“Don’t worry, all the
hauntings here are friendly,” the curator reassured us at the start of the
tour. He felt the need to offer this calming statement because we were just
about to be led on a paranormal ghost tour of the Fairbanks House Historical
Site in Dedham, MA. The date was Friday October 13th.
Dear readers, your
reaction to the idea of a ghost tour of the oldest timber frame structure in North
America on the night of Friday the thirteenth is probably similar to the
reaction of my friends when I suggested it. For some strange reason, this was
the date with the largest block of unreserved tickets – go figure. The tour was
very interesting, and I highly recommend it for anyone looking for an evening
with a bit of seasonal atmosphere, a lot of history, and a large dollop of
local flavor.
Or, perhaps you’re
more of an armchair explorer? There’s nothing quite like cracking open a scary
novel, or better yet a nonfiction book about haunted places and first-hand
paranormal accounts, all alone on a dark chilly night, candle lit, the house
creaking in far-flung corners…then in your room…then right behind you! Author
Colin Dickey is also fascinated with our nation’s ghosts and where to find
them. His recent book, “Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places,”
chronicles his treks to suss out not only some of our most haunted locations,
but also how we continue to live with and in these spaces. What stories do we
tell ourselves about these ghosts and spaces, how do these stories change in
the telling, and how can these ghost stories inform our understanding of our
own history?
Why
are we entertained by hauntings, monsters, curses, paranormal activity, and the
undead? These are all things that, by rights, we should run screaming from
every time. Yet culturally and as individuals we are fascinated by death and
the dark to the point of seeking it out for entertainment. Literally millions
of people spend countless hours and billions of dollars every year scaring
themselves. We can’t seem to get enough of horror and the things that go “bump”
in the night.
According
to Walter Kendrick, author of “The Thrill of Fear: 250 Years of Scary
Entertainment,” horror has been part of moral and religious instruction for
millennia, but has only been seen as a form of entertainment for about the last
250 years. Fans of the Lore Podcast by Aaron Mahnke, author of the new book
“The World of Lore,” will agree that scary stories have long served as
cautionary tales and to explain the things in life that can’t otherwise be
explained. Two books in particular tackle the question of monsters and the
human psyche: “On Monsters: An Unnatural History of our Worst Fears” by Stephen
Asma, and “Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and
the Haunting” by W. Scott Poole. Monsters have compelled and repelled us for
centuries, embodying our deepest vulnerabilities and anxieties while also
representing the obscure unknown beyond our safe, rational thoughts. For a more
in-depth discussion of one of the most famous creatures in literature,
Frankenstein’s monster, check out “The Lady and Her Monsters: A Tale of
Dissections, Real-life Dr. Frankensteins, and the Creation of Mary Shelley’s
Masterpieces,” by Roseanne Montillo.
So
how is it we can find fun in horror? Kendrick points out that the growth of
horror as entertainment has “paralleled the almost total removal from most
Western experience of the aftereffects of death, leaving them to cavort in the
imagination.” Ah-ha. When there’s room for our imaginations to play, we will be
entertained. In Western culture, horror and the supernatural really came into
their own as entertainment in the Victorian era. According to Simone Natale in
her new book, “Supernatural Entertainments: Victorian Spiritualism and the Rise
of Modern Media Culture,” cultural fascination with the macabre was strongly
tied to the rise of the media entertainment industry in the nineteenth century,
including print media and photography.
Once
established as a genre for popular consumption, horror has been nearly
unshakeable in film and literature. Tastes and trends have certainly evolved
over time, from Gothic vampires to stranger slashers to the unquiet undead to
unstoppable cyborgs. In his book, “The Horror of it All: One Moviegoer’s Love
Affair with Masked Maniacs, Frightened Virgins, and the Living Dead,” author
Adam Rockoff discusses our obsession with horrific tales played out on the big
screen, and how trends in horror have shifted with our changing culture.
Whether
your tastes lie with books, audiobooks, or movies, the library has you covered
for thrills, chills, and horror – and just in time for Halloween! Our horror
novels are interfiled with the rest of fiction, but feel free to check with a
library staff member to help locate books by your favorite authors. Hoopla
Digital has a plethora of ebooks, audiobooks, movies, and TV specials about
horror, paranormal investigations, and more, all available for instant
streaming and download. Be afraid, dear readers. Be very afraid.
