Regional Gothic is a tumblr trend in the mid 2010s wherein users would write bullet-pointed lists of eerie moments related to the region in which they grew up in or other seemingly benign moments in life, such as college. The creator, clive-gershwin-palmer invented the trend in January 2015, in a post that has now been deleted[1]. The trend was relatively dormant until March 2015, when tumblr user korvidian created a post entitled "south-east queensland gothic"[2] that created the template for all future Regional Gothic lists here on after. Despite its origin from the tumblr community, the meme is a continuation of the Gothic literary genre, with multiple authors such as H.P. Lovecraft and William Faulkner combining horror with their local culture and history. The largest influence appears to have come from the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, where a radio host describes eerie events in their paranormal and unusual town with the same diction as the later tumblr posts.
Subgenres
Despite its highly personal and wide-spread amount of topics, some regions appear to have branched off and become increasingly independent and large due to the high amount of people living within the region, its literary and folkloric precedents, and distinct imagery associated with the region.
- Anglo Gothic
- Midwest Gothic
- Regional Gothic
- Southern Gothic
- Suburban Gothic
