From horror movies to ghost stories, darkness has historically been associated with scary things. It is not for nothing that many people are afraid of the dark, especially children, but why? 

There is actually a specific reason behind this fear and it goes beyond the scary stories you've seen in movies. 

Being afraid of the dark is known as "prepared fear" according to experts. So that means that we are predisposed or prepared to develop a kind of fear towards certain phenomena, compared to others. The fear of the dark is almost the same as the fear that people have of heights, scorpions, snakes, etc... What really scares us is the unknown - so in the dark we don't know what might be in front of us. 

This type of fear can also be the result of some events that happened in life. For example, a traumatic experience that may have happened to you at night, an abuse, theft, kidnapping, etc. What you need to know is that fear of the dark can turn into something else. It is very important to identify this fear and notice if it affects your daily activities or your well-being. If this type of fear also affects relationships with people, then we have a more serious problem and professional help is needed. 

Source: Huffington Post