Haven’t found a good title, yet. Man, I am looking forward to Halloween!
I have long been drawn to the thought that horrors lie hidden in this world we know. Not the prosaic awfulness that we see every day on news feeds and phone alerts, although those events certainly alarm and shock both us, and the poor unfortunates suffering through them. We are born in pain, and that pain will not ease until the final blackness engulfs us all. Although recent events make me wonder if there is a final blackness, and whether I will enjoy the alternative.
No, the horrors that I try to glimpse through the smog of ‘normal’ life is separate from that life. It cannot be defined by normality, because it rises from its own wellspring, and does not mix with our own… world? Reality? Perception? Forgive me: I am a man with a damaged optic nerve, who is attempting to describe a kaleidoscope. My ability to visualize what I ‘saw’ is maddingly elusive.
But I am not mad. Of that, I can assure you. Although that is perhaps no real comfort. Many atrocities have begun with similar affirmations.
…
In the days of the last century, folklorists haunted strange, far places to do their research. In this modern era, odd customs and insular communities are no further away from your computer screen. The far places are also not so far, anymore. As for strange? Well, these days that is increasingly a matter of opinion.