Okay, at this age, they DO still have night time fears. Of the dark, of monsters etc. And they do have nightmares too.
My daughter did and my son.
And her friends too.
And I did too, when I was that age.
It is developmental.
Their imaginations, cannot just be extinguished.
Thus, I do not believe they can/should be reprimanded for this.
He can't turn off, his mind/imagination.
For us, we just talk with our kids. They have a flashlight.
They can have whatever loveys they want to go to bed.
My Husband, takes them outside to show them it is the wind etc, that makes noise outside and the leaves blowing. And that it is safe.
We tell them we were like that too, as kids. And it is normal etc.
If your son is in school, sometimes too what other kids say, tweaks them, and at night. Making them scared. This happened to my Daughter. There were a few kids who would talk about scary things just to make other kids scared. And my daughter did get scared. So I told her, just ignore those kids, they are not nice. They are trying to make others scared. It was so obvious, that even her Teacher, had a talk with the ENTIRE class... about it. Because, it was not nice, and the other kids were getting scared.
So these things happens, too.
It is normal.
Even when I was older, I was scared at night too.
Childhood.
There is also something, by the brand "Animal Parade" that makes vitamins for kids. They have something called "Warm Milk"... that helps to calm a child, for sleep. It is not a 'tranquilizer' thing, but a milk based supplement. It is natural. Any Whole Foods or even Amazon or natural food store has it.
You can see it on Amazon and read the reviews of it there.
But I say, this is just a normal age related phase.
Nothing to get medicated about or worried.
Just assure him. Soothe him.
My daughter... she is 8. And she still sometimes gets scared at night... just about stuff at nighttime... the noise outside, shadows in the moonlight hitting the walls, noises inside the house etc.
all the best,
Susan