Mark / Question
After seeing the previously demon-possessed man sitting clothed and in his right mind, the people were afraid (Mark 5:15). Mark says they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region (Mark 5:17).
After the pigs’ herders run off and spread the news, people from town and countryside come to investigate Mark 5:14–20. They find the formerly demon-possessed man calm, clothed, and thinking clearly, and their reaction is fear. Eyewitnesses recount what happened to the man and the pigs, and the locals ask Jesus to leave their region. This scene closes the larger episode that begins with Jesus arriving in Gentile territory and encountering a man tormented by many demons and living among tombs Mark 5:1–13. The earlier action moves from confrontation to release, then to the pigs’ rush into the sea.
Mark presents a chain reaction: a public report, a public investigation, a public fear, and then a public message. The herders’ news spreads through town and countryside, people come to verify it, and they see a dramatic change in the man: he is sitting calmly, clothed, and thinking clearly (explicit textual claims). Instead of celebrating, they are afraid.
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Mark 5:15, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
15They came to Jesus, and saw him who was possessed by demons sitting, clothed and in his right mind, even him who had the legion; and they were afraid.