For a certain slice of ’90s kids, Are You Afraid of the Dark? wasn’t just a TV show—it was the definitive late-night experience, a kind of bootleg Twilight Zone for kids who thought Goosebumps books were a little too basic. It aired on Nickelodeon, which meant it was supposed to be for children, but it always felt like it was for someone slightly older—like that weird cousin who let you watch Scream before your parents thought you could handle it.
And if you were into Are You Afraid of the Dark?, you probably remember Raine Pare-Coull, the actress who played Betty Ann, one of the Midnight Society’s most reliable members. Betty Ann was the one with the creepy, offbeat stories—the kind that didn’t just scare you, but made you feel vaguely uneasy for reasons you couldn’t quite articulate. She had a quiet weirdness, the energy of someone who read Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark in broad daylight and didn’t flinch. And then, like so many people from the golden age of Nickelodeon, she disappeared.
The Mystery of Raine Pare-Coull
Unlike some of her co-stars, who popped up in other ’90s TV shows before fading into sitcom obscurity, Raine Pare-Coull seemed to vanish into the ether. She didn’t follow the classic child-star trajectory of Nickelodeon fame → awkward teen roles → regrettable reality show appearances. She just stopped. She did a few things after Are You Afraid of the Dark?, but nothing that made it seem like she was gunning for Hollywood. She wasn’t the kid actor who desperately chased post-Nickelodeon clout. She wasn’t trying to pivot to a CW drama. She was just gone.
Except, if you go digging, she’s still around—just not in the way you’d expect.
Her LinkedIn (which, let’s be honest, is where half of us go to confirm someone is still alive) lists her as working in scheduling at CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. That means she’s still in the industry, technically, but in the most behind-the-scenes, un-Googleable way possible. She’s not chasing stardom. She’s not making a Where Are They Now? documentary. She’s just… living her life.
And then there’s her YouTube channel—a quiet little relic of early YouTube days, where the only videos she’s uploaded are clips of her daughter singing and dancing from 10 and 11 years ago. No vlogs, no reaction videos, no desperate attempts to monetize nostalgia. Just a mom sharing some sweet family moments.
The Ultimate Vanishing Act
In an era where every former child star seems to have a podcast, a memoir, or at least a heavily curated Instagram presence, Raine Pare-Coull remains a ghost. And honestly? That’s kind of incredible. It’s as if she slipped through the cracks of pop culture on purpose, like she knew that the best way to stay memorable was to never reappear.
The Midnight Society was all about telling stories that left you unsettled, that made you wonder what happened after the screen faded to black. Raine Pare-Coull might be the greatest Are You Afraid of the Dark? mystery of all—an actress who walked away, left no breadcrumbs, and never looked back.
If she ever decides to step into the limelight again, she’d find a whole generation of former Nickelodeon kids ready to welcome her back. Until then, she remains what she always was: a voice in the dark, a storyteller at the edge of the firelight, a whisper from a childhood we only half-remember.
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