It's part and parcel of having kids like ours. My son overheard a friend telling us that the vet thinks it was a coyote that got her little doggie (doggie lived), and after that.... that's all I heard any time we went outside our house. Trash night? What about the coyote. Time to catch the bus? What about the coyote. We have since moved and so glad for that since I don't have to hear about a coyote. And we lived in a small town where a coyote would have definitely been a very rare occurrence.
He is also very sensitive to death. We do a lot to try to vet books and movies until he can handle it better. But you can't always scout out every exhibit ahead of time or know just what fact they will latch on to. All you can do is let them know that they are safe.
I say this as a person who watched Amadeus in 1984 and didn't sleep for months afraid of Black Death. I think if you had instances of childhood fears, you're more sensitive and worry more about them being scarred for life.
And sleep paralysis... ugh. I did feel a lot better about it after I learned more about it. Once I remember waking up and staring at the green walls. Only my walls were white. I eventually painted them the green I saw
I don't get it often, but as GI Joe says, knowing is half the battle.
