Issue No. 16 | Fear Itself
The Horror Show
The feeling in the pit of your stomach. That chill on your neck. A sudden sound, a strange movement. Your heart practically beating out of your chest. Our October issue explores anxiety, fear, and dread—the dominant feelings, perhaps, of 2018. First, there’s our provocative new documentary series, A Cure for Fear, for which filmmaker Lana Wilson was given unprecedented access to document the groundbreaking work of a researcher able to cure debilitating phobias and PTSD with the help of a common pill. Also in the issue: an interview with The Walking Dead’s scaremaster, Greg Nicotero; a visit to a classroom full of adults terrified of flying; a collection of haunted items from eBay; and much more.
Monologue
Greg Nicotero: In Search of a Scream
The special-effects expert and Walking Dead producer on his love of horror and his own near-afterlife experience.
The Wings Won’t Fall Off
To overcome her fear of flying, a writer spent weeks going to a class inside an airport. But could she ever get on a plane?
View story
Something Wraithlike This Way Comes
All over the world, a certain kind of ghost story gets told—one in which a woman comes back from the dead to haunt men.
View story
For Sale: Haunted Shoes. Very Cursed.
Haunted teddy bears, eyeglasses, dolls, and teacups are big business on eBay. So we bought some.
View story
My Bodyguard, My Self
These days, it seems like everyone has a security detail. We spent a day with three men in suits to find out how it feels to be safe.
View story
Mixtape
Fear Itself Mixtape
Four short films to make you break out in a cold sweat, with nary a drop of blood in sight. (Well, maybe a little blood.)
Phobias for the 21st Century
What does it say about us that the most modern fears are about our phones?
View story
The Magic Bullet
How a drug called Miltown ushered in an age of pill-popping for anxious Americans.
View story
Room on Fire
A woman is beset by heart-pounding, stomach-churning panic attacks. But then an unlikely spirit animal helps her regain control.
A Cure for Fear
A doctor has come up with a way to knock out phobias and trauma overnight. But what if being afraid is a fundamental part of who we are?
I Looked into the Void, and the Void Looked Back
Everyday messages of existential dread. Please take one.
View story
Off Topic
Meet the Female Nightcrawlers of Manila
Racing between murder scenes with the journalists covering Duterte’s bloody drug war.
View story
Off Topic
Mold Eats World
Toxic mold seems to be everywhere, as unavoidable as air. But is a fungal explosion really something to be afraid of?
View story
Living in the Line of Fire
Fear, resilience, and funerals on Chicago’s South and West Sides, where gun violence is epidemic.
View story
Museum of Human History
Museum of Human History: Australia
Greem visits the school counselor because nightmares of Australia are keeping her up at night.
Off Topic
It Had to Be Snakes
Military veterans head into the Everglades to confront two terrifying beasts: Burmese pythons and post-traumatic stress disorder.
View story
Off Topic
Making Friends With the Ghoul Next Door
With vampires, ghosts, and cheerleading tryouts, young adult horror novels made teen angst into an epic struggle against the forces of darkness.
View story
Museum of Human History
Museum of Human History: Halloween
The children take to the streets to practice the strange human tradition of trick-or-treating.
About the Cover: Fear Itself
The artist behind Topic’s October 2018 cover art on how she remixed the trope of the female horror victim.
View story