The Fear of asylums runs deep in our culture as Americans, and really runs in the bones of most of humanity. You have to admit there is something creepy and odd about abandoned buildings with peeling paint, chipped windows, that are overgrown, outdated, and neglected. By the looks of our media and entertainment we seem to tell a different story, we seem to keep one of the darkest and most overlooked parts of our history alive through movies, books, and TV. We as a population have seemed to determine that stories that take place inside mental health facilities will not be scary as they seem to always depict a place that is seemingly a prison facility rather than a hospital. Symbolically they represent a lack of one’s control whether that is inside one’s mind or from those who refuse the consistent pleas of sanity. The psychological horror genre thrives in this setting and the fluorescent-lit corridors and rotting buildings that we see today and horrible conditions that the history of these locations give us; it is no doubt that asylums are the perfect setting to stack terrifying tales. And that is exactly what the horror genre is supposed to do right? Reflect fears and failings of society, and it has worked for the last century through the depictions of Asylums, and I suspect that it will continue to do so for years to come because what it depicts is the truth, reality, history, real. What is scarier than the horror genre if not reality. Join Elizabeth Weyers as she discovers why humans are so interested in this particular horror setting.
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Research-
https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/mental-health/473223-fear-of-insane-asylums-runs-deep-in-our-culture
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/asylums-in-horror-from-the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-to-bedlam-and-beyond
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehearst_Asylum
https://medhum.med.nyu.edu/view/285
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu_Mythos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkham
Music Credit-- OddBallers Theme- Elizabeth Weyers
