What do Americans fear the most this Halloween season? Hint: It’s not vampires or ghosts
Whether it’s spiders, lighting strikes, ghosts or goblins, there is no shortage of things to keep us up at night.
With Halloween upon us, monsters, zombies, ghouls and other spooky creatures get the spotlight for being the stuff of nightmares.
But according to one recent study, the truly frightening things for Americans are not the creatures eliciting screams in horror films and haunted house attractions.
The study by SafeHome.org polled 2,634 American adults about the degree to which they fear different scenarios. Major categories this year included political fears, true crime, personal health and climate concerns.
The top fear scenario is “loved ones dying,” with a “fear score” of 99 out of 100.
Participants were asked to answer based on a scale where “Very afraid” was weighted 3, “Afraid” was weighted 2, “Slightly afraid” was weighted 1 and “Not afraid” was weighted 0.
The second ranking fear scenario is “loved ones becoming seriously ill” with a fear score of 98, just one point less than the No. 1 rank.
Following that is “personally becoming seriously ill,” with a fear score of 86. It’s possible that the COVID-19 pandemic heightened this fear scenario ranking.
At the fourth ranking spot is not having enough money for retirement. According to Anytime Estimate, the median amount Americans have saved for retirement is just $71,500. Individuals should have at least $107,000 by age 40, according to Fidelity Investments.
Rounding out the top five most feared scenarios is mass shootings/gun violence. According to Gun Violence Archive, there have been over 550 mass shootings in the United States this year. They define a mass shooting as four or more shot and/or killed in a single event, not including the shooter.
The U.S. getting into another world war came in at No. 10, in addition to corrupt government officials coming in at the No. 7 top feared scenario.
Another pandemic like COVID-19 ranked No. 25.
Some of the least feared scenarios were being abducted by aliens with a fear score of 14, and ghosts with a fear score of 20.
Man covering his eyes while watching TV.