Prepare To Have A Bad Night’s Sleep After Scrolling Through These 63 Downright Creepy Pics

What on earth is wrong with us? In a world filled with bad and depressing news, we could be using the little bit of free time we have to reset our nervous systems. Hot bubble baths, long walks on the beach, browsing through dreamy photos of faraway places, that kind of thing.

But here we are, scrolling through creepy, unsettling, and scary photos - by choice...

It's human nature, say the experts. According to researchers from Harvard University, one of the reasons we seek out horror is to experience stimulation.

Exposure to terrifying acts, or photos, can stimulate us — both mentally and physically, positively and negatively. We get scared or anxious (negative) but also excited or joyful (positive).

"For instance, watching a horror video simultaneously activates both types of stimulation, with the most pleasure experienced at the most fearful moment," explain the researchers. "The biochemical inside our bodies also changes when we consume horror. Fright can trigger the release of adrenaline, resulting in heightened sensations and surging energy."

Psychologists say that at its core, fear is an adaptive survival response.

"When we sense danger, the amygdala activates, triggering the body’s fight-or-flight system. Heart rate spikes, adrenaline floods the system, and our senses sharpen," explains Dr. Melisa Arias-Valenzuela, founder and clinical director of Uprise Psychology & Wellness.

Arias-Valenzuela goes on to say that unlike real threats, spooky experiences are “safe dangers.” Basically, we can enjoy the physiological thrill without actual risk. Harmless fear, if you will. In psychology circles, this paradox is called benign masochism.

A few things need to be in place for us to be able to actually enjoy watching horror movies, reading scary stories or scrolling through creepy photos like the ones featured here.

In their paper, The Psychology Behind Why We Love Or Hate Horror, the Harvard researchers note that we must possess what's known as a psychological “protective frame” to be able to derive pleasure from being horrified. These frames fall into three different categories.

The first is the safety frame — we need to believe that we are physically safe.

"For example, although the evil entity in a movie might be committing terrifying acts in front of our eyes, we can derive pleasure from the horror as long as we believe that the evil entity is physically distant from us and hence cannot cause harm to us," say Harvard's Haiyang Yang and Kuangjie Zhang.

However, they add that if we start to believe that the evil entity is coming out of the screen to hurt us, then the experience stops being fun.

The second category is all about detachment, or whether we're able to psychologically "remove" ourselves from something scary.

For example, say the experts, when we see a psycho hunting down their already-injured victim in a movie scene, we can activate psychological detachment by reminding ourselves that they are just actors. Or, when we see an image on this list, we understand that it's just a photo.

"The third category of protective frame involves our confidence in controlling and managing the dangers we encounter," say Yang and Zhang. "If we visit a haunted house, for instance, and a realistic-looking, blood-thirsty zombie charges at us, we can still derive pleasure from the encounter if we feel confident about overcoming the danger."

They add that if any of the three protective frames are missing, it changes how we feel about consuming scary content, which could be why certain people love a good, terrifying thrill while others stay far away.