Article by Kate DeJonge
If you’re reading this, you’re a fan of Eerie River publications. You love dark literature. You devour terrifying tales like rich little snacky snacks that feed your soul in ways no other genre ever could. We’re here for it, obviously. But why are you?
A lot of psychological research has been done to explore the mechanisms that make reading and watching horror pleasurable. It’s clear that for some, it’s a way to train our anxious brains through exposure therapy. Forcing ourselves to digest scary, evil, or downright abominable content in a controlled/safe environment (our living rooms, our beds, sitting with friends in a packed theatre) does, in fact, transform neural pathways, allowing us to experience the horror while bypassing the normal human instinct to run from the danger. And when we do survive whatever monster or madman exists in the stories we consume, we receive a massive dose of dopamine. Dopamine is the hormone that makes us feel excited, and confident. If we read and view enough horror, those transformed neural pathways become permanent, and it takes much more to truly scare us. In this world’s current climate, that’s a very good thing.
I’m going to jump back in time with the whole psychology thing, and explain something that I feel is important to the point of this article. Humans, as a species, have complex brains that have steadily developed since we climbed out of the primordial muck and grew hair. The oldest part of our brains, the “hindbrain”, is what controls our intuition. Many thousands of years ago, humans (and our predecessors) relied on instinct and intuition to survive. It’s been proven scientifically through archaeological studies that early humans were much more in tune with their environment, to the point that they seemed to have the preternatural ability to move en masse before major climate events happened. They survived against the odds through millennia of adverse conditions because they were able to predict danger with a sense that many of us don’t use anymore. It’s not just that we’ve evolved past the need for such abilities; we just have advanced communication skills and tools that are easier to use. Being in tune with the Universe using our hindbrains requires a level of hypervigilance that is exhausting. Tuning in to the Weather Channel on the other hand, easy peasy.
Homo Sapiens evolved about 300,000 years ago, surviving as nomadic communities. Their needs were relatively simple: food, shelter, companionship. That hindbrain was their most important tool. Then 65,000 years ago, more advanced technology appeared and spread, suggesting communication between communities, and the sharing of knowledge and resources. At this time, hierarchies began to form, with clear leaders making decisions for smaller groups. At that point, human needs became more complex. Survival was not just a matter of figuring it out for oneself, it was also about knowing one’s place in the community and not challenging the leader. Fear was no longer limited to predators and weather, we developed a fear of one another.
Modern humans trudged forward for 65,000 years, gradually developing farming, permanent housing, governmental systems, religious factions, cultures, and languages. And then in the late 1700s, we created industry. With industry, came capitalism. Fear expanded to include competition for assets that were not strictly useful for survival, and maintaining our image in society. The fat cats saw this, and used it to control people who could be used to further build their own coffers. This leads us to today, in the year 2024, where almost half of the North American population is on medication to help control their anxiety or depression, or someone in their household is.
Our brains evolved slowly for 235,000 years, while little changed about the stressors we had to live with. Archaeology shows us that there was a big spike in brain growth 65,000 years ago when we began to find each other and communicate, and that progress from that point was relatively steady. Then suddenly, 200 years ago, the demand on our brains amplified at a rate that evolution could not meet. Think about what life was like for humans in large, industrialized populations around the year 1800. The division between the haves and the have-nots became larger, in part because of the increase in population. Humans learned more about what was happening in other parts of the world for the first time as newspapers began to run and charities formed. While many still struggled with basic survival, they did so under the judging eyes of society. Where those who could not provide for themselves in early humanity would have simply perished, humans 200 years ago began to feel shame for “not being able to keep up with everyone else”.
The earliest example of popular horror publications, Penny Dreadfuls, began to appear in the 1830s, often detailing the struggles of paupers turned criminals, and the evil exploits of the rich. Humans were beginning to understand that a system had been created under their feet that was designed to keep the rich in positions of power, and the poor subservient. And they were pissed. At the same time, women who could not handle the demands of societal pressure were declared hysterical, and men who struggled to maintain face turned to laudenum or other drugs to shut their fears down. The human brain was pushed too hard, too fast, and could not evolve quickly enough to cope with those modern stressors.
65,000 years ago, we faced a similar boost, but we were given thousands of years to evolve at a steady pace. 200 years ago, we were plunged into a new modern era AND the population jumped at astronomical rates. This time, though, we have not progressed at a slow, steady pace. Every aspect of human civilization was thrust into turbo-mode, and there’s no stopping it now. Moore’s Law (roughly) states that technological advancements double every two years, and will continue to do so in perpetuity. Computers and languages do not require hormones or psychological chemicals for balance, but we do.
So how do we cope? When we are bombarded with global news all day every day and the rich remain focussed on getting richer instead of restoring balance to our species, what are we supposed to do? We’re burnt out, we can’t pay our bills, and we have no idea if the world is going to be a safe place for our children. There ARE solutions, but they would require a restoration of balance that is not going to happen without a serious revolt. In the meantime, we doom scroll, we take psychiatric meds, we smoke weed or drink wine, and we look for escapism content.
And this is why we love horror.
Traditionally, ghost stories were told as cautionary tales or to pass on community lore. They transformed over the past 2000 years to reflect the fears of each culture around the world, changing as those cultures evolved. They became popular in the UK in the 1800s as a means of expressing frustration at the economic division that was growing there, and they exploded in North America in the 1970s and 1980s during the Cold War with Russia, when the monsters became nuclear threats that no mere mortal could combat alone. They were popular then because they gave voice to the fears of the majority, and because they presented pictures that were even scarier than real life. So scary, sometimes, that they were unbelievable. Those fantastical elements were what caught on, because they were so absurd, they gave us the option of saying “Well, at least THAT isn’t real!”.
Fast forward to present day, and look at the marked increase in our daily stress. We are all in competition with one another, and evil doesn’t lurk in the shadows anymore. It’s on our screens all day, every day, in the form of wars, cultural hatred, a climate that is spiraling toward a change none of us is ready for, the very real threat of food scarcity due to overpopulation, and even in the decisions our governments make “on our behalf”. Our brains are no longer focused on basic survival; we are fighting to maintain sanity in a world where television commercials cannot exceed 15 seconds in length because the audience will become disinterested and change the channel.
Our brains cannot evolve at the same pace as Moore’s Law.
We medicate, we imbibe, and we tread water while we shout into the void, struggling with mental pain and exhaustion in a situation that we cannot control. And we pick up a book about a serial killer who does horrible things to people, because at least THAT’s not real. We devour stories about brutality and abuse, especially if we ourselves have lived through similar situations, because the drugs and therapy are not enough to make us feel like someone understands our anguish. At least the characters in that horrible book would be able to relate. We watch movies and mini-series featuring monsters and demons so we can witness their destruction, because then maybe our own monsters can be destroyed, too. And the whole time we’re engrossed in these horrors, our brains are learning that we can be exposed to scary situations and remain safe. Neural pathways form that deliver dopamine when we survive the exposure instead of triggering fight or flight responses. Slowly, we evolve to be able to face harsher environments as our fear thresholds rise.
Horror is not just an escape from reality, it’s a tool that we are unconsciously using to promote better brain health for the darker days ahead. So add that shiny new book to your ever growing TBR pile. Allow yourself to indulge in the dark stuff, knowing that it’s a form of therapy. You’re probably helping our species evolve to be able to deal with what is to come. Just remember to come up for air every now and then, check in with a fellow human, drink some water, and eat a snack. If Jason can come back from everything he’s been through, you can, too. <3
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