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Shelby Wharton
Professor Redding
English 1101
5 April 2016
The Monsters Among Us
Monsters cause us immense fear in the most psychological ways. This fear is the starting
point to how we can control and learn from the monsters that cause it. It is beyond just scary, it
creates a ghost that haunts our minds to where these monsters can transform and become a
burden on our brains. Humans have created the idea of monsters from all of the things that they
do not understand. The unknown causes the belief that it will cause harm and therefore it cannot
be trusted or to even be understood. Humans are the only monsters in the world, as creator or
even creature, yet it is true that their forms can be distorted to something unimaginable and cause
incredible devastation, but underneath all of it is the creation of someone who was haunted by
something that they could never fathom.
There are all these stories of courageous men who took amazing journeys to new lands
and ended up in mishaps and danger. They encountered gigantic animals and then passed those
stories down to be misleading. They told the stories as though the animals were hundreds of feet
tall and hungry for blood, yet the truth was that it was most-likely a bear defending her babies
and stormed them away. Myths of the centaur were just as misunderstood, they looked to have
the body of a horse and the torso and head of a man. In reality they were possibly natives on
horseback who have been told to be reckless and wild. Anger and rustic barbarism are
symbolized in the centaur. (Borges 72.) Some other terrifying mythological creatures caused

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nothing but fear and also deadly curiosity. Syrens and mermaids were imagined by sailors who
were at sea for months on end. They would capture the men in a sort of trance and drag them to
their deaths by singing a song and with their incredibly imagined beauty, obviously men would
follow willingly. These stories and myths have been passed down to create what we now know
today and they also help us understand the past and their ways of creating ancient captivating
stories.
As the years went on these stories followed and created haunting tales to make going to
sleep a terrifying experience. We believed that inside the closet was a monster that wanted to
haunt us throughout the night. There was no rest because it was actually nightmares causing the
idea of monsters and causing panic in our sleep. Older siblings were never ones to help either as
they would create the stories that made us so crazy and vulnerable. As a teenager the idea of a
monster had changed from the Boogeyman to something deadly hidden by beauty. Television
showed us to not fear all monsters but to trust them and maybe even have deep connections with
them. Shows like The Vampire Diaries or Supernatural or even Twilight encountered the idea of
a normal girl coming into contact with an alluring vampire who wants nothing more than to
protect her. These shows and movies made young girls feel like it was okay to not be afraid of
something that can cause such harm to anyone it lays a glance upon. As an adult, the idea of a
monster has changed significantly. It isnt the giant slimy creatures that haunt us, it is the people
who have no sympathy and will rob you blind. It can be the politicians who crave money and
attention while not caring about the lives of the people they have control over. The older we get
those scary and intimidating monsters just become horrible human beings with power hungry
intentions and no compassion.

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Horror movies, like Jeepers Creepers or Chucky and even It have become some of the
monsters that we crave but also are terrified of. These are the monsters that scare us
psychologically because they can go for just about anyone, and kill them in the most gruesome
ways. All of the monsters in the horrific tales above stalked their prey until they became so
mentally weak that it was impossible to escape their wrath. These movies cause such a thrill that
it becomes a form of fun entertainment. The real terror of these intense monsters are that they
could be walking amongst us in our daily lives. The news covers all of the murders, genocides,
and wars that cause people in their paths to worry. A psychopath could walk down the street like
any other person just looking for the next victim to attack. Over the years, serial killers like The
Zodiac Killer, who made killing people an intellectual game, and John Wayne Gacy, who raped
and killed around 30 boys, have been hiding under a facade. There really isn't any difference
between the evil demons on television versus the ones in reality. Part of our fascination with
serial-killer monsters is that we (and our loved ones) are potentially vulnerable to sadistic
violence- (Asma 62.) They cause the same damage and can make people dread to walk out their
front door or even allow their own children to leave their sight.
Humans have created so much devastation, whether it was in the script of a horror movie
or the top story in the news. During my childhood I never thought about how those monsters on
T.V. could be someone walking along my street. I have realized that anyone could be one of the
monsters we fear the most. The mailman or even your next door neighbor could be hiding an
ulterior motive.

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Works Cited
Borges, Jorge Luis. The Origins of Half -Human, Half-Animal Creatures.Monsters. Ed.
Andrew J.Hoffman. New York: Bedford/St.Martins, 2016. 73-75. Print.

Asma, Stephen. Monsters and the Moral Imagination. Monsters. Ed. Andrew J. Hoffman. New
York: Bedford/St.Martins, 2016. 62-63. Print.