Make your selection.

[__VeNoM__]

I know this has already been done in the horror section, but I feel it's about time it happened again. I started another poll for what horror writers find scary. I have a personal interest in this, and I also think it could be valuable for some of you. So feel free to make a choice.

[Lyra Jean]

I don't write horror but I like horror movies. After watching "Darkness Falls" I couldn't turn off my lights for two days. I still try not to think about the movie when I go to sleep.

[__VeNoM__]

I must get that one and have a look.

[BlueTexas]

I voted psychological. Anyone going crazy is a scary thing guaranteed to keep me up at night.

[pickman]

I voted ghosts - the idea of seeing one has scared me since childhood, but it also fired up my youthful imagination.

If I were allowed more than one choice I would also vote "psychological", as films and ficton with a psychological theme are the only ones that still scare me as an adult.

[__VeNoM__]

I voted psychological. Anyone going crazy is a scary thing guaranteed to keep me up at night.

Yeah, when you're younger I think that can be a little unsettling, but I find it doesn't scare me at all anymore. Maybe it's because most of the movies in this area are poor. When I saw The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I was literally so bored that I had to change the channel. Same thing with Jeeper's Creeper's, but the idea of a new catalyst for horror kept me a little more interested from the start.
With this said, I must admit, watching some thrillers (seeing's as I never get around to reading them) can be a bit of fun. Not often scary, but enjoyable none the less. I like a good twist.

I voted ghosts - the idea of seeing one has scared me since childhood, but it also fired up my youthful imagination.

Just out of interest, do you believe in them?

[__VeNoM__]

One other thing pickman. It's interesting that you find ghost's more frightening when seen. I would have thought it would be the other way around.

[kristie911]

I had to go with "other"... the idea of aliens scares me to death, it always has!

Ghosts got nothing on aliens! And I'd take a bucket full of spiders over either one! lol

[sthrnwriter]

I've seen Darkness Falls. The idea and special effects were good but the script was horrible along with some of the acting.

My pick was psychological. Although, unseen ghosts are pretty frightening too.

[Fractured_Chaos]

The mind job gets me every time.

[__VeNoM__]

Hmm, there's some interesting opinions amongst you.

I never thought alien's were scary as such, but more interesting and different.

Another for the mind job. So far psychological takes it.

Cheers for the idea's guys.

[pickman]

One other thing pickman. It's interesting that you find ghost's more frightening when seen. I would have thought it would be the other way around.

Unseen ghosts can be more easily explained away as something mundane. Footsteps on the landing are just creaky floorboards, that sort of thing. To me the most terrifying stories of ghostly encounters are the ones where people actually see them - not only does it completely shake up your sense of reality, but it is more in your face and you have to deal with it.

As for whether or not I believe in them, that's a difficult question. As a kid, I had experiences that appeared to be ghostly phenomena - as in I could not explain them away as anything else, and they scared the hell out of me. Looking back, I see some of them as hypnagogic images coming about on the onset of sleep, and other things which my young imagination interpreted as something more sinister. But it doesn't stop me having nightmares about it as an adult.

[three seven]

Ok, now I'm interested to know exactly why you'd find seeing a ghost frightening (in an interested way, not a critical one).

I vote Unseen, by the way. I'm sure I've said this before, but anything that can be seen can be labelled and rationalised and, more importantly, watched from a distance. Not seeing what's hiding under the bed allows your mind to fill in the blanks, and there's nothing scarier than the scariest thing you can imagine.

[MacAllister]

Yep--I'm with the unseen/unknown contingent. The monster hiding in the closet is much scarier than the actual face of the boogeyman.

[pickman]

Ok, now I'm interested to know exactly why you'd find seeing a ghost frightening (in an interested way, not a critical one).

I think I more or less anwered that in my last post. Or maybe not. Hearing ghostly voices can be explained away and ignored as hallucination for example. But if you see a shimmering apparition suddenly appear in your room, there is no way you can explain that (although plenty of people will try to, and come up with "rational" explanations that are so weak that the idea of ghosts existing seems more plausible). I guess its a case of the supernatural intruding on everyday reality and completely shaking you up.

I hope I put that across clearly, although I very much doubt that I have.

[three seven]

I'll rephrase the question.

Why are ghosts scary?

[sthrnwriter]

If you want to get skeptical, seeing an actual ghost could be easily dismissed as just an hallucination too. How do you rationalize an object moving by itself? If something flies across the room, what possible explanation is there for that? I don't doubt that some things that people claim to have been caused by ghost can be explained, but I believe there are some things can't be.

Seen or unseen, it doesn't really matter to me. They are both pretty frightening. I would have to choose unseen over seen as being more frightening because if something touches you and you turn around and don't see anything, that's pretty scary yet your mind is also trying to rationalize that. Some people take something like that and automatically assume it was a ghost and others just dismiss it as being a figment of their imagination.

I think what makes ghosts scary is the unknown. There are so many questions that can't be answered. I think it's frightening that some ghosts can possible cause harm to you and there's really no way to fight back except for leaving. It's all about control. Once you've lost it and don't know how to get it back, that can be scary for some people.

[__VeNoM__]

there's nothing scarier than the scariest thing you can imagine.

Too right.

I would have to choose unseen over seen as being more frightening because if something touches you and you turn around and don't see anything, that's pretty scary yet your mind is also trying to rationalize that.

That's a good point and I would have to say I agree.

With that said however, I do think if done particularly well, seeing a ghost can be frightening for many. Personally, I like the intrigue that comes with something unseen and unknown...as three seven said, the reader/movie watcher gets to fill in the blanks, and what he/she is afraid of (which is a very individual thing) will rise into their conscious mind. I think that this can create a very good horror (if done well).
Personally, I can't see the seen ghost being more frightening than the unseen...which bring's out some people's greatest fears.

[__VeNoM__]

It's interesting though, I thought that psychological would be one of the lowest due to the plot lacking movies that are produced.

[jdkiggins]

I voted for unseen. I can deal with and rationalize with things that I see and things that seem unexplainable. Things unseen have a way of playing with an imagination. If you can't see what you're dealing with, a scenario of terror can follow.

[__VeNoM__]

I voted for unseen. I can deal with and rationalize with things that I see and things that seem unexplainable. Things unseen have a way of playing with an imagination. If you can't see what you're dealing with, a scenario of terror can follow.

Well, don't our greatest fears reveal their true prevalence through our imaginations? This is where phobias come from, so I think enough horror for anyone would be what their mind can conjure for them.

[jdkiggins]

I hope so, otherwise I may as well quit writing. ;)

[Lyra Jean]

In 1984 isn't that how Big Brother got the protagonists to turn against each other by making them believe their worst fear. The male MC's greatest fear was getting eaten by rats. In reality he wasn't getting attacked at all. Big Brother just made him believe he was. Therefore it was real in his mind. Now that's scary.

[williemeikle]

I've seen ghosts and they don't frighten me a bit...

On the other hand, Giger's Alien scares the sh*t out of me.

Willie
http://www.willie.meikle.btinternet.co.uk

[__VeNoM__]

I've seen ghosts and they don't frighten me a bit...

Please, by all means share the details. After all, the UK is reknowned for sightings.
I'm very skeptical about it...but they can make a great horror story.

[williemeikle]

Please, by all means share the details

There have been several......

One was a woman carrying a candle, dressed in a long white nightgown, who walked through the bedroom I'd taken for the night in a hotel in Skye. I was sitting up in bed, reading with only a night-light on, when I caught a glimpse of something moving. I looked up as she got to the big bay window. She was as solid as you or me, and she stood at the window for twenty seconds before turning and walking back the other way. I spoke to her, thinking it was somebody who worked in the place, but got no reply. Before she got to the door she faded.... I put this one down to a timeslip, or some kind of recording being played back....

Another of the same kind was a sighting of a Viking Longboat while fishing off the coast of Orkney.....

Less easy to explain as timeslip was the visit from my grannie the night after she died. She held my hand, told me she was OK, and said she was going to visit my sister. ...
Years later, sis and I were talking about her, and sis told me Grannie had been to see her and that she'd said she'd been to see me, and was off to see my Mum....
So, we went and asked Mum.......
Mum said that Grannie had been to see her, and told her she'd been to see me and sis earlier....

That was twenty years ago... she's visited several times since.

There are others, but I've found that most people won't believe unless they experience it for themselves.... so get out there and open yourself up to the possibility. You might get a surprise.

I've also "heard" several ghosts, from children singing in a ruined church in Norfolk, to somebody screaming in a jail cell in an old castle. Only once did I get frightened, and that was in a place that I found out afterwards had held 60 people who starved to death.

Willie
http://www.willie.meikle.btinternet.co.uk (http://www.willie.meikle.btinternet.co.uk/)

[MadScientistMatt]

Things and situations that would scare me...

1. Scorpions. For some reason, I'm scared of them even though I'm not scared of spiders. It may be the way they carry around a much more obvious weapon.

2. Knowing that something dangerous is out there, but not knowing what it is, where it is, or what it can do - other than that you have good reason to believe that it can and has killed someone.

3. The worst nightmare I had was when my body no longer took orders from my mind. I was going into a situation I knew was dangerous, but even though I kept screaming to get away in the dream the "me" in the dream ignored the warnings and kept going on cheerfully like nothing was wrong.

[__VeNoM__]

There have been several......

One was a woman carrying a candle, dressed in a long white nightgown, who walked through the bedroom I'd taken for the night in a hotel in Skye. I was sitting up in bed, reading with only a night-light on, when I caught a glimpse of something moving. I looked up as she got to the big bay window. She was as solid as you or me, and she stood at the window for twenty seconds before turning and walking back the other way. I spoke to her, thinking it was somebody who worked in the place, but got no reply. Before she got to the door she faded.... I put this one down to a timeslip, or some kind of recording being played back....

Another of the same kind was a sighting of a Viking Longboat while fishing off the coast of Orkney.....

Less easy to explain as timeslip was the visit from my grannie the night after she died. She held my hand, told me she was OK, and said she was going to visit my sister. ...
Years later, sis and I were talking about her, and sis told me Grannie had been to see her and that she'd said she'd been to see me, and was off to see my Mum....
So, we went and asked Mum.......
Mum said that Grannie had been to see her, and told her she'd been to see me and sis earlier....

That was twenty years ago... she's visited several times since.

There are others, but I've found that most people won't believe unless they experience it for themselves.... so get out there and open yourself up to the possibility. You might get a surprise.

I've also "heard" several ghosts, from children singing in a ruined church in Norfolk, to somebody screaming in a jail cell in an old castle. Only once did I get frightened, and that was in a place that I found out afterwards had held 60 people who starved to death.

I'm sorry, but it's in my nature to be skeptical...Thanks for your reply willie.

3. The worst nightmare I had was when my body no longer took orders from my mind. I was going into a situation I knew was dangerous, but even though I kept screaming to get away in the dream the "me" in the dream ignored the warnings and kept going on cheerfully like nothing was wrong.

We've all had that.