In Defence of Our Darkest Fascinations: A Guest Post by Coltan Scrivner
Are you intrigued by the darker side of life? Delving into the irresistible pull of all things macabre, this is a curiously enthralling exploration of human behavior and the inclination to let our eyes linger even when things are frightful. Read on for an exclusive essay from Coltan Scivner, PhD on writing Morbidly Curious.
Paperback $19.00
Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can't Look Away
Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can't Look Away
In Stock Online
Paperback $19.00
The leading expert on the science behind morbid curiosity explains our spooky, gory, and macabre fascinations
The leading expert on the science behind morbid curiosity explains our spooky, gory, and macabre fascinations
Have you ever covered your eyes during a scary movie, only to find that you couldn’t resist peeking through your fingers? Or perhaps you’ve binge-watched a true crime documentary and thought to yourself, why does this feel… oddly relaxing? From horror films and haunted hotels to true crime and ancient mummies, morbid curiosity is something that everyone has experienced at one time or another (and some of us more than others).
I’ve spent the past decade studying this fascinating feature of human psychology. My research has taken me from controlled experiments in university labs to haunted mansions in Savannah and eerie Halloween attractions in Denmark. Whether I’m surrounded by electrodes or fog machines, my goal has always been the same: to understand why people are drawn to the macabre and what that fascination means for our mental health and well-being.
When I first began this work, I didn’t set out to write a book. I thought I was chasing a niche question about why people enjoy being scared. But as I dug deeper, I realized morbid curiosity wasn’t just about horror movies or ghost stories. It showed up everywhere: in our appetite for true crime podcasts, our fascination with disaster news, and even in the way children obsess over creepy fairy tales. At some point it became clear to me that this wasn’t just a quirky side interest. This was a fundamental, and deeply misunderstood, part of human nature.
In my new book, Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can’t Look Away, I reveal some of the most surprising insights from this decade-long journey.
One of the most important findings in my research is that, despite it often being portrayed as a flaw in our brain’s wiring, morbid curiosity is adaptive. When we’re drawn to frightening stories or disturbing images, it’s our brain looking for information about danger in a safe and controlled way. This feature of the mind is present in all animals, and you can see traces of morbid curiosity in everything from an octopus to a gazelle.
Another counterintuitive finding relates to empathy. People sometimes assume that those who are drawn to the dark side of life may be dangerous themselves. However, I’ve found that people who are morbidly curious aren’t psychopaths or monsters. In fact, they’re often more empathetic than those who are less morbidly curious. Being curious about the macabre doesn’t make you coldhearted. Rather, it suggests a deep interest in understanding others and the world around you.
And perhaps the most surprising discovery is that scary entertainment like horror films, true crime, and dark fairy tales can actually help us cope with anxiety. Scary entertainment gives us a safe space to rehearse our reaction to fear and anxiety and cultivate emotion regulation skills that can transfer to the real world.
In Morbidly Curious, I unpack the science of why we can’t look away—and why, perhaps, we shouldn’t.