History TearJerker / HouseOfLeaves

* "It's okay. You can go now." For context, [[spoiler:this is said in Johnny's final entry. After saying a sort of goodbye to the reader, he tells a story he claims to have heard about a mother whose child is born brain-damaged and in terminal condition, kept alive by machines. She tries to care for the child, hoping against all odds that it'll hold through and somehow heal, and the doctors indulge it out of sympathy. Eventually, however, the doctors firmly tell the mother that there is nothing to be done and that they need to take the baby off life support. The mother, finally accepting the truth, says ''that'' to her child… [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane and the baby promptly flatlines, without the doctors even getting a chance to go near the plug]].]]

* Towards the end of the book, as Johnny reaches his lowest point, homeless and near-insane, he suddenly comes across a pair of friends who take him in and help him get clean. [[spoiler:Except he was lying- and not to us. He was trying to convince himself that someone would care enough… [[MindScrew but then who told Johnny about the story of the baby]]?]]
* [[spoiler:"there was no tom there i was no tom there".]]

* Delial..just Delial, and what she really is: [[spoiler:the subject of Navidson's famous Pulitzer photo, something Navidson regrets and [[MyGreatestFailure wishes he had saved her instead of taking the photo that got him fame]]]].

** It's actually worse when you end up learning that Delial was inspired by ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_vulture_and_the_little_girl an actual 1993 photo and event]]''. Famed photographer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Carter Kevin Carter]] took a photo that was the inspiration of Delial and [[spoiler: like Navidson, he regretted not doing anything to help him]].[[note]]The family did get to the food station 100 meters from where Kevin took the photo. Mom was actually close by; she just isn't in the shot. Also, the bird was farther away than it looks in his telephoto lens, ''and'' [[https://dhavalrathod.wordpress.com/2018/10/18/heres-why-kevin-carter-was-a-sudanese-civil-war-hero/ Kevin, who took the picture at literal gunpoint, chased it away after getting the shot]][[/note]]. Unlike [[spoiler:Navidson, who only lingered in guilt and regret and slowly moved on]], Carter ''never'' moved on and eventually committed suicide. And then the irony hits that Kong Nyong, the little boy in Carter's photo ''actually survived'' and lived until 2007, passing away from illness. Carter ''committed suicide for nothing''.[[note]]However, Kevin was broke and traumatized by other horrible scenes he had photographed when he committed suicide, so the knowledge might have only helped so much.[[/note]]

* The end of every Whalestoe Letter: Love, Mommy. What makes it so sad is the fact that you can tell that she honestly, genuinely loves her son and misses him. [[spoiler:This of course makes the next entry THAT MUCH WORSE...]]
* [[spoiler:The fact that Johnny's mother kills herself at the end of the letters. Amplified by the fact that she makes it sound like the Director is letting her out of the insane asylum.]]

* The entire scene with Jed after [[spoiler:Navidson and Reston find him and Wax in the labyrinth. You think "it's really going to be okay!". And then he gets shot right in the head. The worst part? ''He doesn't die immediately.'']]
* Holloway's SanitySlippage, final log, and [[spoiler:suicide]]. Watching him go from a heroic explorer to a madman trapped in the one challenge he couldn't overcome is haunting.

* "It's okay. You can go now."

* Towards the end of the book, as Johnny reaches his lowest point, homeless and near-insane, he suddenly comes across a pair of friends who take him in and help him get clean. [[spoiler: Except he was lying- and not to us. He was trying to convince himself that someone would care enough.]]
** FridgeLogic: [[spoiler: Then who told Johnny about the story of the baby?]]
* [[spoiler: "there was no tom there i was no tom there".]]

* Delial..just Delial, and what she really is: [[spoiler: the subject of Navidson's famous Pulitzer photo, something Navidson regrets and [[MyGreatestFailure wishes he had saved her instead of taking the photo that got him fame]]]].

** It's actually worse when you end up learning that Delial was inspired by ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_vulture_and_the_little_girl an actual 1993 photo and event]]''. Famed photographer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Carter Kevin Carter]] took a photo that was the inspiration of Delial and [[spoiler: like Navidson, he regretted not doing anything to help him]].[[note]]The family did get to the food station 100 meters from where Kevin took the photo. Mom was actually close by; she just isn't in the shot. Also, the bird was farther away than it looks in his telephoto lens, ''and'' [[https://dhavalrathod.wordpress.com/2018/10/18/heres-why-kevin-carter-was-a-sudanese-civil-war-hero/ Kevin, who took the picture at literal gunpoint, chased it away after getting the shot]][[/note]]. Unlike [[spoiler: Navidson, who only lingered in guilt and regret and slowly moved on]], Carter ''never'' moved on and eventually committed suicide. And then the irony hits that Kong Nyong, the little boy in Carter's photo ''actually survived'' and lived until 2007, passing away from illness. Carter ''committed suicide for nothing''.[[note]]However, Kevin was broke and traumatized by other horrible scenes he had photographed when he committed suicide, so the knowledge might have only helped so much.[[/note]]

* [[spoiler: The fact that Johnny's mother kills herself at the end of the letters. Amplified by the fact that she makes it sound like the Director is letting her out of the insane asylum.]]
* The entire scene with Jed after [[spoiler: Navidson and Reston find him and Wax in the labyrinth. You think "it's really going to be okay!". And then he gets shot right in the head. The worst part? ''He doesn't die immediately.'']]

** It's actually worse when you end up learning that Delial was inspired by ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_vulture_and_the_little_girl an actual photo and event]]''. Famed photographyer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Carter Kevin Carter]] took a photo that was the inspiration of Delial and [[spoiler: like Navidson, he regretted not doing anything to help her]]. Unlike [[spoiler: Navidson, who only lingered in guilt and regret and slowly moved on]], Carter ''never'' moved on and eventually committed suicide. And then the irony hits that the child in Carter's photo ''actually survived'' and lived until 2007, passing away from "illness". Carter ''committed suicide for nothing''.[[note]]However, Kevin was broke and traumatized by other horrible scenes he had photographed when he committed suicide, so the knowledge might have only helped so much.[[/note]]

** It's actually worse when you end up learning that Delial was inspired by ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_vulture_and_the_little_girl an actual photo and event]]''. Famed photographyer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Carter Kevin Carter]] took a photo that was the inspiration of Delial and [[spoiler: like Navidson, he regretted not doing anything to help her]]. Unlike [[spoiler: Navidson, who only lingered in guilt and regret and slowly moved on]], Carter ''never'' moved on and eventually committed suicide. And then the irony hits that the child in Carter's photo ''actually survived'' and lived until 2007, passing away from "illness". Carter ''committed suicide for nothing''.

** It's actually worse when you end up learning that Delial was inspired by ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_vulture_and_the_little_girl an actual photo and event]]''. Famed photographyer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Carter Kevin Carter]] took a photo that was the inspiration of Delial and [[spoiler: like Navidson, he regretted not doing anything to help her]]. Unlike [[spoiler: Navidson, who only lingered in guilt and regret and slowly moved on]], Carter ''never'' moved on and eventually committed suicide.
** The worst part is the fact that it was revealed years later that said child in Carter's photo ''actually did survive'' (and as also a boy, not a girl as he believed), but would eventually pass away in 2007 from illnesses, a far cry from his implied fate in the photo. Carter committed suicide and lived in guilt ''for nothing''.

* Delial..just Delial, and what she really is: [[spoiler: the subject of Navidson's famous Pulitzer photo, something Navidson regrets and [[MyGreatestFailure wishes he had saved her instead of taking the photo that got him fame]].

* Delial.

* [[spoiler: "It's ok. You can go now."]]

* The pekinese story, anyone?