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“Sociologist Janelle Wilson posited the idea of “negative nostalgia” in 2005, where instead of looking back and finding happy memories, we uncover ones with misery, horror, confusion, and trauma. But Wilson also discounts the idea, saying it can’t exist because nobody wants to make their past into a nightmare...”

“...Lost Episodes stories, like “Candle Cove” and “Suicide Mouse,” focus on unaired episodes of cartoons or children’s shows, usually featuring creepy or violent imagery, while video game stories, like “BEN Drowned” and “Lavender Town Syndrome” feature modified, haunted game cartridges. But both categories focus on retro media objects. Nobody’s writing creepypasta about Fortnite; it’s always older media, objects from childhood that we’re looking back on and turning sinister...” Jenna Stoeber, Polygon

“...If you look at horror stories, whether they’re recent or from 100 years ago, they very often feature "old" settings. The image of the ancient, scary castle, reminiscent of the old aristocracy, has been around since at least the 19th century. Picture a stereotypical horror movie from the early 20th century: you get Dracula, creepy old houses, graveyards, mummies awoken from ancient tombs...” Punchmaster, Polygon

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Speaking of creepypasta's, suicide squidward used to be scary af because of the big red eyes. I remember i couldn't go to sleep one night because of it.

Speaking of creepypasta's, suicide squidward used to be scary af because of the big red eyes. I remember i couldn't go to sleep one night because of it.


Saddam Hussein's face after he was captured is what used to give me nightmares. This was in late 2003.

https://static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2016/12/saddam1-e1482146797758-640x400.jpg
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/f-saddam-a-20180417-870x668.jpg

It's weird, when I visited my hometown where I grew up as a kid, instead of being super happy and nostalgic I felt sad and scared. Sometimes the past can be negative because you moved on in life and don't really want to look back. I think subconsciously it felt like I was going backwards in life when I returned, which is ridiculous of course because I only stopped by for a short visit. The brain is weird in that way.

It's weird, when I visited my hometown where I grew up as a kid, instead of being super happy and nostalgic I felt sad and scared. Sometimes the past can be negative because you moved on in life and don't really want to look back. I think subconsciously it felt like I was going backwards in life when I returned, which is ridiculous of course because I only stopped by for a short visit. The brain is weird in that way.


You make a good point here and I agree with it.  This is one reason moving back to Oklahoma in 2012 was so painful (other than the fact OK is just an awful place to live if you don't fit the "Trump supporter" stereotype.)

Nostalgia can be painful when you look at what time has taken from you. My former home, arguably the place I was happiest in my childhood, is now a doctor's office. I moved out of there in 1997 but I can remember living there like it was yesterday. The entirety of the structure in form and shape has been changed. Going there on an appointment, I could only make out which room was which by the windows, which are in the same place as they always have been. My bedroom has been sealed off and is now a stairwell. The one landmark which remains of my family is a wooden fence my father and grandfather put up when we moved in back in 1994. It was painful, remembering my home, and what could've been had we stayed there (would have been a better life). But at the same time, it felt nice. Here was a place in which I was happy, and those memories are something I will always own. My home is now a place which serves to help people. It still stands and I can always visit. Not something many can say of their childhood home.

Blue Velvet reminds me of this phenomenon.

When it starts, it presents you of an idyllic suburban society straight out of the 50s (the film was made and released in the 80s). But as the film progresses, the focus shifts to the old-fashioned suburb’s hideous underbelly. Sexual deviancy, prostitution, obsession, murder, kidnapping, corruption. All there.

It’s a great movie overall, but it’s not for the faint of heart.

Nostalgia can be painful when you look at what time has taken from you. My former home, arguably the place I was happiest in my childhood, is now a doctor's office. I moved out of there in 1997 but I can remember living there like it was yesterday. The entirety of the structure in form and shape has been changed. Going there on an appointment, I could only make out which room was which by the windows, which are in the same place as they always have been. My bedroom has been sealed off and is now a stairwell. The one landmark which remains of my family is a wooden fence my father and grandfather put up when we moved in back in 1994. It was painful, remembering my home, and what could've been had we stayed there (would have been a better life). But at the same time, it felt nice. Here was a place in which I was happy, and those memories are something I will always own. My home is now a place which serves to help people. It still stands and I can always visit. Not something many can say of their childhood home.


That reminds me of the movie Grosse Pointe Blank with John Cusack. He returns home after 10-15 years away, and finds that it has been converted to a convenience store.

What he said resonates with me: “You can never go back” or something to that effect.