I never really understood the big fear of being buried alive. I understand that it would be a scary and dangerous experience, but never got the “irrational” fear side. That was until I learned spelunking, or caving.

Spelunking is the practice or hobby of exploring undergrown caverns or caves. It’s a sport that can be quite dangerous and lead to tragedies such as the Nutty Putty Incident in 2009. Learning about that incident is what really opened my eyes to understanding that fear. Though getting trapped in a tight squeeze in a cave isn’t quite the same as being buried, they’re both quite similar in the concept is being surrounded by earth and trapped there to suffocate and die.

The Horror Genre

As you know, a lot of horror media takes place in forests and abandoned buildings and areas. Some have even branched out into bodies of water, particularly the ocean. There are a lot of people who have a fear of the ocean (I don’t blame them), so it makes sense that the horror genre would tackle that side of things.

I have seen very few pieces of horror media that explore spelunking. You’d think that with there being numerous people with the fear of being buried alive and also being claustrophobic, more people would capitalize on and explore activities in horror that could trigger such fears.