Scary Freaky Stuff

Scary Freaky Stuff

There are many examples of scary freaky stuff that we could cover to head-up this category, but for now, we’re only addressing two examples of scary freaky stuff that most kids can handle – let’s say tweens+ and up; they are:

Ghosts
Vampires

Campfire Ghost Stories

Rated: Unrated | Format: DVD

Ghosts

In traditional belief, ghosts are composed of a misty, airy, or subtle material and are the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear in visible form to haunt particular locations, objects or people they were associated with in life. Some believe they’re looking for vengeance, or imprisoned on earth for bad things they did during life.

Eventually, through film, ghosts became romantic (as seen in Ghost - a benign guide or messenger), often with unfinished business. In horror films the ghost stories were merged with scenes of physical violence.

Ghost-hunting became a hobby for many who formed ghost-hunting societies to explore reportedly haunted places.

Although ghost-hunting is scary freaky stuff for many, the theme has been featured in children's television (The Ghost Hunter and Ghost Trackers). From these came the multiple guidebooks to haunted locations, and ghost-hunting “how-to” manuals. How about you... do you believe in ghosts. Want proof first? Enlist a friend to help you.

The 1990s saw a return to classic “gothic” ghosts, whose dangers were more psychological than physical as depicted in The Sixth Sense and The Others. What do you think?

Vampires

Mythological or folkloric beings, vampires subsist by feeding on the life essence (generally in the form of blood) of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead (beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive) or a living person. Over the course of the 19th century they were attributed with features such as:

Fangs
Vulnerability to sunlight
The cloak with a high collar - to help Dracula 'vanish' on stage
Healings by moonlight - although no account of this is known in traditional folklore
Immortality - the price of which is the incessant need for blood of former equals

Not to be out-done by ghosts, vampires tend to be depicted as suave, charismatic villains and have spread into the American sub-culture… also including the neo-gothic.