Based on the "What is the creepiest thing to have ever happened to you?" thread being revived, I thought it might be interesting to discuss the state of play with the paranormal.
In the 80s I was brought up on a diet of spooky TV and the Usborne ghost books. We were terrified of the paranormal and even though not from a Church going family, it was pretty clear from the adults around me you didn't dabble with the occult. There were lots of spooky old buildings I came in contact with, church halls, school attics etc. that just looked haunted. But in today's electronic glass and steel environment there seems no room for ghosts.
In the 90s I still remember ghost stories being banded about but after about 2010 when everyone had laughed their socks off at reality TV like Most Haunted the whole thing seemed to fizzle out. Does generation z give it a second thought? The whole thing just seems antiquated now and the internet / information age has no room for it.
On a deeper level, are ghosts about the past? Spooky and old go together. In the modern disposable age of IKEA furniture we have fewer and fewer reminders and relics of the people before us. When we gave up ghosts did we also believe we no longer had a need to look back?
Was this also the end of folklore entirely, could there ever be a new folk tale created in your town? it feels impossible now.
I can imagine someone 20 not even being able to relate to what i'm saying. Those with kids, is it even a thing anymore?
In the 80s I was brought up on a diet of spooky TV and the Usborne ghost books. We were terrified of the paranormal and even though not from a Church going family, it was pretty clear from the adults around me you didn't dabble with the occult. There were lots of spooky old buildings I came in contact with, church halls, school attics etc. that just looked haunted. But in today's electronic glass and steel environment there seems no room for ghosts.
In the 90s I still remember ghost stories being banded about but after about 2010 when everyone had laughed their socks off at reality TV like Most Haunted the whole thing seemed to fizzle out. Does generation z give it a second thought? The whole thing just seems antiquated now and the internet / information age has no room for it.
On a deeper level, are ghosts about the past? Spooky and old go together. In the modern disposable age of IKEA furniture we have fewer and fewer reminders and relics of the people before us. When we gave up ghosts did we also believe we no longer had a need to look back?
Was this also the end of folklore entirely, could there ever be a new folk tale created in your town? it feels impossible now.
I can imagine someone 20 not even being able to relate to what i'm saying. Those with kids, is it even a thing anymore?
Last edited:
