The article attempts, contrary to tradition, to interpret the phenomenon of fear caused by contemporary terrorism, rather than as a political or sociological effect, as an essentially aesthetic emotion, that is, a sensation that is produced in us once we have "represented" the incident as a tragic scene. Methodologically, four terrorist actions of this century have been chosen in which this "aesthetic fear" would clearly occur, above all because of the transcendental role of technology in them: 9/11, the seizure of the Dubrovkade theatre in Moscow, the execution of hostages by the Islamic State and the Christchurch massacre last March. For this, the interpretation of "tragic fear" presented by Aristotle is followed, particularly in his Poetics, and the formulations on fear given by Kant and Burke, mainly.