Hell Banquets and Haunted Houses: Why do we Enjoy Fear?
- Rachel Priebe
- Nov 20, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Nov 22, 2021
Recently, I read an article about “hell” banquets. These lavish feasts date back to ancient Rome and involved grotesque scenes designed to scare the guests at the delight of the host. The article describes one banquet in which the guests, “most of whom were senators, were each assigned a seat with a personalized gravestone.” The food served in a black room was entirely “food traditionally offered at sacrifices to departed sacrifices” and was all colored black. In general, guests were not informed that they were attending a “hell” banquet ahead of time and expected a normal dinner.
These dinners may have also served a political purpose. The excessive black coloring may have been a satire on the overuse of black pepper by the upper class. Or it is also speculated that they may have been a way to scare off rival families.
These feasts were the predecessors to haunted houses and other macabre activities we enjoy today such as horror movies and ghost walks. This begs the question of why we enjoy these experiences. An article from the Washington Post explains why this may be the case. One explanation is that when we are aware we are in a safe place, the feeling of fear is quickly replaced by euphoria. Another explanation is that when we get scared and “survive,” it evokes feelings of accomplishment. I also think that experiences like this create deeper bonds with the people we experience them with.
Works Cited
O'Brien, Sam. “Before Haunted Houses, There Were Hell Banquets.” Atlas Obscura, Atlas Obscura, 18 Nov. 2021, https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/hell-banquets.
Kaplan, Rachel Feltman and Sarah. “Dear Science: Why Do People like Scary Movies and Haunted Houses?” The Washington Post, WP Company, 27 Oct. 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/10/31/dear-science-why-do-people-like-scary-movies-and-haunted-houses/.
This was a great read! It's really interesting how 'surviving' scares and feelings of fear are later turned into a sense of accomplishment, but that makes sense because the brain probably thinks the body just survived a life or death experience. It's also interesting to study why people enjoy being scared in the first place, since the feeling has always been rather uncomfortable for me.
This post was very interesting! First and foremost I was never aware of hell banquets and what they entailed/ what the purpose was of it all. I also find it interesting that these banquets laid the foundation down for haunted houses and other scary activities. I personally love horror movies, thus when you bring the argument of why people enjoy these types of experiences, I enjoyed your explanation of it feeling close to a type of survival, leading to those feelings of accomplishment because I think I can relate to it.
I think the argument you make at the very end "experiences like this create deeper bonds with the people we experience them with." is a very interesting point. Short of watching horror shows alone, most of the "scary things" I can remember doing I've done with friends, and became great memories.
Most of my experience has been on the other side. I've been the one doing the scaring (it's a tradition to turn my grandparent's front yard into a haunted... front yard!), and I wonder if there is a similar reason why that is enjoyable. Or maybe, I just like to be the one with the power, the one in control of the fear!