You somehow magically sense something there through your eyes, but you don’t see it at all. It’s stronger if you don’t look at it directly and move your head about a little. It’s like there’s an unconscious observer reporting where things are, and you just take the info and acknowledge it, but you don’t see it. Anyone else get this?
it’s very likely you are still seeing stuff. Total darkness is incredibly difficult to achive, there will always be a little bit of light leaking in somewhere. The cells in the middle of your retina are less sensitive to changes in brightness but can see colour very well, while the edge of your vision is more light sensitive but can mostly just see black and white. This has the effect that when it is very dark, vision is reduced to the edges of your field of view, hence if you look away slightly it is easier to see things.