Why We Crave Fear
On horror, haunts, and the holiday of Halloween
October is chalked full of scares. The Halloween spirit takes over the month mercilessly, with haunted houses and horror films popping up left and right. It seems like you could take two steps in any which direction during October and you would bump into a scare actor, their latex mask glistening under the moonlight from the nightly dew.
But why have these things become tradition? Why do we wait in line to get scared out of our socks?
Fear is an essential part of Halloween. It’s one of the few holidays that emphasizes the worst in life rather than the joys, with maniac killers and dangerous ghouls running rampant during the season.
Our want to be scared—and our glorification of it during Halloween—comes from the inner mechanisms of our psyche.
To Get Stronger
For some, the need for fear stems from the desire to become stronger. Overcoming fear leads to achievement, and it’s cause for great pride for many to face something terrifying. Things like haunted houses, roller coasters, and bungee jumping all qualify in this category, with people trying to gain courage if only to prove it to themselves.
We’ve all been there: forcing ourselves to do something uncomfortable, hoping that the end result will help us grow as a person. You’ve gone on a coaster you were scared of before, watched a movie that freaked you out, or even more simple… you put yourself out there. In order to grow, we have to force ourselves out of the box we put ourselves in.
"Do one thing everyday that scares you. Those small things that make us uncomfortable help us build courage to do the work we do." - Eleanor Roosevelt
For some people, that courage is found in a haunt. Facing their fears of clowns, spiders, or chainsaw killers helps them realize how strong they really are. Some people even call haunted houses therapeutic or cathartic because of this. According to Cleveland Clinic, “These situations give us an opportunity to express our emotions in ways that, in other contexts, would be socially unacceptable.”
Even more so, going through a haunt with somebody else can help grow the bond you share together. It seems that fear can be a powerful emotion to share, but it’s a lot less traumatic when you escape the “danger” in a haunt, understanding that you’re actually safe.
To Seek More
Sometimes, we just need more in life. The everyday slump starts to get to us. The repetition of waking up, going to work, cooking dinner, and whatever other routine slapped into your life becomes monotonous, with days blending together. Before you know it, you’re being told it’s Wednesday when you thought it was Monday, and you realize that was the wake up call you needed to change something up.
While some people may take that as an opportunity to start a painting class, others desire something much more intense. Specifically, haunted houses have become a great means for adrenaline junkies to get their fix, breaking up the normality in their lives. Similar to roller coaster enthusiasts, haunt lovers get their fun punched into their face with thrills.
As summarized by Hoffner and Levine, “high sensation seekers enjoy stimuli that elicit negative emotions, such as fear, because the intensity of these emotions helps them reach their optimal level of arousal.” Essentially, fear is a form of arousal, thus making it more sought after with some individuals.
To Explore Yourself
Outside of chasing thrills and facing fears, experiencing something scary can help you learn more about yourself. If the haunted house about nightmarish school children scare you, you can then figure out why it scared you. Is there some unresolved trauma there? Were you bullied in school? Do you feel haunted by the past?
Trying to understand why you’re scared in the first place is one of the most freeing things you can do for yourself. Not only does it help you explore the inner depths of yourself, but you may be able to come to terms with the fear as well.
The unknown about ourselves can drive us to these scary experiences. You might want to go on a ghost tour to help aid your curiosity of an afterlife, with a paranormal experience expanding your thoughts on the matter. People are “intensely curious about what they see as the unknown or the 'dark side' and that drives them to experience situations that are uncomfortable or scary.”
Our minds are fascinating things, extremely complex and sometimes confusing with how they handle things.
There’s many reasons why we seek “safe” and healthy fear, but I wanted to go over what I thought were the most interesting.
Are you going on any terrifying excursions this Halloween season?