There is a certain type of feeling you get when you are in a landscape with a haunting feeling. As Dr. Frank McAndrew of Psychology Today explains, haunted houses or landscapes trigger this feeling in us not because they pose a direct threat to our safety, but because we are unsure whether we are in danger or not (McAndrew, 2015). There are specific psychological mechanisms that cause the feeling of being creeped out, such as your self-preservation, and self-presentation. Our agent detection mechanisms have developed to aid us in saving ourselves from being harmed by a predator (McAndrew, 2015).
Since most persuasive media has displayed a haunting and uneasy environment as an old, worn out building or landscape with decaying matter and a legend behind it, it is no wonder that we develop this uptight response upon entering a location of this manner. When we close our eyes and picture a place that triggers this alert response, we often picture industrial decay, ghost towns or abandoned cities, graveyards, abandoned or decaying pastoral, or even landfills and heaps of dumped garbage.
The photograph below was captured just outside Port Perry, Ontario. The building has been standing there for as long as I can remember, and has never seemed to be occupied by people living within. Just by looking at it, you can begin to feel that haunting response of the body, as you wonder how this house has gotten in this kind of shape, and why nobody has bothered to keep it maintained or in liveable condition. What kind of history lies here?
The landscape causes an inevitable wonder for people like me who want to know why someone would let their property reach this level of decay. However, I would not be the type to want to wander into this abandoned house as it would cause me to be very on edge, and would initiate this agent detection mechanism even though there may not be a threat in sight. Although some may see it as an eye sore, the building holds a sort of beauty in a sense that the shattered windows and emptiness of the home give a glimpse of the life that has previously existed in this same spot (WG, 2011). The same can be said for ghost towns, and abandoned cities in which many people previously lived their lives.
The following image was captured just outside of Altona, Ontario. Altona became a ghost town in the early 21st century, when the government had made some exciting plans to build a new airport in the area ("Altona (Ghost," 2009). However, these plans had never panned out, and the town quickly grew a ghostly feel. Although people have moved back into the town, the eerie vibes remain as once upon a time the lives of all the residents were uprooted, and some had never returned. The barn-like building photographed must have previously been occupied, but now it is evident that it has not been visited in many years, and the driveway off the road access has completely overgrown. Looking at this photo you may wonder what the previous residents are doing now, and why they never returned? Perhaps they have escaped the rural area to move to a city in which they feel less secluded and there is less of a chance of a haunting presence in their mind. Due to the globalization occurring in our everyday life, people are more apt to move to the big cities, where they believe they have a place (Sezman & O’Brien, 2017).
A decaying or abandoned pastoral causes us to feel the same way as the previously stated scenes. When we see a decaying machine in a garden, we wonder why it was left there, and why it no longer is being used to serve its purpose. The photograph below depicts an old ship wreck that washed up on the beach of Cayo Coco, Cuba. A shipwreck in particular can cause a stir of emotions and questions to rise within, as we wonder what happened to the ship to cause it to sink, and if anyone was on board during the wreck. There’s a different type of feeling that arises when we are faced with a wreck in which there may have been lives lost.
The idea of the rotting machine in the metaphorical garden relates to Leo Marx idea that today’s world cannot live without the technology that surrounds us (Marx, 1964). For example, a decaying tractor in an abandoned farmers field portrays the idea that once the machine is no longer in working condition, the job that it served can no longer be done. If the world did not rely on our current technologies for survival, the land would not be overgrown and abandoned, the farmer would find another way in which to carry on the work.
When objects in our everyday life are in use, they become products to us (Stallabrass, n.d.). For example, when you are pouring your cereal into your bowl every morning, the cereal is a product in which we consume daily. However, once the box is empty we no longer view that item as a product anymore and it has now just become waste. When an object is abandoned, it either gains or loses something from its identity (Stallabrass, n.d.). The image captured below displays some abandoned tires in a farmer’s field. In a sense, the tires have lost their purpose as they are no longer being used for what they were made for.
Abandoned waste that no longer serves a purpose to us in our everyday life still leaves us with a sense of wonder. Why did someone decide that this abandoned product no longer serves a purpose to them? Will it be left here to slowly decay forever? Will it be repurposed?
We often don’t find the answers to the questions we have when faced with a haunting or abandoned environment because there is no one there who can tell us why or how the situation erupted. However, it is the sense of wonder that draws us back to similar situations searching for that innate response that we feel in these haunting environments. That is why explorers continue to search abandoned environments in order to get that haunting feeling back, and wonder once again whether they feel they are truly in danger or not.
Altona (Ghost town). (2009, June 5). Retrieved May 20, 2019, from Ontario Abandoned Places website: https://www.ontarioabandonedplaces.com/Altona-(ghost-town)_loc691.html
Marx, L. (1964). Technology and the pastoral ideal in America. Retrieved June 22, 2019, from http://wtf.tw/ref/marx.pdf
McAndrew, F. T. (2015, November 2). What makes a house feel haunted? Retrieved June 20, 2019, from Psychology Today website: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-ooze/201511/what-makes-house-feel-haunted
Sezman, I., & O'Brien, S. (2017, July 7). Space, place, and globalization. Retrieved June 22, 2019, from Wiley Online Library website: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119140399.ch9
Stallabrass, J. (n.d.). Trash. Retrieved June 19, 2019, from Southwestern University website: https://people.southwestern.edu/~bednarb/vmc/articles/stallabrass.pdf
WG, R. (2011). Beauty in decay. Retrieved June 22, 2019, from Fanshawe Online website: https://www.fanshaweonline.ca/d2l/le/content/949615/viewContent/7076304/View