The Darkest Hour

At the Devil’s Hour, the three o’clock nighttime that sharpens and heightens our deepest trepidations, the time when our perturbations possess us, when our forebodings are most fearful, the time when demons, spirits, and monsters of the deep magic work their wiles, when the darkest of black curtains cover the stars and when the earth has swallowed the moon, the witches of the night weaken our will and waken our most gloomy dreads. 

In other words, when we are under stress we often wake around 3 in the morning and may have difficulty falling back asleep again. 

Some believe that at 3 AM devils are most active. They say that since Christ died at three in the afternoon then three in the morning is the polar opposite opening the door for dastardly deeds of demons. 

A paranormal website claims 3:33 AM is the time when the veil between our world and the spirit world is the thinnest, allowing the ghostly spirits to cross over easier.  

Urban legend proposes that police are most often called at 3 AM. Perhaps that is the time that drunks are drunkest. 

My fellow medical students and I were convinced that more babies were born in the early morning hours than any other time, attributing this belief to the time cortisol levels are lowest. I believe this myth has been disproven but I didn’t take the time to look it up. 

The scientific minded attribute early morning waking to a drop in melatonin; others, to a drop in serotonin. 

But nighttime can also alert our senses to black possibilities. The eerie silence created by the electrical shutdown attunes us to more subtle nighttime sounds. The cooler night air constricts wood causing popping and creaking sounds. Darkness accentuates shadows and distorts objects. 

Many years ago when our neighbors home had been burglarized alerting us to the dangers of the night Vicki and I were awakened by a loud crash coming from the kitchen area. I jumped out of bed, grabbed the 20-gauge out of the closet but when I couldn’t find the shells turned the shotgun into a baseball bat and rushed into the kitchen only to find the refrigerator ice dispenser had sorcerer-like spit cubes on the floor. 

Chagrined I returned to find Vicki had locked the bedroom door and was in bed with the covers pulled over her head. In sickness and in health…really! 

The best cure for early morning waking is a glass of milk and a dull book.