You’ve got about 8 hours to escape before the FtB crew tries to scare you.
It’s hard to be too spooky when you don’t believe in the supernatural, though.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
You’ve got about 8 hours to escape before the FtB crew tries to scare you.
It’s hard to be too spooky when you don’t believe in the supernatural, though.
You mis-spelled ‘spookernatural’.
The last time someone attempted to scare me, they failed abominably.
For one, I’ve always passed the mirror test. For another, I’ve got a finely honed sense of the absurd and viewing a mirror, even by surprise triggers that sense.
Although, I did awaken and grow incredibly horrified. A whole loaf or rye break went moldy on me overnight. :(
I saw something nasty in the wood shed! (niver say that!)
“It’s hard to be too spooky when you don’t believe in the supernatural, though/We’ll probably collapse into a bunch of rational explanations”
I’ve always found those assumptions strange. Why should unnatural things be scary and supernatural be a requirement? And why should a rational explanation be comforting? [“I have cancer? What a relief! I thought a witch had cursed me!”]
There are some very terrifying creatures in this world: human beings! Some of them scare the crap out of me. But, they haven’t a ghost of a chance of causing me to believe in the stupornatural.
Wow, I didn’t realize that shermanj watched me eat!
Creepypasta.
And suchlike.
Example:
And why should a rational explanation be comforting? [“I have cancer? What a relief! I thought a witch had cursed me!”]
Because a rational explanation very often leads to an actual solution that doesn’t involve unearned guilt, unfounded fear, unhelpful cult leaders, or useless magical thinking. (This is certainly true for both mental-health issues and house hauntings.)
Raging Bee @ 8
“That is certainly true for… mental-health issues ”
And this reminds me of the dangerous documentary “Crazy Wise”, (reviewed by GAM, see below). Glorifying mental disease and spreading desinformation about medicine is goddamn dangerous for people who base their decisions on this BS. This is an area where internet memes and magical thinking do great harm.
https://youtu.be/eCxNNFsGvdY
I get nervous when walking through a dark forest even though I know none of the sounds is likely to emanate from an animal capable of killing humans.
This is apparently hard-wired, and the anxiety is difficult to avoid.
Yet, when I watch a bad horror film absurdities usually stack up until suspension of disbelief fails. At this point the film will -at best- become ” so bad it is good” or just boring.
On rare occasions, a film might be “an interesting failure”.
The Hunger – with David Bowie and Susan Sarandon- is an example of a film that transcends its flaws. So is Needful Things.
Submoron @ 3
Wood sheds often have mice whose urine may carry virus of a painful disease whose latin name I forgot. Swedish name “sorkfeber”.
If you live far to the south you might find scorpions or venomous spiders yet I have never heard of a supernatural entity that specialises in wood sheds. Maybe a cupachabra seeking shelter from the rain?
Regsrding the jypnotised corpse in the story.
If you had consulted someone rational (like Herr Doktor Johannes Cabal) you would have known you could freeze-dry the corpse to avoid the unpleasanrness (just leave it outside in tve winter months on days with temperatures below 0°C and low humidity).
When it is a dry husk, soak it in preservative fluids until the tissues are saturated. Then you can keep the bloke on a shelf until you need to consult him about something. Useful if a king dies before the succession has been sorted out (The Great Leader, eat your heart out).
Another issue I have with horror stories- why do people never make use of the unique skills of various entities?
A vampire would make an almost indestructible sheriff, for instance (he would obviously be limited to the night shift).
A vampire might be a bit on the volatile side, but you are Americans, you will not notice any difference between him an ordinary cops.
@13
Terry Pratchett beat me to it, but the idea appeared first in the fantasy magazine Heavy Metal.
And the anime Hellsing was probably even earlier.
birgerjohansson @ 13, I dunno, I’m fairly certain that I’d notice the difference. Very few US cops bite their victims, they typically shoot them or beat them to death.
Well, with a few side forays into rape and mayhem.