New York Diary: Halloween in Scary Times
Wars, democracy in danger, inflation, job loss, hunger, climate change, homelessness – the real world is scary enough – and then along comes Halloween!
Ghosts, monsters, skeletons, witches and dead bodies have taken over the streets of New York. You can’t walk a few steps without encountering these spooky individuals or hearing bone-chilling cackles from every other townhouse that you pass. The Upper East Side has turned into a Horror Town and in the darkness of fall, it all looks quite macabre.
Still, it’s good to remember that these occasional scares for fun can actually make us more resilient in facing the fears of real life.
A mental health article in Time magazine notes that Halloween scares can actually soothe anxiety. Mathias Clasen, co-founder of the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University in Denmark, says that we use horror as an instrument with which to navigate a world that we deem scary and as humans, “we’re constantly forecasting. In a sense, horror is just like a formalized worst-case scenario that’s a very natural product of the way we cope.”
So, enjoy Halloween and the bountiful sweetness of Trick or Treat. A great time to be a kid or a kid-at-heart!
Photos: Lavina Melwani
