Humor 1: Scared by a Little Girl

Before I begin this story I should say I am not afraid of the dark. I am not afraid of snakes or spiders or cockroaches. I am not afraid of clowns. I don’t believe in ghosts, demons, or the supernatural. I don’t ever go see horror movies because I find them boring. That being said, I will now disclose to you the story of how my friend and I were put into a state of sheer terror from a seven year old girl and subsequently laughed about it uncontrollably.

The other day, my friend and I were casually driving down Berry Street on our way to get lunch at Chipote on Hulen. We were both in conversation, I forget what we were talking about but I remember we were into a conversation about something. At this point we pull up to a stop sign. In front of us is a car with its blinker on turning left. At first glance, I nothing caught my attention, however something just wasn’t right. I then heard my friend next to me mutter frantically, “oh my god. Oh my god. Dude… Dude... oh my god”. I then turned my head back to figure out what it was. In the rear window staring back at me was something out of a horror movie — a girl, no older than 7, red hair, dark rings around her eyes, and a look of pure hatred for the world and everything in it in her eyes. As I said before, I do not get scared easily, but his look of hatred was so intense that my first reaction was that I jumped a little in my seat, it was so intense that I could not avert my gaze, so intense it transformed my perception of a little girl who, in all likelihood was completely innocent, into something purely evil. As the look continued as the car took a slow turn left, I could not avert my gaze. The look of hatred intensified as the girl’s eyes continued to be locked in on our souls as the car continued to turn.  At this point we were both actually in a state of sheer terror. As the car veered away and we continued along Berry Street our hearts were still pumping steadily and quickly, our bodies pumped with adrenaline from fear. Within seconds however, we both started laughing. I was still significantly disturbed by the event but once I felt we were safe and no longer under the girl’s icy gaze, the situation became incredibly funny. I believe this is due to the relief theory and also incongruity. We definitely were not expecting to have this encounter on the way the Chipotle. I mean it came out of nowhere. However, that in itself did not make it funny, in fact, that aspect contributed to my surprise and subsequent fear instilled from the situation. However, following relief theory, once the “danger” or situation resolved itself and  there was no more unknown, we felt relief and all of the fear and uncomfortableness we previously felt turned into laughter.