Hex

In Thomas Olde Heuvelt’s HEX, the town of Black Spring is governed by a terror far more potent than its resident witch. The novel argues that overwhelming fear, rather than a supernatural curse, is the true catalyst for the community’s moral decay. In their efforts to contain the historical horror of Katherine van Wyler, the residents build an oppressive society founded on paranoia and control. This system erodes their humanity, leading to acts of mob justice and brutal intolerance that mirror the very sins that created their curse, suggesting that the most destructive evil is born of terrified attempts at self-preservation.

The town’s fear first manifests as a system of institutionalized oppression. The secret organization HEX and the restrictive Emergency Decree are ostensibly designed to manage Katherine, but their primary function is to control the citizenry. By isolating themselves and policing their own, the residents of Black Spring begin to replicate the exclusionary intolerance of their ancestors, creating a society defined by the very fear they seek to contain. The town’s oppressive measures reveal a community already sacrificing its humanity in the name of safety, long before any direct supernatural threat escalates.

This systemic fear eventually erupts into atavistic violence, completing the town’s moral collapse.