The idea of the underworld has a complex history, reproducing varying outlooks concerning life and death, evil and salvation, and crime and punishment. Nearly every culture and religion in the world describes the existence of some type of underworld or hell, consequently writers, poets, filmmakers, artists of all kind have used underworld imagery in their art, using different analogies and metaphors regarding the underworld and hell in order to essentially express our inner worlds. In the writings of Arthur Machen, H.P. Lovecraft and Thomas Ligotti, authors of short horror fiction, the motif of the underworld is very present and of great importance. It represents the “other world”, the unknown. It represents the hidden knowledge of the world, the horrors that hides in the crevices of the world and which happens to bleed into our reality. It also represents the archetype of the collective unconscious and its manifestation, as well as the reaction to the unknown. The world, the culture as obsessively consumeristic as ours creates consumeristic behavior in people which leads to detachment from the world. Detachment has become a great part of human experience and it is necessary to consider the underworld alongside the question of aesthetics. Just as beauty is a part of our lives and creative endeavors, ugliness and obscurity explored through horror fiction are as well.