Some parts of who we are as human beings are self-evident. We all also have our “shadow,” which Swiss psychologist Carl Jung (1842-1896) defined as “the dark aspects of the personality.” What’s more, Jung believed awareness of this shadow to be “the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.”

To go even deeper, not all our shadow traits must be negative, merely hidden. For instance, while the shadow of a goody-two-shoes might be bitter resentment, a rageaholic’s could be a touching vulnerability.

Thanks, Josh, for the pop-psychology lesson. But what does this have to do with horror fiction?

Oh, I don’t know. How about…everything?

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