It may depend on what the person fears.

I have friends who don't spend much time outdoors, and they got very nervous when they heard coyotes howling in the distance on a camping trip. The next morning, they said they didn't sleep well because they kept 'hearing things outside the tent' and thought it was coyotes.

Maybe some people would be more afraid of people... you know, the serial killers who stalk campers. ;-)

Me, I'm afraid of bears, garbage can bears in particular. Met 'em, couldn't scare them off, they give me the creeps. To me, sounds are bears. Look outside, it's a raccoon or a squirrel or the wind. But it sounds like a bear to me.

That's why I travel with a dog most of the time. I look at her, she twitches an ear and goes back to sleep, I'm okay. It's that very low growl when *I* don't hear anything that makes my hair stand up. That stalking walk and peering into the darkness...

The personification of our fears...

Sue