Nineteenth-Century Fears leap from these frightful images, sending chills down our modern-day spines. Humans have always been riddled with fear of countless unknowns – starting with death, natural catastrophes and the movement of planets. By the Industrial Age, manmade unknowns added to the list as cities grew, new technologies emerged and scientific discoveries triggered sleepless nights.
We can laugh smugly at some fears of the unknown that are now known all too well. But most are too primal to dismiss.
Enjoy this smattering of Images that were triggered by Nineteenth-Century Fears.
A Few Historical Fears Sound All Too Familiar
Long before Social Media, our great ancestors feared social ostracism as evidenced in art, literature, psychological studies and news. Among many concerns they feared poverty, diminished power over their own lives, lack of social status, and a general sense of futility and failure.
Many viewed the introduction of new technologies with the intense suspicion we reserve for AI . As the industrial era progressed, Nineteenth-century fears overwhelmed them. New communications device threatened people with information overload as the time it took for news to travel around the globe dropped from weeks to minutes.
Neurasthenia became a popular diagnosis for general physical and mental fatigue.
David Schuster writes in the Journal of the American Medical Association:
“The term was popularized in 1869 by American neurologist George Miller Beard, who conceptualized it as a “nervous exhaustion” caused by the depletion of nervous energy from the fast-paced demands of modern urban and industrial life.” (JAMA Network)
The National Library of Medicine writes that social critics feared comfortable city life was turning men into “97 pound weaklings” who lacked the rugged stamina of previous generations.
Sigmund Freud Clarified The Fear Factor Into Phobias
Extreme and irrational fears of specific objects or situations were documented as far back as ancient Greek and Roman times. A major shift in the concept of fear occurred in 1895 when Sigmund Freud differentiated Neurosis Anxiety apart from neurasthenia syndrome.
“While Freud did not discover phobias, he developed the first major psychological theory and psychoanalytic framework for them.” (EBSCO Research)
Hence, the already robust list of nineteenth-century fears grew.
In Sigmund Freud and the Psychoanalytical Concept of Fear and Anxiety, Sergio Staraksein writes:
“Freud posited that fear is deeply rooted in the unconscious mind, where repressed desires, memories, and instincts reside. These repressed elements can threaten to surface, causing anxiety and activating defense mechanisms [29] [30]. Freud believed that the capacity for fear and anxiety is innate, part of the self-preservation instinct, and phylogenetically inherited. …” (Research Gate)
That’s correct. There’s a reasonable chance that you can blame at least some of your fears on your great ancestors.
In his 1895 paper, “Obsessions and Phobias: Their Psychical Mechanism and Their Aetiology,” he divided phobias into two main categories.
Common phobias included more than a few that were high on the list of Nineteenth-Century Fears. Among them were death, darkness, solitude, illness and animals including spiders and snakes. Contingent phobias were less common nineteenth-century fears including agoraphobia, travel by train, walking across open squares or crossing bridges.
Fear of Trains, Electrical Wires And Insane Asylums
These are worth a special mention among Nineteenth-Century Fears.
As railway travel proliferated, trains trains scared a lot of people and horses.
Ross Pomeroy writes in Real Clear Science that fear of railway travel through the 1800s escalated.
“…worries spread in media, scientific literature, and popular culture that this futuristic form of transportation could wreak havoc on passengers’ physical and mental health. It was claimed that jarring movements and loud noises at unnaturally-fast speeds of sixty miles per hour resulted in chronic inflammation, impaired vision, and a nauseating host of other physical ailments. Worse, some people could suffer from “railway neurosis.” (Real Clear Science)
Similarly, some people feared that riding newfangled bicycles too fast or for long periods could lead to the dreaded bicycle face. (Racing Nellie Bly)
And best of all, Pomeroy explores the Nineteenth-Century Fear of Drowning in Horse Manure. In the 1890s, many feared that “streets would eventually become impassible” from a build-up of horse manure.
“The hundreds of thousands of horses traversing city blocks to move freight and passengers left behind millions of pounds of fresh feces and urine each day.” (Real Clear Science)
For better or worse, this is one Nineteenth-Century fear that disappeared as automobiles became common.
With Yellow Journalism, a host of social concerns triggered fear in the public. Among them was fear of Mental Asylums after Nellie Bly wrote her series for The New York World. (Racing Nellie Bly)
Fear From Urban Legends Keeps On Giving
Yes, urban legends challenge common sense. But the most enduring have just enough realistic details to keep our anxiety high for years to come.
An evolving form of oral folk lore, there are too many to count.
Many manipulated Nineteenth-Century Fears to amuse and possibly inform people to watch out for actual dangers. One of the more robust tales was that of Spring-heeled Jack.
Spring-heeled Jack leapt into the collective psyche of English citizens beginning in 1837. He was described as a tall, thin devil-like gentleman with wings, cold hands with sharp metallic claws, fiery red eyes and sometimes breathed blue and white flames. He sprang from darkness, attacked his victims then with superhuman power he vaulted over tall barriers to escape capture. Some reports claimed that his victims were physically harmed. Most were left terrified.
Reports of sightings and assaults stopped after 1904. Even so, Spring-heeled Jack became the subject of numerous fictional publications including the Penny Dreadful that grew the urban legend, which remains powerful to this day. (Racing Nellie Bly)
Racing Nellie Bly
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