While most of us are naturally curious and suffer from more or less pronounced FOMO, meaning we have to know, see and hear everything others do, it’s not always best for us.
Some things are better left unknown or at least not put in the nightmarishly dim light like the facts shared on the “Creepy.fact” Instagram account. Followed by 231k followers, the page calls itself “the scariest account on Instagram” so we are about to see if that’s true. We wrapped up some of the most interesting posts shared on this page, so pull your seat closer, as you may want to leave your lights on.
The truth is... nothing beats the enduring appeal of things that fall under the categories of horror, grotesque, and mystery. Just look at the recent craze around gothic and horror TV shows (I refuse to believe there exists a person who hasn’t yet watched Tim Burton’s Wednesday) and serial killer documentaries (Netflix’ spin on Dahmer, anyone?!).
So to find out more about what it is that makes us tick when it comes to horror, we spoke with Lauren McMenemy, a south London-based writer of gothic-influenced folk horror who is currently working on a novel set in the world of the Victorian occult. And she was happy to share some very interesting insights into the topic!
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“Humans are inherently morbid, whether they like to admit it or not,” Lauren McMenemy, a professional writer, journalist, and experienced writing mentor and coach told Bored Panda. “We are fascinated by death - by avoiding it, by cheating it, by embracing it, by understanding what comes next.”
“And I think the last bit is really why we love the creepy stuff; ghosts and skeletons and vampires and other creepy things help us to explore what comes after death. As for mysteries, well, who doesn't love a good mystery! As well as being morbid, we are also inherently curious creatures,” McMenemy explained.
Bloody huntsman. Those dinner plate sized ones creeping out from behind a picture on the wall do tend to create stained undies.
“Dinner plate sized ones” you will never see me in Australia
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I swear to god, Australia is like where the devil keeps his pets. I speak from experience too.
I mean it's good that the neighbours didn't ignore and did call for help, I'm sure both the police and the man they went to wouldn't have minded either
Depends on the spiders. White tails and red backs are not welcome. Daddy long legs I’m fine with until we see an egg sack (then we nicely take them outside). Funnel webs means we’re bombing the house.
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Oh f**k yes we do. Whoever doesn’t fear a giant a**e spider is getting terminated.
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It sounded like a domestic dispute about to turn into a homicide. Thankfully, it was just a guy trying to kill a spider but what if it wasn’t?
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This would be me. Not in Australia, but with like a daddy long legs.
Sigh ...cane spider got me. NAS Barbers Point. I had no idea spiders got that size. Yeah, my kids laughed at my reaction.
Good God, being Sydney I'd expect it to be a funnelweb, not a poor innocent huntsman. They must've been from interstate
I only visited Sydney briefly and it was the only time in my 5 Aussie years that I was scared 😂 Funnel Webs are terrifying! Huntsman are just big leggy puppies
Load More Replies... This is a great excuse for an actual domestic violence abuser...which is bad.
Spider left shortly afterwards and made its fortune writing its memoirs in its web: how to live around crazy humans.
it's australia, everything there is terrifying: spiders, kangaroos, aussies...
He wasn't married and lived alone....the "woman" screaming was him upon discovering the spider xD
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I’ve always thought a flame thrower would be appropriate for this situation 😁
Bloody RIGHT, Mate!1....huntsmen and Wolf spiders (!!) dammit!!! they can take ya LEG off!!
Do you know that, on a still night, you can actually HEAR the footsteps of our huntsman spiders walking across the ceiling? PS. I don't mind huntsman spiders. They spend their nights eating the poisonous white-tailed spiders and redbacks.
I once lay in bed when a cockroach started walking on my hair. I jumped out and he jumped to the bed, and then I shouted "it's war!" and crushed him with my bare hand. yes it's really stupid and disgusting but that's what I felt like - he started a fight he can not win.
Reasonable, trying to kill a spider. Am I broken for thinking this is funny?
McMenemy argues that it's what marks out humans and has helped us to grow and develop over generations and millennia. “We want to figure out the things we don't understand, and when we can't figure them out then some of us become obsessed by them.” McMenemy still remembers her own childhood obsession with the Bermuda Triangle, and who didn’t have one!
When asked whether horror as a genre is becoming more popular lately, McMenemy said that it definitely feels like it. “A large part of that is down to social media and the growth of self-publishing. The 'establishment' publishing houses still don't seem to like much in the way of horror - though serial killer fiction used to be considered horror, once upon a time! - but there is a huge online horror community, and they love to share discoveries,” the writer explained.
If they saw the c**p their laughter is used for now they would be turning in their graves.
Moreover, “Self-publishing has made it easier for people to share their own stories, too. And then we have the visual medium, and streaming services making access to horror much easier. I think the appetite has always been there, but it's just easier to get hold of that ‘fix,’” McMenemy explained.
We were also eager to find out what makes a book or a film particularly creepy. The academic answer to what makes things creepy, McMenemy argues, lies in the concept of the "uncanny", or the psychological experience of something as mysterious and creepy in a strangely familiar way.
Come on BP, that's at least the 3rd time in 2 weeks that you put this pic in a list...
“It's the strangeness of the ordinary, the field where we are unable to distinguish between pleasure and displeasure and so we become anxious. Creepiness is about the uncertainty of a threat; you think there's something to worry about, but the signals aren't clear enough to send you into action,” the writer told us.
Meanwhile, “in books and film, this often takes the form of things just outside of our vision, or of familiar signals such as old and dilapidated houses, cobwebs, the unkempt and unloved. It results in that tingling down your spine, the goosebumps on your arms - you can't quite figure out what's going on, but you are intrigued…” McMenemy concluded.
Thanks to all the BP fact checkers ensuring I know when I'm recieving Net Zero Information
They’ve been changing a lot of definitions lately actually.
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is this stuff /trying/ to make me stay inside more than i already do
I really need to remember not to look at lists with headings like these.
This thread needs an update posting this does not mean it will happen.. w[hooo2023
Seriously?!? Why the 🤬 is this listed under "Animals"?!? Only 6 of 21 are animal related!?! And the rest are so 🤬ed up!!! I'm really getting tired of being tricked into going to the non-animal junk!!!
Thanks to all the BP fact checkers ensuring I know when I'm recieving Net Zero Information
They’ve been changing a lot of definitions lately actually.
Load More Replies... is this stuff /trying/ to make me stay inside more than i already do
I really need to remember not to look at lists with headings like these.
This thread needs an update posting this does not mean it will happen.. w[hooo2023
Seriously?!? Why the 🤬 is this listed under "Animals"?!? Only 6 of 21 are animal related!?! And the rest are so 🤬ed up!!! I'm really getting tired of being tricked into going to the non-animal junk!!!
