Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Whatever happened to ghosts?


So, what has happened to ghosts?

Yeah, I know about Ghost Hunters, the TV show, but I'm talking about ghosts in horror stories--the kind of fictional ghosts that haunt houses, walk through walls and do bad things to people. Where have they gone?

Zombies are big now, which is fine. I've always had a warm spot in my heart for zombies. Vampires are even bigger, but of course the romance and YA authors have stolen them from the horror writers. Worse, they've turned them into sparkly vegan boy-toys.

*sigh*

Weres are few and far between nowadays. I miss them too. And you hardly ever see a mummy any more. But I miss ghosts most of all--the good, old fashioned, evil, murderous kinds of ghosts that kept us quaking in fear under the covers late at night when we were kids.

I think I first fell in love with horror as a child when I found out I was pretty good at making up ghost stories and scaring the hell out of the other kids as we sat around a campfire late at night. Seeing their effect first hand was great fun. There's really nothing quite as satisfying as watching your best friend's eight year old brother pee his pants because a story you made up on the fly scared the bejeebers out of him. Those stories were almost always about ghosts. I still think there is nothing more frightening than a good ghost story. So where have they gone?

I wish I knew.

Mr. King, Mr. Koontz? Are you reading this? What about you Mr. Little? Mr. Ketchum? I'm sure you're all regular readers by now *cough*, so let's get on the stick. I want more ghosts. Gimme ghosts. Bring back the ghosts.

14 comments:

  1. Dear Mr. Haggis,

    I would gladly buy a t-shirt or sign an online petition to bring back ghosts.

    Sincerely,
    A Person Who Agrees With You About Ghosts

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  2. oh, btw, the follower on your Google Friend Connect, ebil, that's me. *sigh* I can't get it to use my proper username, it just grabs the first bit of my registered email address which is ebil.librarian.

    Sincerely,
    Someone Who Wanted You to Know They Were That Follower "ebil"

    ReplyDelete
  3. *Moves Lori's name to top of the list*

    Oh, I remember the name "ebil" very well, Dawno. It was somewhere on your email when you first sent me my beautiful blinking eyes. :)

    Oh, and I'll start working on that petition right away.

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  4. BOO!

    I remember my cousin's telling us ghost stories. We sat in a circle in the living room with the lights off and a flash light shining around the room. The Golden Arm and Johnny are two that still give me goose bumps to this day.

    *sighs*

    I miss ghosts too. I can do without the blood and gore. Ghosts were the scariest because they messed with the mind. OOOOOO.... MWAH!!!!!

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  5. Hi "Bea."

    Yeah, ghosts are good people. I'm also partial to the monsters who lived under my bed and the one who preferred the closet.

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  6. *giggles* I always liked the monsters 'in' my bed. ;)

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  7. Well, I'm writing about ghosts, but you won't see it on any book shelves. But, there are ghost stories being written, if it's any comfort. You may never read them, but...

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  8. I'm not one of *those* guys, but I am writing a ghost story, and I know I ain't the only one. :D

    Have faith! Maybe one day, those stories will find a home with a publisher. :)

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  9. Everyone who writes about ghosts deserves a shot, E.F. Maybe I will be seeing one of yours in a bookstore soon.

    Why, Jen, however did you come up with the ghost story idea? :D

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  10. Damn... thanks. What about ghosts in a coal mine? Intrigued yet?

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  11. I miss ghosts too. First novel was about ghosts. Too bad it was more terrible than terrifying...

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