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Quote for the week:
"Walls have ears.
Doors have eyes.
Trees have voices.
Beasts tell lies.
Beware the rain.
Beware the snow.
Beware the man
You think you know.
Songs of Sapphique"
~Catherine Fisher, Incarceron |
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Few creatures inspire as much fear as the snake. A predator that slinks along silently and strikes like lightning is a natural subject for horror stories.
Snakes are both feared and revered in Mythology. They are often seen as creatures of the underworld, because they dwell in holes or dens in the ground. Medusa of Greek mythology was a Gorgon or a woman with snakes for hair whose gaze could turn the viewer to stone. In Nordic myths, the serpent Nidhogg continually tried to destroy the world tree, Yggdrasil, by gnawing at its roots. In the Judeo-Christian story of the fall of man, Satan is represented as a serpent who tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God.
In other myths, snakes are symbols of immortality and rebirth because they appear to be reincarnated when they shed their skin. The Aztec god Quetzalcoatl was a plumed serpent who was said to bring the morning winds and sunlight for growing crops. The Greek god of medicine Asclepius was said to send snakes to crawl over the bodies of sick people while they slept to cure their illness. The staff of Asclepius, a rod entwined with a snake, is still used as a symbol of medicine today. The Ouroboros, or image of a snake eating its tail, is common to many myths and may represent the cycles of birth and death.
Some snakes are constrictors who immobilize their prey by coiling around them and strangling them. Others immobilize and kill their prey by injecting venom through hollow fangs.
Experts disagree on which snake is the most dangerous. The inland taipan of Australia probably has the most potent venom, but it is extremely shy and lives in a remote area where it seldom encounters humans. The saw scaled viper, which is found in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, is probably responsible for the most human deaths. While its venom is not as deadly as some other species, it is quite aggressive and irritable. Other notorious venomous species include the black mamba and king cobra. One of the most famous depictions of snakes in fiction is in Rudyard Kipling's story "Rikki Tikki Tavi." It is the story of a mongoose who saves a family from two murderous cobras, Nag and Nagaina. I remember being terrified of the cartoon versions of the two cobras when I saw the animated version of the story as a child. Nag's hissing voice was enough to give anyone nightmares!
The two largest snake species are the reticulated python and the green anaconda. The reticulated python is the longest, while the green anaconda is the heaviest. The green anaconda is the subject of a terrible movie called "Anaconda," in which explorers in the Amazon are attacked by abnormally large and impossibly fast anacondas. While the green anaconda is large enough to swallow a human being, attacks on humans are extremely rare. Most reports of human attacks have been exaggerated or completely made up.
Many creatures appear to have an inborn fear of snakes. Some birds that have never seen a snake are afraid of a stick painted with the black, red, and yellow bands of a coral snake. Some horses will panic at the sight of a stick or other long object on a path. Cats have an almost laughable reaction to cucumbers, which might be a component to an instinct to avoid snakes.
An extreme fear of snakes is called ophidiophobia. It may be related to herpetophobia, or fear of reptiles in general. Many people fear snakes, but ophidiophobia is a degree of fear that interferes with the person's life. For example, the person might avoid going outside and might have a panic attack from hearing a mention of snakes. Ophidiophobia may result from a bad experience with a snake, or may have been conditioned by a parent who fears snakes or by stories and cultural beliefs. Ophidiophobia may be more common among people who live in areas where extremely deadly snakes reside.
Something to try: Write a horror story in which a character suffers from ophidiophobia. |
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Horror/Scary: March 29, 2023 Issue [#11881]
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