Warren 1

Josh Warren
Vargo
Ap Lang
30 January 2014
Fear
Claws swiping, needle-like teeth, razor sharp fangs, glowing eyes in the
dark, Characteristics that many scary monsters have all shared. But what
would the scariest monster have, piercing eyes, sharp claws and fangs,
would it breathe fire? What traits makes something scary to us?
To put it bluntly we have inherited what we fear. In the dawning age of
man when we had just barely learned to use rocks as a tool we were hunted.
Hunted by animals that could move faster than us, were usually bigger than
us, and had claws and fangs. This is where monsters in horror movies draw
firepower from. Take the werewolf for example, a giant animal, with razor
sharp teeth, pointy fangs, and usually depicted as having glowing eyes.
Another example is the classic/modern vampire. Let me set the record
straight when I say classic/modern vampires I defiantly am not talking about
Twilight, nor am I talking about Dracula. Think more along the lines of fast,
piercing red eyes, sharp fingernails, rip your throat out as opposed to a
dainty sip. Both these creatures are killing machines, things we try to escape
from, things we try to survive. Now you may be asking why people are

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scared of zombies or skeletons. They dont have claws, or fangs or glowing

eyes. Zombies and Skeletons are walking personifications of death. You can
say they are undead, living dead, walking dead the point is they represent
the thing our ancestors spent their lives dodging death. It is hardwired into
us to be afraid of sharp claws, or razor sharp teeth, or glowing eyes peeking
out of the darkness.
Something else that terrifies people is the idea of powerlessness. The
idea that something exists that is threat to us that we cannot combat
normally, we have to rely on controversial ideas. This is what drives the fear
behind ghost, spirits, demons and the like. Creatures such as these have
drawn more attention today with movies like The Conjuring or Paranormal
Activity. We cannot fight a spirit or entity by normal means, you cannot just
stake it in the heart, shoot it with a silver bullet, or go for a headshot. It only
appears to you when it wants to and is free to wreak all kinds of havoc
leaving you helpless. Most of these movies end with an exorcism or
banishment ritual of some kind where the family has to borrow ideas from
something they may or may not have initially believed in.
Humans are ironically drawn to our greatest fear, the unknown. Part of
being human is trying to explain the world around us. But when we
encounter something that we cannot predict or do not completely
understand we are terrified. This brings us to good old Achluophobia, the fear
of the dark. When the lights go off and we cannot see our imagination
backstabs us. We hear noises that are not there, see shapes moving, feel

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breathing on our neck, and it is because we do not know what is there. And
because we dont know what is there our mind tries to fill the void with
noises or vague shapes. One could also argue that this stems from our
ancestors as well, a group of primitive humans huddled around a fire
constantly alert for eyes peeking out of the night or the sound of rustling and
twig-snapping.
We all have our own specific phobias, I for one would take a zombie
apocalypse over a horde of flying, buzzing bugs. What will you do the next
time you are afraid of something? Will you try to rationalize that the moving
shape in your room is not there? Or will you come to realize that we are
afraid of things for a reason, and that shadow inching towards your bed at
night may not be the work of your imagination.