For me, it would be the idea that the home is meant to be your safe space & things happening to threaten that frightens everyone. We don't like the idea that our safety can be compromised; especially by something like the occult or ghostly which we can't understand.
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I think ghosts are energy that lingers over time and, if it’s not cleared or amplified, it can be made manifest. Not to be metaphysical—I see the clutter that arises out of hoarding in the same way, but that’s a whole other can of worms. Houses, especially those steeped in history, are inherently liminal spaces—they exist at the threshold between the past and the present, the seen and the unseen.
We were once afraid of the darkness in the open expanse of the wilderness at night, and now the darkness is contained with us within four walls. You don’t know what’s going on in those four walls until you’re inside and staying there for a while, whether it’s an overnight stay as a guest, a lease with a fixed term, or a long-term purchase.
Mark Fisher’s concept of the weird captures this unease perfectly. The weird is that which feels out of place—an energy, an object, or a memory that doesn’t belong but refuses to leave. Houses are often full of these anomalies: a creaking floorboard, a shadow in the corner of your eye, a strange layout that never quite makes sense. These small dissonances accumulate, creating an atmosphere that feels uncanny, as though the house itself is alive and aware of your presence.
The trap of the house is also deeply modern. Once you discover its unsettling secrets, you have to stay there, tethered by responsibility and the cost of leaving. The house becomes a site of entrapment—a perfect example of Fisher’s liminal, where you’re stuck in a space that isn’t quite safe but isn’t immediately escapable either, with whispers and presence making themselves known to you from out of time.
If this resonates, you might enjoy my autobiographical contemporary gothic story about living in a house that used to be an old maternity hospital (pictured), where I explore these feelings and ideas. You can read it here: Haunting.
Dec 28, 2024
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houses are supposed to be a place of comfort, but gothic stories subvert this. the feeling of the uncanny occurs when the familiar becomes unfamiliar- for example, scary and unsettling things going on in the home, which should be a place of refuge. the haunting of hill house is a great gothic haunted house example !
Dec 28, 2024
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Homes are beings, or at least they seem to be. They shift and readjust themselves. They make noises, creaks and thuds. They house you but also creepy creatures. They’ve got organs in the form of radiators and furnaces and boilers, each moving and reacting to the house. Houses can be wonderful and I love ours. But I’ve also experienced a 1:06 AM noise that was unexpected and it shook me. They’re just more than a building, they’re sort of a creature in themselves.
Dec 28, 2024
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popcorn & raisins. Combo of savory & sweet + crunchy & chewy
Dec 28, 2024
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Why do companies add milk & eggs to things that don't need it!? They've changed the recipe of my favorite salad dressing to include egg protein (for why idk) so now I've had to buy the fat free version. I use this dressing to make my favorite comfort/safe food. I'm so worried that the fat free recipe will not taste the same or that they'll add egg to that one too. It sounds dramatic but my neurodivergent brain is not coping well with the idea of never being able to have this meal again. Why tf does Italian dressing need egg in it anyways????
Being vegan in a non-vegan world is so frustrating.
Dec 29, 2024