't like it. I think I've had a thing about closing my closet door since then. Somehow it seemed better to think about other things than Dracula, even if I knew he wasn't there.
Maybe it's the same sort of thing. Who knows... interesting what kids come up with :).
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Rationally, I knew that this was just a trick of the light and, in order to dispel the illusion, I reached my hand up, through where the object appeared to be. To my surprise, instead of empty space, my hand encountered rough sackcloth.
With some alacrity, I turned on the light. There was nothing there. After a while, I turned the light out again. There were no shadows that I could relate to this illusion.
No, I was not under the influence of drugs or more than a moderate amount of alcohol.
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If you want a rationalist explanation: it was a dream.
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