Unsettling things frighten us because they occupy the uneasy space between the familiar and the wrong. When something looks almost normal, but not quite, our brains struggle to make sense of it, setting off ancient alarms meant to keep us alive.
It’s the subtle distortions, the quiet discrepancies, the things we can’t quite explain that leave us most vulnerable. Instead of offering a clear threat we can fight or flee, the unsettling lingers, gnawing at our certainty and inviting our imaginations to fill in the darkness. And what we imagine is often far worse than anything we could see head-on.