The Uncanny: Why Do We Fear Human-like Creatures?

Welcome to the ninth day of my daily October posts! Throughout these next 23-days, I will be posting different spooky fun facts, tricks and treats. Today, I will be sharing theories as to why we fear human-like creatures—otherwise known as ‘the uncanny’. If you have any theories of your own, then please let me know in the comments below!! Enjoy!

1. The Nephilim - As a Christian, I do believe in Nephilim. These are the children of human women and the fallen angels—a.k.a.demons. These children are monstrous human-animal people, such as Goliath the giant. I also think it’s interesting to look into history and find all of these gods that were in love with women which reminds me of the creation of the Nephilim. It would also go into other cultures of mythology with human-animal creatures as gods and goddesses, which is exactly what the Nephilim were. The theory is that the Nephilim physically showed that they were not fully human and were dangerously powerful creatures. I can definitely see this being an inherited traumatic event through all humans as the Nephilim were demonic. I can also see fallen angels introducing themselves as “gods” to the human species as they would be knowledgeable on things that humans weren’t such as astrology, weaponry and the sciences. 

2. Neanderthals vs. Homo Sapiens - I can definitely believe this theory of Neanderthals being dangerous to Homo Sapiens. There’s plenty of evidence surrounding the differences between Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens. There are also plenty of theories that Neanderthals would kill and eat Homo Sapiens or attack them for common prey or whatever it may have been. These two different human-like creatures were both considered separate species, although there was occasional interbreeding between the two. I can see the Neanderthals looking so similar to Homo Sapiens but just off enough (along with their brutality) to cause the fear of the species from our ancestors. This definitely could have come through to us throughout these past 40,000 years or so since they’ve been on this earth.

3. Plagues - This could be a likely answer to the question of our fear of the uncanny as different plagues, such as the septicemic plague, syphilis and/or leprosy caused extreme change to a person's appearance. Some plagues caused boils and obvious distinctions on human skin. Whereas others rotted the flesh even causing the victims’ noses to fall off and such at times. Plagues changed what people looked like whether that was the greenish hue of their skin, or their sickly look in general. Occasionally, it could even change the body of an individual whether that be skeletal or by the loss of limbs. I do feel like this is a good contender for the reason why we fear the uncanny as we have been taught to fear the sick so we ourselves do not experience plagues or illnesses for thousands of years. Therefore, I do think there is quite a bit of truth to this one.

4. Predators - The theory of a human-like predator is also likely. Some believe this to be giants while others believe it to be large apes. I can see this being the case as our ancestors may have had to fight off groups of human-like creatures, which would instill the fear that we have through generational trauma today.

5. The Fear of Twins - This is the first theory that I do not agree with on this list. There has been a fear of twins throughout different cultures for hundreds if not thousands of years. Some believed twins, especially identical, to be of the devil or witchcraft. Even to this day in some cultures, children that are born twins are left to die in the wilderness. I do think that people do fear ideas, such as the doppelgänger, but that doesn’t really get into the uncanny and there’s only a small amount of twins to even go off of. I think that there would have to have been a lot more identical twins for this to be the reason why most—if not all humans fear the uncanny.

6. Aliens? - This one I just don’t believe. The theory is that aliens are on our planet and have become human-like creatures that just have something off about them that humans recognize. However, if aliens were on our planet, I don’t necessarily believe that they would look exactly like us. I also don’t think that this answers the question of why we fear them looking a little different than us if that is the case.

7. The “Black Eye Club” Theory - This one is a little ridiculous, but I understand why people have this theory. Some believe that when a celebrity or person sells their soul to the devil, they get these uncanny eyes where their eyes are darker and no longer look human. I don’t necessarily agree with this one as I’m sure there are plenty of other markers of someone who has sold their soul to the devil rather than just their eyes—like the things that they do or glorify. But who knows? 

Thank you for reading and make sure to come back for tomorrow's post!

Sincerely, 

        your 21st century poet <3