Why We Should Believe in Monsters

By CL Bledsoe — NOT ANOTHER TV DAD

As long as I can remember, I haven’t believed in monsters. Maybe because my father was such a critical soul that I questioned the validity of absolutely everything at a young age; monsters that I’d heard about didn’t make sense. Just because some people thought something was real, didn’t mean it was. Or maybe I understood that there wasn’t really anything worse than people already could be. The truest evildoers are damaged humans, deeply flawed and hurt. Some lack certain elements like compassion or have had those overwritten by addictions to things like drugs or money. How pure a monster would be — something born to do evil, with no choice, like the parable of the scorpion crossing the river on the frog’s back. How refreshing to meet a scorpion that simply is a scorpion. No talk of abusive childhoods or gray areas. Would you even need to hate it?

I watched a lot of horror movies, growing up, probably more than I should have. They fascinated me. I can point to a handful that I still remember — one called Blue Monkey, I think, that had a scene where these people were captured by giant insects and trapped in sacks that resembled cocoons. When they pressed against the opaque shell of the thing so we could see the outlines of their faces…I had nightmares. Another called The Gate where a construction worker had died and been…