Uploaded April 2016 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
It’s a common story in everything from studies of curses to stories by Arthur Conan Doyle – but what’s the truth? Can a person really be scared to death?
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science.howstuffworks.com/life/scared-to-death.htm
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Could you literally die of fright?
The answer, unfortunately, is “yes.”
First, let’s look at what happens when something scares you. Let’s say you’re sneaking through an abandoned amusement park late at night, like you do. Suddenly, a stained, white-gloved hand clamps down on your shoulder.
In a split-second, you freak out!
More specifically, your body activates what’s known as the "fight-or-flight" response. It all starts with your thalamus, a structure of two walnut-sized bulbs that relay sensations to your cerebral cortex. At this point, your thalamus doesn't know if the sensory info it’s just received – the gloved hand -- is a real sign of danger. But since it might be, your hypothalamus steps in and activates two systems: the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal-cortical system. The first uses nerve pathways to initiate reactions, and the second uses the bloodstream.
Then it hits you: Your pupils dilate. You feel a surge of strength and your heartrate skyrockets.
But let’s say this story has a happy ending. Let’s say one of your friends just snuck up on you (and happens to have what looks like a dead hand), because they have a terrible sense of humor. You realize you are not, in fact, a clown’s next victim, so you calm down. You’ve learned a valuable lesson about trespassing (and friendship).
However, these bursts of fright can occasionally be more damaging than the perceived threat itself. Some doctors believe that if the fear is great enough, the jolt of chemicals rushing to your heart can cause immediate death, especially if your ticker wasn’t top-notch to begin with.
In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s "The Hound of the Baskervilles,” Sherlock Holmes investigates the case of a man who had a heart attack, seemingly caused by the fear of a ghostly dog. The man, Charles Baskerville, was susceptible to this stress because of a heart condition. Over the years scientists have studied this so-called “Baskerville effect.” They’ve found that cultural fears can increase this likelihood of sudden death.
Another related concept comes from Harvard psychologist Walter Cannon, who published a 1942 paper attributing sudden death – which he called “voodoo death” - to an overactive nervous system.
He believed this nervous condition was more common in cultures where forms of harmful magic were practiced. Otherwise healthy people, convinced they were cursed, experienced a fight or flight response that never ended.
Instead, the prolonged influx of adrenaline acted on the heart almost like a large amount of cocaine -- it shut the organ down.
Then researchers at Johns Hopkins added another twist to the plot when they argued that experiencing stressful emotions could cause something that looks like a heart attack or heart failure even when there were no clogged arteries or blood clots present.
This work has a disturbing implication: death could happen in the wake of any shocking emotion, from intense joy to deep anger. Hypothetically, that means we're all at risk of “death-by-fright.”
But hey, our species actively pursues thrills and chills on a daily basis, from scary movies to rush hour traffic, and few of us die from these. At this point, research indicates that our chances of being scared to death are pretty low.
SOURCES:
abcnews.go.com/Health/die-fright/story?id=17554297
livescience.com/52573-can-you-die-of-fright.html
science.howstuffworks.com/life/scared-to-death.htm
youtube.com/watch?v=815RiAAtzS4
science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/emotions/fear.htm/printable
scientificamerican.com/article/scared-to-death-heart-attack
stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/can-people-really-die-of-fright
It’s a common story in everything from studies of curses to stories by Arthur Conan Doyle – but what’s the truth? Can a person really be scared to death?
Learn more at HowStuffWorks.com:
science.howstuffworks.com/life/scared-to-death.htm
Share on Facebook: goo.gl/Mf2Qh5
Share on Twitter: goo.gl/6lV00h
Subscribe: goo.gl/ZYI7Gt
Visit our site: brainstuffshow.com
Could you literally die of fright?
The answer, unfortunately, is “yes.”
First, let’s look at what happens when something scares you. Let’s say you’re sneaking through an abandoned amusement park late at night, like you do. Suddenly, a stained, white-gloved hand clamps down on your shoulder.
In a split-second, you freak out!
More specifically, your body activates what’s known as the "fight-or-flight" response. It all starts with your thalamus, a structure of two walnut-sized bulbs that relay sensations to your cerebral cortex. At this point, your thalamus doesn't know if the sensory info it’s just received – the gloved hand -- is a real sign of danger. But since it might be, your hypothalamus steps in and activates two systems: the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal-cortical system. The first uses nerve pathways to initiate reactions, and the second uses the bloodstream.
Then it hits you: Your pupils dilate. You feel a surge of strength and your heartrate skyrockets.
But let’s say this story has a happy ending. Let’s say one of your friends just snuck up on you (and happens to have what looks like a dead hand), because they have a terrible sense of humor. You realize you are not, in fact, a clown’s next victim, so you calm down. You’ve learned a valuable lesson about trespassing (and friendship).
However, these bursts of fright can occasionally be more damaging than the perceived threat itself. Some doctors believe that if the fear is great enough, the jolt of chemicals rushing to your heart can cause immediate death, especially if your ticker wasn’t top-notch to begin with.
In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s "The Hound of the Baskervilles,” Sherlock Holmes investigates the case of a man who had a heart attack, seemingly caused by the fear of a ghostly dog. The man, Charles Baskerville, was susceptible to this stress because of a heart condition. Over the years scientists have studied this so-called “Baskerville effect.” They’ve found that cultural fears can increase this likelihood of sudden death.
Another related concept comes from Harvard psychologist Walter Cannon, who published a 1942 paper attributing sudden death – which he called “voodoo death” - to an overactive nervous system.
He believed this nervous condition was more common in cultures where forms of harmful magic were practiced. Otherwise healthy people, convinced they were cursed, experienced a fight or flight response that never ended.
Instead, the prolonged influx of adrenaline acted on the heart almost like a large amount of cocaine -- it shut the organ down.
Then researchers at Johns Hopkins added another twist to the plot when they argued that experiencing stressful emotions could cause something that looks like a heart attack or heart failure even when there were no clogged arteries or blood clots present.
This work has a disturbing implication: death could happen in the wake of any shocking emotion, from intense joy to deep anger. Hypothetically, that means we're all at risk of “death-by-fright.”
But hey, our species actively pursues thrills and chills on a daily basis, from scary movies to rush hour traffic, and few of us die from these. At this point, research indicates that our chances of being scared to death are pretty low.
SOURCES:
abcnews.go.com/Health/die-fright/story?id=17554297
livescience.com/52573-can-you-die-of-fright.html
science.howstuffworks.com/life/scared-to-death.htm
youtube.com/watch?v=815RiAAtzS4
science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/emotions/fear.htm/printable
scientificamerican.com/article/scared-to-death-heart-attack
stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/can-people-really-die-of-fright
