morbid curiosity
Drawn to darkness
Morbid curiosity is the fascination with disturbing, gruesome, or taboo subjects—death, disease, violence, disaster.
The phrase acknowledges that the interest is unhealthy or unsettling while confessing to it anyway: I know I shouldn't look, but morbid curiosity got the better of me.
It explains why people slow down at accident scenes or click on graphic news stories.
- horrorExtreme fear or disgust
- macabreDisturbing, death-obsessed
- memento moriArtistic death reminder
- fear of deathDread of dying
- dreadIntense anticipatory fear
terror · dark tourism · intrigue · death · mortality · open casket · voyeurism · rubbernecking · true crime · schadenfreude · urban legends · taboo · dark web · desensitization · thrill-seeking · lurid details · gothic literature · fascination
morbid curiosityaversion
Intense dislike or repugnance
avoidance · willful ignorance · squeamishness · repulsion · disinterest