In folklore, the witching hour is the deepest part of night when supernatural events happen. It is when terrifying demons and witches practice their magic, in children’s fables at least.

But I believe even fairy tales have logical origins. The witching hour is said to occur around 3am, give or take a few hours. This is also when “sleep maintenance” insomniacs wake up, unable to fall asleep again. I think historically, there would be little to see or hear around 3am. Your senses are heightened, so the slightest noise or light can have a sinister undertone. A creaking floor, or a demonic visitor? The moon’s reflection, or a wandering shapeshifter? According to some, the witching hour is when our mind is most creative. Maybe some of those creative insomniacs liked to write fairy tales?

The other logic of the witching hour is that sleep has long been a metaphor for death. In The Sleeper, a poem by Edgar Allan Poe (a famous insomniac himself) describes a beautiful woman’s death:

A conscious slumber seems to take,
And would not for the world awake.
All beauty sleeps! — and, lo! where lies 
With casement open to the skies, 
Irene with her destinies!

Therefore, maybe the witching hour insomniacs were reminded of death when they saw their peacefully sleeping housemates. Another reason to introduce a mystical element to being awake at that time.