Being lost and also found

Who doesn’t love a horror film? Me actually, but many people do. Why do we snuggle up on the sofa to watch gore? Why do we invite terror into our homes? Isn’t life stressful enough anyway?

Christian Jarrett wrote about this in The Psychologist magazine. “Fear coils in your stomach and clutches at your heart. It’s an unpleasant emotion we usually do our best to avoid. Yet across the world and through time people have been drawn irresistibly to stories designed to scare them.”

As he says, seeking out terror isn’t new. Take the Old English poem “Beowulf,” from around 700–1000 AD. It’s all blood, guts and dread. Here’s how it starts: Hrothgar, King of the Danes, built a towering hall for feasting and celebration. But deep in the night the swamp-dwelling monster Grendel is lurking; human-like in form but enormous and terrifying. His skin is so tough that even the sharpest blades just bounce off. Each night the evil Grendel makes the journey from his swamp to attack the hall, killing and devouring warriors as they sleep. Again and again, night after night.

“Féond on helle wæs se grimma gaést Grendel háten maére mearcstapa sé þe móras héold fen ond fæsten.”

“A fiend in hell this ghastly demon was named Grendel, infamous stalker in the marches, fen and desolate strong-hold.”