Ch'i

I think its the movies fault. We probably would never have even considered stuff hiding and waiting to kill us if we never saw it on TV or movies.
I get freaked out sometimes too. Its that damn imagination. It starts going off on these freaky tangents and doesn't quit. I can just be sitting in my room reading, and I'll think I hear someone comming down the hall, which then leads my imagination to project all of these possibilities of what it might be. When I was little I tried counter imagining; I would imagine something else beating on whatever I was worried about. If I thought there was a demon, or some guy, leaning over me in my bed I would imagine another creature pulling it away and beating it soundly for a few minutes. Currently I've been trying the confrontation method; thorough investigation of the cause, and direct confrontation of the fear. Lao Tzu was right when he said "Conquering yourself makes you fearless."

My worst experience with this kind of thing wasn't in a bathroom, however.

I was at my parent's friend's house in Grass Valey, CA a year ago. They live pretty high up in a sparsely populated, somewhat remote, retirement community surrounded by forest. Anyway, I'd just had dinner a few hours ago and thought I'd go outside for a jog. Now, there's a private runway for the communities' pilots about 200 ft away, perpendicular(sp?) to the front of the house. So I, the genius that I am, started my jog at around 11:30 pm, and it was pitch black outside; much darker than it ever gets in a town, becuase of the remoteness. Guided by the few lights in front of the houses, and the sparse moonlight, I jogged down the runway going from one end to the other. After the third time back, I was about 400 yards away from the house, I stopped to catch my breath, when I heard that cliché branch snap nearby. I looked around but really couldn't see anything but the distant houses, and the silhouette of the forest's tree line against the stars. I heard some more quiet sounds, and this time it came from my left and right side about 20 ft. off. By then I was in that state where you're completely still, silent, and listening intently; it felt like my brain was throbbing. The thing that really started to get to me was that when I began to listen both sounds stopped completely. Dead silence. Man was it eerie! I didn't know whether my imagination was messing with me or what. After about 20 seconds of complete silence I heard a very brief growl DIRECTLY in front of me. Almost shit my pants! I made a B-line strait down that runway faster than I think I've ever ran in my life.