LOVE OF HORRORS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5168, 22 August 1927, Page 4

LOVE OF HORRORS.

THAT MORBID CURIOSIfTY.

CONSIDERED AN UNHEALTHY SIGN

Attention has frequently been •drawn in New Zealand' to the morbid ■curiosity displayed by people in every detail of a trial for murder. The

s;ame thing evidently applies ,to other zparts of the world, for a London paper Tsays that in spite of the, sweltering heat, the Old Bailey was crowded ■when what was known as the “Trunk” murder case came, on, and, at an early hour, a queue of people 200 yards in

length was waiting outside, in the

hope of gaining admittance. It seems ■extraordinary that people who had evidently plenty of leisure were anxious to spend the whole day in a stuffy

court listening to a sordid and repellent story, when they might have

been out in the fresh air enjoying one ■of the few hot a.nd perfect mornings ■of the year. But the truth, is, perhaps, that, for some strange reason, a great many people have a streak of morbidity in their nature. They are ■fascinated by a. tale of horror, and "they will even gaze for hours at the scene of a tragedy, asj if by doing so they could reconstruct it all. It would "be valuable to discover why many perfectly decent, law-abiding people feel this strong interest in things that are utterly -outside their own, experience. 7.tVhat is the secret of this morbid appeal ? Is it purely psychological, or are people fascinated against their wishes, as a rabbit is fascinated by a snake ? Probably there are all sorts ■of obscure motives at work, but surely mankind ought to control and finally conquer its morbid curiosity. It is an unhealthy sign—jusf as it is an unhealthy sign when a dog ceases to "like ordinary food and takes to devouring refuse. This generation is always looking for excitement, and has to a considerable extent lost its taste for simplicity and for the things that really matter. Its sense of value has got distorted and it finds pleasure in the gruesome for its own sake.