Fear is the strongest human emotion, and the fear of the unknown is the most compelling. Freud posited a concept called das unheimliche-the uncanny-in reference to stories that trigger fear and terror. This study uses the concept of das unheimliche to examine Titisan Iblis (1989), a novel written by Indonesian writer Abdullah Harahap. This paper aims to reveal that violence and abnormal sexual behaviors depicted in literary texts may be considered manifestations of disorders that threaten public harmony. Violence and abnormal sexual behaviors occur in the absence of due supervision by the authorities, and public violence is inevitably related to the aggression that occurs within the private sphere. Additionally, a horror story can confront anomalies, anxieties, and fears that exist beyond everyday life. Fear and anxiety are difficult emotions to express in the real world, but they can be manifested through pieces of literature. In such a context, the public's distrust of formal and informal authority may be described through problem-solving processes that do not involve ghosts, shamans, or any kind of state apparatus. © 2020 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.