By Kelly Clements
In European folklore, the witching hour is the time when supernatural creatures such as witches, demons and ghosts are thought to be at their most powerful, and black magic at its most effective. This hour is typically midnight, and the term may now be used to refer to midnight, or any late hour, even without having the associated superstitious beliefs. The term "witching hour" can also refer to the period from midnight to 3am, while "devils hour" refers to the time around 3am.
One of the earliest known uses of the exact phrasing "the witching hour" is from the 1831 edition of Frankenstein in the introduction by Mary Shelley: "Night waned upon this talk, and even the witching hour had gone by before we retired to rest."
In 1835, the phrase appeared in the last line of a short story by Washington Irving: "Two pairs of eyes are watching me now, from the couch and the ledge by the window. Faerieland shines in those eyes. And I must leave you, for it's the witching hour and a full moon is rising. . . ."
However, variants of the phrase were in use much earlier; Shakespeare refers to "the witching time of night" in a soliloquy in Hamlet:
Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business as the day
Would quake to look on.
[Act III, sc. ii]
Midnight The Hour Of the Dead
Midnight is, literally, "the middle of the night." In most systems it is when one day ends and the next begins: when the date changes. Originally midnight was halfway between sunset and dawn, varying according to the seasons.
In traditional magical thinking, "midnight" refers to solar midnight, which is opposite solar noon. These form an axis linking the mundane world with otherworlds by being the apogee of darkness and the perigee of light. Thus, traditional midnight is associated with chaos, death, underworld and mystery. It was seen as a moment when sacrum manifests itself and epiphanies were most likely. The epiphanies expected were those associated with darkness, so it was thought that at midnight, visitation from spirits, ghosts, demons and devils were common.
All the supernatural creatures of darkness — reminiscent of feared nocturnal predators — were believed to haunt the night, their potency greatest at its central point, midnight. According to Slavic folklore, midnight was time when strigas rose from graves to suck the blood of mortals, zmoras assailed the sleeping to steal their breath, and devils came for sinners. Polish Jews believed that it was the time when dybbuks possessed people, causing insanity.
Witchcraft, hexes, voodoo curses and many actual spells can begin or end at midnight. Consider the story of Cinderella and what happens at the stroke of twelve. Necromancers, wizards and witches and even today's hi tech ghost hunters all believe ghosts are more active at this time more then any other time of the day.
As night's attributes are chaos and primordially, all the acts of summoning from otherworlds were easiest to perform at the culmination of the night. Supernatural entities like demons and devils universally answered a human call — be it death wish, curse of famine, prostration or pact with the devil. All the acts of sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy were easiest then. While some beliefs stated that elaborate rituals were needed, some other folklore ascribed unholy power to such simple acts as calling the devil at crossroads at midnight. Even peeking into a mirror at night (without a reliable clock one could never be certain what time it was) was dangerous, as the devil himself could have looked back.
Midnight was also the time to gather the ingredients used in magical acts done at other times, so various herbs were thought to be most potent when harvested at midnight.
In the modern world, midnight is the symbolic end of the world according to the Doomsday Clock
Solar midnight is that time opposite of solar noon, when the sun is closest to nadir and the night is equidistant from dusk and dawn. Due to the advent of time zones, which make time identical across a range of meridians, and daylight saving time, it rarely coincides with midnight on a clock. Solar midnight is dependent on longitude, latitude, altitude, and time of the year rather than on a time zone.
Midnight marks the beginning and ending of each day in civil time throughout the world. It is the dividing point between one day and another.
With 12-hour time notation, most authorities recommend avoiding confusion by using "midnight", "12 midnight", or "12:00 midnight".
Digital clocks and computers commonly display 12 a.m. for midnight. While that phrase may be used practically, it helps to understand that any particular time is actually an instant. The "a.m." shown on clock displays refers to the 12-hour period following the instant of midnight, not to the instant itself. In other words, 11:59 p.m. shows until midnight; at the instant of midnight it flips to 12:00. Simultaneously, the p.m. flips to a.m., though, strictly speaking, a.m. does not apply to the instant of midnight which separates p.m. and a.m.
In 24-hour time notation, "00:00" and "00:00:00" refer to midnight at the start of a given date. Some styles allow 24:00 to refer to the end of a day. Noon is 12:00:00.
While computers and digital clocks display "12:00 a.m." and "12:00 p.m.", those notations provide no clear and unambiguous way to distinguish between midnight and noon. It is actually improper to use "a.m." and "p.m." when referring to 12:00. The abbreviation a.m. stands for ante meridiem or before noon and p.m. stands for post meridiem or after noon. Since noon and midnight are neither after noon nor before noon, neither abbreviation is correct (although the length of the error is determined by the smallest unit of time — 12:00:01 p.m. would be correctly notated). Similarly, midnight is both twelve hours before as well as twelve hours after noon, so both are ambiguous as to the date intended.
The most common ways to represent these times are, (a) to use a 24-hour clock (00:00 and 12:00, 24:00), (b) to use "12 noon" or "12 midnight", although unless the person is referring to a general time and not a specific day, "12 midnight" is still ambiguous, (c) to specify it between two successive days or dates (Midnight Saturday/Sunday or Midnight December 14/15), and (d) to use "12:01 a.m." or "11:59 p.m." This final usage is common in the travel industry, especially train and plane schedules, to avoid confusion as to passengers' schedules. The U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual recommends the opposite, that noon is 12 p.m. and midnight is 12 a.m.
Some religious calendars continue to begin the day at another time — for example, at dusk in the Hebrew calendar and the Islamic calendar.
The disappearance of sunlight, the primary energy source for life on Earth, has dramatic impacts on the morphology, physiology and behavior of almost every organism. Some animals sleep during the night, while other nocturnal animals including moths and crickets are active during this time. The effects of day and night are not seen in the animal kingdom alone, plants have also evolved adaptations to cope best with the lack of sunlight during this time. For example, crassulacean acid metabolism in a unique type of carbon fixation which allows photosynthetic plants to store carbon dioxide in their tissues as organic acids during the night, which can then be used during the day to synthesize carbohydrates. This allows them to keep their stomata closed during the daytime, preventing transpiration of precious water.
Nyctophobia is a limiting and disabling disease characterized by a frenzied fear of the darkness. It is triggered by the mind’s disfigured perceptivity of what would or could happen when in a dark environment. Despite its pervasive nature, there has been a lack of etiological research on the subject. The fear of darkness (nyctophobia) is a psychologically-impacted feeling of being disposed from comfort to a fear-evoking state. The fear of darkness or night has several non-clinical terminologies--lygophobia, scotophobia and achluophobia. Nyctophobia is a phobia generally related to children but, according to J. Adrian Williams’ article titled, Indirect Hypnotic Therapy of Nyctophobia: A Case Report, many clinics with pediatric patients have a great chance of having adults who have nyctophobia. The same article states that “the phobia has been known to be extremely disruptive to adult patients and… incapacitating
The fear of the dark is a common fear among children and to a varying degree is observed for adults. The pathological fear of the dark is sometimes called nyctophobia (from Greek νυξ, "night" and φοβια, phobia), scotophobia, from σκότος - "darkness", or lygophobia, from λυγή - "twilight".
Some researchers, beginning with Sigmund Freud, consider the fear of the dark as a manifestation of separation anxiety . In the 1960s scientists conducted experiments to discover molecules responsible for memory. In one experiment rats, normally nocturnal animals, were conditioned to fear the dark and a substance, called scotophobin that was apparently responsible for remembering this fear was extracted from rats' brains. Subsequently these findings were debunked.
The fear of the dark is heightened by imagination: a stuffed toy may appear a monster with many teeth and bulging eyes in the dark. Nightmares contribute to the fear of the dark as well: after waking up because of a nightmare the child may refuse to go to bed without lights on. Fear of dark is a phase of child development. Most observers report that fear of the dark seldom appears before the age of 2 years. Fear of the dark is not fear of the absence of light, but fear of possible or imagined dangers concealed by the darkness.
There are several different reactions observed in people who have nyctophobia. James G. Hollandsworth’s Physiology and Behavior Therapy states that for a person to be diagnosed with a phobia they must have 4-12 symptoms. The different possible conventional symptoms many of the phobias have in correlation include “dyspnea (“air hunger”), palpitation (rapid beating of the heart), chest pain or discomfort, choking or smothering sensations, dizziness or vertigo, feelings of unreality, paresthesia (tingling in the hands and feet), hot or cold flashes, sweating, faintness, trembling or shaking, and a fear of dying, going crazy, or doing something uncontrollable.” These few symptoms all categorically fall in as either a physical, emotional, and/or mental reactions. Those who suffer from nyctophobia generally experience fast heart-beating, sweating, hard time breathing and overwhelming fright. The extremity of the symptoms depends on how severe the subject’s case of nyctophobia is. Nyctophobia, like many other phobias, causes a mental derangement leading to one’s inability to cope with things during night times. Anticipation of darkness for nyctophobic patients may affect their entire day. Depression is a possible side-effect for someone with nyctophobia. There have been few tests and experimentations; although, the few credible experiments have put some light on what nyctophobia really is. Nyctophobia is a dangerous disease.
Also please see: The Significance of 3:AM by Demonologist Kenneth Deel