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Writer: Kayt
Kayt
3 minutes ago
5 min read

The Dark Isn't Scary. Losing It Is.

This Halloween, let's talk about something disappearing right before our eyes: the night itself. And why everything from bats to butterflies to our own bodies needs us to bring a little darkness back.


Remember when the dark was actually dark?

Not the power went out, and now the Wi-Fi doesn't work dark. I mean the kind of darkness that made the trees look a little suspicious. When every rustle in the leaves might have been a monster, and the stars seemed to go on forever.


We used to be afraid of what was hiding in the dark.


Turns out, we probably should be more afraid of what happens when it disappears.


Because while we've been busy illuminating driveways, buildings, billboards, parking lots, and seemingly every square inch of suburbia, we've been chasing away something that nature desperately needs.

And this Halloween, I think it's time we gave darkness a little respect.


Once Upon a Dark and Stormy Night...

Long before inflatable skeletons and pumpkin spice everything, humans had a complicated relationship with darkness.


Night meant uncertainty. Without electricity, the world beyond the reach of a candle, lantern, or fire could be genuinely dangerous. So, naturally, we filled that darkness with stories. Ghosts. Witches. Creatures lurking just beyond the light.

Halloween itself has roots in Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival marking the end of the harvest and the arrival of winter's longer, darker nights. People believed the boundary between the living and the dead grew thin during this time, and bonfires and disguises helped protect them from wandering spirits.


Whether those spirits were real or not, the darkness certainly was.


For thousands of years, our ancestors lived beneath skies overflowing with stars. Those stars helped people navigate, track seasons, tell stories, and make sense of their place in the universe.


Then came widespread electric lighting, and we discovered we could keep the darkness at bay.


An incredible advancement? Absolutely.


But somewhere along the way, we seem to have confused having light when we need it with needing light all the time.


📷 Kayt Myers
📷 Kayt Myers

Something Wicked This Way Glows

Here's a scary statistic that has nothing to do with haunted houses: A 2023 study published in Science, drawing on more than 51,000 citizen-science observations, found that the average brightness of the night sky increased approximately 9.6% per year between 2011 and 2022 across the locations studied.


That's a startling amount of change in a remarkably short time.


It's called light pollution, and unlike the trash we can see in a ditch or the smog hanging over a city, we don't always recognize it as pollution. We just see lights.


But all those unnecessary beams, glowing buildings, and bright security fixtures add up. Artificial light scatters through the atmosphere, creating skyglow that washes out the stars, sometimes far beyond the places producing it.


We're literally lighting up the sky until we can no longer see what's in it.


And the missing stars are only part of the story.


The Creatures of the Night Would Like to Have a Word

Halloween has given bats, owls, spiders, and other nighttime residents a pretty horrific reputation.


But in the natural world, these creatures aren't villains. They're working the night shift. And darkness isn't merely the backdrop. It's part of their habitat.


What Happens When We Leave the Lights On?


Bats and other nocturnal wildlife: Artificial lighting can change where animals travel, hunt, and feed. Some bat species exploit insects gathered around lights, while others avoid illuminated areas altogether. Either way, we're changing the rules of their nighttime world.


Migrating birds: Many birds migrate after sunset. Bright lights can attract and disorient them, sometimes causing them to circle buildings until they're exhausted or collide with structures. Fall migration happens to overlap with the Halloween season, which can be terrible timing.


Fireflies: Those magical blinking lights are actually a sophisticated communication system, often used to find mates. Artificial lighting can interfere with those signals. Imagine trying to find your date at a candlelit restaurant while somebody keeps blinding you with stadium lights.


Moths and other nighttime pollinators: Pollination doesn't punch out at sunset. In one field study, artificially illuminated areas received 62% fewer nocturnal visits to flowers than dark areas. Those disruptions can affect the plants that depend on nighttime pollinators.


And yes, humans belong on this list too. Our bodies evolved with the natural rhythms of day and night. Exposure to artificial light at inappropriate times, particularly blue-rich light, can interfere with the internal clocks that help regulate sleep.


But Isn't Darkness Dangerous?

Sometimes, yes. Nobody is suggesting we send trick-or-treaters down unlit streets or remove the lighting that helps people navigate sidewalks and parking lots safely.


Responsible lighting matters. A lot.


But brighter doesn't automatically mean safer.


Poorly aimed floodlights can create glare, make it difficult to see into shadows, and illuminate places that don't need to be illuminated. The solution isn't to eliminate useful lighting. It's to get smarter about how we use it.


Light where it's needed. When it's needed. In the amount that's needed.


That's the whole idea behind responsible outdoor lighting, and organizations such as DarkSky International are helping communities put those principles into practice.


Five Ways to Give Darkness a Fighting Chance

Here's the lovely thing about light pollution: Unlike many environmental problems, some of its effects can begin to disappear the moment we flip a switch.


No expensive equipment. No major lifestyle overhaul. No guilt trip required.

  • Give your porch light a bedtime. Keep it on while welcoming trick-or-treaters, of course. But once the candy bowl is empty, let the night take over.

  • Aim down, not out or up. Shield outdoor fixtures so they illuminate steps and paths rather than trees, neighboring yards, and the sky.

  • Warm things up. When replacing bulbs, choose lower-intensity, warm-colored lighting instead of harsh, blue-white light whenever practical.

  • Try a little automation. Motion sensors and timers provide lighting when it's useful without keeping everything illuminated until sunrise.

  • Make darkness part of your next adventure. Find a safe spot away from bright lights, give your eyes 20–30 minutes to adjust, and look up. Better yet, take someone who's never experienced a truly star-filled sky.


Want to go a step further? Ask your neighborhood association, business district, or local government about dark-sky-friendly outdoor lighting. Changes to shared spaces can make a difference far beyond one backyard.


Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

There's something wonderfully fitting about talking about darkness at Halloween. For centuries, we've used this holiday to celebrate the mystery of the night. We've dressed as its creatures, invented monsters to inhabit it, and told spooky stories around flickering fires. But the real magic of darkness was never the monsters we imagined hiding there. It was the extraordinary life that actually was.

The owl hunting silently through the trees. The moth visiting a flower nobody else will see. The tiny firefly flashing its message into the summer night. The migrating bird following an ancient route beneath the stars. And, of course, that moment when you look up into a truly dark sky and remember just how enormous and extraordinary this world really is.


We don't need to turn back the clock or live by candlelight to protect that.

We just need to remember that the night belongs to more than us.


So this Halloween, enjoy the costumes, the candy, the glowing jack-o'-lanterns, and all the things that go bump in the night.


Then, when the festivities are over, turn off a light or two. The dark has been waiting for us. And there's still plenty of magic left in it.


Want to Dig Deeper?


The author is a volunteer DarkSky International Advocate and proudly supports its mission to protect the night from light pollution.


This story is part of The 89 Percent Project, an initiative of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now.

 
 
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