Why do people like to be scared?

I am not a person who likes scary movies at all. I mean seriously, I hide behind pillows, plug my ears and cover my eyes on those few occassions when I am exposed to the horror/suspense genre. I endured The Sixth Sense(which I came to love), suffered through The Exorcist in high school because my girlfriends just thought it was so funny, watched I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream and was genuinely afraid...I am a wimp. Scary is scary to me, not really thrilling. I purposely avoid movies I know will scare the bejeebers out of me, and for good reason...I am sane(most of the time!)

Yet lately I have watched my three year old flirt with the idea of enjoying things that scare him. He is OBSESSED with Scooby Doo as of late. You remember the show right?

The cast looks harmless enough, but they are always trying to solve a mystery. Lately, Z can be found walking through the house looking for "cwhoos" after he say, "My (insert missing object)is missing, its a mystery right Momma?" Which he quickly follows up with, "Let's go find it!"

The funny thing about this show is that he loves it even though it scares the hell out of him. When a scary monster shows up, he is off that couch in a flash, running for cover behind the couch and peeking over the cushions. (Sounds familiar). You know a scene like this(probably not that intimidating for a grown adult, but through the eys of a child...I remember those monsters were scary)

And even though I tell him I am going to turn it off because it is scaring him, he insists, "I'm not scared Momma, I'll sit and watch it." and he'll head right back to his spot and sit there glued to the screen. I have tried to change his mind, suggest another show, engage him in a game, but he loves him some scary Scooby Doo!

Recently we bought him a Scooby Doo game for his Fisher Price IXL and he is obssessed with the book portion. He will have that book read to him three or four times before he'll move on to Toy Story or Batman even. Not to brag, but his reading comrehension(listening comprehension really) is amazing. He gets all of the questions right at the end, even though they mix them up. I mean when a kid is this engrossed in a book, even one on a screen, who am I to interrupt?

Needless to say apparently even at a young age people seem to like to be scared. I guess that's a mystery, that might never be solved?