This week: Horror underground Edited by: Arakun the Twisted Raccoon  
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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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Horror stories often take place under cover of darkness. Most places are more frightening in the dark, and no place is darker than a cave.
If you turn off the lights in your house at night, you are not in complete darkness. Your pupils will dilate in order to let in as much ambient light as possible. As your eyes adjust to the darkness, you can usually at least make out the shapes of objects, even if you can't see them clearly. However, in a cave, there is no ambient light. No matter how much your pupils dilate, your eyes cannot adjust to the darkness. Without a light source, you will see nothing, not even objects that are directly in front of you.
If you have ever toured a cave that is open to the public, you have seen large chambers containing beautiful rock formations. However, many caves also contain tiny passages that are difficult to crawl through, underwater lakes and rivers, and steep drop offs. Since cave exploration is physically demanding, few people have actually seen some of the more remote areas of longer caves. For example, Jewel Cave in South Dakota is more than 200 miles long, but only about a mile of the passageways are open to the general public. It is quite easy to get lost in winding passages of a cave, so experienced cavers never explore alone. It is important to carry supplies such as spare batteries for head lamps, food, and water.
Even experienced cave explorers sometimes find themselves in trouble when negotiating difficult passageways. John Edward Jones, a 26 year old experienced explorer, died in 2009 after becoming stuck in a narrow passageway in Nutty Putty Cave in Utah. He believed he was in a passage known as the "Birth Canal" which he knew became wider as it went on. However, he had mistakenly entered a different, much narrower passage and became stuck in an area that measured just 10 x 18 inches. He was stuck upside down in the passage, which caused a lot of extra strain on his heart as it worked to pump blood to his body. Rescuers tried for more than 24 hours to free him, but he eventually died of cardiac arrest. Removing his body would have been so difficult that they were forced to leave him inside the cave. So that nobody else might suffer a similar fate, the cave was closed to visitors and sealed off. A memorial plaque to Jones was placed near the former entrance.
If there are no caves where your characters live, there are still other underground passages where they might get lost. The Catacombs of Paris are underground ossuaries, which hold the bones of more than 6 million people. Many cities have miles of abandoned sewer passages and subway routes. The novels "Relic" and "Reliquary" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child involve mysterious creatures living in tunnels below New York City. Many universities have tunnels connecting all the buildings where nefarious characters might hide.
Something to try: Write a horror story that takes place in a cave or other underground location.
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Horror/Scary: January 31, 2024 Issue [#12386]
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