It’s the creeps. But what exactly is it? Why do we experience “the creeps”? And is being creepedout useful?
Though the sensation has probably been around since humans began experiencing emotions, it wasn’t until the middle of the 19th century that some of us called uncanny touch “the creeps”. Charles Dickens, is credited with the first use of the phrase, in his 1849 novel David Copperfield. It meant an unpleasant, tingly chill up the spine. In the years after the book, using “creepy” to describe something that causes unease took off. And as it turns out, “creepy” isn’t actually all that complicated.