Under the glass case inside a trapper’s store called the Banff Indian Trader Shop, an unsuspecting-looking wooden cabin located at the edge of Banff, Alberta, lies a mysterious creature. A half-fish, half-terrifying "man-beast of the seven seas," presumably caught in the waters of Fiji in the 18th century.

In broad daylight, this mummified monstrosity looks exactly what it sounds like: a dried-up monkey stitched up on top of a giant fish à la merman. Something you'd imagine a 16th-century sailor spinning tall tales about to scare the bejeezus out of other sailors. And sure, it looks kind of comical under normal circumstances.

But leave me alone with it in the wee hours, and I'm pretty sure you'd find me rocking back and forth with my arms around my knees. Even though it was probably me and no one else who decided to go seek out this monstrosity, despite the possibility of a sleepless night - something that r/oddlyterrifying is excellent at, often making others like myself question why we come back here time and time again in the first place.

Created in 2013, a few years after creepypasta's Slenderman took internet by the storm, r/oddlyterrifying today boasts 2.6 million community members, ranking among the top subreddits for horror-related content. Honestly, it's not difficult to see the appeal, since there's only a few (safe) places on the net where people can act both as digital curators and consumers of a cornucopia of spine-tingling, possibly cursed imagery.

Of course, considering that 71% of Americans under the age of 35 enjoy scary movies, it's not entirely surprising why some horror enthusiasts might look for an extra thrill either on r/creepypasta or its frightening cousin, r/oddlyterrifying.

According to acclaimed horror novelist Stephen King, horror films often act as a "barometer of the societal anxieties that plague our collective subconscious." While this perspective may romanticize the genre, Clark McCauley, a research professor of psychology, suggests that one prevalent reason why young adults, particularly men, seek the thrills of horror movies is to display their courage and bravado.

"Young males often compete to watch horror, to show 'I can take it,'" McCauley explained to Bored Panda in an email, noting that desensitization to feelings of disgust tends to occur faster than desensitization to feelings of arousal, leading to an increased fondness for horror among this demographic (which statistically ranges between 15-25). 

In his 1998 essay 'When Screen Violence Is Not Attractive,' McCauley argues that there are two key factors that influence the enjoyment of horror films (but are not limited to moving pictures). "First is that enjoyment of horror depends not upon the balance of positive and negative emotions elicited," he wrote, "but rather upon excitement and involvement that can be associated with either positive or negative emotions."

Fear, it seems, holds as much significance in human existence as basic needs like food and water, manifesting itself in various forms such as movies, roller coasters, and unexpected tragedies. Or, in our case, the chilling images on r/oddlyterrifying.

The ability of these uncanny images to provoke reactions, then, suggests that our response to them is influenced more by our individual identities than the authenticity of the images themselves. In other words: there's nothing wrong with you, whether you seek folkloric 18th-century mummified monstrosities or stare at the darkly-lit abyss that is r/oddlyterrifying for cheap thrills.