What is so thrilling about darkness?

I think it's the though of the unseen. Our imagination fill the gaps with uneasy things, that's lurking in the shadows. Unnoticed you accelerate your steps and then you heard something behind you. Of course it's only frosty leaves and crackling streetlight, isn't it?

I remember those chilly camp nights when bunch of kids gathered around the fire to tell stories. The one story particularly fills me with good memories.

It was a scouts camp and we went to a deep forest. The teenagers (ages 14-16) were supervising us kids (ages 10-12). So, nothing could go wrong, right. It was pitch-dark and we stayed at the small cabin. There was a closet and it's door had an bloody handprint. We were told that a girl was killed with an axe. The girl tried to escape but died. If your handprint matches to a bloody hand the axeman would come and kill you too.

I wonder why the murderer was always male. Anyhow, one of the teenager said that now one of us must touch the blood. That way the girl wouldn't come to haunt us and we could sleep at the cabin.Teenagers taunted us scaredy-cats and finally the bravest kid let's call him Shad said he will do it. Other kids including me watched with flashlights (the ultimate weapon) ready when Shad approached the door. He then put his hand on a bloody handprint and it fit perfectly. Nothing happened and we sighed in relief. Suddenly a dark figure attacked from the closet roaring and hitting the bloody axe in the wall.

We screamed and tried to escape. It was a little chaos that broke off when the teenagers started laughing. ”Axeman” laughs one's head off and we realize he's one of the teenagers. Teenagers told us that it's scouts camp tradition and the blood is only paint. Then we went outside and roasted sweet-bun-on-a-stick (tikkupulla in finnish). I still remember Shad because he had a plastic lure with him.

As a kid I was never scared of dark. We had fun playing flashlight tag for hours. I never thought anything could harm me. Now I'm more aware that there's something threatening that follows.