Every era of American history has had its monsters. American Nightmares follows three and a half centuries of the nation’s fears, from Puritan hellfire sermons and the Salem witch trials to atomic monsters, slasher films, video games, and the biggest horror hit of 2026.
Fifty-six moments across nine eras show how the stories that frightened Americans tracked the country’s deepest conflicts: over faith, race, gender, war, science, and the media itself. Each moment pairs a short historical account with what it reveals about its time, the fears it carried, something to watch, and relevant research.
American Nightmares is a joint project of the Recreational Fear Lab and the American Studies Center Aarhus. We are introducing it for Halloween. Read it straight through, jump to an era, or follow a single fear, such as contagion or the haunted home, across the centuries.
The timeline opens as a full-screen page and works best on a larger screen.
