What You Don't See Is Scarier Then What You Do See

So reading Poe really got me into the Halloween spirit. I read Poe in high school and I was immediately hooked. I liked when we were talking about how the dark can play tricks on your mind. When we're engulfed in darkness, our depths of perception become confused. The man in The Pit And The Pendulem wakes up in complete darkness. Poe plays well on our fear of the unknown and how it can take over our minds. The loss of perception can really let the imagination run wild. Who could say that the cold, stone wall that the man was feeling was not the body of a fierce dragon or that the slime was not blood and guts? Anything could have been in the pit with him and it is that fear that Poe uses to make this story so terrifyiing and suspenseful. A lot of people say that it is not the dark that scares them, but what could be in the dark with them. This also reminded me of something that a movie critic once said about scary movies. He claimed that "what you don't see is scarier then what you do see." A lot of horror movies play on that concept and it seems to be very effective. A lot of times, the evil creature in the scary movie does not even hold a candle to what I was picturing in my mind so I really enjoy when you never actually see the monster at all. I have an incredibly active imagination which is what makes horror movies so fun to watch for me. I know that if I was in the dark, I would prefer to not know what else in it with me. Sorry for all the ramblings. I just really love the horror elements that Poe used to make his stories so terrifying.

P.S. I commented on Samuel Oliver's blog, "The Unknown......AHH!"