The Enjoyment of Fear

With Halloween, a night of tricks and treats, right around the corner, the fear-craving population are pulling out their go-to horror movies and favourite jump scares, but we never stop to ask why. For some, panic-inducing hijinks are completely out of the question while for others, their satisfaction is a manifestation of an adrenaline-seeking personality.

To put it simply, while afraid, your body produces endorphins, serotonin, oxytocin and dopamine, or as it is otherwise called the “Feel-Good Hormones.” This coupled with adrenaline prepares your body for a fight or flight response. However, when we are not truly endangered, only coaxed into thinking so, the natural high of this sensation can feel quite pleasant. While this is happening, our mind is also solely focused on the terror of the present rather than the discomfort of our future.

As it is put by Margee Kerr, PhD, sociologist and author of SCREAM: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear, “Our thoughts can just take a break and we can enjoy being fully in our bodies, feeling primal and animal. When you’re on a rollercoaster or in a haunted house you’re not thinking about your bills, your classes, your relationships or your future. ” The phrase, “primal and animal,” seems to refer to the exclusively instinctual response one feels under stress.

Now, while this feeling is often concentrated on the Halloween we know today, it is important to note that the history of Halloween is far more complicated than trick or treating once a year.

Samhain, a Gaelic word pronounced “Sah-win,” is a Pagan religious festival which originated from an ancient Celtic spiritual tradition and eventually developed into the current version of Halloween. The Celts existed around 2,000 years ago, largely in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France. According to History.com, in the contemporary world, Samhain is ‘usually celebrated from October 31 to November 1’, Celtic new year, to welcome in the harvest and usher in ‘the dark half of the year.’ The traditional understanding of Samhain was that the partitions separating the material world from the spirit realm dissolve, facilitating more contact between people and inhabitants of the ‘Otherworld.’

It was also thought during this time that dead ancestors and fairies, known as Sidhs, would cross over from the ‘Otherworld’ so people would dress as animals and monsters so the Sidhs would not kidnap them. It is assumed this is where the tradition of costume-wearing came from. It was believed that many creatures would cross over, such as “the Dullahan [which] sometimes appeared as impish creatures, sometimes headless men on horses who carried their heads. Riding flame-eyed horses, their appearance was a death omen to anyone who encountered them,” History.com continues.

With such an interesting past, it makes sense that Halloween is an exciting time of adrenaline rushes and sugar crashes, costumes, both intricate and simple, but most prominently the enjoyment of fear.

By Maya Mahmood 10G