Reverse Pareidolia
“Rules for Survival: Don’t look into mirrors in the dark.”
I’ve thought this exact sentence for as long as I can remember. Every late night trip to the bathroom, every dimly lit hallway, even reflective surfaces in nature after dark. Don’t look in the mirrors. Simple.
People I’ve known in the past had the same rule, and some former friends even had a problem with my house at night. I happen to like mirrors and have terrible eyesight. No worries about seeing the mirrors at all once the house is dark. Just leave the glasses off and direct my eyes toward the floor if I need to pee after bedtime.
Today, however, I was walking back to bed at around 4 AM. An unfamiliar thought wormed its way up from the sleeping sludge of my mind even as the tiny warning hairs on the back of my neck stood up straight to check the surroundings for danger as I passed one mirror, then another. Why did so many of us fear darkened mirrors?
Laying back in bed (perhaps closer to my sleeping husband than necessary), I considered the old creepypasta about humans fearing anything that looks like us but not quite. The Uncanny Valley phenomenon. The original author posed the question “What looked similar to us in our history that we’ve evolved to be so afraid of?”
That one was easy enough to write off years ago when I’d first read it. We fear corpses, which look like-but-not-like us, because they mean one or all of the Three D’s; Danger, Disease, and Death. A body without life in it looks wrong. When we die sometimes our closest loved ones have trouble recognizing us.
What is a mirror? Just a reflective surface. It shows you yourself only backward. Perhaps it’s just the uncanny valley effect or some reverse pareidolia; your face ceases to look like a face because the darkness changes its shape too much for a nervous or tired brain to readily accept. Certain pagans and practitioners of witchcraft believe mirrors are portals and use them for ritual purposes. What do we see if we’re brave enough... or perhaps foolish enough... to lift our gaze and witness what they reflect in the dark?
Sleep came slowly after that, but it came. Some questions keep me up at night. This one didn’t. Don’t look in the mirror. Simple.
My husband and I got out of bed a bit after dawn. We got dressed, planned our days, and I was left on my own for the work day shortly after. It’s winter here and it gets dark so early that it’s often pitch black outside before I see another human face.
Unless I look in a mirror, of course.
