Why are things creepy? Vsauce Explains (thoughts + commentary)

[@Agent2090]

I think the reason children can be creepy quite easily is because our natural inclination is to see children as innocent. So when they have a dangerous air about them, that dichotomy triggers a "creepy" response. "That's not supposed to be like that" sort of feeling.

[@salladinthegreat]

Exactly my thoughts when she talked about it. We are built to expect that adult strangers can pose a threat but not children, that ambiguity can definitely cause a creepy reaction where your brain is frozen trying to make sense of this unnatural situation.

[@kR-qj7rw]

also they can be creepy for still learning social cues so they might come of as well off

[@Poizon-]

I would also say it's because we often see children as less conscious than adults. An adult can have ill intentions by choice, but we often see small children as acting more instinctive and natural, NOT by choice. Because of this, an "evil" child in a horror movie might seem more unnatural than an evil adult, and make it seem like not just one person is acting with ill-intent, but that nature itself has ill-intent.

[@isaacvincent8443]

One of the creepiest feelings I've ever felt. Was walking into my bedroom and being utterly certain that everything had been moved about one inch to the right. I told myself I was being foolish, but then I noticed indentations in the carpet that showed that both my bed and computer desk had indeed been moved about an inch. Later I found out, that my parents had bought a better desk that they planned to surprise me with. But then found out it was slightly to large and so gave it to my sister instead. When they moved things back into place, they were just a little off.

[@ZeallustImmortal]

I'd have a breakdown lmao

[@YRNKev999]

That’s diabolical of your parents to not tell you 😂😂😂

[@isaacvincent8443]

@@YRNKev999 Yeah, that incident freaked me out for a decent amount of time. As I didn't think to mention it to them for nearly two months afterwards. Even after I learned the truth, I would occasionally have strange nightmares about the whole thing. Needless to say, it was a big part of why I bought a door handle that could be locked, not long afterwards. They insisted that they needed to still have a way to open it if they needed to, but at least I knew no one would simply be able to sneak into my room as I slept. I don't think either of them ever really understood why it freaked me out so much. But then neither of them have nearly the same level of need for personal safety or privacy.

[@quailman]

I’ve always been afraid of heights due to the sudden urge to jump rather than the fear of falling. I believe this is often referred to as “the call of the void”. Happens often to people driving as well.

[@krystofdayne]

Yeah it's weird. Just recently, I was at the top of like a clock tower in Belgium (my guess is like 100m high) and the railing was (for me, a person about 1.80m tall, like 5'11'' for the Americans) like chest-high. So obviously very safe, so apart from a weird maneuver where I literally vaulted myself over the railing, there was no way I would accidentally fall. But I had exactly this weird feeling, of something pushing me, especially when I slightly leaned over, that I felt the need to pull back. Very weird.

[@suicyconaut]

I've caught myself steering into oncoming cars when they blind me with their headlights

[@ZeallustImmortal]

​@pluhandstuff That's because you're looking at the lights. When driving you will naturally steer to where you are looking. The general advice when being blinded by headlights is to look at the side of the road on the opposite side from the other car, this is better for your eyes and your safety.

[@ZeallustImmortal]

​@@suicyconautMy new phone refuses to tag people on yt for some reason

[@PatrickMersinger]

“What causes something to be creepy” then he stares into the camera giving people the creeps.

[@TheGabrielPT]

most scary to me: 1-death of loved one 2-being alone (in the sense of dying alone) 3- speaking in front of a group

[@NoProtocol]

Does it make a difference to you if the group is of strangers or conocidos?

[@TheGabrielPT]

​​@@NoProtocolhell yeah, a thousand times scarier with strangers. If its family or friends you know them and vice versa you wouldnt be embarrassed if you said something stupid or made a fool out of yourself

[@NoProtocol]

I’ve heard people say it both ways. Some that in front of strangers is easier because they don’t know them, others on line with what you describe. I don’t have much opportunity for live public speaking but next time I do, I’ll let you know how it goes lol

[@TheGabrielPT]

@@NoProtocol oof, deal 😅

[@Kenster66]

I appreciate the way you let the audience enjoy the content of your videos without a lot of chatter and your personal opinions. Your commentary is spot on and enjoyed.

[@Despotic_Waffle]

She does give her personal opinions, but they are interesting opinions which add to the discussion unlike 90 percent of react channels which just jump around, scream and promote their music and just parrot the contentof the video and make a thumbnail shocked face at the camera. So it's a more pleasant experience then the ones we're probably used to when hearing someone share their thoughts.

[@XJBR999]

So you want to have commentary or not? You just saying you like what you dont like, just watch what she is watching first then watch this videos

[@epicadventureturtle1363]

I think about this a lot because I watch horror quite often and sometimes wonder why some of the stuff is creepy or scary. Most of the things that the survey mentioned (pale skin, greasy hair, long limbs/fingers, bulging eyes, dirty etc.) and some things that you mentioned or that were shown in the video (teeth showing, small body frame) are features of a human corpse. A corpse is obviously a sign of nearby danger and would make us nervous, so I think thats why something like the grudge makes us so uneasy because she has a lot of these features.

[@Agent-57]

My creepiest nightmare was on repeat for several days. It was a loop. I wake up in my bed => Something dragging my corpse through the corridor, something I truly couldn't understand, I don't remember much but it was different every moment in that nightmare => I wake up again => Go to mom and dad's room and try to sleep there => it kills me and starts dragging my corpse => I wake up and repeat. I have fallen from water slides, hit by a car, passed out from bleeding due to head injuries, been admitted in hospitals over 25 times, gotten in fights and even physically abused by teachers since I was 8. But nothing ever has disturbed me as much as that dream did.

[@powderedwater67]

You played too much hitman friend, lol!

[@nickhaas9185]

I get a jolt of energy and dopamine everytime my phone says you react to V-Sauce

[@alexandrorocca7142]

In Italian, terrificante means terrifying. I have no idea how "terrific" became a positive thing in English since in Latin, terrere means "to frighten". The German version is "Terrifizierend" and there's also nothing positive related to it. The word deterrent has the same Latin origin, deterre means "to frighten away" or "to discourage."

[@MySerpentine]

It's like awesome and awful.

[@middler5]

Yeah it's flexible. For example if someone talks of a terrific explosion they are highlighting both the size of the explosion and the fact it is terrible at the same time. No real positivity there. Depends on context.

[@RaisiaFan1919]

"A picture of any Victorian child." I'm not sure why I laughed so hard at that. :)

[@robertmitchel2194]

The pattern you recognized that creepy things have a commonality of lacking in responsiveness to social cues was brilliant.

[@powderedwater67]

Yes people with A.S.D. are creepy, lol. At least it's better understood now instead of just saying "that's the creepy guy".

[@taidee]

I think the creepy feeling comes in when things are just a bit off what’s expected of them. Like with children, they are usually the ones needing to be protected, so somethings feels very wrong when they seem to be the ones threatening. Or they are in a wrong place at a wrong time, like a little girl in a nice clean white dress at night outside, if she showed up looking dirty she wouldn’t be as threatening because that aligns with being lost and looking for help. But her showing up in pristine condition suggests an intent which is at odds with the person of her age, whatever that intent maybe doesn’t seem it would be in your favour.

[@Polemark]

The way you described the bear in the window of the house on your block sounded pretty creepy. Then I saw the photo you took and I went "aww, that looks really cute" :)

[@CarlosRenfroe]

I can feel you on the loss of a sibling. I had to fly to Dubai to retrieve my only sister after a medical emergency so that I could let her pass in the States. We'd already lost both of our parents before age 30. This one was much harder. Your sibling often is the closest representation of yourself that you have. It wrecked me watching her die.

[@albers1]

I'm sorry but you have the best smile on KZbin. That's it.

[@kiddsavage9593]

As creepy as this comment is, I have to agree with this man

[@Nebechadnezzar]

She has the sexiest brain as well.

[@heraclitus6100]

She's gorgeous.

[@ameerking3133]

Yea she would fit in on like an island, beautiful unique features

[@Phoenix-md8sh]

I always thought that too.

[@black.sasuke.uchiha]

1:35 for some reason I found this picture hilarious, I thought it was on the ground level, and it was the full teddy bear in the window. This definitely doesn’t look as creepy as I imagined.

[@dangerousshoes]

11:20 I get this feeling when I'm holding something in my hand, like my phone or my wallet. If I'm next to a window or anything that's high up (or even in the passenger seat of a car), I get this INTENSE feeling to just throw whatever I have out. I've even caught myself clutching onto my phone tightly in response to the unconscious thought. Weird how our minds work sometimes.

[@nukiesduke6868]

12:25 That has freaked me out quite a bit. Like the person you sleep next to that you fully trust with your life could one day just up and decide to off you without you even suspecting it. Then again you never know what's going on in someone's head.

[@patrickgonzalez3806]

I like vsauce's channel; I only have maybe 2 or 3 friends that are into that type of stuff, but I don't get to hear their opinions too much due to distance, so it's refreshing to hear opinions on it. Cool video, thanks!

[@NoProtocol]

I was recommended VSauce through subscribers & don’t know many people outside of the channel who are into it either. Right up my alley though, thanks for watching Patrick!

[@Oxley016]

@@NoProtocol VSauce is such a KZbin classic, I am glad more people are still finding and loving their content!

[@nickwatts1262]

That "wanting to jump" feeling, from what I understand is named Call of the Void.

[@dwightk.schrute8696]

11:35 I think that's called "l'appel du vide" aka "call to the void". But ... 11:45, No Protocol supervillain arc revealed? :D

[@TurboWhacky]

If you didn't notice at the really end of his video a scary image slowly appears until it is barely visible . The first time i saw it it made me 💀

[@FumeiYuusha]

I don't know if you purposefully made the video creepier with your smaller edits or it's accidental, but it really got me. Especially the one at 12:30

[@milkshakespeare1]

11:40 those are called intrusive thoughts! And yeah they are very common, I always wondered why we have them

[@Bill-2203]

I’ve only known the thoughts when standing on a ledge as “intrusive thoughts” where you think I could jump and die right now, it’s like your mind toying with dark ideas not that you seriously want to do it but you start thinking what if

[@ArtistJoshuaWeigand]

I like things that scare me as well. It's not really a good adventure if there are no moments of fear.

[@NoProtocol]

Well put Josh

[@Jacobmelrose26]

I think the reason people see kids as an example of something creepy is because nobody expects a kid to have the capacity to be threatening when you can typically expect an adult to be capable of anything. Children are typically innocent so the thought that they could be crazy or possesed is more creepy of a thought.

[@reflectingwithry]

The urge to jump when on the edge of a cliff or somewhere high is called “high place phenomenon” and it stems from your brain misinterpreting safety or survival signals. This is taken from a published research paper: “When an individual stands on a high place, his or her fear circuitry might react to the potential danger in the situation by sending a rapid signal such as, “Back up, you might fall.” This “safety signal” is intended to keep the person alive and out of danger, and it is fired so quickly that the person backs away from the edge, often without being fully aware of why he or she did this. It is not until moments later, when the person tries to understand his or her behavior, that the individual’s slower perceptual system kicks in and potentially misattributes the safety signal (“Getting too close, back up”) to a death wish involving heights”

[@HowardMoon56]

I always found old grannies creepy, babushkas as we call them. There was this one who used to chase us for mocking her and she could run pretty quick for her age. Just the picture of an 80 year old lady running full sprint is giving me the creeps lol.

[@DomR1997]

That's what you get for picking on babushka.

[@Challenger160]

Something i've recently found to be creepy or unsettling are some backrooms videos. Something about the vhs effects some creators add to them and unlit corridors and not knowing if there's an entity present or not.

[@KarmasAB123]

If you want more on clowns, Armoured Skeptic has an interesting video called "The Dead God and Hero Clown." It is part of a longer series which is intentionally weird, but some good stuff, nonetheless.

[@FuzzyLogic77]

That list of "behaviors and physicalities that were found to be characteristic of creepy people" sounds like it could be the playbook that Heat Ledger used to come up with his version of The Joker 🤔

[@tarulztheworld72]

I love your style of videos. Very calm and informative.

[@Finn_Anwarunya]

the suddern urge to jump is called the call of the void.

[@dperry203]

I really liked his video on the 80/20 law or Zipf law.

[@jaredrobinson7071]

I disagree with stephen king. Terror is deeper than horror. Terror is when you are afraid to leave the house because a plane might fly into you. Horror is more immediate, like running from a dog chasing you.

[@briannorman1750]

Alternatively… something like being afraid to leave the house because a plane might fly into you sounds a lot like severe anxiety (coming from a person with major anxiety myself…) Which isn’t mutually exclusive, anxiety triggers a kind of terror response, I just think there are some ways of experiencing terror that don’t involve anxiety. Idk, themes my thoughts

[@DDog09]

The teddy bear at the window 😂 patiently waiting for his next victim

[@earthwormandruw]

To me it looks like it's waiting for its owner (in my mind a little girl) to return home from school.

[@ettcha]

Lol, because I'm hardly ever around in the day, I think the kids around here have appointed me the creepy neighbour guy! Even had some of the adults going for a bit! One of my neighbours finally came across me as i left for work and she was so startled she dropped all her stuff and started screaming 😂 The unknown is a powerful accelerant for fear!

[@earthwormandruw]

Oh man I would play into this so hard!! 😂😂😂 I'd take polaroids of the neighborhood and leave them scattered in my yard like I accidentally dropped them.

[@jabdav]

You loved it didn't you

[@lordcankercanison6499]

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear and the oldest kind of fear, is fear of the unknown" H.P. Lovecraft

[@ettcha]

@@jabdav well, we did get a laugh out of it afterwards!

[@ZeallustImmortal]

You need help. People don't fear you like that unless there's reason.

[@joshuawood3635]

When I was 12 I saw the broadcast of "The Day After" and it amplified my already strong fear of nuclear war. Thinking back to my childhood, that's of the most fearful event I can remember.

[@trjberg]

The phenomen of height impulses (jump/push) I think is because the situation provokes a very clear and physical "picture" or awareness of possibilitys of actions that activates the body.

[@earthwormandruw]

1:38 time to play geoguesser! ;) The amount of things I've seen in people's windows, let alone yards doing food deliveries the past 6 years is wild.

[@ezraanderson1190]

I really like this video. Horror and terror are concepts I've always been interested in, and learning the difference between the two was really cool when i first watched this. Very few things scare me now because of my fascination with it, but it's always cool to find something that still does, which some of the things in this video definitely still do.

[@NoProtocol]

I hadn’t considered the difference before this video and appreciated that part as well! Some true crime stories have really scared me. You’re lucky not much scares you now haha

[@just_gut]

The thing from that list that scares me the most is dying, and it isn't particularly close. Yeah, I wouldn't want to deal with some of the other things on the list, but the massive existential dread I feel when I even think about dying messes me up pretty badly.

[@Natso_1]

We have the same fear, although I think we differ in why. I don't want to make any assumptions but based on your comment, I feel like you fear death because you just cannot imagine yourself as something other than alive. Like most people, including myself, coming to terms with one's own mortality and that no matter what you do you will one day die is a very scary thing. However I fear death more not because I simply stop living, thinking, and basically existing, but mostly because of what happens later. I fear death because one day, maybe even after one or two generations, not a single person will ever know that I existed on this Earth. What I have done on this Earth is not enough for me to be immortalized or remembered for any significant amount of time after my death. Eventually my whole life, experiences, story, bonds, friendships, hardships, memories, and ambitions will be nothing to anyone. I might as well have never existed at that point. That is my main fear when it comes to death. The fear of being forgotten, but after my death.

[@earthwormandruw]

Interesting. For me I'm not afraid of death like that, what I'm afraid of is a long and excruciating death. I ride motorcycles and have been in like 7 crashes, watched friends crash, had my fiancé die from a crazy crash, seen someone hit by a train and live a few days, I can go on of what I've seen so my imagination goes wild with all the horrible ways to die slowly.

[@Natso_1]

@@earthwormandruw Well I think everyone has a bit of a fear of dying a horrible death, although you being a motorcyclist would increase your chances so I see why you would have that fear. Interesting how almost everyone fears death, but not always in the same way. I see death not as a tragedy but rather a release. I guess that's why they call it the sweet release of death.

[@earthwormandruw]

@@Natso_1 Yea, I'm a Christian and fully believe without a doubt I'll be with Jesus in paradise, I actually crave going home. Jesus compares death to a bee sting, but I hate getting stung by a bee.

[@Natso_1]

@@earthwormandruw Interestingly enough I am also a Christian, although I have a bit of doubt of whether or not I am worthy enough to go into paradise with our Father. I get that Jesus died for our sins, and that through him I am saved, but I still have doubt. Of course the doubt is for myself, I have no doubt that Jesus is Lord and that he died on the cross for us, and that he resurrected 3 days later and that anyone who believes that Jesus is the son of God and the true Messiah to save us will go to heaven.

[@MySerpentine]

I feel like terror is being hunted, while horror is seeing a city on fire.

[@SWLinPHX]

10:04 What is creepy about the Easter Bunny or Santa?

[@leonhardozdemir499]

My take on Creepiness would be: Something or someone with bad intentions, in a place you don't expect danger and that you considered save up to this point. It also makes sense that kids can be creepy, because the company of a seemingly innocent kid is always considered save. But when it turns out the kid is up to no good, it is very creepy, because you would never expect it, and the danger already invaded your save space. Also the clown with the Kids is creepy, because the kids trust the clown and they sit on it's lab. And when you realize that the person behind the mask is crazy, then it is very creepy, because the clown invaded the save space of the Kids and they don't expect it.

[@ravenward626]

I suspect that some stories get retold because they are proven and popular. That same popularity may also make a soft barrier on subjects and themes. The ones that can appeal the widest audience are more likely to find both writers and readers. Personally I like the idea of using real life examples in a story as a way of introducing people to more obscured issues; cautionary tales to help people recognize the everyday villainy around them. Like old school morality tales had a lesson, I'd like to see more stories to teach people about age old problems by using examples that mirror current events.

[@breadtoast1036]

H.P lovecraft once said fear of the unknown is the strongest kind of fear

[@cr10001]

As horror movie directors well know, things you *can't* see can be much more frightening than the things you can. A good example is Alien (the first movie) where you never get a proper look at the alien until right at the end.

[@paulhelberg5269]

Edgar Allen Poe The Imp of the Perverse is a thesis on the subject of wanting to jump from a high place or otherwise do the worst possible thing at the worst possible tim to say or do it.

[@Valandar2]

11:30 It's often called "The call of the void".

[@wesdogy]

Loved the vid (as always) & I'm sorry but the bear at 1:35 had me dying, that is kinda creepy, but also cool. I see you like checking out different channels hear are two you may like (assuming you haven't already checked them out) the 1st is Tasting History its a mix of cooking channel and History and its kinda addicting. 2nd is WTF "The Why Files" this one covers all kind of conspiracy, sci-fi, supernatural etc... Topics honestly one of the 10 best out there hands down🙃

[@lurx2024]

I think a lot of "creepiness" comes from something invading our comfort zone, and upon closer scrutiny, a subtle element of malevolence is detected. Sometimes it's something that appears human, like a doll or a robot designed to look like a human (plus masks & clowns as well), and by the mere act of briefly tricking us into the false recognition of it being human, creeps us out. It's like a Trojan horse that managed to get close enough to our core of vulnerability without any alarms going off in our heads.

[@oddpoppetesq.3467]

1:35 that's a cute teddy bear, it just wants hugs 🫥

[@Blacknarock]

The thing about wanting to jump is called In urban language Call of the void. When you want to do something that will end you or others.

[@rhago32]

3:22 suffocation, no breathing...😅 Now that song is stuck in my head.

[@Slowwavesix]

Here's a list of no joke truly scary things. And these would argue Ali be Stephen King's top tier of true horror, the most complex. Probably the most terrifying show of all time, and not intentionally so....was the original Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack. Aside from the absolutely perfect backing Music & Stack's chilling baritone was the fact that you knew that everything although a reenactment, was something that really happened. And it wasn't necessarily the scary murderers or things like that. One of the most chilling episodes was about a series of bank robberies in LA where the robbers had tunneled under the buildings. Inotorious example was the Dennis DePue murders in which the re-enactment from Unsolved Mysteries was actually recreated to be the intro of the movie Jeepers Creepers. That's correct, the show was so unintentionally terrifying that it inspired a horror movie. Other examples of surprisingly terrifying non horror scenes would be the Large Marge scene from Pee-wee's Big Adventure, the Nome King from the return.to.oz heck, most of that movie would fit into the horror category and it was a kids movie, the episode "Conspiracy" from Star Trek the Next Generation which had an unusually gory ending but the entire rest of the episode was an example of Kings tier 3 of terror, it was way out of left field because it was so out of the ordinary for Star Trek. Another excellent example would be the perfect stranger scene from The Adventures of Mark Twain which was cut from most of the TV broadcast. Lastly, the Ghost of Christmas future section of the 1970 adaptation of A Christmas Carol (Scrooge the musical) with Albert Finney. That whole scene definitely did not come from Dickens book and I do not know where it came from. It's often cut from TV broadcast as well

[@fgialcgorge7392]

I saw the black widow and instantly I got reminded that for one, I don't mind spiders at all, and two, the spider I call my window widow or Eunice(all my window spiders get old lady names) just went to the great web in the sky. Everyone thinks I'm crazy but I've had her relatives in my windows for over a decade. Never once have they left their webs. When it gets around late spring/early summer they show up and absolutely destroy any bugs that may get in my cabin. Zero bug problems and they're everywhere here. Even if you just have a house spider around your window, let it be, they do work.

[@blackimp4987]

creepy is something potentially threatening that we don't have enough knowledge of and we can't control. A teddy bear with teeth suggests a predator and pushes us to consider what would happen if it animates... which brings to a situation where we don't have enough knowledge of - it would be paranormal - and we can't control.

[@55itsme]

The phenomenon is The Call Of the Void, and there have been some studies on it. I have never experienced it on a cliff or tall building, but I have felt it when I'm driving. Just for a fleeting moment, I'll fixate on the realization that I could drive off the road and into a tree with an easy flick of the wrist. I think it's best not to dwell on those kinds of thoughts.

[@chrissilver476]

I think the fear of children comes with their unpredictability. As far as in the context of The Ring, or Children Of The Corn, a child knowing or doing something a child shouldn't know is unsettling.

[@thewhat6219]

Personally, I think lack of knowledge has a lot to do with something being creepy. Like, I don't enjoy going into situations where there are too many unknowns, and the brain is too good at filling in those gaps sometimes to the point where paranoia can really twist you up. I also fear losing people, but that comes from my belief that our existence is mostly for other's benefit. When I think about the uncanny valley, i think of how those porcelain dolls and how their eyes appear to follow you. Actually, most "eyes that aren't eyes" are pretty weird actually, it's a non-living imitation of something you'd usually be used to seeing alive.

[@trixterreflections2586]

I've watched a few of your vids and I Find your commentary very reflective and intelligent, you "add more" to the videos than that video is it self, you're very perseptive! I like the way your mind works!

[@bertusvanhal8855]

when i stand in a high building and look over the balustrade, i have the feeling that i must jump, i must hold myself back. i had always felt that, i'm now 60 years old but every time since i was a kid, i had that feeling. don't worry i never will do that, but the feeling stay's.

[@TheDreamDetective888]

Creepiness gives you the feeling that something may be creeping under your certainty...

[@alwaysamy4]

The British voice is nice but this is only the second video on this channel I’ve watched and YOU have the most soothing voice I’ve ever heard. I could listen to u teach me stuff all day.

[@YuryVVV]

Several hours late, but here. The self-analysis remarks are yet another layer of entertainment on top of the commentary. Wonder if they ever turn into a conversation of its own 😄

[@Ninjabandido]

Thalassophobia-type of things creeps me out so much. No idea why. I was an avid swimmer since I grew up in AZ and spent as much time as possible in lakes and pools and loved it, never had an issue.

[@CrankLucas]

Love vsauce channel 😂 interesting video to react to

[@blakeaskew7086]

9:15 Heath ledger licked his lips throughout the movie when he was playing the joker in Batman the dark knight

[@ravenward626]

I kinda see it in terms of expectations and pattern recognition. I'm just a dude with limited education but I see our minds as modeling the world around us to develop expectations; based on experience, both immediate events and learned lessons, what do we anticipate next? For the most part this processing happens in the background. A shortcut to reaching our attention however is to observer an unanticipated change; a surprise. Acute unanticipated changes can cause jump scares, but creepiness probably sits in the uncanny valley. I suspect it occurs when there is enough dissonance in an expectation to get your attention, but enough ambiguity to leave that dissonance unsettled. Without the warm reassurance of predictability the mind may reach for all manner of possibilities, including danger. Vsauce picks some thought provoking topics. Fun stuff!

[@boeboe5115]

I think the child association with creepiness is the juxtaposition of our instincts and a child being a prop within horror. Children often provide us with sense of strength and relief naturally. To make something empowers us to be confident in our own protection, into something foreign and uncanny, provides a great distinction in what feels right. That's what "creepy" thrives on.

[@Jerry-jg1uc]

I work on high ladders, scissor lifts, boom lifts all the time anywhere from 20 to 60 feet off the ground and it never bothers me. But I can watch a video of someone doing something at extreme heights (skyscrapers, towers, high cliffs) and I can loose my breath, my hands get sweaty. I agree about the old pictures of kids, even some antique pictures of adults are just creepy, the eyes freak me out!

[@RUSTY-A-L]

I have noticed the same thing about movies, exceptions would be "Jo Jo Rabbit", "The Autopsy of Jane Doe" & "Dark City" check them out if you haven't already.

[@leonhardozdemir499]

Damn, I didn't expact the voice at 12:30. Kinda creeped me out.

[@rubberyowen1469]

Plenty of food for thought in this video but even though I am a retired Male I have never experienced much fear of anything EXCEPT DOLLS. Why do their eyes always follow you? Why look over at the thing to see it's still looking straight at you. Brrrrr, they make me shiver. My wife bought one without telling me and I had to get her to get rid of it, a 2 foot high doll on a shelf in the corner of the bedroom with a white Elizabethan dress down to its ankles and eyes always looking at me was just too much. Great video as usual and looking forward to your next one.

[@TheRemyLeBeau]

The Yellow Wallpaper does not fall under horror, but to everyone who likes to read horror stories, they all claim it's a horror story. This is because _psychological horror_ is creating the same feeling of fear as actual horror does. It's why _Alien_ and _Get Out_ feel remarkably similar, despite one being in space with an actual alien and the other having absolutely no similarities to it. On that note, in _Alien_ we don't actually get to see the Alien all that often, meaning the director actually plays on our fear of _not_ seeing things while feeling there's something there. What I especially like is that this short story also adds to the ambiguity that the video mentioned, especially when they try to explain it. (Trying not to go into spoilers for the people who haven't read it)

[@JohnTovar-ks8dp]

On trusting people: that moment you understand anyone acting normally could sucker punch you as they walk by.

[@RyanTmpst]

It's like when I'm in a car on the highway and I get the urge to open the door

[@wolfman-up7dh]

9:40 That list just sounds like it's describing The Joker.

[@marque2127]

I find it creepy when I go in the office on the weekend and there is no one in the building. Early quiet and all the halls look the same. Kind of like a Backrooms level. The movie with the children with the white hair and glowing eyes wasn't Children of the Corn. That was Village of the Damned.

[@oddpoppetesq.3467]

10:58 just looking at that picture triggered my vertigo. Dang, I can barely go up 3 steps on a ladder without feeling dizzy.... It ain't creepy though just fear inducing for me.

[@BornRandy62]

a sleep apnea will generate a real fear of suffocation because you live through it several times a night. Bad dreams involving drowning or tight spaces. Waking up after not breathing for a while. It creeps into your self conscience. Then you do a sleep study and get fitted for a CPAP machine and it goes away. The bags under my eyes went away after a month of CPAP treatment. I worked with a guy with bulging eyes. Decades before TED or thyroid eye disease was a common houshold term. We nicknamed him Toad because he looked like Kermit the frog. He switched jobs to involving a medical license and got treated . He appears normal today.

[@mattsmith5421]

Creepy doesn't have to be a person we broke into an abandoned singular house at the foot of a railway bridge that was built in the 1850s at about 11pm the house was still decorated with old pictures everywhere, was even creepier because we couldn't force the front door open enough to get in because it had warped so we climbed in through the window next it and when we were all upstairs we heard the door slam closed i absolutely shit myself we flew out the house and every time we went back to the bridge right next to it to smoke weed nobody ever went near the house even in the day time

[@dragonfly.effect]

too many ideas & themes to explore in a comment here, but regarding the urge to jump from a height: I've always sensed it as arising from a fantasy that I could fly, and briefly feeling it might be real. something about seeing all that expanse in front of and beneath and even above you & imagining what fun it could be to dive in and swim in the air. occasionally I will have a (sleeping) dream in which I'm faced with that combined threat and opportunity, and I end up jumping or falling off and then somehow "willing" myself to stay aloft, or at least to land gently, while part of me knows that it's "supposed to be" impossible.

[@kR-qj7rw]

I dont think it really matters the whole ''I dont go around worrying this or that or stop me from doing x '' because its not about the frequency or when do we think of such and more of a why

[@Stogie2112]

Public speaking always ranks high in polls on "What scares you the most?" I've seen students last only one class period after they sign up for Speech Communication. They drop the class, as they're so terrified. 😆

[@icanmix]

I love your vids, would love to know more about you & your life. You are so cool!

[@GG8888-d4b]

intrusive thoughts be gone

[@thenoobboi3236]

The urge to jump and the urge to hit someone I definitely felt and sometimes it's so strong

[@TheRemyLeBeau]

Now, this is not validated through sources, just my own theory. One of the reasons why people even consider the idea of jumping from a high spot is _mostly_ because of _curiosity_ . We humans do like to explore, to experiment. So when we look up at the sky, we wonder what's up there. That resulted in _astronomy_ and _space exploration_ . When we see an apple falling down, we wonder why things fall. We discovered _gravity_ . When we get sick or feel pain, we developed _medicine_ . Those are all developments or discoveries that came from mere curiosity. So ... when we look down, we experience something we also don't understand. How does it feel to fall from that height? How does it feel to die? What happens when you die? And if you push your loved one off, how would you react to their loss? How does it feel to lose that person you love? Those are all unknown experiences. These are inherent to our curiosity, not because we're stupid or mentally deranged. It _can_ go there, like if you keep pushing people off tall buildings to experience their feelings by proxy, but the majority of the people don't actually act on things that are considered dangerous. They merely wonder about them. It would also partially explain why people always go into the dark basement in horror movies; partly because it's curiosity, but to stick to the VSauce video, also as a means to validate that there's nothing in there they should be afraid of. Because if you don't go there, you'll keep wondering if there's actual danger and it'll keep you up at night if there's anything that will creep up at you during the night. Perhaps even during the day. There's also the nagging feeling in the back of your mind that calls you a coward if you don't do it because you're scared. But again, this doesn't go for everyone. Different people react in different ways, even experience different feelings to the same situations.

[@ronaldmorgan7632]

For a nerdy topic, I would recommend videos of the nano-machines inside all cells. It's worth it for the animations alone. Also, if you like space travel sci-fi, I can hook you up.

[@hughcromwell7845]

Currently getting ready to go to sleep for the night and saw the teddy teeth. I think sleep may evade me tonight.

[@NoProtocol]

There’s something about the teddy teeth that I really like

[@hughcromwell7845]

@@NoProtocol You are a far braver individual than I. My childhood would have been far more traumatic with the presence of toothed Teddy bear threatening oblivion with its razor edged dentures. However, that is just me. Also why do we refer to them as Teddy bears, I must now research this!

[@iviui2d3i2]

@NoProtocol I'm sure that someone likely mentioned "The Call of the Void" already, being that you showed an enthusiastic interest and perhaps morbid fascination with the topic regarding "unexplained urging to leap from safety into an unsurvivable abyss below". Yet, I will go ahead and add my own remarks, should there happen to be anything which further piques your interest in exploring any extra, historically relevant and relatively 'recent': facts or fiction, science or folklore etc., I felt I would be remiss choosing not to share any additional thoughts and facts regarding what is phrased in English as, "The Call of the Void". The term has vague strings and connections to a larger summation of earlier, more extensive, seriously curious and explorative psychological studies, loosely agreed upon in recent history to central European/French Behavorial Sciences, to the point where the precise phrasing in itself - "The Call of the Void" - is basically a direct English translation of the phenomenon in question here, wherein French Behavioral Studies groups had coined the term quite some years ahead of most other Western Behavioral Philosophy/Sociology/Psychopathy groups and the like; their interpretations predate our current, yet mostly similar extrapolations the point that even regular - non science associated - people of the area had long been collectively using their understanding and colloquial phrases for at least a few, if not many, generations prior to the beginnings of any sort of "Officially Funded" research had began, in earnest, toward the psychological curiosity of the longstanding, somewhat common and accepted terminology within the French culture. If Google serves me properly here, for a very long era of time, it was spoken within the French culture as: "L'appel du vide"; the 'glitch' in our natural human processing of fear also wasn't uniquely associated within the cleanly defined constraints of the scenario regarding, "leaping from deadly high places". Rather, within it's unknowingly longer history, it encompassed nearly all forms of thought which manifested with similarly regarded affiliated outcomes; from just steering your vehicle toward an oncoming train, or perhaps having an inexplicable thought creeping in, urging one to reach out and grab a high-voltage electrical cable. These would be considered fleeting, "What if?" hypotheticals that were rarely, (RE: most always, NEVER), actually acted upon any further than a psychological moment of morbidity, with the thought alone never considered as being immoral, but instead regarded as fleeting curious and invasive thoughts of what implications would arise amidst the chaos of aftermath.

[@baldbastardo]

Evolutionary psychology is just as fascinating as evolutionary biology if you ask me. There's so many remnants from what shaped us as a species we still don't understand unfortunately. I mean, take something as simple as the disgust response or on the opposite spectrum how empathy has helped us with being better team mates, but there's gotta be a lot more in between. So much to know, so little time..

[@willharlow607]

I think the point you made about things beings creepy relating to the intentions of people, has some basis in evolution and how we got our start as a species. Homo sapiens weren't the only humans on Earth. For a long time we shared this planet with our cousin species who were similar to us but not the same. It was evolutionarily advantageous for us to be fearful of someone that looked almost like us.

[@brucejuice349]

It is common to have that leaping sensation. It's referred to as "the call of the void" I can link you a video if you're interested

[@TheGrimLlama]

I actually can't stand on a ledge and not feel an overwhelming urge to jump. Every fibre in my body wants to just leap right off. It's bizarre, and I don't care for it. I also don't have a fear of heights, apparently.

[@jjkehrley]

The picture you put up for "Children of the Corn" was actually from "Village of the Damned", lol

[@d4rknecromancer918]

I also experience the feeling of wanting to jump off for some reason but me and my wife can't go on walks together cause I will push you in front of any on coming vehicles idk why