These past days I have been doing something that I haven’t done before, not in the same way I am doing it now at least. I have studying and reading on my own.
I am currently reading alot about horror stories, from really interesting articles to really dumb movies What makes a good horror story effective and why do people like to be scared.
Something that struck me was that the really creepy horrifying stories are the ones that have no meaning.
I guess this calls back to the fear of the unknown, that’s what makes us shudder. When we don’t understand something that could also be a threat, then we freak out.
Here is a list I found from a survey of “What things frighten you?”
Suffocation Looking foolish
Failing a Test Terrorist Attacks
Injury of a Loved One Spiders
Death of a Loved One War
My Own Death Making mistakes
Being Self-Conscious The Future
Not being a success (0_0) Being Alone
Snakes Criminal Violence
Nuclear War Speaking in Front of a Crowd.
What do you think guys? If you can think of something that really frightens you, drop a comment.
In other news, I applied for a job that I would really love to get, more news to follow, and still keeping with the three pages every morning, all in all, good times.
P.S. I just saw the percentages of the far-right/fascist parties in the European elections… talk about scary things.
~Garret
(needles. needles are extremely frightening. also these. http://moutsos.gr/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/%CE%9C%CE%AC%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CE%BA%CF%81%CE%B5%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%83%CF%84%CE%AC.jpg μπρρρ.)
Something which made me stop to think: I was telling Daphne a few days ago about when I first encountered trypophobia, and that at first the concept and the images themselves seemed innocuous enough. However, little by little, I’ve become not exactly a trypophobic, but looking at these pictures that come up at Google Search make me feel pretty uncomfortable. It’s like knowing that other people are phobic of this is what’s making me phobic of this. It’s like a super horror meme.
It seems I’m not the only who has observed this effect.
I suspect it’s not the actual holes I’m scared of, but the fact that people have engineered pictures to attack with profound accuracy the part of the brain which is afraid of this stuff at a genetic and instinctive level.
I suppose thought this would fall under the category of body horror. Yea, the Google image search results were disturbing, but only as long as they were in my field of vision (or I was picturing them).
I can see what you mean, it is a direct assault on the part of the brain that wants to see normal humans. But is it scary, or just unsettling?
I’ve heard about body horror before. What else can you tell me about it, because it seems like it hits a nerve with me. I don’t agree with what you’re saying – I don’t believe in most things people say about the brain – but to tell you the truth, I don’t know what the difference between unsettling and scary is. I guess scary is more intense?
I can’t think of anything I find scary right now, my braaain is doing a fine job blocking them I think. For now.
The way I meant it was, unsettling is something makes me feel uncomfortable in a very, sensory way. The smell of vomit, the sight of a terrible wound, that kind of stuff.
That is what I would consider body horror, something that is a mockery of the “normal” human form. My theory is that it is effective because it shows our brain that we are nothing but a bunch of disgusting meaty parts.
For example, I can think of needles all day, but as soon as I see an image of 3-4 needles sticking out of an eyeball,well, things change then.
On the other hand, scary, or at least creepy and unnerving is something that makes me feel uncomfortable just thinking about it. It is the concept that bothers me.
It is the feeling you have after reading about SCP-303 and walk alone in a dark, empty house, it is much harder to put a finger on than a mere physical revulsion and to me that is much more interesting.
Stephen King had a nice quote about Terror (which is the vague, non-gross out kind of fear)
“Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. “