[asdfasdfa11112]

Right, the author is priming his audience with the lens color through which they want their readers to see the rest of the story.

This is more honest when it doesn't involve an unrelated (especially negative) connotation.

[mistersquid]

The suggestive adverb "terrifyingly" is not about an objective state but about Craig Mod's (author) subjective perceptions. Honesty in the sense of fidelity to the objective world is not really at stake. Presumably, Mod is being honest about his experience.

Additionally, Mod is from Brooklyn and Lynchburg, Virginia, is in the South (at least for a New Yorker like Mod). If he'd never been and had been aware of Lynchburg's media reputation as home of religious conservatism, "terrifyingly" is understandable.

As someone who lived in Virginia for seven years, I remember the town Lynchburg having ominous associations. I also recall stories about lynchings that had occurred in Lynchburg as well as something about a haunted building on school grounds. Not that these are things Mod was aware of.

I'm only pointing out that the idea that Lynchburg is "terrifyingly" named is not about being "honest" to the historical and geographical fact of Lynchburg.

EDIT: spelling