02-24-2008, 06:00 AM
I actually don't find ghost stories to be scary or terribly captivating. I've seen people who will keep listening or reading or watching even though they're already shaking with fear, but I usually just chalk that up to the "train wreck" concept, you know, you want to look away but you just can't? It's like curiosity forces you to follow through and find out what happens even if you know it'll only scare you/disgust you/whatever you all the more to finish. Of course, for some, the actual ending is better than what their imaginations would come up with if they don't finish, so I can see that as being a reason behind it too. Then, also, there are some people who just like the feeling of being scared and so will intentionally try to scare themselves by watching scary movies, reading scary books or going to things like haunted houses and trails.
As to whether or not ghosts are real, I've got a few thoughts on that but nothing to do with most ghost stories, purgatory or even unsettled dead people. My thought is that aside from overactive imaginations and superstition (which accounts for most of the people claiming to have seen ghosts) that the rest are more likely glimpses into other realms or dimensions. I seriously doubt that we're the only sentient life around but then I've also always been a sci-fi and fantasy junkie. So the idea of alternate realities, other dimensions and creatures existing in realms not our own are certainly things I'd consider possible. Perhaps whatever keeps those places separate from our own isn't always so solid and that would actually explain many of the mythological creatures which can be found in just about every culture's myths and folklore. I seems far more likely to me that that is the case than the chance that hundreds of different cultures would develop the same ideas of dragons and Fae and unicorns and other such creatures having never been influenced by each other.
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