Have you ever read something by H.P. Lovecraft?
Lovecraft was an urban explorer himself. He liked exploring old houses especially. In his books I’ve read descriptions of the old places which bring poetry to them I envy (as a writer and explorer myself). Anyone who has explored an old house, especially those who have explored many of them and still love finding yet another, will treasure reading Lovecraft’s short stories.
I knew about his books for a very long time but thought they were too gruesome and frightening for me. I think that would have been true while I was still a young woman of high school age. But, now that I am nearing 50 and a seasoned explorer… they seem more like stories I’ve heard before. This is no fault of H.P. Lovecraft.
His stories were horrifying, terrifying and gruesome enough at the time he wrote them. But, like an old house, we have become weathered to horror, especially when it’s in fiction. Lovecraft read horror, modern people see it in movies, which is far different than reading it in print.