Morbid fascination: Why?
October 5th, 2007You’re driving along a street, fretting over all the things you need to be done today. Traffic starts to slow down, eventually taking the pace of a crawl. You start to get agitated. Why now? You’ve got things to do, places to be! You see flashing lights ahead, and suddenly it dawns on you: there is an accident ahead. How do you feel?
When it’s your turn to pass by the crash scene, do you crane your neck to see what’s going on, or do you avert your gaze and ignore the scene completely? If you’re one of those people who look every time, what do you hope to see? Wreckage? Triggered airbags? Blood? Dead bodies?
Why are we so fascinated with the “bad” stuff?
It’s the same thing with accidents-to-be. Some people close their eyes, or turn away, but other just stare wide-eyed, frozen, often wanting, willing too look away, but unable to do so. It’s like seeing two trains on the same track, heading straight towards each other. There is something magnetic about disasters that keep so many of us just glued. It’s not that they entertains us, amuses us, or that we even like them—It’s just that, well, we can’t pull away.
For some, it’s the TV coverage on disasters like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina that we can’t seem to tear away from. It appalls us, grieves us, makes us sick to our stomaches, but we don’t (or can’t) stop watching.
We cling to every heartbreaking clip, every shocking picture, and every nauseating piece of news, forcing ourselves to sit through a blow-by-blow account of what happened, what is happening, and the implications of everything that has happened thus far. It leaves us feeling sad, sick, angry, upset, and every other conceivable negative emotion, and yet we still watch.
We could keep ourselves informed of such disasters through non-descriptive newsfeeds sans the multimedia, but instead, we choose the form that envelopes us in the horror.
Why?
For me, my morbid fascination is airline crashes. It is most puzzling to me because up until a few years ago, I was terrified of flying. Now, years later, I’m… not. I love planes, airports, security checkpoints (that’s another story all in itself), and landings. I also love researching plane crashes, strange and unexplainable plane issues and disasters (ever heard of that Hawaiian flight between Islands that had the top half of the plane—the roof—ripped out mid-flight? Everyone except one flight attendant survived) and watching Mayday.
I think having a couple pilots as friends and acquaintances helped a great deal. That, and just getting up there and flying; when you’re in a plane every couple months, the whole ordeal becomes routine procedure quickly, much like driving. However, after reading about the statistics on plane crashes and learning that the majority of complications occur during take off and landing, I still find myself a tad nervous during accent and decent. Why do I subject myself to useless knowledge? I choke it up to an insatiably curious nature: I must know everything, even if the newfound knowledge has a negative impact on me. Knowing which airlines have had crashes and which have not, or looking up videos/pictures/investigation notes from those crashes is essentially “useless” knowledge, but I pursue it anyway.
So, I ask you: Why do you think people are oddly fascinated with morbid things? Do you have any morbid fascinations? If so, what are they?
I hate morbid things. They don’t fascinate me in the least. *shudder* If there’s an accident on the side of the road, I look to see what’s going on out of curiosity but I’d be upset if I saw something disgusting as a result.
I close my eyes (and sometimes cover my ears) when gross things appear on TV. I can’t take it.
October 5th, 2007 at 5:56 pmPeople are afraid of the unknown; morbid fascination is something of a tool of insight into the unknown, and admit it - there’s an element of suspense that can’t be missed in it.
Why does entertainment exist? We like plots and storylines, but to observe such action in reality makes it all the more horrific…there’s no sigh of relief at the end; it’s something different, something new, something we fear happening to us, something that has a possibility of happening to us. Because it’s real we feel it’s not “okay” to be interested in it, yet it’s simply in human nature to, well, like a story. Or something along those lines.
Other than that, I don’t know. I myself am transfixed by all forms of urban decay — not a sudden form of disaster, but the slow descent of organized humanity falling into ruins awakens an indescribable horror in me. I think it has something to do with realizing just how transient not just my own existence is, but the existence of mankind in general — I can’t take knowing that our work can fall into ruin so easily, and our most enduring “legacies” will probably be the ones that do the most harm (mm, styrofoam).
October 5th, 2007 at 6:07 pmIt’s called Train Wreck Syndrome. :P In case of looking to see the results of a car or a train accident, it could be an instinctual response to danger or something of that sort.
October 5th, 2007 at 7:06 pmThere’s even a word for it in German: Schadenfreude!
Reply: Haha wow! You learn something everyday. ;)
October 5th, 2007 at 7:28 pmPersonally, I don’t feel that affected by what I see because it seems like it’s so far away and just so removed from my life. Even when I see a car crash, I don’t know the victims and I don’t take the time to think of them as real people. I know that if I did, that would open up a whole lifetime of guilt as I contemplate every single disaster worldwide - especially the ones that no one pays much attention to.
October 5th, 2007 at 8:39 pmI think you’re spot on. I also have a fascination with plane crashes, but unlike you, I’m still afraid of flying though I’ve not been on a plane in thirteen years.
I was actually reading about that Hawaiian flight the other day. It’s strange to think that smaller things have happened to planes where everyone has died, even when they’ve barely taken off the ground, but when the entire top gets ripped off in-flight nearly everyone lives!
I think humanity’s morbid fascination plays a lot into the reason why I really love dystopian fiction (in book form, movie form, whatever). Dystopian fiction fascinates me, scares me, and definitely makes me think about the world. It’s like watching an entire society full of train wrecks.
October 5th, 2007 at 9:24 pmLOL, the German thing cracks me up. There is a German word for everything.
I’m morbidly fascinated with fires. When I see smoke, I can’t stand NOT driving out to track it down … lol.
Reply: Ooh, me too! As horrible as it sounds, I get all excited and Nancy Drew-ish.
October 5th, 2007 at 10:36 pm@Belinda: Isn’t schadenfreude more of a pleasure in observing somebody else’s pain/failure than a fascination? For instance (and correct me if I’m wrong), I don’t think Chanel takes particular pleasure in looking at plane crashes — it’s a curiosity, and curiosities always feel good to fulfill. Schadenfreude is more of a “haha, he fell down the stairs!” kind of thing.
At least that’s how I interpret it.
October 6th, 2007 at 1:15 pmUhm, I’m really fascinated by wars and the likes. I even wanted to go to the Europe trip this year to see the Nazi internment camps in Germany, to which my friends looked at me weirdly.
It’s probably either just my overflowing geekiness for history, or the fact that I see something romantic in wars (and the military O_o?), even though the truth is, it’s quite awful.
I stopped watching the news since most of the stuff they broadcast are depressing things…
Reply: Eugh, me too. Besides, I don’t believe the media always gives the exact truth anyway.
October 7th, 2007 at 2:03 amWhen I pass by wreckages, I glance and look, but I don’t slow down and stare just to see what’s going on. That can cause more accidents!
I think it’s curiosity - at least for me. Like Leila said, people fear the unknown, so people become curious maybe to identify and name that unknown? I don’t know - just a guess. I think everyone has a different reason for being curious about absolutely horrible things, and I’m not sure it all boils down to one reason or another. Maybe though.
October 7th, 2007 at 6:39 amInteresting post, really made me think. I’m think my morbid fascination is with serial killers. I’m fascinated as to why people can be so downright evil. It’s sickening, but intriguing at the same time as to what goes on inside the head of someone who feels the need to kill others compulsively. It’s one of the reasons why I keep myself engaged to Court TV a lot.
I don’t like watching crash scenes. When I’m driving by I keep my eyes straight ahead and silently pray those involved are alright.
October 8th, 2007 at 2:28 pmMorbid fascinations refract our world of reality which evokes the sudden spontaneous curiosity and interest we have for morbid events. what a shame really if that made sense.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:27 pmI have been a horror film fan for a long time. Recently I saw a film, where there was a particularly gruesome scene of animal violence. Alright, I changed the channel before the violence happened, but heard about it at IMDB.com’s website.
So I asked my psychatrist about it. He was really put off by the whole idea of violence in films, and said that it in alot of cases leads to violence in reality. So I decided, fine perhaps it’s better for me not to watch horror films then. However, I’ve still been drawn to that sort of morbid curiousity. I think alot of it is the catharisism involved in it.
I’ve been trying to tell myself, only sick people would watch this stuff, or something is wrong with me I’m addicted and need to stop. This article helped remind me that I’m not alone. That this is something everyone has to a degree, and I’m not some sick person.
I think the best statement I’ve heard in regards to morbid curiousity, is from a song called Hyper-Ballad by Bjork:
“It’s early morning
No-one is awake
I’m back at my cliff
Still throwing things off
I listen to the sounds they make
On their way down
I follow with my eyes ’til they crash
I imagine what my body would sound like
Slamming against those rocks
And when it lands
Will my eyes be closed or open?
I go through all this
July 7th, 2008 at 7:31 amBefore you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you.”
I too am facinated by plane crashes, fires, and accidents. I have recently been looking at all the information on the web including the actual video of the station nightclub fire in RI. I don’t understand the attraction. But its intresting that Im not the only one.
July 20th, 2008 at 9:48 pmMy morbid curiosities involve natural disasters. Hurricanes, Floods, earthquakes all interest me in a peculiar way. The bigger ,the better… the larger the toll, the more satisfying. The interesting part is I have personally witnessed the destruction of a category 5 huricane. It sucked to say the least, but it also satisfied my peculiar morbidity. Even this current economic crisis is satisfying. Watching the Dow drop on a daily basis is currently fulfilling this morbidity. No one knows about my feelings- I keep them to myself.. It is sort of subconscious. I guess it is like the train-wreck syndrome. Glad to hear I am not alone.
October 8th, 2008 at 1:08 pm