I have been thinking a lot about why we love and read Ghost Stories, Horror Novels, etc. Here are a few ideas I have come up with:

The Thrill of the Safe Scare or “Why fear feels good”

• Horror allows us to experience danger without risk
• There is a thrilling, “roller-coaster” effect that comes from Horror. Our brains actually love the adrenaline
• Most of us seek out controlled fear in stories but avoid it in real life
• A few examples from classic horror novels that capture this perfectly are Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, and The Shining

Meeting the Monster Within or “How Horror is a mirror to the human psyche”

• Monsters often represent our repressed fears, guilt, or desires
• Often we are able to confront darkness through fiction that we avoid otherwise at all costs
• For many there is a satisfaction to seeing our inner shadows given form and allowed to run amok, and defeated (or not)
• Two examples of this would be Frankenstein’s creature or Mr. Hyde

Fear as Connection or “The social and emotional side of Horror”

• Horror can be a shared experience. That is. why we love telling ghost stories to each other
• Horror reflects societal/cultural anxieties (science, war, economic uncertainty, technology, pandemics)
• Reading about fear can actually make us feel less alone

The Comfort of the Dark or “Why horror can feel oddly soothing“

• There is relief in survival, to closing the book and realizing you’re safe
• Horror is cathartic, purging us of stress, dread, or grief
• For those of us who reread Horror, revisiting favorite scary books can feel like coming home to a familiar unknown

Why do you read Horror? Or why aren’t you more often?