Why do we find comfort in terrifying stories?

"Fairytales don't tell children dragons exist - they already know that. Fairytales tell children dragons can be killed." - G. K. Chesterton

The bigger and more terrifying the monster that gets beaten in the story, the more comforting it is. This is true even if the "monster" is a situation rather than a being, and even if it is merely "lived through" well, rather than "beaten".

My simple answer: because most people (myself included) who find terrifying stories to be interesting lead otherwise boring and risk-free lives. Some people like to live vicariously through other people while taking no real risk of their own.

If you drive a 2006 Honda Civic to work (really safe, good mileage, and it's completely paid off!), spend all day writing Java code that someone else scoped, spec'd, and paid for, then drive home to your family and have spaghetti for dinner (we have spaghetti every Thursday, it's our tradition!), of course reading a story about the zombie apocalypse is going to appeal to you. It satisfies a biological need you're not currently fulfilling: to be put in danger and successfully navigate your way out.

It's the same reason people holler at movies/shows telling the characters not to go in that dark room, or yell at the NFL game that the quarterback should have thrown the ball earlier. It's the same reason people play Sim City or The Sims or Football Manager/OOTP/Motorsport Manager or any other "god games". It gives you a feeling of risk, reward, and power you're not likely to find in your real life.

This has been a thing since at least Homer's Odyssey, created in a time where the average person took on a level of risk we'd never even consider. And this thrilling tale of dashing heroes sacrificing their lives to get back home to their boring life only to find out they have to fight and kill even more to protect their boring home life... it's not a new trope.

I figure it's because we want to feel extremes of emotion briefly, in a controlled way. No one actually wants to be scared for their life or suffer a tragedy ... but we enjoy feeling fear and sorrow briefly in a movie or the theatre. Having our emotions amped up makes us feel alive, I think. Afterwards we also feel good that we've avoided a similar fate.

Maybe you do. I sure as fuck don’t.

Well this is more about Dystopian fiction which is rarely terrifying. I think bleak visions and grim conditions in fiction are satisfying though. I know that whenever I read 1984 I find the very grimness of Winston's life gives me pleasure. The framing of his discussions with O'Brien in the context of torture also is very satisfying. To people who don't read fiction this sounds like sadism but that is not the case. There may be a small pleasure in the simple fact that it is not we ourselves that suffer ("do it to Julia!") but I think that is marginal. More important is the powerful resistance such a world presents to the character which gives it an intense reality and that reality being immersive is the pleasure as it focuses the whole mind on the meaning of what is shown.

About actual terror and horror Thomas Ligotti makes some interesting points about this and principally views it as a way of dealing with the actual horror of life which is all too real.

Freud's theory: Why do we have terrible nightmares if our sleeping mind could instead be imagining an Elysium of pleasantries and amazement? We spend our waking hours tormented by our desires, to be healthy, wealthy, beautiful or wise. We are slaves to our emotions, each day wracked by insatiable lusts. Only in the fantasy of our dreams can these desires be resolved: our body decays in the mirror, we find ourselves lost and alone on the streets, we are naked at the office, our lungs are empty but we cannot gasp for air! Finally, our soul is free from torment, the conflict has been resolved. Our human nature is to be ambitious and to rise towards the heavens. The price we pay is the agony of desire. Enough is never enough. We can only fail totally, or continue onward, and onward, and onward ...

Hah, my immediate thought was "no, we don't", then I saw the 15-20 Stephen King books on my shelf... Well, simple answer is they are enjoyable and they easily grab and hold your attention.

It probably confers survival benefit. Those who liked to hear dystopian tales were more likely to survive bad times and reproduce successfully. Thinking through how someone else handled a tough situation prepares one for similar situations in the future.

We don't. If they genuinely terrified us we wouldn't enjoy them.

because people connect better when they share a tragic experience, I guess.