My uncle's forest
My uncle lives in the Pacific North West of the USA, in the San Juan Islands. If you've ever seen "Wargames" then you'll have seen them as the place where Professor Falken lives. Anyway...

He lives in a house in the forest. It's only 20m from the road but it's still in the forest. My Dad and I went to visit back in 1986, and we went for a stroll around the forest, so that Uncle could show us his tree farming techniques. (Actually quite interesting.)

Twilight fell fast on the way back, and we have about quarter of a mile to get back through the forest. And Uncle starts talking about evolved reflexes for danger, and how the forest at night is just about the worst place for a plains ape to be caught.

About how, in every shadow, we see something there to get us.

About how, in every pit in the ground there is a snake.

Now, I'm pretty rational, and so is my Dad. Uncle is hyper-rational - he was a University Professor. The only animals I ever saw on the island were chipmunks, although there is a family of racoons nearby too, apparently.

And yet we ended up practically running home having psyched each other out so much with tales of things that weren't there.

So, when someone has a perfectly rational explanation of something scary, I think back to that night and realise that it's not the rational part of your mind that works you adrenal glands. So we need to cut everyone some slack.

Especially in the dark.
( Amish Information Systems hates misplaced, commas, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 22:13, 1 reply)

Now I haven't seen WG
since we had the VHS, that must have been 15 odd years ago.

But as I remember, you should have been scared of the remote-controlled pterodactyl!
( Rookie You'll have to speak up, I'm wearing a towel, Tue 28 Jul 2009, 9:20, closed)