From the earliest of my memories when I was young, I remember Mom used to tell me to not look towards a particularly dark corner in the room.
This was her strategy to make me sleep quickly, but it would end up having the opposite effect, as my overly active imagination would create all sorts of scenarios that would not let me sleep, so it was kind of ironic for her to keep trying the same thing.
Eventually though, I kind of became curious about "the thing that lived in the corner" and would actively go there to get a reaction.
I think it was probably the earliest interest I had developed in horror. Which would later influence me to read horror and actively seek out the macabre.
This freewrite was inpired by this prompt here.
