Glossary Entry: Cosmic Horror

Cosmic horror is a subgenre of horror fiction that focuses on existential dread rather than gore or shocking content. More specifically, it explores how we are very small and insignificant things compared to the vastness of the universe and confronts its protagonists with things that their mind was never intended to understand.

Probably the best explanation of cosmic horror I've ever come across was a photo posted by an electrician a few years ago. I'll spare you the more graphic details, but what had happened was that a rat had accidentally electrocuted itself when it crawled into a circuit breaker.

This is a prime example of what cosmic horror is like, because there was no way for that rat to comprehend the significance of the circuit breaker, what electricity is, or that standing on the leads would cause its death. All the rat knew was that this was another dark surface, and suddenly there was pain, and then nothing.

In cosmic horror stories, we're that rat.