Halloween is a time when many people turn to spooky movies and stories. But even before this Halloween was celebrated, scary stories go back to some of the first tales humans ever told, says Ingrid Johnson. She teaches a course at Virginia Tech about monster and horror literature.
“Which seems odd that we would connect with stories that are scary about ghosts and death and these things,” Johnson says.
She says for many people, death is something we don’t like to dwell on, so scary stories can be a way to unpack those fears.
“And it’s also a safe space to have those feelings. We can watch these movies or read these stories and they’re not going to harm us,” Johnson adds.
But they can still give us a jolt of adrenaline. Stories across literature feature ghosts — from Shakespeare's "Hamlet" to Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." In her class, she features tales from Japanese folklore and other horror tales, including "The Picture of Dorian Gray," by Oscar Wilde.
For past generations, scary stories were also meant to teach moral lessons — warnings about what could happen to people who misbehave.
Most of the classic ghost stories Johnson teaches don’t scare students, but they still are fascinated by them.
Johnson says the story that scares them the most is one from 2020, about the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Generally, they find that story to be the scariest,” Johnson said. “Not so much the ghosts that are in the haunted houses or those things. But these in your face events that they know very well.”
When she asks students what scary stories might look like in 15 years, they point to what really frightens them: pandemics and advanced technologies, like artificial intelligence.
Next spring, Johnson isn't teaching the horror class. Instead, she's teaching a new course, this one about true crime, which will feature books as well as podcasts.
