Are you sick of struggling to find anything decent to watch out of Hollywood these days? Me too! Long a bastion of great movie making, Hollywood has recently abdicated the bulk of its role as an entertainment creator in order to enter the rather tiresome world of politics and social engineering. Gone are the regular releases of brilliant new ideas that inspire, thrill, or humour us. Now, when not producing politically-corrected remakes of past favorites, Hollywood producers, writers, and directors are throwing together cookie-cutter films based on trite and tired themes.

But . . . from time to time a little gem has emerged unscathed from the mire of new releases; a gem that surprises us with its brilliance, twists and turns, or just simply new ideas. This list looks at ten recently released movies in the horror genre that give us some hope that at some point in the future, saner heads will prevail in the entertainment industry and these types of moving pictures will become the rule, and not the exception to it.

10 Bird Box, 2018

Birdbox is an unusual film in its use of reduced sensory perception (blindness) to create a feeling of fear in the viewer. The protagonist (played by Sandra Bullock) must take her children to a safe place after the world has been largely driven to suicide by an unseen presence. They must travel without the use of their sight as it is only when the evil presence is perceived visually that it can drive a person to self-murder.

This is one of three films on this list that uses reduced senses to great effect (also items 9 and 2). The film released to mixed reviews but it is definitely worth the watch in my opinion, particularly if you like “edge of your seat” type horrors that are less about violence (though it does contain some) and more about psychological thrills.

9 Hush

This is the second of the sensorily-deprived movies on the list. Hush focuses on the life of a deaf and mute woman who lives in relative seclusion where she works as a writer. Things take a rather dark and horrible turn when a masked man appears at her window. Not surprisingly this leads to a fight to the death for the woman who proves herself rather adept at self-defense and out-of-the-box thinking.

This, like the previously mentioned Bird Box, uses the protagonist’s disability to create an extremely unsettling atmosphere. However, unlike Bird Box this film has a faster pace and is less cerebral. This may not be the best film on the list but it is definitely worth the watch.

8 The Witch

Brilliant scoring, an atmosphere of disquiet, and a historic setting make The Witch a somewhat modern-gothic film. Much of the horror here comes from psychology which is oftentimes better than in-your-face gore (though that is not to say gore has no place in horror of course!) The film follows a devout homesteading family in the 17th century who slowly unravel after the disappearance of their newborn boy.

Don’t expect fast pacing and do expect to do a little thinking. Even if you don’t like period pieces, I recommend you give The Witch a go; I think you will pleasantly surprised.

7 The Babadook, 2014

It is not always easy for a New Zealander like me to celebrate Australian achievements (few and far between that they be). Nevertheless I must laud the efforts of the team who gave us the original and unusual film The Babadook. The Babadook is a sinister presence first seen in a rather disturbing children’s book that the main character reads to her son . . . a child who appears slightly disturbed from the get go. There are some minor cliche moments in the film but on the whole it manages to bring something new to the screen. If Hollywood had produced this film it would open with an overly happy mother kowtowing to a bratty child, but here we see a mother racked with exhaustion who has all but given up on life having to deal with a non-medicated hyperactive (and slightly crazy) kid. This actually leads to a rather interesting and unexpected ending with a nice twist.

For those who want to take a deeper look at the why’s and wherefores of the movie, it is said that it may be a metaphor for grief. Certainly the surprise ending seems to confirm that theory (I wish I could say more but that would spoil the film for those who haven’t seen it).

6 It Follows

The atmosphere of this film is palpable thanks largely to the musical score with its retro (yet timeless) feel. The soundtrack hearkens back to the golden age of horror that gave us the likes of Friday the Thirteenth and Halloween. It is for that reason that viewers who have seen (and no-doubt loved) those older horrors will get more from that aspect of this movie. But hey, the ’80s vintage vibe of Netflix’s Stranger Things managed to entice an entire generation of young viewers so who knows.

The “It” in the title refers to a creature (in human form) which follows a victim relentlessly. The creature can only walk (which actually heightens the tension and fear in the film) but if it catches up with its victim . . . he is dead—in a rather gruesome manner as we discover early in the film. In order to stop “it” from following you, you must have sex with someone else which transfers the danger to them (much like the pass-the-parcel handling of the mysterious video tape in Ringu).

The film seems to be rather obviously a warning about the dangers of promiscuity . . . though perhaps I’m just reading too much into it. Of all the films on this list, “It Follows” is my favorite. Watch it.

5 Bone Tomahawk

Is it a Western? Is it a comedy? Is it a horror? Yes. I am not generally a fan of the Western genre but here it is combined with a little wry humor and a considerable dose of violence (some very gory so be warned). The film opens with a visibly brutal slaying of a couple, which gives you a little taste of what is to come (eventually). It segues into a more traditional western format as we meet various characters and there is even some humor tossed in for good measure.

While the film is slow paced (mostly) and definitely tending more toward being a Western, once the horror starts it horrifyingly switches to a Western cum “Cannibal Holocaust” movie. Not for the faint of heart . . . trust me.

4 Midsommar

Modern horror meets the Wicker Man—without being a trashy remake of that great oldie (tsk tsk Hollywood for its 2006 disaster). I am a great fan of Director Ari Aster’s previous film Hereditary (more on that shortly) so I was eager to see his second movie, Midsommar. Midsommar is set in an idyllic Swedish countryside (actually filmed in Hungary . . . fewer no-go zones perhaps!) It is, in the words of Guardian reviewer, Peter Bradshaw, a “carnival of agony” and I certainly concur.

While some of the premise of the film is slightly clichéd, that should not stop you from seeing this broadly unique and chilling picture. I predict a long and rewarding career in horror for Ari Aster.

3 Hereditary

Shocking . . . the one word that really sums up this picture. This film has so many twists and turns and dread-inspiring moments that you are kept on the edge of your seat constantly. Hereditary follows a family suffering from family loss leading to even more loss and horrifying discoveries. It is intensely disturbing on a psychological level in many scenes, and on a physical level in others (one particular driving scene springs to mind).

This is Ari Aster’s first film and what a great introduction to his work! And of course his second work, Midsommar, is listed as item 4 on this list so be sure to check that out too. Hereditary is a must-see even if only to experience what is perhaps the best screen performance from Toni Collette in her long and shining acting career.

2 A Quiet Place

A film built around the concept of silence. Whereas Bird Box focuses on blindness, and Hush on deafness, A Quiet Place focuses on muteness. I have, as yet, not discovered a film that focuses on the absence of touch (in the horror genre at any rate) so there is still room for another sensory-deprivation horror film in the future!

A quiet place follows a family living in a world filled with creatures who, with great rapidity, dismember all humans they come into contact with. The creatures have acute hearing so the slightest sound draws them in. And so our family finds itself in a world of silence, where every footstep and utterance must be hushed. This is an incredibly well conceived movie and a real edge-of-your-seat ride. I don’t think I know of anyone who hasn’t raved upon seeing it.

Bonus: seeing The Office’s John Krasinski playing a deadly (literally) serious role.

1 The Lighthouse

Just like The Witch at position 8 on this list, The Lighthouse is a period horror and what better location could be found for such a film than a remote lighthouse? The tale follows two lighthouse keepers (played by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe) who have to battle a real life horror: their own nightmares and loss of sanity. The film is directed by Robert Eggers (who also directed The Witch) and has been widely acclaimed by critics (though don’t be put off by that!)

The film is shot in black and white (risky these days) but if a younger audience can come to terms with that it will undoubtedly prove extremely popular across the generations.

This film is the only one on the list that is not actually out at cinemas but hopefully the trailer above will serve to entice you to give it a shot when it is available on October 18th this year.

So, there you have it. My selection of ten of the better recent releases in the horror genre. If you disagree with my choices or, better still, have another great film to add to the list, please mention it in the comments (you can find those by scrolling past way too many content recommendations!)

Nearly 3,000 years ago, a nation few remember today swept through the Middle-East. They laid cities to waste, tortured the survivors, and spread terror everywhere they went. This was Assyria—the first nation to make its military might its central policy and the first nation to torment its enemies with psychological warfare.

Life behind a city’s walls when the Assyrian army drew close was terrifying. Assyria made sure of it. They pioneered the use of terror as a weapon—and they made the lives of their enemies a living horror story.

10An Enemy That Lived At War

Every Assyrian man, from the poorest to the richest, was required to serve in the army. This was the first country to make military service mandatory for every male citizen, no matter who he was.

The men worked in a three-year cycle. In the first year, they would build roads, bridges, and great projects to build up their strength and the strength of the empire. In the second year, they would go out to war. Then, in the third year, they would be allowed to live with their families—before starting the cycle again.

The result was one of the strongest armies in the world. When they came to your town, the men at the gates were vicious and battle-hardened . . . and there were a lot of them.

9Psychological Terror

The Assyrians created tablets that showed them torturing their enemies to let the next city know what was coming. These showed them skinning their victims alive, blinding them, and impaling them on stakes.

One Assyrian King, named Ashurnasirpal II, has left a whole series of these tablets behind, and the descriptions are positively terrifying. “I flayed many right through my land and draped their skins over the walls,” he boasts in one. “I burned their adolescent boys and girls . . . A pillar of heads I erected in front of the city.”

By the time their armies reached your walls, these stories would have spread. Every person watching their chariots approach would know that, compared to the fate the Assyrian army brought, death would be a relief.

8A Chance To Surrender

Before the battle began, people would often be given a chance to surrender. An envoy would ride up to the city walls, knowing the fear the people there already felt, and would promise them that if they bowed down and paid tribute to Assyria, they would be allowed to live.

“Make peace with me and come out to me!” the envoy called out. “Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern.” Those who did not, he warned, “will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine.”

Many countries surrendered. Others went further. The king of Urartu, upon hearing the Assyrian army approach, stabbed himself in the chest rather than face them. And some sent tributes to Assyria before they ever looked their way, surrendering before they’d even approached to keep them away.

7Advanced Siege Weapons

Siege weapons barely existed at this time. At best, an army could hope to break through a city’s gates by rushing at it with a log, often while archers fired down on them from below. The Assyrians, though, had some of the first siege weapons in the world. They invented the battering ram, a device that would have seemed completely unstoppable in their time.

This was a whole engine on wheels. It had an iron-capped ram that swung from chains, letting it crush its way through enemy walls like never before. Overhead, the men inside the engine were protected by wooden plates covered in damp animal skins that put out the flaming arrows the defenders fired from above.

6The Complete Obliteration Of Cities

Sometimes, the Assyrian army didn’t stop at killing their enemies. When the Assyrian king Seenacherib invaded Babylon, he wiped them off the map. All he left behind was a message, boasting of how far he’d gone to decimate them.

“The city and its houses, from its foundations to its top, I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with fire,” Seenacherib declared. “Through the midst of that city I dug canals, I flooded its site with water, and the very foundations thereof I destroyed. I made its destruction more complete than that by a flood. That in days to come the site of that city, and its temples and gods, might not be remembered, I completely blotted it out with floods of water and made it like a meadow.”

5The Torture Of The Survivors

One Assyrian king recorded sparing some of the people he invaded but only after they shamelessly humbled themselves before him. “The nobles and elders of the city came out to me to save their lives,” he declared. “They seized my feet and said: ‘If it pleases you, kill! If it pleases you, spare! If it pleases you, do what you will!’ ”

More often than not, though, the surviving men would be put through the hells they used to psychologically terrify the world. That meant being skinned alive, having noses and ears chopped off, and whatever torments they could imagine.

Sometimes, they got creative. One king, Esarhaddon, made noblemen wear necklaces with their kings’ heads on them. He wrote, “I hung the heads of the kings upon the shoulders of their nobles, and with singing and music I paraded.”

4Lives Of Slavery

Assyrian art shows a parade of their slaves chained to large stones, being forced to drag massive rocks like mules. The rocks were to be used to build palaces and wonders for the kings, and the slaves couldn’t stop for a moment. Behind them, slave masters were always watching, ready to beat anyone who slacked.

The women had it even worse. After the hell that women of all eras have suffered after wars, they and their children would be led off into slavery. Sometimes, they would stripped naked to humiliate them and leave them feeling weak and vulnerable. In at least one case, an Assyrian king made the women lift their skirts over their heads and march blindly after their captors.

3The Resettlement Policy

All of Assyria was subject to their resettlement policy, which uprooted whole families and moved them across the country. It was one of the ideas that made Assyria so strong. Experts from conquered countries would be sent into the heart of the nation, where they would be put to work building palaces, temples, and wonders. These people were usually lucky enough to bring their families.

The dangerous men who fought against Assyria were sometimes given a chance to redeem themselves. If the king was merciful, they would be sent to a ruined kingdom on the outskirts of the nation that would be forced to rebuild.

Then the rest would be scattered about the country. The people of a conquered nation would be spread about the kingdom, living alongside of people from foreign lands instead of their own countrymen to keep them packing together and staging a revolt.

2A Brutal Code Of Law

Many crimes in Assyria were punished by dismemberment or death. If you kissed another man’s wife, they would cut off your lower lip with an axe. If a man was caught with another man, the law said, “they shall turn him into a eunuch.” Adultery was punishable by death.

Some crimes were dealt with in savage ways. Men had to right to murder adulterous wives. Murderers were handed over to the victim’s family, who were free to do with them as they willed.

The people seem to have been a bit squeamish about enacting these laws—but they made sure they did it. “In the case of very crime for which there is penalty of the cutting-off of ear or nose,” the law said, “as it is written it shall be carried out.”

1Post-Traumatic Stress

Life under the threat of Assyrian was horrifying—for the Assyrians as well as their victims. The men of Assyrian army reported experiences that modern psychologists say show wide-spread symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

“They described hearing and seeing ghosts talking to them, who would be the ghosts of people they’d killed in battle,” says Professor Jamie Hacker Hughes. “That’s exactly the experience of modern-day soldiers who’ve been involved in close hand-to-hand combat.”

The Assyrians were so brutal that their military campaigns even put themselves through hell. The horrors and the guilt of murdering and torturing innocent people wreaked havoc on their psyches. When their year at war ended and they were allowed to return home to their families, they lived lives haunted by ghosts of the people they’d inflicted all these torments upon.

One hundred years before its fall, the Aztec Empire went through an incredible change. The emperor’s son, Tlacaelel, declared that the god of war, Huitzilopochtli, was to be the highest of all gods.

From then on, the Aztecs lived in service of the god of war. Human sacrifice became a massive part of Aztec society, with hundreds of thousands of people slaughtered each year as offerings to the gods.

10 They Staged Wars Just To Get Human Sacrifices

The Aztecs’ divine duty was to fill the insatiable appetites of their gods through human sacrifice. Usually, the Aztecs used enemies whom they had defeated in war as offerings. But there were only so many wars to be fought and only so many enemies to capture. They needed more victims.

The Aztecs made a deal to use the neighboring city-state of Tlaxcala like a farm for humans. The two armies organized staged battles just to capture prisoners for human sacrifice.

It was a mutual agreement by both sides. The losing army wouldn’t cry or complain about their fate. They understood that this was their part of the bargain, and they would allow themselves to be led to their deaths.

9 Some People Volunteered

To the brave, becoming a human sacrifice to the gods was an honor. In fact, when the Spanish came and tried to free Aztec prisoners, some were furious that they had been robbed of the honor of a godly death.

It wasn’t just enemy soldiers who ended up under a ceremonial knife, though. Criminals and debtors were also sent to the altar in disgrace. Others signed up eagerly, wanting the honor of dying for their gods. By tradition, whole groups of prostitutes willingly signed up to be sacrificed to the goddess of love.

During a drought, some Aztecs resorted to selling their children into slavery for 400 ears of maize. If the children didn’t work well, they could be sold again. And if a slave was sold twice, they could become a gift to the gods.

8 The Festival Of Toxcatl

During the month of Toxcatl, one man was chosen for a special honor based on his looks. He needed smooth, slim skin and long, straight hair. For the next year, this man would be treated like a god.

He would be dressed up like the god Tezcatlipoca. His skin would be painted black, and he would wear a flower crown, a seashell breastplate, and lots of jewelry.

The man would be given four beautiful wives to do with as he pleased. He was only asked to walk through the town playing a flute and smelling flowers so that the people could honor him.

When 12 months had passed, he would walk up the stairs of a great pyramid, breaking his flutes as he climbed to the top. As an adoring crowd watched, a priest would help him lie down on a long altar made of stone. Then they’d rip his heart out of his body.

Afterward, they would pick a new Tezcatlipoca and start all over again.

7 The Ritual Of Sacrifice

Usually, a victim would be taken to the top of a great pyramid and laid down over a sacrificial stone. A priest would stand over him, holding a knife with a blade of volcanic glass. That blade would come down upon the victim’s chest and break it open, and the priest would tear out his still-beating heart.

The priest would hold the heart up high for all to see. Then he would dash it to pieces against the sacrificial stone. The lifeless body would be rolled down the steps of the pyramid, where butchers were waiting below to dismember the body piece by piece.

The skull would be removed and placed on a rack along with the skulls of the other sacrificed dead. Then the flesh from the body would be cooked into meals and fed to the nobles.

6 Feasting Upon Human Flesh

The bodies of the sacrificed were often baked with corn and shared among the priests for a feast. Other times, enough was prepared for the whole city, and every person present would partake in a shared act of ritualistic cannibalism. The bones were then fashioned into tools, musical instruments, and weapons.

At least one dish they used in these ceremonies still exists today: pozole. In the time of the Aztecs, this was a soup prepared with thigh of a sacrificed prisoner and served to the emperor.

Today, the dish is made with pork instead of human flesh, but the taste is pretty much the same. When the Christians forced the Aztecs to switch to pig meat, they reported that it tasted just like human beings.

5 The Inauguration Of The Great Pyramid

Not every sacrifice was normal. There were exceptional times when things were done differently. Sometimes, the methods were different. Other times, the difference was the sheer volume.

The greatest was during the reconsecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs had spent years building up the temples in their capital city, and in 1487, the Great Pyramid was complete. They held a massive celebration to inaugurate their great temple—and slaughtered an incredible number of people.

The Aztecs claimed that they sacrificed 84,000 people over a period of four days. During the reign of the Aztecs, an estimated 250,000 people were sacrificed across Mexico during an average year.

4 The Festival Of The Flaying Of Men

One of the most disturbing Aztec festivals was called Tlacaxipehualiztli (“The Festival of the Flaying of Men”). This was a ceremony dedicated to the Aztec god Xipe Totec, whose name means “The Flayed One.”

Forty days before the festival, one man was granted the honor to dress like The Flayed One. He was covered in red feathers and golden jewels and spent 40 days honored as a god. Then, on the day of the festival, he and eight other impersonators of gods were brought to the top of the temples and killed.

The priests skinned the bodies of the sacrificed men in an imitation of a plant shedding its husk. The skin was then dyed yellow to look like gold. Some skins were given to priests, who danced in them. Other skins were given to young men, who spent the next 20 days begging while draped in a loose coat of human flesh.

3 Sacrifice Through Gladiatorial Combat

During The Festival of the Flaying of Men, some men were given the chance to defend themselves. To live, though, they had to defeat the greatest Aztec champions in armed combat—and the odds were not even.

The sacrificial warriors were led onto a circular stone called a temalacatl. They were allowed to carry wooden weapons that were little more than toys. Holding a stick whittled into the shape of a blade, these men watched as the greatest Aztec champions marched out, armed to the teeth.

According to Aztec legends, one man named Tlahuicol actually survived. With nothing but a wooden sword, he single-handedly killed eight fully armed Aztec warriors. The Aztecs were thrilled, and they offered to make him the commander of their army.

Their offer, he told them, was an insult. Tlahuicol was meant for a far greater fate. He was to be sacrificed to the gods.

2 The Death Of Twins

The Aztecs had odd and often contradictory beliefs about twins. Their myths were full of twins, usually treated as venerated deities worthy of the worship of man. Twins appeared in their stories as monster slayers, heroes, and even the creators of the world.

Real twins, though, were treated with complete contempt. They had one god, Xolotl, for both deformed children and twins because the Aztecs considered twins to be a deformed child.

They saw twins as a mortal threat to their parents. Allowing twin babies to live would mean the end of your life. So most parents chose one of their baby twins and sent it back to the gods.

1 Child Sacrifice

At the heart of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, were twin temples. At the peak of the one dedicated to Tlaloc, the Aztecs held the most terrible and saddest ritual of them all.

Tlaloc was the god of rain and lightning—and he demanded children.

During the late winter month called Atlcahualo, the Aztecs would bring children to the temple of Tlaloc and force them to walk up the steps. The children were not willing volunteers, and they wept as they went up. If the children cried, the Aztecs believed that Tlaloc would bless them with rain. So if the children did not weep on their own, the adults would make them.

When it was done, the children were brought into a cave outside of town. They were laid in a circle under an open roof. There, under the open air, the rain brought about by their sacrifice would drizzle down upon their bodies.

Called the last great plague of London, the Great Plague began in the spring of 1665 and ended roughly a year later. Officially, over 68,000 people died, but many believe that the number of plague deaths was closer to 100,000.

During this time, the people of London lived through one unimaginable horror after another. Families died, dead bodies were often dumped onto the streets until they were picked up by the buriers, and the smell of death was everywhere. It was Hell on Earth, and many people thought it would be the end of all times.

10 Hush-Hush

At the start of the plague, when the deaths started to noticeably increase, the outbreak was publicly minimized. This was due to the fact that England didn’t want trade overseas to be interrupted. If news of the plague reached other ports, English ships would be denied entry, and trade would come to a standstill.

However, the wealthier residents of London had a pretty good idea of what was going on, and they packed up and left for the country, hoping to outrun the deadly plague. Other residents simply ignored the early signs of the plague and continued to be as social as ever.

9 Not Allowed To Leave

While the wealthy inhabitants of London were able to get out at the start of the plague, the poor were not as fortunate. As the number of deaths continued to rise, many of those living in poverty didn’t want to risk losing their jobs or giving up their tiny flats. This was the only life they had, and there was nothing for them outside of London.

By the time the death count had reached hundreds per week, more and more of the poor decided to risk everything and leave London for the country. The only problem was that by this time (June 1665), the poor could no longer get approval to leave London.

Anyone who wanted to leave London had to get papers stating that they were free of the plague and were permitted to leave. The lord mayor stopped issuing these documents, and counterfeiters offered fake documents for a stiff fee. Once again, the poor were left to suffer.

8 Shut Up In Houses

One of the Plague Orders by the Privy Council stated that any house containing someone infected with the plague must be shut up. The whole family had to remain inside the house, sick or not, for a total of 40 days. A red cross was then painted onto the door to warn others that the occupants had the plague.

This was a controversial order because many felt that it was an automatic death sentence for family members who were still healthy. Nathaniel Hodges, a physician during the Great Plague, believed that the order increased the death toll, but he was powerless to oppose it. It was for the greater good that those with the plague and those exposed to it be removed from the general population.

There were accounts of entire families with small children being shut into their homes. Sometimes, the parents had to suffer through the deaths of their children. Other times, the parents died first, and neighbors watched through the windows as the children perished, one by one, either from the plague or starvation.

By September 1665, the quarantines could not be held. Too many people were sick and dying.

7 . . . Until They Had The Plague

In a quarantine that went horribly wrong, a family was shut into their home for 40 days because their maid servant had spots on her skin. She got better, but the family wasn’t allowed to leave their home until the quarantine was over and the family inspected. By then, the lady of the house had a fever from being shut indoors for so long, so the family had to undergo another 40-day quarantine.

During the second quarantine, more family members became sick. With no fresh air, no exercise, and being forced to stare at the scenery, it was no wonder that there were health issues.

The family was inspected again, found to be ill, and underwent yet another quarantine. This time, however, one of the people who inspected the home brought the dreaded plague in. Most of the family died.

6 Eyam

While people were being quarantined inside their homes in London, a shipment of dirty clothing was brought to the village of Eyam in Derbyshire. It was sent from London and carried the plague.

People began to get sick in Eyam, and the only way it could be contained was if they quarantined themselves. The village rector, William Mompesson, helped the people self-quarantine so that the plague would not be spread to the other villages. The rector’s wife and roughly 80 percent of the population inside the village succumbed to the plague.

5 Cats And Dogs Slaughtered

Not understanding that the plague was being spread by fleas found on infected rats, a rumor spread through London that it was caused by cats and dogs. Upon hearing this rumor, the lord mayor ordered all cats and dogs to be killed.

Little did he know that the cats and dogs helped keep the rat population down and that by ordering these predators killed off, he would enable the plague to spread more easily. It is estimated that over 200,000 cats and about 40,000 dogs were slaughtered.

4 Syphilis Was Thought To Prevent The Plague

The physicians of the mid-1600s practiced medical superstition. They strove desperately to understand the scientific medical world, but without the equipment we have today, these early doctors were destined to fail again and again.

During London’s last great plague, a rumor was recorded that syphilis was believed to give immunity to the plague, as though the one evil would cancel out the other. While there is zero truth to this old rumor, doctors did not dispute it. In fact, it appears as though many of them felt that the body was better able to “cast off” two sickness at a time, as opposed to being able to fight off just one deadly disease. In their thinking, the two “poisons” would battle each other and leave the body unharmed.

3 Fear The Plague Nurses

With so many people sick, plague nurses were hired by the city to take care of those in need. These women were illiterate and weren’t paid enough to sustain themselves on their own. They had to turn to other methods to produce a livable income, and as a result, both the sick and the healthy feared them.

The women would not only steal from the dead, but they would also help the dying on their way. The sooner a patient was deceased, the quicker the nurse could claim his personal belongings as her own. The nurses were also known to gather the sickness from the plague sores and use it to infect the healthy so that, upon death, they could take what they wanted.

2 People Threw Themselves Into The Pits

The churchyards could not handle all the dead, and pits were dug to dispose of the bodies. Men with carts would roam the streets, collecting the dead and disposing of them without any of the old funerary traditions being practiced.

People were not allowed to visit these pits for fear that they would spread the infection, but people who were already delirious with the plague were seen running toward them and throwing themselves in. In some cases, they would bury themselves in with the rest of the deceased.

1 An Unpleasant Death

Dying from bubonic plague was beyond unpleasant. It took several days for the victim to experience all or most of the symptoms.

First, there were headaches, fever, and vomiting. The patient might shiver uncontrollably. His tongue would swell up in his mouth, and the lymph nodes in his groin, armpits, or neck would also swell. If that wasn’t enough, the patient’s skin would get black blotches, hence the name “the Black Death.”

Elizabeth, a former Pennsylvania native, recently moved to the beautiful state of Massachusetts, where she is currently involved in researching early American history. She writes and travels in her spare time.

Since 2007 when I published the first list on , many Halloweens have passed—12 to be exact. In a recent site update I noted my return from a multi-year hiatus due to numerous family deaths. Given that my own love of horror and all things creepy was what drove my desire to create the site, it seems fitting upon my return to publish a big list of horror-related lists!

So here it is: I present you with a nice long list of creepiness from across the years. You will find movies, murderers, monsters, and more. So get reading and have a happy Halloween!

12 Halloween General

1. 10 Unique Halloween Traditions From Around The World
2. Top 10 Halloween Pranks That Went Awry
3. 10 Creepy Rituals We Once Used To Celebrate Halloween
4. 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The History Of Halloween
5. 10 Sinister Halloween Horror Stories That Really Happened
6. 10 Most Horrific Murders Committed On Halloween
7. 10 Creepy Reads For Halloween Based On ‘True Stories’
8. 10 Spooky Facts About Halloween
9. Top 10 Easiest Halloween Costumes to Make
10. Top 10 Brutal Unsolved Halloween Murders
11. 10 Creepy Unsolved Mysteries That Happened On Halloween
12. 10 International Customs That Turn Christmas Into Halloween

11 Macabre

1. 10 Macabre Tourist Attractions
2. 10 Perfectly Macabre Abandoned Buildings
3. Top 10 Macabre Collectibles
4. 10 Of The Most Weird And Macabre Medical Practices Of All Time
5. 10 Reasons New Orleans Is Master of the Macabre

10 Clowns

1. 10 Creepy Tales About Clowns
2. 10 Historical Clowns That Helped Make Clowns Terrifying
3. Top 10 Clowns You Don’t Want To Mess With
4. 10 Recent Sightings Of Strange And Sinister Clowns
5. 10 Psychological Reasons Why People Are Afraid Of Clowns

9 Vampires

1. 10 Creepy Historical Accounts Of Real-Life Vampires
2. 10 Graveyards Supposedly Haunted By Vampires
3. 10 Truly Creepy Vampires From Around The World
4. 10 Creepy Historical Vampires You’ve Never Heard Of
5. 10 Lies ‘Dracula’ Adaptations Tell
6. Top 10 Greatest Dracula Portrayals
7. 10 Fascinating Facts About The Real Dracula
8. 10 Dark Transylvanian Legends You Won’t Find In Dracula
9. 8 Recently Discovered Medieval Vampire Burials
10. Top 10 Vampire Movies

8 Ghosts

1. 10 Gruesome Deaths That Have Been Attributed To Ghosts
2. 10 Celebrities Who Had A Terrifying Ghostly Experience
3. 10 Real-Life Ghost Ships No One Can Explain
4. 10 Murderers Haunted By Their Victim’s Ghost
5. 10 Terrifying Ghost Stories Of Dead Prostitutes
6. Top 10 Famous Real Ghosts
7. 10 Mysterious Fires Caused By Ghosts
8. Top 10 Ghosts Videos
9. 10 Headless Ghosts And Monsters
10. 10 Alleged Ghost Sightings With Bizarre Consequences

7 Witches

1. 10 Notorious Witches And Warlocks
2. Top 10 Notorious Witches
3. 10 Scariest Witches Of World Mythology
4. 10 Tests For Guilt at the Salem Witch Trials
5. 10 Famous People Accused Of Witchcraft
6. 10 Bizarre Stories From European Witch Trials
7. 10 Unusual Male Witch Trials From Europe
8. Top 10 Horrific Modern-Day Witch Slayings
9. 10 Strange Stories Of People Executed For Witchcraft
10. Top 10 Bizarre Witch Burials

6 Hauntings

1. Top 10 Famous Haunted Landmarks You Didn’t Know Were Haunted
2. Top 10 Cursed And Haunted Household Items
3. 10 Truly Creepy Demonic Hauntings
4. 10 Horrifying Haunted Villages Around The World
5. 10 Haunted Asylums With Extremely Dark Pasts
6. Top 10 haunted Areas of the Whitehouse
7. Top 10 Most Haunted Places
8. 10 Most Haunting Cases Investigated By Ed And Lorraine Warren
9. 10 Surprising Facts About The Haunted House Industry
10. Top 10 Haunted US College Campuses

5 Serial Killers

1. 10 Creepy Places That Are Serial Killer Playgrounds
2. 10 Creepy Photos Of People Unaware They Are With A Serial Killer
3. 10 Still-Unidentified Serial Killers
4. 10 Creepiest Letters Penned By Serial Killers
5. 10 Childhood Warning Signs Of A Serial Killer
6. 10 Ravenous Cannibal Serial Killers
7. 10 Creepily Inappropriate Day Jobs of Infamous Serial Killers
8. 10 Strange Books Written By Serial Killers
9. 10 Forgotten Serial Killers From The Middle Ages
10. 10 Gruesome Killers With Unsettling Obsessions

4 Urban Legends

1. 10 Creepy Urban Legends Of Madness And Suicide
2. 10 Creepy Japanese Urban Legends
3. 7 Otherworldly Little-Known Urban Legends Just In Time For Halloween
4. 10 Creepy And Outrageous Urban Legends That Turned Out To Be Completely True
5. 10 Uncanny Global Urban Legends To Freak You Out
6. Top 10 Horrifying Urban Legends From Around The Globe
7. 10 Creepy Urban Legends From The UAE
8. 10 Bone-Chilling Urban Legends
9. 10 Unsettling Wartime Urban Legends
10. 10 Creepy Urban Legends Of Madness And Suicide

3 Unsolved Mysteries

1. 10 Unsolved Mysteries About Ancient Greece
2. 10 Unsolved Mysteries About Satan
3. 10 Unsolved Mysteries Surrounding Historical Tragedies
4. 10 Creepy Unsolved Mysteries Of The Mountains
5. 10 Unsolved Mysteries With Creepy Surveillance Footage
6. 10 Unsolved Mysteries From The Wild West
7. 10 Creepy Unsolved Rest Stop Mysteries
8. Top 10 Unsolved Mysteries
9. Another 10 Unsolved Mysteries
10. Yet Another 10 Unsolved Mysteries

2 General Creepy

1. 10 Creepy And Surreal Moments Caught On Video
2. 10 Terrifying Haunted And Creepy Mask Stories
3. Top 10 Curious And Creepy Mummified Remains
4. 10 Creepy Cases Of Body Snatching From Over 100 Years Ago
5. Top 10 Eerie Tales About Creepy Dolls
6. 10 Creepypastas About Home Invasion
7. 10 Creepy Accounts Of Sleeping With The Dead
8. 10 Creepy Murder Houses You Could Live In
9. 10 Creepy Pop Culture Conspiracy Theories
10. 10 Creepy Fairy Tales You Probably Don’t Know

1 Movies

1. Top 10 Stereotypical Horror Movie Victims
2. 10 Frighteningly Disturbing Movie Scenes
3. Top 10 Reoccurring Horror Movie Gimmicks
4. Top 10 Awesome Zombie Depictions
5. Top 10 Giant Movie Monsters
6. 10 Horror Movies On Netflix That Don’t Suck
7. 10 Lesser-Known Facts About Popular Horror Movies
8. Top 10 Highest-Grossing Horror Franchises
9. Top 10 Strangest Moments of Movie Monster Science
10. 25 Fascinating Facts About The Exorcist

And if that still isn’t enough to satisfy you, check out the entire Creepy Category. Be sure to tell us which list is your favorite in the comments below.

Have you ever wondered what people did before there were dentists? Tooth decay and pain aren’t a modern problem and have plagued society for thousands of years. It’s no secret that dental pain can be one of the most agonizing miseries one can endure. Thankfully, we have several thousand years of collective knowledge as well as modern medicine to draw upon to make the process of keeping our teeth healthy as pain-free as possible—luxuries which the dentists and, even worse, the patients of old didn’t have.

Even imagining back as recent as more modern times before the use of local anesthetics and powerful painkillers, we can’t help but wince in discomfort at the mere thought of being held down by several people while some doctor of the day reached in with iron tools and ripped one of our teeth out, our mouths pried open with brutish Bronze Age–esque equipment. Here is the horrific history of dentistry in ten parts.

10 Dentistry Is Born

For as much pain and suffering as toothaches can cause, it’s a little surprising that dentists are scarce throughout many massive cultures of the ancient world, even in civilizations where physicians were plentiful. The documented story of dentistry begins with a culture who had rough times and rough diets: the ancient Egyptians.

The Egyptian diet consisted largely of grains and cereal foods, and the ancients didn’t have the quality (or sterile) materials and utensils from which to make breads safely that we do today. Many metals, minerals, and other nasty things found their way into the bread of ancient Egypt, causing tooth decay and a plethora of dental problems. The Egyptians also found it nearly impossible to keep sand out of their food, something that further contributed to the severe health issues of the mouth that were rampant in that time.

The first recorded dentist comes from around 2660 BC and is named Hesyre (also called Hesy-Ra). He was chief of dentists and also the chief physician to the pharoah Djoser.^[1] At this time, most dental work consisted of shoving things into the decayed, chipped, or broken tooth, gum area, or abscess in hopes of easing the pain. These items ranged from honey to herbs and plants to possibly even gold, though it is uncertain if dental procedures using gold as a filling material took place postmortem. Nonetheless, it’s very safe to say that any procedures done in these times were excruciatingly painful.

9 Complexity Begins

Going on the only records we have, it is debated whether or not full-on surgery had taken place yet, or if there were or were not tooth extractions at this point, as evidence is limited among the remains we have. In this early period, we do see three cases of possible prosthetic work—the ancient Egyptians were the first to have gold teeth. They would often drill and use gold wiring, weaving through teeth in complex fashions. This was possibly to hold teeth in place or perhaps cosmetic.^[2]

By 2500 BC, dentistry had given birth to the first instance of what is still considered a nightmarish procedure today: drilling. The evidence of remains from that time period show small holes symmetrically drilled on the outside of a tooth which appear to have been man-made. It seems they’d learned to drill in order to drain the pus and release the pressure of an abscess. Imagining going through this procedure without the luxury of modern medicine is almost unthinkable.

8 The Bow Drill

So how do you drill into someone’s teeth without the aid of modern electricity or finely tuned instruments? Enter the bow drill, a device not unlike a bow for an arrow, only the string is tied around a sharpened spike or stake of bronze. The string would be wound around the spike, and the bow could be moved back and forth, almost like playing a cello, and this would cause the spike to spin.^[3]

This was definitely not a quick or easy process for drilling into someone’s mouth, and by no stretch of the imagination was it comfortable in the slightest. Fortunately, alcohol had been produced in ancient Egypt as early as about 4000 BC. Even with a stiff drink, this procedure was undoubtedly miserable.

7 More Intricate Tools

As Egyptian culture and medicine went on, the need for more precise and intricate tools to solve the pervasive and ubiquitous dental problems in their society became much more prevalent. By at least as far back as 2500 BC, there is evidence of all-out dental surgery, complete with pliers, scalpels, and other tools.

By this time, the Egyptians had the tools and knowledge necessary to carry out many surgeries, up to and including prosthetics, brain surgery, and more. They were certainly drilling into cavities to clean them out and removing teeth that were in bad shape.^[4] From here, dentistry would slowly but surely become more and more complex until it reached the practice that we know and love. Well, maybe not love . . . more like tolerate.

6 The Etruscans

The Etruscans were an Italian civilization which predated the Romans and survived from about 700 until 400 BC, when Rome conquered them, and the Etruscans assimilated into what were the humble beginnings of Rome. They deserve an extremely honorable mention here because of their many innovative contributions to dentistry over the course of their existence. Much of Etruscan culture would be adopted into Roman culture and would survive the course of history due to the later rise of the Roman Empire.

By 700 BC, the Etruscans were already doing complete dental implants, using animal teeth and gold fillings. They even figured out a way to heat and solder metals into exposed nerves and cavities in order to stop the pain of having the pulp and nerve endings of a tooth exposed to the elements and debris.^[5] The Etruscans also used animal teeth and bone to create the first cosmetics, and though they wouldn’t last as long as the prosthetic teeth of today, they were easily attainable and easy to interchange, making this method a viable option until around the 1800s.

While the Etruscans advanced civilization in many great ways, and we will be forever indebted to them, few today would want their teeth soldered together and fused with metal without the aid of modern anesthetics.

5 Ancient Greece

For as advanced of a civilization as ancient Greece was, they were well behind the others when it came to dentistry, which was largely due to their philosophy and warlike nature. Greeks believed strength and beauty to be cardinal virtues, and thus, the pain of a cavity or abscess was a small price to pay to be able to keep a tooth in your mouth. With pain being a sign of weakness, asking a physician to remove a tooth was a surefire way to lose social status.

The best someone suffering from severe tooth pain in ancient Greece could hope for would be to have a cloth, which had absorbed various herbs and such, shoved into the tooth to prevent food from getting inside it. Many people died from infections due to this avoidance of pulling teeth. Most of the time, they’d simply ask the gods to remove their problems and hope for the best.^[6] Great . . . just great.

4 Medieval Dentistry

Believe it or not, the medieval times were a point in history that saw great advancements in the field of dentistry, both in terms of accuracy of knowledge and the tools to fix problems, but one major development was preventative measures: Thus, dental hygiene was born.

While fluoride and alcohol weren’t readily available options like they are today in toothpaste and mouthwash, medieval Europe saw people learning to clean their teeth and remove all sorts of undesirables from their mouths by wiping their teeth with cleaning cloths. This also aided in having good breath. While the extremely high cost of sugar during that period helped the people of the time avoid tooth problems, there were, for the wealthier classes, mouthwashes containing vinegar and other ingredients which would kill bacteria and freshen breath.

In 1158, Hildegarde of Bingen recommended:

One who wishes to have hard, healthy teeth should take pure, cold water into his mouth in the morning, when he gets out of bed. He should hold it for a little while in his mouth so that the mucus around his teeth become soft, and so this water might wash his teeth. If he does this often, the mucus around his teeth will not increase, and his teeth will remain healthy. Since the mucus adheres to the teeth during sleep, when the person rises from sleep he should clean them with cold water, which cleans teeth better than warm water. Warm water makes them more fragile.^[7]

By the middle ages, preventative dental care was in full swing, with great attention to the various ways one could keep one’s teeth in both good health and good looks.

3 The Birth Of Tooth Whitening

We often hear and think of modern society as shallow and superficial, only caring about outward appearances rather than depth and character. If that’s the case, we’re hardly alone in history. Medieval cultures were obsessed with the cleanliness of their teeth, and whitening was a big part of dental hygiene and care during that period. Many brews and concoctions would be assembled, sold, and implemented as part of a regimen to keep teeth sparkly white, just as we see the slew of products advertising the same results on infomercials and in dentists’ offices today. De Ornatu Mulierum, a text written in the 11th century by Trotula de Ruggiero that translates to About Women’s Cosmetics, reads:

The teeth are whitened thus. Take burnt white marble and burnt date pits and white natron, a red tile, salt, and pumice. From all of these make a powder in which damp wool has been wrapped in a fine linen cloth. Rub the teeth inside and out.

The woman should wash her mouth after dinner with very good wine. Then she ought to dry very well and wipe with a new white cloth. Finally, let her chew each day fennel or lovage or parsley, which is better to chew because it gives off a good smell and cleans good gums and makes the teeth very white.^[8]

2 Toward The World Of Dentures

As time went on, preventative dental care and extractions weren’t enough. World trade and global commerce made sugars much, much more affordable for the average person to eat, and many of the poor were still plagued by malnutrition, which caused tooth and bone decay. While replacement teeth had been a staple since the Etruscans, full sets of bridges and dentures were inevitable in the course of dental history.

By the 14th and 15th centuries, dentists were already cosmetic surgeons capable of sculpting bridges and full denture sets. How did they do this? By fashioning the bones of cows into a shape that closely resembled teeth and fusing them into the mouths of the poor patients who needed dentures. They would wire them in with gold wiring to hold them in place, and if the dentures were knocked loose, they would simply fuse them again with gold wire.^[9] It’s safe to say that this process involved “sewing” this gold wire into the gums, jaws, or both. No thanks.

1 Dentures From The Dead

Organ donation had to start somewhere, and when it came to getting dentures, the choice between having teeth and being pain-free or not having teeth and being in absolute agony was kind of a no-brainer. Fashioning teeth out of cow bones, however, was a process carried out by specialists that not everyone could afford.

When looking around for surplus materials to use as false teeth, one solution, disturbing as it may be, stands out as an obvious choice: the teeth of the dead. Medieval people would often just take the teeth of corpses (which, in medieval times, were absolutely plentiful). Sometimes, the teeth would be pulled from several bodies to get a more comfortable match in creating false teeth for the suffering patient. How morbid is that?^[10]

I like to write about philosophy, history, the macabre, dark, and horrific aspects of human reality and the world.