A to Z of Horror: A is for Abandoned Places

Why are empty buildings so terrifying to so many?

If you have ever watched ghost hunting or urbex videos on YouTube, you will be well aware that there is a definite fascination with abandoned places. For some, it is the thrill of stepping into a time capsule, while others want to look for signs of “life” in a place that is long dead. In horror, there is a fascination with abandoned places, and while I have my own reasons for finding them creepy, there are plenty of other reasons why these crumbling locations instill fear. Let’s break it all down in the first of a 26-part series.

The Roots of Fear in Abandoned Places

You often hear people complain about the thing they hate the most being other people, yet the truth is that we all like being surrounded by others. There is a comfort, as well as a feeling of safety in numbers there, that makes it feel normal. When you remove other humans from the equation, things start to feel off. There is a reason why backrooms and liminal spaces are so often seen as somehow off.

The human mind is also partly responsible for the fear of abandoned places. When my wife and I take trips to North Carolina, we pass a beautiful old house off in the distance. it is clearly abandoned, but I can’t help thinking about what happened in there, creating stories that are almost certain more fantastic than the likely mundane reason it now lies abandoned. It’s natural to conjure up reasons in your mind for why a place is abandoned. Every noise in a seemingly empty space becomes a ghost moving toward you, as opposed to a rat foraging for food, although the latter option is still not cool.

There is also the feeling of unfamiliarity that makes these places so disconcerting. A hospital should have patients, nurses, and doctors, should be humming with the sound of life saving machines. When such a place is empty, you can’t help but imagine all those who have passed in that place now eyeing you with evil intent. The ordinary turned into something opposite is unsettling.

Why I Love and Hate Abandoned Places

Let’s get the hate portion of this section out of the way first. I am heading toward my 59th birthday, and while I am mostly healthy, I am still aware that time is running out for me. I look at abandoned places in the same way I look at my life. Time runs out for us all, and to see the ravages of time so clearly displayed in a location that was once grand and full of purpose is a little distressing.

Now, that said, I have a deep fascination with abandoned places. I would love to explore as many as possible, as they are filled with stories waiting to be told. My brain is this endless faucet of ideas dripping out into a cracked, moldy basin that needs to be emptied before it breaks. There are times when I wish I could fix the leaky faucet and simply sit in silence, but then I would likely look at the basin and complain that it is empty. For me, abandoned places are moments in history that still breathe, albeit with rattling breaths that signal impending death and total collapse. There are stories to be told about these places, which is why I so enjoy making locations feel like characters in my stories. Hopefully, I’ll have many more to tell before my time comes to an end.

I hope you enjoyed this first installment in my new series. I shall return next Monday with “B is for Body Horror.”